Children's Home run by Suffolk County Council in Suffolk

Unique reference number SC430022 Inspection date 18/11/2013 Inspector Deirdra Keating Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/10/2012 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 provides medium- and long-term placements for up to seven young people who have emotional and or behavioural difficulties. The home is owned and operated by a local authority.

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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

Young people’s care incorporates their unique needs and promotes their individuality. Young people are positive about the staff team and benefit from good interaction with key staff. Staff are proactive in the support of young people's diverse needs and general interests. Despite this, outcomes for young people are variable particularly in relation to young people's relationships, bullying in the home and the choices offered to them.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are safe but do not always feel safe due to the dynamics between young people and the levels of staff supervision. They know they are valued by staff and are confident to express their views at the home.

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Overall effectiveness

There are a number of regulatory shortfalls including: behaviour records, notification of serious events to relevant people and young people’s access to a telephone. These do not directly affect the welfare or safety of young people. Other areas for improvements relate to listening to young people's views, young people's understanding of health matters, staff training, monitoring of records and promoting young people’s independence.

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Overall effectiveness

The home benefits from a good manager who has a clear vision for the home and is keen to drive future improvements. The management team understand the weaknesses and are committed to improving the home and the outcomes for young people.

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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

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any discipline or measure of control the written record includes the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure (Regulation 17B (3) (f)) 05/12/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that if any of the events listed in column 1 of the table in Schedule 5 takes place, the registered person shall without delay notify the persons indicated in respect of the event in column 2 of the table (Regulation 30 (1)) 05/12/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that children accommodated in the home are provided at all reasonable times with access to a telephone on which to make and receive telephone calls in private, without reference to persons working in the home. (Regulation 15 (4) (a)) 05/12/2013

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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 overall number, competence and deployment of staff, both as a staff group and on individual shifts, can fulfil the home’s Statement of Purpose and meet the individual needs of all children resident in the home. This is in relation to staffing levels at the weekends and the use of agency staff (NMS 17.1)  ensure that the learning and development programme for staff equips them with the skills required to meet the needs of the children. This is in regard to training for self-injurious behaviour (NMS 18.1)  ensure that children's wishes and feelings are acted upon, in the day to day running of the home. This is in respect of the provision and choice of food (NMS 1.1)  enable children to develop practical skills, including shopping, buying, cooking and keeping food (NMS 12.1)  ensure there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and ensure all the required information is available (NMS 22.1)

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Recommendations

 ensure that children understand their health needs, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to make an informed decision about their own health. (NMS 6.2)

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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 formed genuine attachments to key staff and benefit from the emotional support this provides. They relate well to the core staff team who are diverse in age and gender. Young people are positive about the main staff team and miss certain staff when they are away from the home. Young people are of varying ages and individual vulnerabilities. The culture of the home is a mixed atmosphere of both a large family, and instances where young people can feel intimidated by other young people. This can leave some young people feeling unsafe. This is detrimental to their wellbeing.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have contact with family and friends. This is supported by staff in terms of supervision and travel arrangements. This ensures young people see their families regularly and keep in touch with significant people in their lives. However, the telephone is not available to young people without asking a member of staff. This does not promote young people's rights to access a telephone.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have basic healthy lifestyles. There is an emphasis on eating fruit and vegetables and some young people benefit from physical activity. However, despite attempts from staff, young people do not play regular sport or exercise regularly and some young people make poor food choices.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people engage well in a range of educational opportunities. The large majority of young people access education regularly and this is a significant improvement since the last inspection. Tailored education provision supports young people’s age, stage of development and ability to learn.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people do not fully develop independence skills that help them prepare for adulthood and say they would like to be more independent. Some young people walk to school and are trusted to go into the local town. There are young people who use the semi-independent flat. However, they are not enough opportunities for them to learn about shopping, budgeting and cooking.

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Quality of care

Staff establish meaningful relationships with young people, building rapport and trust based on a good understanding of individuals. Each young person has a designated key member of staff with whom they enjoy spending quality time. These relationships benefit young people. A comment from a young person includes 'relationships are good, we are like a big family and generally we have a good time.' However, young people also say that the use of unfamiliar agency staff working in the home is difficult. This does not provide good continuity of care or help young people feel secure about the adults that care for them. Staff listen to young people, advocate for them and encourage them to share their views. A social worker said 'young people have rights and their voices are listened to.' Staff provide a range of information to young people including the complaints procedure and advocacy services. This results in young people who are aware of

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Quality of care

their rights and freely share their views about the home. Young people say that they feel confident in talking to staff about any issues they have, although their views are not always influential in the running of the home. For example, staff try to take account of young people's views when planning menus, although food does not reflect young people’s choices and preferences. Food is delivered weekly using internet shopping. There are large amounts of food delivered at one time offering little individual choice. The shopping methods undermine the independence living programme and reduce opportunities for young people to shop locally in the community.

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Quality of care

The care planning encompasses individual’s cultural, religious, ethnic and identity details. Staff are mindful of individual needs and diversity and consider each young person's needs when planning hobbies, social events and sport. Staff aim to provide individual choice, however, the numbers of staff on duty can restrict what is available at the weekends, limiting activity options for young people.

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Quality of care

The staff and manager support all areas of young people’s development. Staff have good links with outside professionals and specialised services. This means young people access the physical, emotional and psychological support as required. The systems for the administration of medication have been reviewed and work well. This supports the safe administration of medication and supports young people's health needs.

