Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Unique reference number SC398480 Inspection date 18/07/2013 Inspector Dawn Bennett Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 28/02/2013 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 home operated by a private company is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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

The organisation is in the process of consolidating practice and addressing environmental issues. The home has previously provided good care, but standards and outcomes have been through an inconsistent period.

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Overall effectiveness

A group of young people within the last five months did not experience consistently good outcomes and some placements ended early because of disruptive or high risk behaviour. The majority have now moved out and the organisation is maintaining a single placement while remaining issues are addressed.

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Overall effectiveness

The current young person is enjoying life in the home, and the placing authority is positive about the care received.

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Overall effectiveness

Two requirements and four recommendations have been made as a result of this inspection. Major maintenance to the property's roofs and grounds is underway. Risk assessments are not robust and do not prevent incidents from reoccurring. The home and grounds are not maintained to a good standard. Quality assurance systems do not systematically analyse data collected to improve practice. Staff are not asking schools to set homeworking or reading for young people to improve educational outcomes.

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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 all parts of the children's home used by young people are of sound construction and kept in good structural repair externally and internally. This specifically relates to the repair of the house and garage roof and the area in the garage referred to as 'the secret garden' (Regulation 31 (2) (d)) 29/10/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all parts of the home to which children have access are so far as reasonably practicable free from hazards to their health or safety. This specifically relates to risk assessments of the home's garden and external access to the garage and house roof (Regulation 23 (a)) 29/10/2013

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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 home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated. This specifically relates to the general maintenance of the garden and interior of the house (NMS 10.3)  ensure children are helped by staff to achieve their educational goals. Staff work with a child's education provider to maximise each child's achievement and to minimise any under achievement (NMS 8.4)  ensure staff actively promote the welfare of children living in the home. This specifically relates to risk assessments and behavioural management strategies to deter young people from climbing on the garage or house roofs (NMS 4.2)  ensure the manager regularly monitors, in line with regulations, all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the homes policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. Immediate action is taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring (NMS 21.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are adequate .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have made inconsistent progress. The recent groupings of young people in the house have not resulted in good outcomes for everyone. Several individuals have left because of increasing high risk behaviour or because the placement was not right for them. One young person did not get involved in incidents, continued to increase independence skills and successfully moved onto an adult placement. There is currently one young person remaining in placement and they are making good educational and social progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Those young people who wish to engage have the chance to talk with sympathetic staff about issues as they arise. There is focused work and therapy sessions to improve young people’s well-being and self-esteem through gaining an understanding of their history and a sense of their identity. They develop confidence in the wider community through taking part in leisure pursuits, going out into the community and successfully experiencing new social situations. For example, a young person went on a trip to New York to celebrate a birthday.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make varying progress in education. Their school and college attendance is improved and for some young people their attendance is good. One young person undertook weekly voluntary work and successfully completed their moped test. However, young people who attend the company’s school are not being sent home with homework or reading. This does not help the staff to support the young person to meet their educational targets and improve their educational outcomes.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn independence skills. The success of this depends upon their level of emotional maturity. The house has a small flat which is connected to the home. This enables those young people who are ready to experience more privacy and responsibility to make good progress towards moving on into adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The young person currently living at the home was cheerful and enjoying the company of staff. They were fully involved in the life of the home. They were helping with redecoration and have recently been involved in the refurbishment of their bedroom. They have good relationships with some staff who discuss day-to-day issues with them and teach them about: gardening, house chores, going shopping and taking part in activities.

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Quality of care

The service had previously achieved and maintained a good quality of care. However, this standard has not been consistent over the last five months. The compatibility of the young people has impacted adversely on the quality of care. This is despite admissions of young people having been in accordance with the home’s policy.

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Quality of care

The services care planning and support framework ensures education, health and leisure are sufficiently organised with daily routines supporting these arrangements. In-house placement plans identify areas for development based upon young people’s assessed needs, skills and abilities.

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Quality of care

Young people's progress is shared regularly with placing social workers to ensure that they are up to date with developments. Placement meetings and reviews take place at appropriate intervals. Young people are encouraged to contribute to their review and long-term care planning. This ensures that decisions are known and understood by all those involved in young people's lives, and implemented effectively into daily living arrangements. Some young people have developed positive relationships with staff. They have successfully progressed in line with their aims and objectives as detailed in their placement plans. They have used regular key worker sessions to explore their options and discuss the aims and objectives. They have been sensitively supported and enabled to address discrimination in society and flourish as young adults.

