Children's Home run by Stanfield Care Services Limited in Norfolk

Unique reference number SC451152 Inspection date 16/07/2013 Inspector Clive Lucas Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 16/11/2012 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 home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is owned by a private organisation.

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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 adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

This is the first inspection of this home since registration. Young people in the home have good outcomes, experiencing improvements in their lives as a result of the work that staff do. These improvements are recognised by social workers. One said, 'I would have no issue in recommending the home, they have given an outstanding service to the young person I am working with.' In particular the young people at the home make very good progress in their education due to staff work with schools and their encouragement of young people to strive for their desired further education choices. Staff also promote health and young people’s health needs are met well. There are good relationships between staff and young people. Young people know that staff listen to them and assist them. This helps them to feel secure in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

There are some shortfalls around recording in some areas. The Registered Manager has reviewed some recording systems to improve them. Monitoring does take place to improve the quality of care, but it does not make use of feedback from young people, social workers and parents in order to be fully effective. Risk assessments are used to help keep young people safe, but are not as comprehensive as they could be. However, staff do have a good awareness of individual young people and their vulnerabilities which helps to protect them. While there is a system for obtaining recruitment checks, in one case a member of staff worked unsupervised before their second reference was received and verified. This meant that a decision on their suitability to work with children could not be based on full information. While there is a training programme to help staff work effectively with young people, some training has not been provided in a timely way.

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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.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that any person for whom information in relation to any of the matters listed in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete, only begins work at the home if the registered person considers that the circumstances are exceptional and they are appropriately supervised while carrying out their duties (Regulation 26(6)(c) and (d)) 09/08/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17A (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline in a children’s home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose of which shall include details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure (Regulation 17B(3)(b)) 09/08/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that any medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed (Regulation 21(2)(b) 09/08/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the system for improving the quality of care provided in the children’s home provides for consultation with children accommodated in the home, their parents and placing authorities (Regulation 34(3)) 27/09/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all persons employed at the home receive appropriate training. (Regulation 27(4)(a)) 30/08/2013

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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 written records kept by the home when a child goes missing detail any reasons given by the child for running away from the home, and any action taken in the light of those reasons (NMS 5.10)  implement a proportionate approach to any risk assessment; this relates to identifying when risks escalate and that full information is available to base risk assessments upon. (NMS 4.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good progress and experience good outcomes as a result of living at this home. Social workers speak very positively about the changes that young people have made as a result of being at the home. They use phrases such as 'she is a different girl' and ‘has come on leaps and bounds’. One also commented on the increased resilience of a young person.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All spoke highly of the very good progress in education. Young people are all in education or further education. They are attending regularly and achieving outcomes that will benefit them in further education and ultimately in employment. This will improve their life-chances. Young people spoke of being encouraged to attend education and receiving help with homework if they needed it.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have their health needs met well. They are supported to receive health treatment. One young person spoke of support she received from staff when she was nervous about forthcoming treatment. Young people's emotional health is promoted through good relationships with staff that listen to them and help them to articulate their feelings and build relationships. One young person said, 'Staff are interested in what we say.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are supported in their contact with their families and their wishes and feelings over contact are listened to and acted on by staff. As a result young people are able to experience improved contact with their families and form appropriate relationships with them that will last beyond their time in care.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to go on holidays that they have been very active in choosing. This allows them to have experiences of other countries and cultures and to have enjoyable times with staff. They are also able to take part in community activities and play a positive part in these, which helps develop their self-esteem.

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Quality of care

Young people and staff have very good, positive relationships. One young person said that, ‘Staff are great; they are supportive and help with problems.’ Young people enjoy spending time with staff. They know that their views, wishes and feelings are sought, taken seriously and acted upon. Changes are made to the running of the home and to the plans for young people as a result of this. Young people know how to make a complaint and feel able to do so. These positive relationships and taking young people's views seriously helps young people to build confidence and feel secure in their placement.

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Quality of care

Staff encourage young people to live a healthy lifestyle. This includes encouragement to eat well and exercise. Staff also ensure that the young people receive the health input that they need and that it is in line with their care plans, for example specialist appointments as well as routine medical, dental and optical checks and treatment. Medication is stored securely and there is an audit trail in place which allows staff to identify promptly if the medicine in stock does not tally with the records. This is effective in identifying any errors in the audit trail of medicines quickly so that staff can ensure that in these cases young people have had the medication they are prescribed. However, there are rare times when the administration of some medicines has been missed and this can have a potential impact on young people's health. Overall, staff practice helps ensure that young people's health needs are met

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Quality of care

well and in some cases very well, but the occasional missed medicine does compromise this.

