Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Unique reference number SC033628 Inspection date 23/10/2013 Inspector Paul Scott Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

p.1

Date of last inspection 11/02/2013 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 local authority setting provides six overnight places for short breaks care and also day and tea-time sessions. All the children have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities.

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 outstanding .

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Young people make excellent progress because of the exceedingly high standard of care they receive during their visits to this home. They benefit from being cared for by a highly motivated and child-focused staff team who show a genuine commitment to improving young people's lives. This commitment is evident in the way staff are involved in all aspects of young people's lives, not just their short break stay at the home. Parents and social workers identify this as being a major strength of the service. One social worker said, 'This is an outstanding and essential service that is more than just an overnight stay. It helps bring routine and structure to everything.'

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Young people enjoy their time at the home. There is a clear focus to each young person's visit and staff strike a good balance between learning and fun. Staff make every effort to ensure young people are not marginalised because of their disabilities by providing them with a wide range of opportunities to develop their skills and participate in society. As a result, young people become more confident, independent and socially adept.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Young people's safety and well-being is given the highest priority. Care planning is highly individualised and is underpinned by comprehensive risk assessment, risk management and robust safeguarding practice. Strong links are maintained with parents and professionals ensuring young people's holistic care and safety needs are consistently met. Feedback from parents and professionals confirms this.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The home is effectively managed. The changes to, and growth in service provision has brought about a number of challenges as the manager and staff have strived to maintain high standards of care for young people. Systems are continually under review as there is a clear focus on improvement and development. Some minor shortfalls are noted, the majority of which can be attributed to lapses in internal monitoring. These relate to restraint training refreshers, incomplete health and safety records and missing information from the children's guide.

p.3

Recommendations

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

p.4

Recommendations

 ensure all staff are up-to-date with physical restraint training (NMS 3.15)  update the children’s guide to include details of how a child can contact the Children's Rights Director if they wish to raise a concern (NMS 13.5)  ensure there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed. (NMS 22.1)

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding .

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making exceptional progress, relative to the time they spend at the home as part of their short-break, respite agreement. Services are presently provided for 37 young people. Parents confirm they have full confidence in the ability of staff to care for and support their children when at the home. One parent said, ‘Staff are passionate about what they do and strike a good balance between learning and fun. My child always looks forward to visiting the home, has made lots of progress and is a totally different child. He is more confident, outgoing and sociable.’

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Parents also value the role staff provide for the family unit in helping their children learn new skills that can be transferred into the family home. One foster carer said, ‘The service is amazing. I could not do my job without them. There is nothing better available to meet my child’s very complex needs.’

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy many positive experiences during their short breaks, learn how to interact with their peers, become more independent and keep themselves safe. Social inclusion is a fundamental part of the home’s ethos and staff work very hard to enable young people to access social activities and community events. As a result, young people continually develop and mature and are not marginalised because of their disability.

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Staff creatively use a range of communication support aids to encourage young people to contribute their opinions and make choices during their stay. This means young people are enabled to make choices about the food they eat, the activities they do, and the bedroom in which they sleep. One parent said, ‘It is excellent how staff communicate with my child. They know him very well and encourage him to express himself. His communication skills have improved a lot and he is now able to indicate what he wants to do.’

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Staff are clearly focused on outcomes. Work programmes and target setting provide a measurable and very specific focus to each young person’s visit. Each young person is allocated a staff member for the duration of their visit. This ensures they receive the right support to enjoy their time at the home and work towards their individual targets and goals. Staff work closely with parents and professionals to ensure targets and young people’s routines complement those at home and in other areas of their lives. This includes undertaking regular home visits, attending education meetings and medication reviews. As a result, young people receive continuity of care and make excellent progress in all aspects of their lives.

