Children's Home run by Derby City Council in Derby

Unique reference number SC036019 Inspection date 03/06/2013 Inspector Russell Shackford Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 21/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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.

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Brief description of the service

This is a local authority home which accommodates a total of 15 children in three separate units, with five placements in each unit. The service provides care and accommodation for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. There is also a school on site.

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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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people’s health outcomes are good because of effective health promotion practices. Where young people engage in risk taking behaviours such as smoking or drinking alcohol, the manager and staff respond quickly and successfully support young people to engage with other support agencies in relation to these issues. As a result these risk taking behaviours are reducing.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides a good quality of care, with individual plans for each child. With the exception of independent living preparation support the quality of care promotes improved outcomes for children and young people. Young people have positive views about the quality of the care in the home and their relationships with staff.

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Overall effectiveness

Behaviour management plans reflect the individual needs well and outline strategies for staff to follow. Overall young people feel safe and the measures in place protect them.

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Overall effectiveness

The home supports the learning and development of young people exceptionally well. Taking into account their starting point at the time of placement, young people are making good progress towards their desired educational attendance and achievement targets.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people confirm that their views are sought and acted upon. Any complaints made by young people are taken seriously and are responded to. The staff encourage them to make decisions about their lives and they influence the way that the home is run. Young people are positive about their experience of living in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

Not all areas of the home are well maintained. For example, there is damage, rot, graffiti and food smearing to some outside areas of the home.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are cared for by staff who are sufficient in number and trained. Staff are well aware of young people's assessed needs.

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Overall effectiveness

There are minor shortfalls in the quality assurance monitoring processes required to maintain and improve the quality of care. These shortfalls relate to issues not having been identified through monitoring, such as the quality of the independent living preparation plans.

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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 young people receive care which helps them to prepare for and supports them into adulthood, so that they can reach their potential and achieve economic well-being (NMS 12.1 and NMS12.2)  ensure that the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated, in particular the outside of the building (NMS10.3)  ensure that there are clear and effective procedures for monitoring and controlling the activities of the home, in particular for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals and improving the quality of care provided in the children’s home (NMS 21.1)  establish a system to report upon the previous six months monitoring of the matters listed in Schedule 6 in order to enable the provider to identify any trends and issues of concern so that they can continually improve the quality of care at the home. A copy of every report should be sent to HMCI within twenty eight

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Recommendations

days of completion. (Volume 5, statutory guidance, paragraph 3.14)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make sustained progress because of the dedicated support they receive from staff. Young people benefit from the discussions and stimulating inter- active activities that staff use to build relationships with them. Through talking to staff, young people develop confidence; build emotional resilience and gain a good knowledge and understanding of their own backgrounds and future care plans. They adapt well to new situations and their view of themselves is positive.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s health outcomes are good because of effective health promotion practices. Young people keep appointments with the doctor, dentist and optician to support their primary health needs. They have contact with specialist health workers such as the smoking cessation team, adolescent mental health service, drug awareness team and children's nurse which promotes their good physical health and emotional well-being. Where young people engage in risk taking behaviours such as smoking or drinking alcohol, the manager and staff respond quickly and successfully to support young people to engage with other support agencies in relation to these issues. As a result these risk taking behaviours are reducing.

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Outcomes for children and young people

There is a sustained improvement in the education outcomes for young people. Young people's educational attendance is good and improving from their starting points. Taking into account both their attainment and progress from the starting point of their placement, young people make good progress towards achieving their desired educational achievement targets. Young people who no longer attend school are successfully supported to seek further education and employment opportunities.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Clear contact arrangements help to ensure that young people understand when they will see significant people and enjoy seeing family members. Staff work tirelessly to help young people preserve and improve relationships. This is effective because young people say that they have improved relationships with friends and family.

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Outcomes for children and young people

When young people are leaving the home, they receive outstanding support during the transition to their new placement, to independent living or to their parental home. As a result many young people sustain their future placements and remain in contact with the home. However, young people receive only limited support to prepare them for more independent living. This is because this aspect of care at the home is not integral and fully embedded in plans outlining the arrangements for meeting young people's identified needs. Therefore young people receive only adequate care to help them to prepare for adulthood.

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Quality of care

Young people living in this home benefit greatly from an experienced staff group who demonstrate enthusiastically their commitment to addressing young people's care and safety needs. Staff say, 'The best thing about my work is building good relationships with the young people.' Young people confirm this, saying, 'There is always someone to talk to if you want and staff will always listen to you.’ Young people enjoy warm relationships with staff in the home. One staff member said, 'We work hard to build good, positive relationships with young people.' Consistently well written behaviour management plans reflect the individual needs well and outline strategies for staff to follow. This is supported by a crisis intervention and prevention strategy model and individualised incentive schemes. Staff consistently implement these to good effect. As a result, there is little use of sanctions. Staff provide opportunities for daily one-to-one discussion and weekly meetings with

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Quality of care

young people to discuss their views about the home and their lives. Young people confirm that their views are sought and acted upon, citing examples such as the proposed new home development, personalising bedrooms, décor, food and activities. This is supported by visits from independent advocacy services.

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Quality of care

There are very few complaints and these are clearly recorded to reflect the action taken by the staff and the outcomes. Young people say they know how to complain and are confident to do so. The children's guide explains what to do and an information display board has contact details of independent advocate services. An independent visitor speaks to young people at the home regularly.

