Children's Home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Stoke-on-Trent

Unique reference number SC426318 Inspection date 22/11/2013 Inspector Julian Mason Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 06/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This privately owned children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people, who have 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

Young people feel protected because their safety and well-being is a constant focus of the staff team. Social workers are very positive about the quality of care and the improving outcomes being achieved. The strong, meaningful relationships that exist between young people and staff facilitate constructive and beneficial ways of working that are effective in practice.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people’s needs and views are central to the running of the home. All aspects of care planning and practice are highly personalised and tailored to help address each young person’s needs. Staff work in a coordinated way with families and other professionals to ensure that the correct help and support is always provided on a day-to-day basis.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff are effectively supported and supervised in their work because managers are directly involved in many of the daily routines that occur in the home. The Registered Manager is effective in securing improvements to the service because of the regular monitoring and evaluation of outcomes being achieved for young people.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are supported to improve their self-esteem, develop their skills and grow in confidence. They are provided with the space and time to reflect on their experiences and family backgrounds. Staff provide sensitive support to assist young people in dealing with and overcoming any emotional difficulties and distress. This helps them to understand their current circumstances and to develop an improving self-view as they move towards adulthood. Young people who have been at risk of exploitation in the past are far safer now than they have been for some time.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people who have struggled with their attendance and attainment in education and who have now left school, access good advice and guidance about employment, training or further education. Staff maintain a positive and encouraging outlook that helps motivate young people to re-engage and recover from previous difficulties and experiences. Young people who missed their GCSE examinations but have the potential to achieve some good grades are provided with tailored arrangements to help them catch up.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s attachments and relationships with family and friends are fully supported and encouraged. Family contact is arranged and organised in consultation with young people and family members. Staff are well aware of specific restrictions regarding contact and follow agreed plans approved by placing social workers. Young people’s friends are welcomed into the home because staff work hard to create an atmosphere where young people feel comfortable and relaxed enough to make these arrangements.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people successfully learn how to look after themselves in preparation for adulthood and leaving care. The home's approach is not only to help develop practical life skills but to build young people’s knowledge and confidence around becoming independent. Staff continuously and carefully balance the need to ensure young people are safe against their need to move towards being more self-sufficient and independent. Staff promote the use of free time away from the home as a way of increasing young people’s personal responsibility and links with the wider community.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

The staff team have high aspirations for young people; they place great importance on building positive, constructive relationships that support progress and growing independence. Young people’s emotional well-being is prioritised and factors that affect this area of need are well known to the staff team. Key workers spend lots of one-to-one time with individuals to help them with matters that are important in terms of their safety and emotional well-being. Young people state that, ‘Key workers are excellent, they’re the best.’ Staff are very balanced in their approach, recognising each young person’s individuality and experiences and how this translates into day- to-day behaviours they need help with. Young people recognise that they benefit greatly from the excellent care being provided.

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Quality of care

Young people’s views and opinions are central to how the home operates; they are frequently consulted about their day-to-day arrangements and routines. The care and support is shaped by the needs of each young person and their expressed wishes and feelings. If staff are unable to act on the feedback from young people the reasons for this are explained. Staff use information in young people’s placement plans to ensure they are informed about current and on-going needs. The Registered Manager ensures that the information held about young people is accurate and matches the placing authority’s plan of care. Staff ensure that young people are able to express their views in formal meetings as well as being reflected in progress reports. As a result of these circumstances, young people experience a wholly inclusive and involved approach to their care.

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Quality of care

Young people know how to make a complaint if they are not happy about something and are confident of the Registered Manager’s ability to resolve any concerns that they have. Very few complaints have been made and the home’s records show that these were quickly and successfully resolved. Young people are aware of who they can talk to outside of the home if they have a concern. This is because the staff team consistently promote young people’s rights as part of their routine practices.

