Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC005050 Inspection date 14/02/2013 Inspector Rachel Ruth Britten Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 13/03/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a children's home that is part of a large organisation. The home provides care for five boys who have emotional or behavioural difficulties. Education is available on site as the home is also a registered school.

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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 satisfactory progress .

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Progress

The children's home has maintained the quality of care and outcomes for young people since the last inspection in October 2012 when it was judged outstanding. Most young people are extremely settled long term in placement and continue to make progress in health, education and preparation for their future. This is because staff maintain extremely positive intervention and offer great consistency, despite recent staff absences. Staff and the manager are very effective communicators with young people and ensure that they feel valued, listened to, and consulted with throughout each day. For example, staff are alert to issues, such as bullying, within the home and use effective means, such as group discussion and viewing of a suitable DVD on the subject, to elicit disclosures about it. Robust action has been taken and the bullying has stopped.

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Progress

The quality of care offered in the home balances very clear boundaries with good rewards, negotiation, and regular reminders of what young people need to achieve each day to work towards achieving their long term plans. For example, young people are undertaking first aid training at present and receive certificates for each module they complete. This encourages them to persist. Equally, the manager is putting together information about recent and local drug-related deaths and knife crimes. This is to help young people develop an improved appreciation of the dangers associated with drug misuse and weapons. As a result of high quality care, young people are behaving well in the home overall and there has been no criminal or risk taking activity associated with a few recent instances of young people going missing.

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Progress

Young people continue to be safe in the home because managers make correct decisions about the continuing appropriateness of placements in the light of emerging safeguarding risks when these occur. Staff, managers and police have also conducted room searches recently in connection with safety concerns about young people's activities and internet use. As a result, risks have been reassessed and the appropriateness of some placements reviewed. Safeguarding procedures have been followed fully and room searches carried out appropriately. However, staff and managers are not conversant with the home's guidance about the conduct of room searches and the manager does not presently monitor the conduct of searches or look for any patterns or trends occurring. Nevertheless, young people's rights continue to be properly protected within a safeguarding context and any police investigations are fully facilitated.

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Progress

The leadership and management of the setting continues to be of high quality, despite the manager being involved in projects pertaining to the wider organisation. He continues to innovate new ideas to engage young people and has high expectations both of young people and staff. All staff keep up to date with mandatory training and are also receiving on-going support and training from the organisation's therapists. Some staff are also undertaking the teaching and therapy assistant training awards in order to further support the organisation's 'therapeutic community' approach to care. The manager has developed a format to present evidence of staff vetting checks on their personal files kept in the home. Although the format is now ready to use, the details evidencing vetting for staff working currently in the home has still not been obtained from head office for the home to store and use. The recommendation made at the last inspection is therefore not yet

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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 all staff and managers are conversant with the home's guidance in respect of searches of a child, their room, or their possessions, and that records of searches are regularly monitored to ensure compliance with guidance and to identify any patterns and trends (NMS 3.20 and 21.2)  ensure that the home has a record of all the details required to evidence sound vetting of staff so that CRB disclosure information can be destroyed when it is no longer needed. (NMS 16.3 & 16.4)

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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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