Children's Home run by Mulberry House Care Homes Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC060554 Inspection date 28/05/2013 Inspector Sharon Treadwell Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

p.1

Date of last inspection 28/01/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

p.2

Brief description of the service

This privately owned children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is one of four children's homes owned by the provider organisation.

p.3

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

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be adequate .

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Young people say that they are happy at the home, feel safe and that they have positive relationships with staff they can trust. Staff vocalise and demonstrate a commitment to engaging positively with the young people to promote their personal development and encourage the development of self-confidence and skills.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The staff provide appropriate support to young people to access proper health care and to engage in purposeful activities. They encourage young people to engage with education, to acquire skills to support them into independence and to engage in discussion about the world around them and their place within it.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Records do not always provide a good reflection of the positive work being done daily with young people. Young people's records are often lacking in essential pre- placement information and staff are not robust in chasing documents which are crucial to truly effective placement planning. Managers and staff are not sufficiently pro-active in challenging professionals when they feel that arrangements made, do not fully support young people to achieve their full potential, for example regarding young people's education.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Three requirements and twelve recommendations are made as a result of this inspection. Leadership and management is judged inadequate. Since the last inspection, both leadership of the staff team, management monitoring and oversight of practice have been insufficiently robust, A significant number of shortfalls have been allowed to develop, especially in relation to staff training and recording practice. There has been slippage in the home's capacity to provide a written demonstration that potential areas of risk are always given careful consideration and to evidence that effective and consistent strategies are in place to manage those risks, in relation both to young people's behaviour and to the environment.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

At present there is no indication that the identified areas of shortfall have impacted significantly on young people's experience at the home, hence their positive views about their placements. The potential for some of the shortfalls to impact on young people has been tempered by the efforts staff make to forge positive and productive relationships with the young people they care for. However, all of the shortfalls have the potential to impact adversely on young people's care experiences.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager has very recently left the home. A new manager has been appointed. She already occupies a post within the organisation, as a deputy in another home, and is due to take up her post as manager of this home imminently. She has been involved in the feedback from this inspection and is fully aware of the identified areas of shortfall.

p.4

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.

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain, in respect of each young person who is accommodated, a record in permanent form which includes the information, documents and records specified in Schedule 3 relating to that young person (Regulation 28(1(a)) 02/08/2013

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the system established for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 focuses on improving the quality of care provided and provides for consultation with young people accommodated in the home, their parents and placing authorities (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b)(3)) 02/08/2013

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all staff receive timely and appropriate core and specific training (Regulation 27(4) 02/08/2013

p.4

Recommendations

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

p.4

Recommendations

 ensure that risk assessment is used in a proportionate and positive way to promote young people’s safety and welfare within the home (NMS 4.1, 4.5)  provide all staff with training in appropriate safe care practice, including skills to care for young people who have been abused (NMS 4.6)  ensure that the manager and staff are pro-active in negotiating the home’s capacity to make reasonable and appropriate decisions about young people’s day-to-day arrangements, such as leisure activities, overnight stays and personal issues such as hair cuts (NMS 7.4)  ensure that staff work with young people’s education providers and placing authorities to maximise young people’s attendance and achievement and, where young people are not participating fully in education, to secure their return to full time education. Retain up-to-date information about young people’s educational objectives and progress (NMS 8.4, 8.7)

p.4

Recommendations

 ensure that records relating to fire evacuations demonstrate that all young people are familiar with, and have practiced the emergency escape plan (NMS 10.9)  review arrangements within the home for the storage of substances, which could be hazardous to young people's health (NMS 10.2)  ensure that the home’s records, relating to staff working at the home, incorporate all required information, specifically in relation to CRB checks (NMS 16.3)  complete a written risk assessment to identify any likely risks, to young people and staff, where only one member of staff is on duty. This risk assessment must reflect any gender considerations, which impact on the level of risk (NMS 17.9)  ensure that new staff are supported to complete the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction standards, and to commence working towards the level 3 Children and Young People’s Workforce Diploma, within 6 months of

p.5

Recommendations

commencing employment (NMS 18.3, 18.5)  ensure that monitoring of the operation of the home, by both the manager and the provider organisation, is sufficiently thorough to identify any concerns about recording practice, and to identify patterns and trends, and that immediate action is taken to address any issues raised (NMS 21.1, 21.2, 21.7)  ensure that staff support and encourage young people to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age, ability and understanding and to keep memorabilia of their time in placement (NMS 22.6)  ensure that, when young people go missing from placement, proper records are always retained and timely notification is made to the placing authority and that, subsequent to the incident, the home discusses with the placing authority any further action that may need to be taken (NMS 5.10 24.4)

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are adequate .