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Quality of care

Staff prioritise education for young people, working well with a range of professionals to address barriers to education and support young people to attend regularly. Feedback from social workers highlights good two-way communication, this supports young people's educational attendance and progress.

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Quality of care

The home is a designed to accommodate young people's needs. The facilities are good, bedrooms have en suite bathrooms and communal areas are spacious and provide ample seating. There is a pool table, computer room, and art and craft area. This gives young people space privacy and choice within the home. A telephone is available to young people; however, this is only on request from staff. This limits young people's contact and does not provide reasonable levels of responsibility for those living in the semi-independent flat.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

The young people spoken said they generally feel safe in the home. However, a number of bullying incidents that include physical assault and verbal abuse affect them. Young people say that although they find these incidents distressing, they feel safe in the knowledge that staff intervene and address the underlying issues. The relationships within the group are unbalanced. There are young people who feel victimised by others while others represent the relationships that you would expect in a family home. Staff are proactive in their response to such incidents. Managers have analysed the placements and increased staffing levels to ensure raised levels of adult supervision. There has also been police support to educate young people in the legalities around bullying and assault coupled with facilitated resolution work. This helps young people understand the law and learn about conflict resolution and has

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Safeguarding children and young people

The staff use physical restraint minimally and the recording of this includes follow up discussions with young people. There are a number of consequences given in response to behavioural incidents. The records omit the required detail about the effectiveness of the measures and the measures lack differentiation or creativity. This means that young people often lose allocated computer time despite their behaviour. Young people recognise that these measures and consequences often lack meaning. Young people do not take these seriously and subsequently do not always take responsibility for their actions. This has been recently recognised by staff and addressed.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are high numbers of incidents of young people missing from the home. However, staff have agreed immediate missing from home categorisation in response to the individual vulnerabilities of the child. The numbers of young people missing from care have reduced recently. The staff team use joint working protocols to ensure that procedures aid young people's safe return. Staff understand the underlying reasons well and have worked effectively with professionals to reduce the numbers of young people going missing.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has dealt with several allegations. The manager has investigated these well demonstrating effective protection and support for children who have made allegations. Good safeguarding procedures include management of allegations against staff, reporting and follow up work. Procedures fully consider the immediate referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and clear investigation of allegations. This protects young people from potential harm. The recruitment systems for new staff work well. All required checks are fully evident in the staff files sampled. This ensures that staff are deemed suitable and safe prior to working with young people in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The environment is safe and maintained well by staff. Risk assessments work well, minimising hazards. Managers respond promptly where repairs are required. Appliance safety checks, fire drills and fire evacuation information ensure young people use safe equipment and know what to do in the event of a fire. The home is secure and all visits are routinely monitored and chaperoned. A professional said: ‘There is always a pleasant welcome from staff, they always ask us to sign in and follow a clear routine, the staff are organised.’ These systems ensure staff monitor who is in the home, promoting young people's physical safety.

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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 provides good leadership to the staff team and manages the home competently and efficiently. The head of residential services provides good oversight and support to the manager. The core staff team are of a good calibre and qualified for their roles in caring for young people. Staff say that they feel supported by the manager regarding their professional development and supervision. The manager identifies most training needs for staff and provides good support. However, despite the fact young people have self-injurious behaviours, staff have not received training to support them to manage this behaviour.

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Leadership and management

The manager has a clear vision for the service and drives improvements with energy and tenacity. She has addressed the recommendations from the last inspection and has development plans in place to secure further improvement. Good collaborative working with outside agencies has resulted in better promotion and support of young people's education. The manager has worked hard to change the antiquated culture of the staff team and feedback from staff surveys corroborates this. This benefits young people and impacts positively on the quality of their care. There are, however, a number of concerns raised by young people in relation to the use of agency staff, choices in activities, food provision and bullying incidents. These concerns are of significance and substantiated. These shortfalls influence the overall effectiveness of the home.

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Leadership and management

The management team are realistic about the home and identify strengths and the areas for improvement. While there is a commitment to improve the quality of care, the number of young people placed make this difficult. The manager and staff juggle a variety of competing demands and facilitate a group with a wide range of individual needs. In addition, set staffing ratios and resource budgets affect young people's choices. The use of agency staff, unknown to young people, does not promote good continuity of care or encourage young people to feel secure.

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Leadership and management

An external visitor provides routine monitoring visits to the home. These raise points for improvement and include consultation with young people. The manager has provided a good review of care encompassing feedback from young people, professionals, parents and carers. However, the managerial monitoring of certain records in the home is poor. On occasion the manager signs off negative and positive consequence records despite gaps in reporting and other anomalies. This does not provide clear or effective oversight of behavioural incidents.

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Leadership and management

The complaints received by the home are historic and originated from neighbours. The manager has resolved the issues and staff have involved neighbours positively with the home. There are a number of issues raised internally by young people and the manager process's these issues effectively.

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose sets out the objectives, staff and facilities provided by the home. The manager has made changes to reflect current information. This informs placing authorities and social workers about the facilities offered by the home. Records are stored securely and staff maintain confidentiality. There are some required details in care plans pertaining to background family details that are missing. The system for indexing and filing within the plans is variable making some information difficult to find or unavailable. This could impact on staff's knowledge and understanding of young people's cultural heritage.

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Leadership and management

The manager notifies significant events to Ofsted generally within the required timescales. However, on one occasion there has been a significant delay preventing Ofsted from being fully aware of the events in the home.

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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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