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Quality of care

Staff are very good at encouraging and promoting education for young people in the home. This includes advocating over the choice of schools that they attend and maintaining good relationships with schools. Staff also encourage and arrange additional educational opportunities, such as adult education, to help young people obtain places on further education courses that they are interested in. This encourages young people to recognise the importance of education in achieving the careers they want. It also is of great value in boosting their self-esteem through their success. Staff speak to young people about their identity and individuality. They talk to young people about their feelings in this area and help them to find information they may need.

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Quality of care

The house provides a comfortable and pleasant home for the young people to live in. It is large enough to allow young people choice about where they spend time and with whom. It is clean, tidy and decorated and furnished to provide a domestic and homely environment. Social workers comment on how the home is not institutional; one described it as 'a home-from-home'.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people say that they feel safe in the home and that they can talk to staff about any worries or problems. They say that they get on with their peers at the home and that there is not any bullying, but are confident staff would deal with any. A social worker said, 'The home are very good at communicating with the young people and helping them to keep themselves safe. They explain and discuss this with the young people so that they are part of the process.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

Records are kept of incidents of young people going missing from care. The initial recording system was not sufficiently clear so it was revised. The new forms allow for much better recording. When they return to the home, young people are offered medical assistance and the opportunity to speak to someone independent. However, young people's views are not always captured. This makes it difficult to know why young people go missing from care and consequently to take steps to reduce the frequency of such incidents. When young people are missing, the staff work well with police to find them quickly and ensure they are safe. Staff are aware of the vulnerability of individuals and take this into account in deciding when to report them missing. Staff are also aware of the risks of young people being exploited while missing and discuss these risks with young people so they can understand them. Overall, this does help safeguard young people from the risks of being missing from

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Safeguarding children and young people

care. There is a process for ensuring that staff have appropriate recruitment checks before they start work in the home. While this is mostly effective, it has not prevented a new member of staff working unsupervised before their second reference was returned and verified. All other checks had been completed, so most safeguards were in place. However, the system was not fully effective in ensuring that managers had full information to judge potential risks to young people and this is not in line with the Children's Homes Regulations 2001.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people say that the rules in the home are reasonable and that any sanctions used are fair. They are able to talk about the sanctions and restraints after the event and have their views recorded. Young people say that restraints are only used when necessary and are done appropriately. Records do not always provide enough information to show the justification for the restraint, despite being signed-off by managers. The lack of sufficient detail limits the managers' ability to monitor the use of restraint and staff practice. However, the Registered Manager does de-brief staff after all incidents of restraint and as part of this considers what may have prevented the need for the restraint. Records do show that the frequency of restraint for young people has decreased over their time in the home. The staff practice in dealing with sanctions and behaviour management helps young people to develop appropriate

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safeguarded by sound child protection practices. Staff have child protection training and know how to respond to any concerns or allegations. They listen to young people and take appropriate action to ensure that safeguarding referrals are made. They also provide good support for young people through the difficult process of speaking about allegations. There are good relationships with the Local Authority Designated Officer and social workers that help to ensure appropriate responses to any concerns.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Risk assessments are used to identify risks for individual young people and these are mostly detailed and practical. However, there is not written guidance on how to identify when risks rise. Staff do have a good awareness of the indicators of this for young people, but this is not as secure as having it recorded. In some cases there is a lack of clarity over background information on young people and this can limit the effectiveness of risk assessments.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The physical safety of young people in the home is promoted by good use of risk assessments, fire drills and equipment tests. Young people take part in drills, including at night time and they know what to do in the event of a fire.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

There is a Registered Manager and a deputy in post so that there are clear management arrangements that staff and children are aware of. The home was registered in November 2012. They have been reviewing their processes and have made amendments to recording systems. This enables them to provide better information for monitoring and for young people who may wish to look at their records in the future, so they can form a better understanding of their time in the home. Complaints are responded to appropriately and action taken to change or strengthen practice where this is required. The Registered Manager deals robustly with areas of staff practice that cause concern, so that young people are well cared for.

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Leadership and management

There are regular monitoring visits from someone outside the home to look at the care that is being provided. Young people and staff are spoken to during these visits. Attempts are made to get parents' views, but to date there have not been any responses. The Registered Manager undertakes monthly monitoring of records and prepares a report to improve the quality of care which he sends to Ofsted. This report states that parents, social workers and young people have been consulted, but does not include details of any responses. This means that views of young people, parents and social workers are not being used in reviews to assess and improve the quality of care. This limits the effectiveness of any such review. However, the Registered Manager does take action to improve the quality of staff practice and care where issues are identified.

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Leadership and management

The home employs a sufficient number of staff and use of agency staff is limited. As a result, young people are cared for by adults who they know and can form consistent and beneficial relationships with. Staff have a range of training to help them provide suitable care for young people. They are appreciative of the training they receive, but sometimes the training is not provided in a timely way. Consequently, staff do not always have the opportunity of learning skills, assessing their practice and amending it to meet the needs of all young people at an early- enough opportunity.

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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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