Children's Home run by First 4 Care Limited in Doncaster

Unique reference number SC390293 Inspection date 15/08/2013 Inspector Robert Curr Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/02/2013 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

The setting is operated by a private organisation and registered to provide care for three young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties between 10 and 17 years. The Statement of Purpose specifies placements are medium to long term.

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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

The home provides a good level of personalised care planning. All the young people are making good progress since they moved in and most are achieving the local authority long term goals put in place at the start of placement. Young people are safe at the home and have sufficient relationships with each other for it not to be a significant problem. All young people have excellent relationships with the staff team. This has allowed them to feel secure and grow.

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Overall effectiveness

The majority of young people do not engage in criminal activity or go missing from home. Those that do receive input to help them understand the dangers they can face.

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Overall effectiveness

All young people attend suitable education or training placements. They achieve well in their placements and have plans for further education or employment opportunities. Young people also receive the necessary support to prepare them for adult life and economic well-being.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people receive a good amount of consultation opportunities and their comments are always taken seriously.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff in the home demonstrate a good understanding of safe working practice and manage any challenging behaviour safely. Generally, the staff promote positive behaviour well through good use of praise and encouragement.

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager leads the team well and is passionate about achieving good outcomes for the young people. Nonetheless, there are some shortfalls in the quality assurance monitoring. Copies of documents are not being shared with Ofsted in a timely manner. These shortfalls do not have a direct impact on the outcomes for young people.

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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) keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the statement of purpose, and notify HMCI within 28 days of any such revision (Regulation 5 (1)(2)) 30/09/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) interview with their consent and in private, such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home, as appears necessary in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the home and supply a copy of the report to HMCI within stipulated timescales. (Regulation 33 (4)(a),(5)(a)) 31/10/2013

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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 the children’s guide includes a summary of what the home sets out to do for children, how they can find out their rights, how a child can contact their Independent Reviewing Officer, the Children’s Right’s Director, Ofsted , if they wish to raise a concern with inspectors. (NMS 13.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people state they are happy at the home and enjoy living there. Most young people make excellent progress at the home and the majority are meeting the goals set out in their initial placement plan. Most young people demonstrate maturity and a positive view of themselves. This has seen their confidence grow while in placement and develop an ability to move on and try new things such as using public transport. Young people have good attendance in education or training opportunities. Most young people engage positively in education and make good achievements for their abilities. One young person explained that they have recently embarked on individual tuition at home and a work placement has been organised. This means that they benefit from learning important social skills as part of their education as well as having a sense of engaging in education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have good access to the agreed family contact. This ensures they stay in touch with people who are important to them and they maintain a sense of their background, as well as providing them with emotional support from individuals outside of the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Most young people understand the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and make good choices for themselves. They receive support and education in these areas to help them make informed choices for their own future.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people do not take part in criminal activity but sometimes display risk taking behaviour away from the home. Young people that display these behaviours engage in sessions with the police to help them understand the consequences. Young people have good opportunities to gain independence skills while living at the home. This is preparing them well for independent living and adult life.

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Quality of care

Young people have very good relationships with the staff team and they feel that the staff are consistently concerned with their welfare. There is a harmonious atmosphere in the house with many typical homely activities taking place between staff and young people. Examples of this are baking and playing board games. The staff demonstrate a nurturing attitude towards young people by always attending important events with them; in particular attending awards ceremonies. As a result of this young people feel well supported by the staff team and they feel that they are genuine with their care.

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Quality of care

Young people receive frequent consultation opportunities. They take part in weekly house meetings and are engaged in key worker sessions to follow up issues identified in their care plan. Young people know how to make a complaint and feel able to do so. The views and wishes of the young people influence the running of the home and the activities they choose. All young people have good opportunities to speak with staff to express their ideas and feelings.

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Quality of care

Good quality placement plan are in place. These are supported by individual tailored care plans, which young people are able to contribute to and sign. These plans provide useful advice for staff to follow. Individual incentives are agreed with the young people to reinforce good behaviour and their personal achievements. All their significant risks are clearly identified in their care plan with up-to-date preventative strategies in place. This promotes the safety of young people. The staff encourage a range of physical activities at the house and also use the local amenities. The staff value the importance of nutritious food for health and well- being. A balanced approach is taken by including a selection of healthy foods into the young people’s diet. Young people have good access to all medical services to support their basic health needs and adequate access to specialist support for their emotional development. Young people live in a healthy environment and benefit from

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Quality of care

a staff team that values the importance of physical activities for their general health and well-being.

