Children's Home run by Care Haven (UK) Limited in Stockport

Unique reference number SC065374 Inspection date 12/07/2012 Inspector Helen Walker Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 08/02/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a private children's home that provides care and accommodation for up to five young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Overall the home provides a good quality of care. The outcomes for most of the young people are positive. They receive high quality support from staff who understand their individual needs.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff provide young people with the continuity of a long-term placement and good access to local health and education facilities. Staff value the importance of education for young people and work hard to achieve their regular school attendance. However, progress in this area is limited when some young people choose to disengage from education.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from a consistent staff team who are very caring and experienced in their work. Parents and professionals consider young people who come to live at the home are well looked after and are kept safe. Staff have a clear understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. Young people say they feel safe, are heard and have many opportunities to give their opinions and make choices about their care.

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Overall effectiveness

There is very effective leadership and management of the home. This is supported by home's monitoring systems which help to ensure good standards are maintained.

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Overall effectiveness

One requirement and two recommendations have been made as a result of this inspection. These relate to: the home's Statement of Purpose, young people's school attendance and staff training.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure the Statement of Purpose for the home consists of the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 4 (1)) 31/07/2012

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure that young people attend school, college or alternative provision regularly (NMS 8.3)  ensure staff have a learning and development programme that includes training to enhance their individual skills to meet the needs of the children, in particular training relating to child sexual exploitation and domestic violence. (NMS 18.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are adequate .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Most young people make good progress from their starting point at the home to their current position. However, some young people fail to engage with the services of the home which means positive outcomes for them are limited.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff value education for young people and their future. The majority of young people have excellent school attendance. Staff have regular contact with teachers and attend school parent's evenings and review meetings. Some young people are non-school attenders and refuse to participate in education. Staff work tirelessly with educational professionals to access alternative education or obtain training opportunities for these young people. However, regardless of staff efforts, some young people continue to disengage from education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have staff support to maintain regular contact with their family and develop appropriate friendships. This enables young people to build and maintain links with those who are important to them. A parent said that on a scale of, 'one to ten' they give the staff, 'ten out of ten' for how they have improved the outcomes for their child. Staff work with social workers to deliver life story work to young people. They are keen to assist young people to gain an understanding about their life history and background so that they develop a sense of identity. Young people have good support from staff about leading a healthy lifestyle. They receive advice and information about a range of health issues such as the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol. Additionally, staff ensure young people benefit from age appropriate sex and relationship advice. However, some young people choose not to engage with health professionals and refuse to attend routine health appointments.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff encourage and persevere with young people to attend appointments but are not always successful.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn how to prepare meals and carry out routine household tasks in the home. This helps them to develop confidence in a range of skills that helps them prepare for leaving care.

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Quality of care

Young people experience really positive and supportive relationships with staff. They receive care from a consistent and experienced staff team who provide a very caring, nurturing and safe environment. Young people say they are able to talk to staff and feel they are listened to. Young people are aware of how to make a complaint and identify staff and professionals they say they can talk to. This includes contact with local authority children's rights officers who visit the home. Professionals involved with young people say, 'interaction between staff and young people is very warm and the ethos in the home is one of mutual respect'.

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Quality of care

Young people’s placement plans are specific to their individual and diverse needs. The placement plans are child friendly which enables young people to have input about how they are cared for at the home. This also helps them to understand the reasons for living in the home and to enable planning for their future. Young people have the opportunity to attend their care review meetings and give their views. Some young people choose not to attend the meetings. However, social workers are confident that staff obtain young people's views so that these are fully considered and contribute to the meeting.

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Quality of care

Staff work closely with social workers and other professionals such as those in health and education. External professionals and those with parental responsibility describe communication between the home and themselves as very good. A parent said, 'I can't fault communication' and, 'I can't speak highly enough of the care'.

