Children's Home run by Time-Out Children’s Homes Limited in Calderdale

Unique reference number SC450728 Inspection date 13/11/2013 Inspector Simon Morley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 21/05/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a privately run children's home. The home provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and/or 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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

This is a good service that positively impacts on the quality of young people’s lives. Young people live in a supportive environment where they feel safe and enjoy positive relationships with staff. Young people make good progress in a number of key areas, particularly their education, developing their emotional resilience, improving their self- esteem and becoming independent young adults.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff address the challenges to young people’s progress and development and work well in partnership with external agencies to protect and promote their welfare. Young people's emotional well-being, safety and education have a high priority. There is good support for young people to develop their independence and enjoy a wide variety of experiences.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people's views have a key role in the day-to-day running of the home as well as plans and decisions about their care. Young people feel safe and benefit from caring and sensitive staff.

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Overall effectiveness

There is a new manager in post since the last inspection who is proactive in improving the motivation and skills of the staff team. Existing monitoring and recording systems are being developed to provide a better focus on the progress and development of individual young people. The staff group are benefitting from new training which is starting to have even more of a positive impact on young people's welfare. As a team, the staff work hard to give young people consistent, good standards of care which helps develop their potential.

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Overall effectiveness

One shortfall was identified in relation to the robustness of recruitment procedures.

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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) verify so far as reasonably practical, where a person has previously worked in a position whose duties involved work with children or vulnerable adults, the reason why the employment or position ended (Regulation 26 (3) (d) Schedule 2 (4)) 27/12/2013

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have particularly diverse needs in relation to their education, personal safety, social skills, confidence, relationships with others and transition to independence.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good improvements in relation to their own needs and development. School attendance is exceptionally high and young people achieve high grades in a range of subjects supplemented with extra tuition on an individual basis. Young people successfully make the transition to further education and continue to develop their learning in numeracy, literacy, social and life skills. Young people have won awards for their achievements and progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people develop their emotional resilience and improve their confidence and self-esteem while living at the home. Young people improve their behaviour and start to open up and talk about important issues in their lives and how they feel. Stakeholders commented that 'young people are more able to deal with intimate feelings and relationships'. This is assisted through staff support, counselling and young people developing their skills and independence. Young people travel independently, have their own bank accounts, learn to manage their own money, budget, shop, cook and clean. Young people make good use of their support and opportunities to work towards more independent living arrangements.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people progress and develop at different rates depending on their backgrounds and life experiences. For example, with respect to leading safer and healthier lifestyles and attending all their appointments and meetings. All young people explore health and social issues such as relationships, sex, personal safety alcohol and substance misuse with staff. This helps young people develop their knowledge and understanding about improving their lifestyles. They learn to make sensible choices for example reducing the amount they smoke, reducing the risks to their personal safety and engaging more in meetings about their future.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to develop and maintain contact with their relatives and friends despite some difficult and complex relationships with family members. Young people's wishes to extend this contact, is responded to well. Where contact has broken down there is a sensitive approach from staff which helps young people develop these links again. As a result young people are able to continue important relationships with those that they feel close to. Young people also make friends at school and like having sleepovers both at their friends’ homes and in their own home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from giving their views on a range of issues and are able to influence decision making about their care and the running of the home. For example developing plans with regards to their transition to independence. Young people have recently chosen how to decorate and furnish their rooms to their own tastes, they do their own shopping, spend time going out independently and have a big say in the weekly menu. Young people also enjoy various activities such as car boot sales, boxercise, socialising with their friends, taking in part in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and trips abroad.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from good, supportive relationships with staff. Staff use their skills, experience and understanding of young people’s needs to build positive relationships and develop trust. This contributes to the support, guidance and reassurance young people receive as part of their everyday care and focused discussions with staff. This helps young people aspire to do well and contributes to the significant progress they make in their development.

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Quality of care

The one-to-one staffing alongside caring relationships and the involvement of young people in making decisions; keeps young people at the heart of care practice in the home. Young people’s views significantly impact upon decisions made about their individual care and the day-to-day running of the home. Regular meetings, key- working sessions, daily interaction and care reviews allow young people to express their views and affect changes on matters that are important to them.

