Children's Home run by Adeza Care Homes Limited in Waltham Forest

Unique reference number SC032468 Inspection date 14/11/2012 Inspector Joanna Heller Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 28/02/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a privately-run children’s home and it is one of two children's homes owned by the organisation, within the locality. This home caters for an older age range with an emphasis on semi-independent living. The home is registered to provide support and accommodation to four children of either gender. These young people may have emotional or behavioural difficulties or a mild mental disorder.

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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

Young people thrive within the nurturing environment. Staff changes are very rare, this promotes the development of the strong mutually respectful relationships which underpin the success achieved in ensuring extremely positive outcomes for young people. Young people refer to staff helping them turn their life around.

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Overall effectiveness

Safeguarding consistently remains at the forefront of staff practice and young people have been well supported in taking appropriate risks. Young people have benefited considerably from positive role models and a behavioural approach which has equipped them to manage their anger in a more socially acceptable way. Staff ‘stick’ with young people through periods of crisis and do not give up. Staff are creative in their strategies to prevent placement breakdown.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is strong in supporting families, for example, regularly supporting supervised contact both on and off site, including Christmas day. Families feel that the support given to both the young people and them is excellent and has enabled young people to return to the family.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff strive to provide the highest possible educational outcomes for young people and will challenge barriers to secure on-going educational support even in very difficult circumstances. This has enabled young people to maintain an excellent approach to education and secure better long term life opportunities. Young people know that staff will always be there for them, even when they have moved on from the home. Young people describe the home as 'brilliant' and 'run to a perfect standard'. Young people and placing authorities talk about how the home has been successful in turning young people's life’s around. The home is led by a resourceful and committed management team who inspire staff to perform at an exceptional level. The management team are reflective and are constantly looking to develop the home and sustain and improve the quality of care.

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Overall effectiveness

The manager has been asked to ensure that the fire risk assessment makes appropriate reference to the fire precautionary arrangements in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

While no young people are living at the home at the time of the inspection, the two previous young people's views were sought through telephone interviews.

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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 avoidable hazards are removed. In particular; review the fire risk assessment to ensure that it is sufficiently detailed, outlines the fire precautionary arrangements in place and how risks will be minimised. (NMS 10.3)

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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

The home provides young people with a stable secure and happy environment. Young people benefit from highly individualised care which encompasses their diverse heritage and life experiences. Young people refer to a brilliant home ‘which has changed their life’.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are healthy and understand how to maintain responsibility for their own healthcare. Young people have made exceptional improvements in education which they continue to maintain when leaving the home. This has boosted their confidence and self-esteem, as has the development of better social skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to make and sustain extremely high quality relationships with staff. Relationships with young people families have been successfully fostered enabling young people to have better understanding of their backgrounds.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have been able to enjoy a wide range of activities and annual holidays which have supported their educational and social development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people dramatically have reduced their risk taking behaviours and offending behaviour has been considerably reduced. Young people have been able to successfully move onto independent living arrangements fully equipped with the skills they need.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Staff ensure that living in the home makes a real difference for young people, enabling much more positive life outcomes. Young people flourish and each have experienced substantial personal growth since coming to the home. This is individually demonstrated through the reduction in absconding patterns, relationship development, and offending. Young people experience exceptional improvement in their commitment to education.

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Quality of care

Staff enable young people to have an understanding that education is the key to better life chances. Staff themselves demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning providing highly positive role models to the young people. Young people regularly attend college during their time at the home. One young person who was out of education and through excellent support, encouragement of staff, and self determination has successfully achieved nationally recognised business qualifications and is currently studying accountancy. Staff have successfully challenged barriers to education, involving children’s rights in one young person’s fight for a right to a good education. Similarly staff effectively liaised with the college and provided educational support through outreach while a young person was unable to reside at the home for a period of a few months. Without this proactive stance on the part of the staff, this

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Quality of care

young person would have been unable to complete their education successfully. The substantial commitment of staff has successfully ensured that young people leave the home with successful educational outcomes and have continued to maintain their commitment to education on leaving the home. Formal educational is supported through the variety of activities in the home which are organised to support personal development as well as fun. Examples of this are team building camping trips, visits to the science museum and actively participating annually in a debating day at Cambridge University.

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Quality of care

Young men particularly bonded with the black male staff who provide positive strong male role models. Young people say their close relationships with staff were central to them feeling nurtured and cared for ‘I loved the staff ‘.