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

As a short break service parents retain primary responsibility for their child's health and education. Staff work in partnership with parents to ensure young people's current needs are known at the time of their visit. They make every effort to ensure young people's daily routine is not interrupted by their visit to the home. For example, staff will ensure young people receive their medication on time, do their homework and get up ready for school.

p.5

Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

p.5

Quality of care

Young people benefit from visiting an exceptionally child-focused, supportive and caring service. Staff always place young people’s individual needs at the centre of their work. They know young people well and use excellent communication and interpersonal skills to develop positive and trusting relationships with them. As a result young people establish genuinely warm and friendly attachments with staff.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people’s needs are meticulously assessed prior to agreeing short breaks. Introductions to the home are sensitively managed at a pace dictated by young people and their parents. This ensures young people are happy visiting the home and parents are comfortable in allowing others to care for their children. One social worker said, ‘Staff are very good at building relationships with parents. As a result, parents feel safe in the fact that their child is being cared for away from home.’ This relationship continues throughout young people’s placements and communication between staff and parents is transparent. Parents confirm they have no concerns about their child’s care or welfare and are confident that should concerns arise, staff would respond positively.

p.5

Quality of care

Visits are meticulously planned. Staff carefully assess young people’s compatibility with other individuals visiting the home. This ensures young people are well matched and provides them with opportunities to form positive relationships with their peers. Staff always gather sufficient information about young people to ensure their current and emerging needs are known and can be met. Detailed short break plans are regularly updated and staff consistently put these plans into practice, recognising young people as individuals with different backgrounds, interests and needs. Parents and social workers identify collaborative working as a major strength of the home. One social worker said, ‘There is a real sense of working together. Staff are willing to support young people and their families on all issues. They are fully involved in all aspects of young people’s lives, not just when they are visiting the home’. As a

p.5

Quality of care

result, young people’s holistic needs are met because they receive an excellent service that is individually tailored to their specific and unique needs.

p.6

Quality of care

Young people are greeted with warmth and enthusiasm at the start of their visit. Staff always see young people in a positive light and are fully committed to enabling them to enjoy their visit to the home. They are quick to help young people settle in and engage them in their favourite activities. Staff creatively use fun activities to enable young people to develop their individual talents and skills, promote social interaction and social inclusion. For example, staff and young people will regularly do community based activities such as going shopping, walking in the park or attending the youth club.

p.6

Quality of care

Young people visit a suitably designed, purpose built home that is ideal to meet their individual needs, including those arising from their disabilities. The recently built extension is now fully operational and the home can now accommodate up to six young people for overnight stays. Young people benefit from the high quality resources that are available to them. For example, they enjoy playing in the sensory room or in the extensive garden which has a number of adapted activity areas, including a sunken trampoline and a swing which is specially adapted for wheelchair users. Young people are encouraged to bring their duvets and personal possessions to personalise their rooms for the duration of their stay. This helps minimise change, and essential factor for many young people accessing this service.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

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

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are effectively protected from harm because staff give their safety the highest priority. For example, staff make good use of a range of robust safeguarding measures such as comprehensive risk assessments and systems to deal with any child protection issues or complaint. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to safeguard young people and receive appropriate training to ensure they know exactly what they need to do to keep young people safe. One parent said, 'I trust staff implicitly. My child visiting the home gives me a much needed break safe in the knowledge that he is safe and well cared for.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

The home has very effective procedures for monitoring young people. Daily handovers ensure staff are very clear about their particular roles and responsibilities they have on each shift. High staffing ratios ensure young people are given the supervision and support they need to keep themselves safe. Consequently, there are no incidents of young people going missing from home and they are effectively protected from bullying, intimidation and harassment.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Staff take a very positive approach to behaviour management. Sanctions are not used and staff make every effort to ignore negative behaviour and reinforce positive behaviour. They make good use of the knowledge they acquire through behaviour management training, in particular de-escalation and distraction techniques. They are good at recognising young people's anxieties and frustrations and manage their complex behaviour sensitively using well thought out and effective behaviour management strategies, specific to the needs of young people with disabilities. The four incidents of restraint that have occurred since the last inspection were done caringly to prevent young people harming themselves or others.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

Recruitment practice is robust, ensuring only suitable people work with young people. Six additional staff have been recruited since the last inspection. The manager maintains oversight of whole recruitment process to ensure staff have the right skills and competencies to meet the needs of vulnerable young people. Personnel information shows that no staff start ahead of references and an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check being received. Good practice ensures the vetting and monitoring of visitors to further safeguard young people.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people benefit from visiting a safe and secure home that takes into account their individual risks and vulnerabilities. All areas are risk assessed and staff are appropriately trained in the use of specialist equipment. Routine safety checks of the building and equipment take place to ensure the environment remains safe. There are clear procedures that are known by staff, for the safe evacuation of young people, giving consideration to their individual needs, including issues of mobility.