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have positive relationships with the staff, which allow them to discuss issues of importance to them. Young people are relaxed and comfortable in these relationships allowing them to also exchange banter with staff. The open and non- judgemental approach of the staff helps young people to develop attachments and this, in turn, helps them to feel more self-confident and positive about themselves. Young people are not always well supported with life story work or to collect memorabilia to reflect their time in placement. This does not help them to reflect fully on their history and understand their current situation.

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people feel that their views and opinions are listened to by staff and one said: 'Right from the day I came I've felt listened to.' They say that they are aware of the content of their care plan and that staff support them to attend their reviews of this and give their views. Asked how happy they were, on a scale of one to ten, one young person said eight.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged and supported to visit doctors, dentists and opticians whenever necessary and are strongly encouraged to engage consistently with specialist services, such as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), where this is appropriate to help them make progress towards identified care plan targets. This makes sure that young people get the specialist help they need. Sometimes, however, inadequate staff awareness of young people's past histories, and resultant lack of clear understanding of the exact nature of specialist services input, limits their capacity to provide maximum support to young people.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are supported to maintain the education arrangements identified within their placing authority care plan. Sometimes, where these arrangements involve less than full-time attendance and have been determined by other professionals, they have the potential to restrict young people's achievements.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have good access to a range of activities of their choice. They go bowling, play snooker and watch films with the staff. Young people have been supported to go horse riding and to work locally with animals. Young people feel that their family and friends are made very welcome by the staff and feel confident that staff will provide transport if they want to visit family or friends. Some young people have made real progress in engaging with peers through staff support to attend local youth clubs.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Some young people have moved positively and successfully into independent living situations locally and have retained contact with staff for on-going support. Those young people currently accommodated, are receiving some support to develop self- care and independence skills but records do not always reflect this well. Staff are not always forceful enough in promoting young people's engagement with this work.

p.6

Quality of care

Staff demonstrate a child-centred approach towards young people and vocalise a commitment to promoting positive outcomes for young people and valuing their individuality. However, few staff have completed equality and diversity training and this has the potential to leave them struggling to always promote this effectively with the young people they care for. Records of key work sessions, undertaken with young people, show that staff do utilise day-to-day opportunities well to engage young people in discussions about the world around them and their place within it. Records detail discussions about sexual health, healthy eating, Downs’s syndrome and the sort of offences which disqualify people from working with children.

p.6

Quality of care

Staff promote young people's awareness of healthy lifestyles and encourage them to eat sensibly. Where eating habits cause particular concern, staff have held some positive discussions with young people about things like anorexia and good diet. Staff encourage young people with their education. However, they are insufficiently pro- active in liaising with education and social work professionals where young people are not in full-time education and there are concerns about the impact of this on young people's potential achievement. Staff are not voicing these concerns formally or robustly enough to constitute robust advocating for the young people they look after. Staff are also not pro-active enough with placing authorities in ensuring that they are able to make reasonable and appropriate decisions about young people's day-to-day arrangements, such as overnight stays and personal issues. Young people

p.7

Quality of care

feel very different to their friends if those who care for them cannot make such decisions without constant reference to other professionals.

p.7

Quality of care

Young people's files do not always contain education histories or Personal Education Plans and staff are not diligently chasing for this information. This has the potential to leave staff trying to support young people into education without a full understanding of their educational support needs.

p.7

Quality of care

Young people say that they know how to complain and feel very comfortable in raising issues that concern them with the staff. No complaints have been received since the previous inspection.

p.7

Quality of care

Staff communicate well with young people generally. Young people feel comfortable around them and feel they can trust them. The staff have a good awareness of young people's presenting and potential behaviours and are able to describe how these are managed. However, not all young people have a written behaviour management plan and behaviour management is not well covered in the placement plan document itself. The lack of a clear written plan, to detail the strategies for managing young people's presenting behaviour, has the potential to promote inconsistency in managing challenging behaviour.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

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

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people say that they feel safe at this home and that staff talk with them about how to keep themselves safe when they are out in the community. Where young people have previously engaged in potentially unsafe behaviour, such as self-harm and sexualised behaviour, these have reduced while they have lived in the home. Young people rarely go missing, but on one occasion, when an incident occurred, this was not recorded properly in accordance with the home's procedures. On this occasion, information was also not shared in a timely manner with the placing authority, although appropriate follow-up action was taken by the staff to prevent a recurrence and the incident was fully discussed with the young person.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

No concerns regarding bullying have arisen, but it is a topic regularly discussed with young people so they are aware that support is available to them. Young people are given appropriate sanctions in line with their age and understanding. Sanctions are infrequently used; there is good use of incentives to promote positive behaviour and staff praise and reward these. The staff are very proud of the achievements of some of the young people who have been accommodated at the home, particularly those who have made positive transitions into independence and maintain contact with the home. Physical intervention is rarely used, although staff are properly trained to ensure that they are able to restraint safely and appropriately. Staff are aware of the home's policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding and know the procedure they should follow should a safeguarding concern arise. However, not all staff have

