Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Unique reference number SC039683 Inspection date 25/10/2012 Inspector David Martin Type of inspection Full Provision subtype

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Date of last inspection 27/03/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home can accommodate a maximum of six young people of either gender with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a local authority and only considers referrals from that local authority.

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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 outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

This setting has a consistent track record in providing young people with high standards of care. Young people have low starting points in many aspects of their lives and have experienced considerable emotional trauma. Given this, they are making impressive strides in engaging with education and training and making sustained progress in their social development. Young people enjoy very positive relationships with staff and this makes a significant contribution to their sense of well-being. The home’s approach to keeping young people safe is effective and staff have confidence in themselves to deal with any concerns promptly. Young people receive excellent support in making a positive transition to adulthood. The home has strong leadership which promotes consistency and continuity of practice and ensures that young people are central to decision making. No requirements are made as a result of this inspection. There is one recommendation concerning the quality of

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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 the written report on the conduct of the home, prepared following registered provider visits, includes the opinion formed of the standard of care provided. (Regulation 33 (4))

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making strong and sustained progress in building their self-esteem and developing confidence. One young person said that the staff have been ‘really good’ in helping them to cope with adversity better. The young people have strong relationships with staff which enables them to explore issues from their past with adults they trust. Young people’s emotional well-being is promoted very effectively.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s day-to-day health care needs are met well. They are registered with primary health care providers, ensuring that they have good access to routine and urgent medical attention. Young people understand the benefits of eating well and leading a healthy lifestyle. They have listened to and acted on advice about the potentially harmful effects of smoking, alcohol and drugs. Young people’s health and well-being is strongly promoted.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people have had longstanding difficulties in engaging positively with education in the past. Despite their low starting points young people are making remarkable progress in sustaining their attendance at college and completing fixed- term courses. They are achieving well and acquiring a broad range of alternative qualifications. One young person told the home it had given him ‘ambitions or opportunities’ he would not have otherwise had. The home’s approach to education successfully supports young people and contributes to their preparation for the future.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people effectively influence decision-making in the home. They have regular opportunities for collective and individual consultation. And, as a matter of good open practice, the manager provides them with a written response when it is not possible to implement their suggestions. Young people attend their reviews and make their contributions confidently. This ensures that their placement plans reflect their wishes and aspirations. Some young people are actively involved in the children in care council which provides good opportunities for them to represent themselves in the wider community.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have contact with their families as appropriate and in accordance with their wishes. They are supported well in repairing relationships that have broken down. This ensures that young people maintain contact with significant others in their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are well prepared for adulthood and are actively engaged in acquiring the skills to live independently and support themselves. Young people are fully involved in their plans to move on from the home. The plans are thorough and the home has a track record of successfully supporting young people once they have left. Young people are making very good progress in their transition to adulthood.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people have very good relationships with staff and interact with respect and good humour. Staff members are skilled in using their relationship with individual young people as a lever for positive change. As a result, young people make sustained improvements in their behaviour. Young people place a high value on their interactions with staff and recognise the benefits. One young person said that the staff have, ‘really helped me understand my background and deal with things when they’re not going my way.’

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Quality of care

The home operates in a way that places young people at the heart of decision- making. Young people are encouraged to share their opinions on a wide range of personal and general topics. Placement plans have been shared with them and reflect a highly individualised approach to placement planning. The home values young people’s opinions and takes them seriously.

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Quality of care

Young people understand how to make a complaint but rarely use this process. This is attributable to the fact they feel listened to and have effective forums for resolving their grievances. Young people are reminded on an individual basis about the ways in which they can complain. This is very good practice and reinforces young people’s rights to be heard. Complaints from the neighbourhood are infrequent and of a minor nature. They are resolved appropriately and any learning points are identified.

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Quality of care

As noted above, placement planning has been developed to a high standard. They are highly individualised, ‘live’ documents that are modified and amended promptly when young people’s needs change. This ensures that staff support young people in a consistent way. The effective use of placement planning makes a significant positive contribution to young people’s development and sense of well-being.

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Quality of care

All young people are actively engaged in training and education. This is a considerable achievement given their previously poor experiences in school. Staff provide young people with excellent support and encouragement to make the most of their opportunities and to value learning. Staff work productively with educational colleagues to overcome barriers to good attendance. The home’s approach ensures that young people sustain their training and educational placements and are making progress.

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to get involved in activities which interest them. They are provided with equipment, even where this is expensive, to pursue their talents. This promotes self-esteem and a sense of well-being.

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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 said that they feel safe and enjoy living in the home. One young person told the home that, ‘Coming into care was the best thing that ever happened to me and has given my life some order.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have a good understanding of their personal responsibilities to keep young people safe. They are familiar with child protection and safeguarding procedures and are confident about reporting any concerns. This helps to protect young people from harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has had considerable success in reducing the frequency with which young people go missing from home. More often young people come in late. The home is effectively addressing this issue on an individual basis and tackling the risks as they arise. This raises young people’s awareness of situations where they put themselves in harm’s way and helps to keep them safe. Young people are not involved in criminal activity. Given their starting points, this represents a marked improvement in their behaviour. Young people are effectively encouraged to stay out of trouble.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Challenging behaviour is managed well and staff are skilled in using techniques to prevent confrontations from escalating. They are able to do this without using physical intervention often and full restraint is very rare. There are well developed individual behaviour management plans which the staff are able to implement consistently and effectively. This helps to keep good order and protects young people from harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are robustly vetted prior to starting work in the home and are subsequently checked from time to time to ensure that they remain suitable adults to work with young people. This helps to protect young people from harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The premises are safely maintained and equipment and appliances are regularly checked to ensure they are safe. The home is attractively decorated and comfortably furnished. This provides young people with a safe, warm and welcoming environment.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

The home has a full-time Registered Manager. This ensures consistent leadership and provides continuity of practice. The management of the home is valued by staff for being open and approachable. This promotes constructive discussion and encourages staff to be creative and imaginative in supporting young people. The manager leads a team of well-motivated and enthusiastic staff and their input into the lives of young people is appreciated by professional colleagues. One reviewing officer said that, ‘The home does a hugely important job and enables young people to make huge strides.’

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Leadership and management

As noted above, the home receives few complaints, and has had none from young people. As and when complaints are made, the home takes prompt action to resolve them and uses the information to improve practice where appropriate. The home has a consistent track record of providing young people with a high quality service. It has always responded positively to requirements and recommendations made in inspection reports. This contributes to the improvement of the home. The home makes excellent use of Regulation 34 processes to assess and monitor the standard of care. This enables it to identify areas for improvement and consolidation. Regulation 33 visits are undertaken at regular intervals but the subsequent reports offer limited commentary on the standard of care. These visits are not fully contributing to monitoring arrangements.

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose complies with the regulations. It has been reviewed and is up to date. It provides a clear and concise description of the way in which the home supports young people. This ensures that young people know what to expect and they and their advocates can hold the home to account.

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Leadership and management

The home has sufficient numbers of staff on duty to ensure young people are safe and that their individual needs are met. The staff hold appropriate childcare qualifications and have good access to training. This enables them to keep their practice up to date. The staff place a high value on supervision and are enthusiastic about the opportunities it gives them to reflect on their practice and to consider their professional development. The home is staffed in the best interests of young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s statutory reviews are up to date and young people are actively encouraged to contribute to the decision-making. Records are organised well and are stored securely. This ensures that information about young people is protected and there are no breaches of confidentiality.

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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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