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Quality of care

Staff are committed to improve young people's life chances through education. Social workers and parents say staff fully support young people's education. Staff work had to develop working relationships with local schools, colleges and the education authority virtual teacher. For the majority of young people this has positive results with 100% school attendance. For some young people they fail to benefit from any regular education or training.

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to participate in sports and leisure activities as well as choosing different hobbies and interests. Staff with specific sporting interests engage young people in keep fit sessions. They spend time explaining and discussing national sporting events, in particular the forthcoming Olympic Games. Young people talk enthusiastically about their involvement with activities in the wider community. This includes membership of local performing arts and drama groups and holidays to the seaside. Additionally, staff promote young people's understanding about social inclusion and actively encourage their involvement in charity events. Young people’s achievements are praised and rewarded which helps to develop their self-esteem and confidence.

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Quality of care

Young people are provided with a healthy diet and access to prepare and make meals or bake in the home’s kitchen. Staff prepare and teach young people age appropriate independence skills in preparation for leaving care. Young people are delighted that they have the opportunity to travel to and from school by bus.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a house that is homely, comfortable, well maintained and situated in a pleasant residential area.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are looked after by a competent staff team who understand safeguarding procedures and receive child protection training. This supports them to protect young people from harm. Young people say they feel safe and are well looked after by staff. Parents and professionals say they are confident that staff protect and keep young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff follow detailed risk assessments and placement plans to help them manage young people's behaviours. Young people say staff are fair with them and there are rewards and incentives to help them develop their social skills. Currently some young people are putting themselves at risk by going missing from home. Staff follow the local police protocol for missing from home episodes and have good partnership working with safeguarding agencies. They work with the young people to help them understand the dangers associated with this behaviour. This has helped to reduce the number of times young people are missing from the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people say they are happy living in the home and get on well with other young people who live there. They say there is no bullying in the home but know who to talk to should this become an issue.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The provider has robust recruitment and employment procedures in place. This helps to ensure, as far as possible that young people are looked after by suitable people. Good health and safety arrangements enable staff to maintain a safe, pleasant and secure family type home for the young people.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good .

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Leadership and management

The manager is experienced and effective. This supports staff to provide a stable home environment for young people. The staff team say they have good support from the manager in relation to their work and professional development. They are appropriately trained and the majority have a suitable childcare qualification. This helps them to meet the needs of the young people they care for. However, some staff have yet to receive more specific training to raise their awareness and understanding about matters such as child sexual exploitation and domestic violence.

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Leadership and management

The home's Statement of Purpose is informative and relevant to the provision. Although the document is comprehensive, it does not fully cover the matters as required in regulations, for example, the arrangements for consultation.

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Leadership and management

Young people are looked after by a consistent and caring staff team, most have worked at the home for a number of years. Therefore, young people benefit from continuity of care given by staff they know and trust. The present group of young people have lived at the home for over 12 months. The staff team are energetic, motivated and committed to improve young people's life chances. Their efforts enable most of the young people to make really good progress at the home. Young people said, 'I like it here' and 'staff are all nice'. A parent said, 'care is excellent' and, 'I can't speak highly enough of staff'.

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Leadership and management

There are times when young people disengage from the services they receive at the home. When this happens the manager is quick to liaise with the young person's placing authority. This means meetings are arranged in a timely way to consider the appropriateness and future of their placement at the home.

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Leadership and management

Key professionals from other agencies comment very positively on partnership working with the home. A social worker said, 'staff are on the ball and very hot with communication'. Another social worker said, 'I know how well the home works with young people'.

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Leadership and management

The home keeps detailed records about the care and welfare of young people. These are well organised and stored securely. Young people have staff support to engage and contribute to their file records so that they have an understanding about their care and time spent at the home.

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Leadership and management

The two recommendations made at the last inspections are met. Written records about young people missing from the home have improved and contain all relevant information about the incident. Additionally, young people now have the opportunity to discuss incidents of restraint they have been involved in with a relevant adult. A record of this discussion is detailed on the incident report form.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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