Children's Home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Unique reference number SC029865 Inspection date 21/10/2013 Inspector Gaynor Moorey Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 10/01/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home caters for up to three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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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 are provided with a good standard of care, support and guidance so that they make positive progress. Care planning and review are of a comprehensive standard and promote the individual needs of young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from good relationships with staff. This helps them to gain an understanding into their own problems and behaviour and move forward with their lives. The views of young people clearly influence the day-to-day running of the home and they are made to feel part of it. Young people are offered a range of activities which they can choose and enjoy. Contact is important to the young people and staff ensure they support and manage arrangements so that young people can be in touch with family and their local community.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are protected at the home. Staff ensure that risky behaviour is dealt with and that young people are encouraged to make the right decision in order to keep themselves safe.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people live in a home that provides a good standard of accommodation. The staff team works hard to provide positive standards of care.

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Overall effectiveness

The home has an experienced manager and team who through training and knowledge ensure the home is run to a good standard. The home received no requirements or recommendations at this inspection.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from individualised support which helps them to grow in confidence and enables them to move on with their lives. The key-worker system enables young people to focus on their goals and recognise their progress. Regular key-work sessions provide an avenue for them to discuss their feelings, thoughts, strengths and vulnerabilities which helps to promote their skills and to nurture their talents and interests.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people at the home are encouraged to undertake new experiences such as joining clubs in the community and going to concerts. Activities are very much catered to the needs of the young people and work within risk assessment systems to ensure that activities are appropriate. Young people confirmed that the staff support them in their activities and they enjoy the opportunity to take part.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people prosper from having their general health needs and emotional health promoted to a very high standard through regular appointments with health professionals such as doctors, opticians and dentists. The staff support any specialised assistance from a range of professionals, such as mental health and medical professionals, to help address the needs of individual young people. Young people are given and receive comprehensive age appropriate advice and guidance on issues, such as sexual health and drug awareness.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have education placements which they attend daily. This achievement for each young person is positive, especially when taking into consideration their experiences and attendance levels before they were admitted to the home. Young people are able to access safe internet sites for their homework and enjoyment. Young people also have access to educational games and books.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from appropriate contact with family, friends and other people who are important to them; these contacts are managed sensitively and emphasis is placed on the importance of this taking place. Restrictions on visits are in place where needed and contact can be supervised and supported.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people receive good and carefully thought out support to develop their independent living skills appropriate to their age. Young people were seen to be undertaking such chores as washing. The young people confirmed that they shop for their own clothes and personal items.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from excellent personalised support, positive relationships, clear boundaries and a committed staff team. The arrangements for the key-working system are very good and young people are able to start to form attachment when they are placed at the home. The young people's views are promoted and valued to an good standard. Each young person has forums, both formal and informal, to voice their feelings and opinions. Young people are given full information of how to complain and evidence was seen of how complaints are dealt with and brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Young people are able to influence decisions relating to their daily lives, such as choosing activities, visiting friends and diet choices.

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Quality of care

Young people's care plans clearly identify their individual needs. Monitoring enables staff to evaluate young people's progress and to ensure that care plans are up to date and outline the needs of each young person. This process in turn positively contributes to statutory reviews and means that reports and staff input accurately reflects each young person's progress and identifies areas of concern.

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Quality of care

Young people's cultural needs and religious beliefs are promoted very well. Focused care enables them to gain a greater positive self-view and develop stronger emotional resilience.

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Quality of care

The staff ensure that education is promoted and highly valued. Educational results for young people are good, with young people achieving success that they have never experienced prior to their admission to the home.

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Quality of care

Healthy lifestyles are encouraged by the staff who guide young people in choosing excellent healthy meals and by encouraging them to take part in physical exercise and activities. Young people are provided with their medication by staff who have a very good understanding of the safe administration of medication and specific procedures needed to ensure young people remain safe, happy and well.

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Quality of care

Members of staff also enable the young people to take part in positive and enriching activities such as girl guides which has offered new experiences for the young people. This approach enables young people to develop their self-esteem and confidence and to experience being a positive part of a community.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from living in a home which is well maintained and they are encouraged to personalise their rooms and to choose colour schemes and décor; they therefore invest in and take ownership of their environment.

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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 are kept safe at the home. Staff receive child protection training in their induction programme and also in subsequent refresher courses during their employment. The home has a clear policy when dealing with child protection which includes up-to-date safeguarding guidance. The home has dealt with two child protection issues since the last inspection; both were investigated to the fullest extent possible.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home operates a policy of zero tolerance towards bullying and the young people are made aware of the guidance on admission. Young people's behaviour is identified and risk assessed. Issues at the home are dealt with fairly for those concerned. Young people were observed to be able to discuss any issues or problems with the staff.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Each young person has an individual protocol in place detailing what course of action needs to be followed in the event that they are missing. Young people do go missing from the home. However, with new young people at the home events have becoming less frequent, The staff in the home work very hard with the young people and have developed strategies to discourage them from leaving without permission. Young people who do go missing are protected as far as possible and responded to positively on their return. The home has connections with the local police force and work within the police protocol.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff try to work on positives rather than negatives to encourage the young people to improve their behaviour. The young people share good supportive relationships with staff and are given opportunities to discuss issues and life within the home in one-to-one sessions with key workers and in the group meetings. All sanctions are recorded in a dedicated book and also in the main file.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff receive training in the use of physical restraint. The home has a policy which offers guidance to staff in behaviour management and restraint. The young people have risk assessments in place; these are contained within their behaviour management plans. Staff encourage appropriate and acceptable behaviour. There has been no change in the level of restraint used in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people benefit from a stable staff team. The home has robust recruitment processes which ensure that only adults who have been assessed as suitable to work with young people are employed.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Risk assessments, individual risk assessments and safety checks of the premises and fire equipment ensure that the young people live in a safe home. Fire drills are undertaken on a monthly basis to ensure everyone is up to date with emergency procedures. The systems operated in the home and attention to the detail of each young person's needs and vulnerabilities have ensured that their safety is promoted to a very good standard.

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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

The Registered Manager leads a staff team who are experienced and knowledgeable. The Registered Manager is experienced, efficient and well respected. One social worker said ' things had improved greatly for the young person since moving to the home. They were happy with the keyworker and said she was very good and understood the young person's needs and worked hard to set boundaries and keep routines. The Statement of Purpose provides good levels of information about the home's services. The young people's guide is in an appropriate format. The young people are provided with a copy of the guide when they arrive at the home.

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Leadership and management

Good compliance can be seen in the home’s use of the regulation 33 reports and how these have been used to improve practice and meet any areas of weakness. Regulation 34 reports also show how the manager has monitored areas for improvement and acted upon them. .

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Leadership and management

The staffing complement ensures that there are always sufficient staff members on shift to be able to respond to young people's needs. The low staff turnover and the stability of the staff team ensure that the young people benefit from consistent care by a motivated staff team.

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Leadership and management

Members of staff report being very committed to the well-being of the young people and very well supported in their role by the excellent management. The training, supervision and appraisal system are of a good standard and young people benefit from a consistent, well-supported staff team.

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Leadership and management

Generally significant events relating to the protection of children accommodated in the home are notified by the registered person of the home to the appropriate authorities and appropriate action is taken following the incident.

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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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