p.7

Leadership and management

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

p.7

Leadership and management

The home is managed by a highly experienced and fully qualified manager and is highly effective in meeting the needs of young people who use this service. Management and staff maintain a strong, child-focused approach that is conducive to young people developing and maximising their potential. There is a clear vision for how the home should continue to develop and operate as the service adapts to providing care and accommodation for an increased number of young people.

p.7

Leadership and management

The home’s Statement of Purpose has recently been updated to reflect the changes in the home, including increased occupancy and staffing. Young people, parents and social workers are clear about the services and support provided by the home and are consistently complimentary about the work staff do. User-friendly information is available in the form of the children's guide. However, this guide does not include details of the Children’s Rights Director.

p.7

Leadership and management

Young people are cared for by a very experienced and well qualified staff team. The team’s skills-set has been further enhanced by the recruitment of staff that are qualified and experienced in working in other settings with young people who have complex needs. Staff confirm that the manager provides good leadership and support that enables them to meet challenges head-on to secure continuous improvement. Staff are encouraged to influence and shape the service through regular supervision, appraisal and discussion at team meetings. There are good opportunities for staff to develop their knowledge and skills through mandatory and specialist training. However, a small number of staff have not updated their behaviour management training within the organisation’s timescales.

p.7

Leadership and management

The day-to-day operation of the home is generally well monitored. The manager completes internal monthly monitoring reports and submits a summary report to Ofsted every six months. The manager uses a number of effective systems to canvas the views of parents and professionals as part of this process. Shortfalls are quickly addressed when identified. Monitoring is further strengthened by independent monitoring visits that support overall improvement. The registered provider visitor is particularly robust in monitoring practice at the home. Visits go beyond checking for compliance and evaluate in detail staff intervention and practice.

p.8

Leadership and management

Young people's records show good clarity and provide a clear insight into young people's needs, areas for development and the progress they make. They are well organised, stored securely and information is managed confidentially. The manager and senior staff routinely monitor the home's records, and for the most part this is robust. However, a small number of routine health and safety records have not been fully completed. This is an administrative error that does not affect young people’s welfare. The home is managed by a highly experienced and fully qualified manager and is highly effective in meeting the needs of young people who use this service. Management and staff maintain a strong, child-focused approach that is conducive to young people developing and maximising their potential. There is a clear vision for how the home should continue to develop and operate as the service adapts to providing care and accommodation for an increased number of young people.

p.8

Leadership and management

The home’s Statement of Purpose has recently been updated to reflect the changes in the home, including increased occupancy and staffing. Young people, parents and social workers are clear about the services and support provided by the home and are consistently complimentary about the work staff do. User-friendly information is available in the form of the children's guide. However, this guide does not include details of the Children’s Rights Director.

p.8

Leadership and management

Young people are cared for by a very experienced and well qualified staff team. The team’s skills-set has been further enhanced by the recruitment of staff that are qualified and experienced in working in other settings with young people who have complex needs. Staff confirm that the manager provides good leadership and support that enables them to meet challenges head-on to secure continuous improvement. Staff are encouraged to influence and shape the service through regular supervision, appraisal and discussion at team meetings. There are good opportunities for staff to develop their knowledge and skills through mandatory and specialist training. However, a small number of staff have not updated their behaviour management training within the organisation’s timescales. The day-to-day operation of the home is generally well monitored. The manager completes internal monthly monitoring reports and submits a summary report to

p.8

Leadership and management

Ofsted every six months. The manager uses a number of effective systems to canvas the views of parents and professionals as part of this process. Shortfalls are quickly addressed when identified. Monitoring is further strengthened by independent monitoring visits that support overall improvement. The registered provider visitor is particularly robust in monitoring practice at the home. Visits go beyond checking for compliance and evaluate in detail staff intervention and practice.

p.9

Leadership and management

Young people's records show good clarity and provide a clear insight into young people's needs, areas for development and the progress they make. They are well organised, stored securely and information is managed confidentially. The manager and senior staff routinely monitor the home's records, and for the most part this is robust. However, a small number of routine health and safety records have not been fully completed. This is an administrative error that does not affect young people’s welfare.

p.9

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.10

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.10