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Quality of care

Young people’s needs in relation to their health and well-being are consistently promoted because they are guided to access the services and information they need. Staff regularly discuss health-related matters such as smoking, alcohol misuse, diet and exercise so young people are informed about the potential impact of the choices they make. Where concerns are apparent, staff act in a sensitive and informed manner to ensure young people know what they can do to improve their health. Staff are very knowledgeable about locally available services which help young people access the right professional help when they need it.

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Quality of care

Young people are provided with living accommodation that is contemporary, very comfortable, clean and tidy. The home is spacious, easily allowing everyone to be together or to comfortably spend time away from the main group. Young people’s bedrooms are very personalised and their privacy respected. Well-established domestic routines are in place and young people are involved in these as part of the home’s wider approach to developing their life skills.

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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 are effectively protected from harm or abuse. Staff use established procedures that in practice help keep young people safe and promote their welfare. Detailed assessments are in place, which are kept up-to-date and identify any areas of risk and vulnerability for each young person. Staff use this information to shape their daily work and approaches to managing risks. The staff team regularly discuss safeguarding practice in one-to-one and team meetings. Staff know how to respond to allegations or suspicions of abuse or report concerns about a young person’s safety. When needed, the Registered Manager works in partnership with external agencies to ensure young people are safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Some young people have significant histories of being missing from care and placing themselves at risk. However, the staff team have been successful at helping young people change their behaviour, resulting in the frequency of these events decreasing over time. Staff have used their relationships effectively to influence safer behaviours and reduce young people’s vulnerability.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are provided with safe accommodation, with a range of environmental health and safety checks carried out regularly. This is in addition to regular checks on appliances, equipment and fire safety measures. Young people are provided with suitable staff to work in the home because they have been properly vetted and checked before they start work.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff use praise and incentives to encourage positive behaviours. Young people are very familiar with how they can gain rewards and feel that staff are fair when it comes to helping them improve their behaviour. Where poor behaviour occurs, formal sanctions are sometimes used which are reviewed by the Registered Manager to ensure they are proportionate and reasonable. Staff are trained in how to respond to risky or difficult behaviour, with an emphasis on talking to young people and de- escalating challenging situations. Staff also receive training in how to use physical restraint if required; however, this method of intervention is rarely used.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit a great deal from living in a home that provides high quality care and focused support. The Registered Manager and staff team concentrate clearly on following each young person's individual plan of care. Staff rotas are flexible enough to ensure that the changing needs and circumstances of each young person are consistently met. Where staffing adjustments are necessary, the Registered Manager works hard to minimise the impact of any changes experienced by young people. This is because there is a strong commitment to providing consistent care that helps maintain young people’s attachments and relationships with their carers.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager can readily demonstrate the service’s capacity for improvement, which is based on robust monitoring of the home’s current operation. Young people’s placement stability and continued good progress is frequently tracked and evaluated to ensure placement aims and objectives are achieved. The Registered Manager has a strong range of systems in place to ensure on-going monitoring informs improvement and development. The Registered Manager clearly understands the strengths and weaknesses of the service and works in a planned and coordinated way to develop the service. One requirement was made at the last inspection and this has been addressed through improvements to the recording of additional measures of control.

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Leadership and management

Staff feel very supported in the work they do with young people. They are able to discuss their work with managers and supervisors when needed, and in more formal supervision meetings that are planned in advance. The staff group is diverse, which means that young people have access to a range of carers of different ages, backgrounds and experiences. Staff attend training to ensure their core skills and knowledge are kept up-to-date in addition to training that is specific to young people’s needs. Some staff hold an appropriate level three qualification or are currently working towards completing this. Newer members of staff are working through their formal probationary period using a nationally recognised induction framework. Staff and managers ensure records are kept up-to-date, stored securely and fully contribute to an understanding of a young person’s life. Significant events that occur and relate to young people’s safety are shared with the appropriate

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Leadership and management

agencies and detail the events and actions taken to safeguard and protect.

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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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