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Quality of care

Some young people admitted within the last five months have not enjoyed sound relationships, interacted positively with others or behaved appropriately. The service has not been able to manage the group’s challenging and often dangerous behaviour. For example, incidents of young people climbing up on the garage and house roofs. Although the number of incidents are not high, when they occurred police help was sought to manage the problem.

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Quality of care

During this unsettled time young people were very destructive to the environment. After incidents the company did repair the damage and took steps to reduce risks in the future. They also completed risk assessments and strategies were reviewed. However, they were not been robust enough to prevented further incidents.

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Quality of care

The organisation did take proactive action to address the issue. Young people have moved on from the home and the home is currently only providing accommodation for one young person until matters are resolved. Staff previously belonging to this home's staff team have moved with some of the young people to ensure consistency of support in their new placements.

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Quality of care

An area to the rear of the property, referred to by staff and young people as ‘the secret garden’, is overgrown and in a very poor state of repair. It presents a high risk as young people have used this space to hide from staff prior to going missing or climbing up onto the roofs. The organisation is in the process of clearing the site, erecting a new boundary fence and stopping easy access to the house and garage roofs. There are clear timescales in respect to completing this work to prevent young people accessing roofs in the future.

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Quality of care

Areas of the interior of the house and in the garden have not been maintained to a good standard. For example, some furniture is tired and worn, some rooms are bare and minor damage is in need of repair. Since only one young person has been in placement staff have been working hard to decorate and bring the home back up to a good standard. Most areas in the home being used on a daily basis are warm and welcoming. There are photos of recent trips and activities. The young person is very pleased with their new bedroom and very proud of the wallpaper and décor.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is adequate at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. There have been a number of high risk incidents over the last five months. The organisation has addressed some issues and is working to an action plan to ensure the home safeguards young people in the future. The young person currently placed in the home feels safe and the placing authority is happy with the actions taken by the organisation to maintain and promote her safety.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are trained and follow established safeguarding procedures and strategies for managing challenging behaviours. They were not, however, been able to effectively translate this into daily safe care for some young people. They struggled to balance the diverse needs and vulnerabilities of the previous group of young people. The young person currently placed is making good progress in understanding her emotions and how they link to her behaviours. Staff are supporting her on a daily basis to earn rewards which result in her being provided with positive activities.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Investigations into allegations or suspicions of harm are handled fairly, quickly, and consistently in the first instance and the service refers appropriately to the Local Authority Designated Officer and involves placing authorities.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Work was done with young people to try and help them understand the risks they faced and how to protect themselves. This was effective for some young people but others did not respond and continued to place themselves at risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The arrangements for health and safety is adequate. Staff do make health and safety checks and equipment and services are generally safe, including fire safety through a fire risk assessment. However, the risk management approach has not identified other hazards for young people in the environment and their activities, or reduced these risks. For example, risk assessments have not been reviewed after incidents. When work has been completed to reduce risk it has not been reassessed. This lead to further incidents because the work was not completed to a high standard. This placed young people at risk of harm.

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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

At the last full inspection this home was judged to be good overall. At the last interim inspection in February 2013 it was judged to be making good progress and one recommendation was made. At this inspection that recommendation was met.

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Leadership and management

The home offers care and accommodation to young people in line with its Statement of Purpose. The young people's guide is an informative and attractive document. These publications help young people and the placing authority to be clear about what is on offer.

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Leadership and management

Staff are positive about their routine and useful supervision, seeing it as an opportunity to reflect on practice. Staff feel that their training needs are well met and that they work together well as a team.

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Leadership and management

The home's Registered manager has just gone on maternity leave. The acting manager is a Registered Manager at another home within the organisation and has received a handover before starting in post.

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Leadership and management

This service has gone through an unsettled period. As a result young people have moved on from the service taking experienced staff with them for support. This has resulted in an established staff team being disbanded. Staff levels are currently appropriate for the one person placed.

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Leadership and management

Leaders and managers monitor the quality of the service through established audits of records and care practice. This has led the organisation to take proactive action to address recent concerns. For example, through meetings with the local police and placing authorities. The organisation expresses a commitment to making improvements to the service and addressing any outstanding issues. They are currently researching options to deter future incidents that involve young people climbing onto roofs and placing themselves at risk of harm.

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Leadership and management

The acting manager is using quality assurance tools to monitor quality of care and young people's progress. Although the management team undertakes internal monthly monitoring and six-monthly monthly monitoring for Ofsted the reports do not analyse or evaluate data collected. This means quality assurance is not always informing development plans or improving practice.

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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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