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Quality of care

Assessed needs are identified within the home’s consistently well written placement plans which clearly outline the arrangements for meeting the identified needs of young people. A member of staff said, 'The plans are thorough and give you a really good picture of what you need to know.' This enables staff to consistently deliver individualised care. Plans are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the progress made by young people.

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Quality of care

A notable area of strength is the ability of the manager and staff to quickly and successfully support young people to engage with other support agencies such as an enhanced care project, supported housing, safeguarding young people services, youth offending services and the drug and alcohol services. As a result, their risk- taking behaviours reduce. A youth offending worker said, 'The staff are very good at engaging in and facilitating joint working around family support, substance abuse, offending behaviours and safeguarding.'

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Quality of care

The home supports the learning and development of young people exceptionally well. Staff speak in aspirational tones to young people and implement individualised incentive schemes to promote attendance. Staff have worked very effectively with education providers to ensure the most appropriate education package is available for each individual. This includes the support of an on-site enhanced care project which can provide full time education or compliment other education packages. As well as providing emotional support around education, the project facilitates alternative learning experiences such as gardening, reading, aromatherapy and beauty sessions. Monthly education planning meetings help to ensure that a shared responsibility prevails and plans are relevant.

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Quality of care

One young person said, 'The best thing about the home is the activities we do.' Young people pursue their particular interests and are enthusiastically supported and encouraged, by staff, to engage in a wide variety of leisure activities, such as: gymnastics, gym, singing classes, archery, go-karting, shopping, paintballing and days out. Young people also have access to a computer and a good range of books, DVDs and games for education and entertainment purposes.

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Quality of care

The young people live in a home that is appropriately located near to shops and leisure, education and employment opportunities. It is on a main bus route to the nearby city centre. The home’s location and transport links support young people's ability to develop independence skills that will equip them for adulthood. The interior of the home is clean and maintained in a good state of structural and decorative repair. The garden is well maintained and safe. However, there is damage, rot, graffiti and food smearing to outside areas of the home. This is unpleasant and un- homely.

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Quality of care

Good policies and practice around the storage, handling, administration and disposal of medication safeguard young people's welfare.

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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 confirm that staff teach them about risks and how to keep themselves safe. Consistently well-written risk assessments inform staff of the action to take to minimise any identified risks and this is implemented in practice. Staff successfully engage the young people in talking through identified concerns which helps them develop an understanding of the risks involved and the reasons for adults being concerned. A member of staff said, 'We do a lot of work around being safe and keeping in touch.' As a result, they feel cared for and protected and young people's risk-taking behaviours reduce. Young people confirm this; for example one said, 'The staff talk to me about keeping safe, who I hang around with and sticking to my agreed coming in times.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

The manager and staff have received good, up-to-date child protection training which includes elements of child exploitation and internet safety. The provider has good safeguarding systems and procedures which staff follow in the event of any allegation or suspicion of abuse. Staff demonstrate very good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures and because of this are able to promote and protect young people’s safety. A safeguarding professional said, 'The staff do exceptionally well at gathering information and disrupting potentially exploitative activity. They are pro-active and competent.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is good written guidance about bullying and the subject is regularly discussed with young people. This helps to raise their awareness of the issues involved. Strategies implemented by staff are successful in preventing bullying as young people say there is no bullying at the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is a jointly agreed protocol for staff to follow in the event of unauthorised absence and young people going missing. This is supported by individualised risk assessment records. As young people settle into the home, incidences of them going missing reduce and effective action is taken to secure their safe return.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management plans reflect the individual needs well and outline strategies for staff to follow. Staff consistently implement these to good effect. As a result, there is little use of physical restraint. All staff receive fire safety training and this helps them minimise any risks posed to young people in the event of a fire at the home. An up-to-date fire risk assessment and regular fire safety checks contribute to a safe environment.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are appropriately recruited. Their suitability to work with young people is assessed by the recruitment checks completed, including the completion of a criminal records check.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

A Statement of Purpose is available which informs readers about how care is provided at the home. The children’s guide provides a user-friendly summary of the Statement of Purpose. Young people receive a copy of it before they move to live at the home so that they know what to expect if they choose to live there. The guide is appropriate to the age and understanding of the young people accommodated.

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Leadership and management

Young people are looked after by an experienced and consistent staff team that are well trained, competent and supported to meet their needs. The large majority of staff have completed an appropriate course at level 3 in caring for children and young people as well as completing training in other child-care related topics. Good induction training is provided to all new staff before commencing work with the young people. This familiarises them with the home’s written guidance which is implemented in practice.

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Leadership and management

The manager monitors and reports on the quality of care at the home. However, the recordings are fragmented, often brief in detail and do not fully evaluate all aspects of practice. For instance the shortfalls in independent living support is not identified as an issue or reported on. These shortfalls have not had a direct negative effect upon the quality of care or outcomes for young people but do impact on the home’s ability to demonstrate how it intends to improve and develop practice.

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Leadership and management

A summary report on the quality of care during the previous six months has not been completed and supplied to Ofsted as required. This prevents the regulator from monitoring the conduct of the home in the interim period between inspections.

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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 the inspection of children's homes.

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