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Quality of care

Staff are exceptionally strong at maintaining and building family relationships. For example, facilitating weekly supervised family visits on site as well as supervised sibling contact at alternative venues. For three years the manager took a young person to the family home and stayed to support them and their family so that they could share a family Christmas.

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Quality of care

Staff seek to equip young people with the anger management skills they need. Young people are able to reflect on how they were helped to develop maturity and learn appropriate ways to express themselves rather than resorting to negative behaviour. This has had positive outcomes in reducing offending and other risk taking behaviours.

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Quality of care

Young people are consulted on every aspect of their day to day lives and are supported to make sound decisions regarding their future. Issues of conflict are rare and young people describe the home as a very ‘calm place’. Young people are able to raise issues which are worrying them immediately this means that young people do not feel the need to complain.

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Quality of care

Staff are well trained and competent, having received training in key areas such as first aid, food handling, emotional well-being, self-harming and other issues which affect young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safeguarding young people is central to staff practice; any issues of concern are fed back to local safeguarding team. Where concerns arise staff ensure appropriate action is taken to safeguard the young people and members of the community as appropriate. Young people are safeguarded from unsuitable people gaining employment in the home through robust vetting practices.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people feel safe, secure and well cared for. Young people refer to a calm environment where issues of conflict are minimal. Bullying is not an issue of concern and young people are confident that staff will address any issues swiftly to ensure they remain safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The manager ensures the home is safe through regular checks and maintenance. However, the fire risk assessment is not sufficiently detailed to fully reflect the robust fire precautionary arrangements in place. Staff are able to carefully balance risk with developing young people's independence. Restraint is not used and sanctions are rare. The way that staff work with young people in a therapeutic manner enables young people to become more aware of themselves and the impact their behaviour has on others. Young people develop a strong respect for staff and generally work within the house rules. Recognition for achievement is frequently given.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are highly successful in reducing young people’s patterns of going missing and minimising offending behaviour. Young people reflect on how they used to go missing and be involved in criminal activity. Staff worked with them to understand the road they were taking and guided them to a different path. The home has an effective protocol with local police in line with national guidance and staff work in accordance with this. Young people when absent from the home are able to be contacted and staff ensure their on-going safety.

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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

This is a very well managed home where the commitment to high quality child care is inspiring. Young people flourish within the nurturing environment under the care and supervision of a dedicated and competent staff team. One placing social worker commented, ‘I have to say that the responsible individual is the best provider I have ever worked with.’ One young person commented, ‘if I had to choose anywhere to live, I would choose here.'

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Leadership and management

Leaders and managers consistently communicate high expectations to staff. The responsible individual and manager are dynamic and stimulate the enthusiasm of staff. Staff changes are very rare. Staff refer to working together closely and how over the years they have become ‘like an extended family’. Staff feel this permeates through to the young people who are ‘welcomed into ‘this family’.

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Leadership and management

The management team have a clear sense of direction based on the strengths and areas for growth in the service and are effective at sharing this with staff. The commitment to staff training is exceptional. The management team are dedicated to furthering their professional knowledge base and have high expectations for staff to do the same. This proactive commitment to professional development serves as a strong role model for the young people. Staff have been supported to develop professional qualifications in nursing, social work and information technology whilst working at the home. Student social workers are regularly placed in the home challenging staff to keep abreast of new ideas. The strong relationships with local Universities and authorities enable staff to have access to a wide range of learning opportunities. Staff refer to working in a ‘leaning centre’.

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Leadership and management

Staffing arrangements are flexible with staffing arranged to ensure that they are available for young people whenever they need them. Staff are well supported through regular high quality supervision. Communication between staff is effective, ensuring that all staff know what going on for each of the young people at any given time. Staff are proactive at liaising with placing authorities to ensure that reviews take and other pieces of work are completed. Placing authorities refer to professional staff who are imaginative and resourceful. Staff work exceptionally well in partnership both with families and other agencies ensuring that the child’s needs always remain at the forefront of service delivery.

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Leadership and management

The home has clear aims and objectives and care is provided in line with the homes Statement of Purpose. No complaints have been made and young people have absolute confidence in staff to address any issues of concern. The home has robust systems in place to notify agencies of any significant events. The manager ensures that there are rigorous monitoring activities in place and has a clear development plan based on the strengths and areas for growth. No requirements or recommendations were made at the previous inspection.

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Leadership and management

Living in this home has had a life changing impact for young people. Young people move on as well rounded young people with better opportunities and a solid skill base, preparing them for adult life.

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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 and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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