Children's Home run by Child First Limited in West Sussex

Unique reference number SC044259 Inspection date 03/12/2012 Inspector Kevin Whatley Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 20/07/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is run by a private organisation. It is registered to accommodate up to five young people of either gender who have emotional and behavioural difficulties and who are unable, for the moment, to live in a family setting. The home aims to support young people to return to family, move to foster carers or to move on to independent accommodation.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress .

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Progress

At the last inspection, carried out in July 2012, the home was judged as inadequate. Fifteen requirements were made relating to a number of key areas of care provision. These included ensuring that risk assessment processes were robust and accurate and that staff received appropriate training in physical intervention. There were also requirements made which considered the need for the educational and future training needs of young people to be addressed and for the monitoring of standards of care in the home to be more rigorous and effective. Two monitoring visits to review the progress of action taken against these requirements were carried out in September and November. All of the requirements have now been met.

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Progress

The organisation has taken a rigorous approach in addressing the substantial shortfalls identified at the last inspection. This has included the appointment of a new manager and a thorough review of care practices, care planning procedures and risk management processes. Young people have their challenging or risk-taking behaviours addressed with suitable strategies put in place to manage and reduce their vulnerabilities and risk. Significant improvements have been made to the process of assessing the risks young people may be to themselves or others and implementing intervention programmes in practice. This has led to young people reducing the number of occasions when they have placed themselves at risk of harm. Most notable is the considerable reduction in the level that some young people leave the home without permission. This has subsequently led to a vast decrease in them engaging in inappropriate behaviours when away from staff supervision, including the taking of

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Progress

illegal substances. The approach towards behaviour management in general is much improved and is assisting young people to keep themselves safer.

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Progress

The home ensures young people receive extremely good support and advice in regard to their education and further learning needs. Improvements in this area have resulted in all young people either attending statutory education or college placements. Staff provide one-to-one support for those young people that require it and liaise well with educational establishments. For some young people, attendance and achievement levels are excellent given their poor starting points.

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Progress

Staff receive a good level of training which matches the needs of young people being looked after. The training programme has been reviewed and now allows staff to attend events more easily. Similarly, each member of staff has a training matrix which ensures their training needs are planned for and monitored more closely. All staff have now received restraint training.

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Progress

Medicines are stored and administered safely and accurately. Improvements have been implemented which have seen the number of homely medications kept being significantly reduced. A new recording format has been introduced which has culminated in the accurate checking and giving of medicines. Stock checks are now completed regularly and reviewed as part of routine monitoring procedures.

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Progress

A comprehensive process of monitoring ensures all aspects of care provision are routinely and robustly reviewed. The acting manager completes an in-house monitoring process which ensures records are accurate and up to the standard required. Monthly visits occur, with the subsequent reports providing an excellent assessment of the quality of care. Such improvements have clearly raised and consolidated expectations of practice.

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Progress

Since the last full inspection the organisation has improved the system of quality control. This allows for a far greater gathering and analysis of stakeholder views and opinions. A very recent survey included seeking the views of young people, their parents/carers and placing social workers. Feedback was most positive across the board with comments such as, 'all factors of their life have improved greatly'; 'this has been the best placement my young person has had'; and 'their behaviour has greatly improved', being indicative of the views expressed.

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

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