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Quality of care

The home positively addresses and challenges blocks to educational progress. The staff ensure that each young person is in an educational setting suitable to their needs. The staff provide good support for young people with their plans for home tuition and for entering the forces. Young people receive good support in all educational areas and vocational pathways.

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Quality of care

Young people have good opportunities to ensure their cultural needs are met and are able to meet with friends away from the home. Young people have appropriate unsupervised time to ensure they improve their social skills, develop trust and their own friendships. This means that they have the same opportunities as all young people to make friends and stay in touch with the latest trends.

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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 feel safe at the home. Young people state that bullying is not a serious issue at the home. They have the confidence that staff will promptly tackle any incidents that may arise. Risk assessments are in place with good preventative strategies to ensure that the staff are appropriately directed to reduce any opportunities for bullying.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safeguarding allegations are dealt with correctly and promptly. All comments made by young people are taken seriously and not pre-judged by the home. They are investigated thoroughly by the correct authorities. This means that young people are kept safe in an environment that follows the appropriate safeguarding procedures.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The majority of young people do not go missing from home. Young people that do go missing from home receive input from outside professionals to educate them on the risks that there may be. The home is aware of the factors that trigger young people wanting to leave the home and put preventative measures in place; these measures are successful and young people are beginning to understand the dangers that may be present when they do not return home at the agreed time.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has a strong and proactive relationship with the local police. They work collaboratively to minimise the risk of young people going missing and also to ensure that there is a correct response in place when they do go missing. This promotes the young people’s safety and helps to promote a quick return home. Care plans clearly identify significant risks and challenging behaviours for individual young people. There are good systems in place throughout the home to reward good choices. This shows that the staff is proud of young people’s achievements.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Risk taking behaviour and challenging incidents are largely confined to within the home environment. These are managed well by staff to ensure that young people are kept safe. The sanctions put in place following young people’s poor behaviour are realistic and appropriate. These sanctions are effective and help the young people understand the consequences of their behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is no use of restraint at the home. The staff say that they would only intervene as a last resort to prevent someone from getting seriously hurt.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The environment is physical safe and secure. All the necessary checks of the building and equipment take place within an appropriate timescale. All permanent and agency staff receive satisfactory clearance before they begin work at the home.

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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

There is a permanent Registered Manager in post. A recommendation from the last is being addressed through staff being afforded opportunities to attain their level 3 trained in working with children and young people.

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Leadership and management

A Statement of Purpose sets out the aims, objectives and services of the home. However, a revised version of the statement has not been forwarded to Ofsted. Each young person is provided with a helpful welcome guide that details the service offered. However, the guide does not contain some matters that are important to the young people, such as how to find out about their rights via the Children's Rights Director or the contact details for Ofsted. This limits children and young people in practicing their rights.

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Leadership and management

The home meets its objective to provide a nurturing, supportive environment to young people. There is a development plan in place which has an action plan for moving forward the service. All other appropriate documentations are in place to ensure stakeholders have the correct information of the home to understand the service provided.

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Leadership and management

Regular monitoring is carried out by an external manager at the appropriate intervals to ensure there is sufficient oversight of the standard of care. However, despite their informative nature, these reports are not sent to Ofsted in a timely fashion. The Registered Manager also carries out regular monitoring of the home to ensure all systems are in place correctly and any areas of weakness are identified. Both processes include consultation with young people and stakeholders to ensure their views are included in the running of the home The home has sufficient staff to meet the needs of young people. The staff are well supported and receive a good amount of supervision; predominantly carried out by the Registered Manager. The staff have sufficient access to regular training opportunities and complete a thorough probationary period before they can progress. This ensures young people are cared for by a well trained staff team that is

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Leadership and management

All significant events relating to the protection of young people accommodated in the home are notified to the correct authorities. This is good practice and ensures important information is always shared across the relevant professionals in safeguarding children and young people.

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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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