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

received dedicated safeguarding training, to include the skills to care for young people who have been abused, and this has the potential to limit their knowledge and capacity to support such young people effectively.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

Staff working at the home are carefully vetted, and visitors are properly checked and supervised, so that young people are not exposed to adults who may pose a threat to their safety. Full recruitment records are stored at the provider organisation’s head office. The staff records retained at the home do not always contain confirmation of the date and reference number of their Criminal Records Bureau check or confirmation that two satisfactory references are received.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

Regular checks are undertaken on the home's gas and electricity installations and fire safety equipment. There are regular fire drills but the home is not always diligent in ensuring that a fire drill is undertaken in a timely way when new young people are admitted, to ensure that all young people know how to evacuate the building safely. Regular health and safety checks are undertaken and reports sent to the directors to ensure that any necessary action can be instigated immediately. In general, the home provides a physically safe environment, but cleaning substances and items considered potentially hazardous to young people, are currently stored on open shelving. This provides the potential for young people to obtain items, which could be dangerous to them.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's care plans incorporate a risk check list, which identifies the level of risk in relation to a range of potential behaviour. Where risk factors are considered potentially high, for example in relation to bullying or self-harm, a more comprehensive individual risk assessment pro-forma is completed. These risk assessments are of poor quality and do not properly support staff in managing young people's challenging and potentially unsafe behaviours consistently. Some very positive individual work has been done to raise young people's awareness of their personal safety. Generally, two staff are on duty at the home. However, at night time there is usually only one member of staff sleeping-in and this may be a male member of staff with female young people. The home has not completed a written risk assessment to consideration of the potential risks, to young people or staff, of this lone working

p.8

Leadership and management

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

p.9

Leadership and management

The Registered Manager of the home has very recently left. Ofsted has been notified of the change and a new manager has been appointed. An application for registration of the new manager is currently being completed.

p.9

Leadership and management

The home's Statement of Purpose accurately reflects the aims and objectives of the home and gives good detail of facilities and services offered to young people, their parents and carers. The young people's guide provides good information about the quality of care they can expect from staff and about how they can access advocacy and support. Clear policies and procedures are in place to guide staff practice in meeting young people's individual needs.

p.9

Leadership and management

Although there are regular staff meetings and staff are receiving supervision at regular and appropriate intervals, leadership has been insufficiently robust. Staff meeting minutes are a sharing of factual information rather than a reflection on practice and a forum for service development. The home's development plan identifies a number of development objectives, for example, improving young people's engagement with education, but with no clear identification of how these objectives will be implemented.

p.9

Leadership and management

Staff, particularly those who have been appointed within the last year, have not always completed essential core training in a timely way and this has the potential to limit their knowledge and capacity to provide high quality care and support to young people. Although new staff are completing the Children's Workforce Development Council's induction standards, this training is not always being completed within the required six months; this results in delays in staff commencing the Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma. Training records do not evidence therefore, that a good quality learning and development programme is equipping staff to keep up to date with professional and legal developments or to meet young people’s specific needs. Staff do not all have written development plans to highlight their particular strengths or their training needs. Staff enthusiasm and commitment to engaging with

p.9

Leadership and management

young people in positive relationships provides strong support but does not compensate for the lack of appropriate relevant training to equip them with the necessary skills to undertake their professional role. There are sufficient staff to meet the needs of young people currently accommodated and young people benefit from consistency of staffing, with minimal use of agency staff. There are two staff vacancies currently and appointments to these posts are in progress.

p.9

Leadership and management

The home has systems in place for monitoring what goes on; reports are regularly completed by the manager and on behalf of the provider organisation. However, management monitoring and oversight has not been well focused. It has been superficial and, as such, has failed to identify many of the shortfalls highlighted in this report, particularly in relation to record keeping.

p.9

Leadership and management

Young people's records do not routinely contain good information about their past histories, do not demonstrate that staff are pro-active in chasing essential information from associated professionals and do not show that staff are always appropriately challenging other professionals when services provided or decisions made appear not to be supportive of young people's best interests. In some instances the lack of relevant pre-placement information can hamper staff in supporting young people to gain a full understanding of their background and current situation. The daily records which staff retain of young people's placements, are largely factual, not evaluative enough and not well referenced to identified placement objectives. When young people come to review their records this will not help them to recognise the progress many of them have made from their starting points since the time they were admitted.

p.10

Leadership and management

The home does have a demonstrated capacity to address requirements and recommendations in a timely and effective way. Those identified during the full inspection of the home in June last year, had all been fully implemented when the interim inspection was undertaken in January 2013 and the home was judged, at that time, to have made good progress.

p.10

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.

p.11

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 the inspection of children's homes.

p.11