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Quality of care

Young people are cared for according to their detailed and comprehensive care plans which include their diverse individual needs. These are understood by staff and young people benefit from being supported by an able and sensitive staff team. Stakeholders commented 'staff know when to give young people space, and have helped young people to be less narrow minded.’ Staff work effectively with external agencies, such as schools, placing authorities and the police, to ensure young people’s needs are fully met. Young people are encouraged to routinely attend health appointments and go to school or further education every-day. Staff ensure young people access specialist support services to meet their individual needs such as counselling. Young people benefit from extra tuition to support their educational achievements and high grades. They also receive good support with going on school trips for example to Berlin and France, to develop

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Quality of care

There is a growing emphasis on the stronger promotion of emotional well-being to better support other aspects of young people's welfare such as relationship building, appropriate behaviour and independence. Staff are developing their skills to provide young people with a more nurturing environment, to help them to manage their feelings and develop more socially acceptable behaviour. In addition, staff use open discussion, individual incentives and draw on support from external agencies to encourage young people to recognise and accept responsibility for their actions. This helps improve the quality of life for young people and their progress towards independence.

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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 and staff take positive steps to ensure that they live in a safe, secure and caring environment. Staff understand and implement safe strategies to support the individual behaviour of young people and follow clear, measurable risk management plans.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The manager ensures strong and proactive relationships are built with the police, placing authorities and the Local Safeguarding Children Board. Where necessary she will effectively challenge shortfalls in partner agencies to ensure young people are robustly safeguarded. This is having a significant impact on promoting the safety of young people; reducing the frequency they are missing from the home and substantially reducing risks from exploitation.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are trained in a range of safeguarding issues and have access to clear information about child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures. They are alert to the signs of potential harm to young people. Staff are very aware of young people’s vulnerabilities and there is good practice is in getting young people home safely when they have been missing or absent without permission. For example, staff will regularly try and contact young people on their mobile phones to ensure they are safe and well and go out to look for them.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have regular discussions with young people about safe care issues and respond well to young people's desire for more independence. This is achieved through a non-judgemental approach, prioritising acceptable social behaviour and ensuring young people’s safety. Young people receive clear guidance and directions helping them reflect upon the consequences of their behaviour and concentrate on their future welfare. This good care practice helps ensure the safety and well-being of young people receives high priority, based upon well develop risk management strategies.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management strategies are effective with incentives for young people to do well. The quality of care and positive relationships ensures there is a very low use of sanctions and physical intervention has never been used to manage behaviour. This contributes to the caring, understanding and nurturing environment staff provide young people. Young people know how to complain and there is a good response to the issues they raise.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Although staff working with young people in the home, are carefully selected and vetted, evidence was not available for all staff to show that that reasonable action had been taken to ensure all checks have been made as required by the Children’s Homes Regulations, including verification of why the reasons why previous employment ended, when this involved work with children. This has not impacted significantly on young people's safety. There are good safety arrangements for dealing with visitors and maintaining the home to promote the welfare, health and safety of young people who live there.

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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 have been significant changes in the staffing, leadership and management of the home and the registered provider. This has been unsettling for young people who have raised their concerns. There is a new Registered Manager in post who is working hard to provide continuity and consistency of staffing for all young people in the home. Stakeholders are positive about the impact the quality of care has on young people and commented 'there has been a good response to young people about their staff'.

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Leadership and management

There are suitable systems for monitoring standards of care, policies, procedures and the progress that young people make. These have improved since the last inspection with a better approach to consulting young people and including their views as part of the monitoring process. There is regular consultation with placing authorities about young people's progress and reviewing plans to support further development. This complies with both the improvements required from the last inspection with regard to the monitoring of care.

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Leadership and management

Staff are very positive about the new manager; in particular, the support and additional training they are receiving. This is contributing to providing young people with a more nurturing environment with better support to improve their emotional resilience and development.

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Leadership and management

As part of the management changes a thorough overhaul of recording and monitoring systems is taking place to support improvements in the standards of care. The new manager is developing a more coherent and flexible staff team to provide young people with better support. She is having a positive impact to ensure young people have a stable and competent staff team able to meet their individual needs. This is also giving young people better opportunities for developing positive relationships with a wider number of staff. She is clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the home and there are clear plans for further development and improvement.

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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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