Children's Home run by Bristol City Council in Bristol

Unique reference number SC034184 Inspection date 15/10/2013 Inspector Diana Waters Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 30/01/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is one of a number of children's homes operated by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people of either sex with emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The purpose of the home is to provide young people with life and social skills to enable independent living.

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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

The home is currently providing an adequate level of care for young people. Two requirements have been made. Areas identified for improvement are the disposal of broken furniture and the fallen branches in the garden and to ensure concerns and complaints are recorded well and the action and outcome are clearly identified.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make adequate progress and there are some positive outcomes in relation to their starting points in many aspects of their welfare and development, with account taken of their needs in an individualised manner. Young people are generally positive about their care and say they feel safe. Staff encourage the independence of young people and provide assistance to develop skills that promote their future living. Young people are re engaging with the experienced staff team and report they receive individualised care from committed and stable staff. Staff try hard to take into account how to meet the needs of each young person and demonstrate commitment in their approach to supporting young people to raise their aspirations and develop new skills. Young people confirm they know how to raise concerns. Concerns raised by others are not always sufficiently well recorded or addressed. Staff are vigilant about

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Overall effectiveness

monitoring young people's behaviour and issues are addressed. Staff take into account the needs of each young person, and strive to facilitate good relationships and provide positive role models. Young people are routinely consulted about the running of the home and take responsibility for aspects of their own care. The home strives to maintain a homely environment for young people and undertake repairs and refurbishment, when damage occurs.

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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) must ensure that a written record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of the investigation(Regulation 24.5) 09/12/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) must ensure the children's home is suitably furnished/refurbished to meet the needs of the young people accommodated and achieve the aims and objectives set out in the Statement of Purpose.(Regulation 31 (2e)) 09/12/2013

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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 often make good progress, taking into account their starting points ,within a supportive environment. They grow in self-confidence, develop emotional resilience and often grow to view the staff with affection and respect.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy reasonable health due to having an understanding of, and taking responsibility for, their own medical and health needs. Young people have a range of self-esteem levels and have some understanding of how their emotional and mental well-being is part of their health. They are aware how lifestyle choices can impact on their health, for example, eating a balanced diet, taking exercise, understanding sexual health, better personal hygiene and the effect of smoking and drugs, however knowledge does not always readily translate into positive choices for all young people. Young people are supported to access a variety of health agencies that give advice about lifestyle choices.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have variable attendance at their school or college but value the support they receive from staff. They say they know staff wish to improve their futures and give them opportunities to attend education, training or jobs, and they talk to them about the importance of these. Some young people have recently shared the home with young people who have successfully moved on from the home, with both employment and suitable accommodation and these provide both good role models and encourage achievable goals for their own future. Others placed have not been well matched and moves were inevitable. Current young people are inconsistent in their efforts to work towards achieving their potential, but small steps forward are celebrated and young people are encouraged to achieve stability and progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people say they sometimes feel listened to by staff. The recent difficulties have disrupted relationships, however, staff and young people are slowly and steadily re-establishing their previous positive relationships and moving forward. Young people are involved in making decisions about their own plans, reviews and running of the home as part of every day life. They feel free to say what they think and staff encourage them to become involved in house meetings and with individual key work sessions. Minutes confirm meetings address topics of importance to both young people and staff. Observations also confirm a lot of communication takes place informally and staff are readily available to meet the needs of young people.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to make appropriate contact with their families and others important to them as detailed within their care plans. The commitment of staff to enable young people to maintain, and improve relationships within their families is good. Staff provide emotional support to young people and their families and liaise well where appropriate.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people confirm that preparation to move into adulthood and be independent is a key part of their placement. All young people are involved in independence programmes which include budgeting, menu planning, healthy eating and other tasks. Inappropriate placements without sufficient matching potentially compromise the ethos of independence promoted within this home.

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Quality of care

Young people are treated with respect, especially at times of managing emotional issues or helping them to deal with their frustrations. This enables them to develop their self-esteem and confidence. Staff provide consistent and realistic aspirations for young people to ensure they reach their potential. Young people often value the positive attachments with staff which are improving again, after a recent disruptive phase. Their comments include, ' they are ok ',' staff are always here and will listen to you.'

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Quality of care

The staff are committed to the young people and try hard to develop good relationships with them. They communicate well, spend quality time with them and provide good role models. As a consequence young people understand what is expected of them and can enjoy time together. Where behaviour is difficult, staff are resilient and attempt to help and support young people whenever they can. Agreements, praise and time spent with young people play a large part of behaviour management, which enables the young people to progress and develop self-worth and confidence as demonstrated by those who have recently moved on successfully. Staff actively support young people to make decisions about their own lives through participation in daily discussions, individual key worker sessions and house meetings. These enable young people to be able to put forward their views and ideas.

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Quality of care

Young people are provided with appropriate information on how to report any concerns but have not made use of the formal complaints process. They are able to talk with staff and confirm the manager is easily accessible. In addition a local community police officer visits regularly enabling some trust to be built up with the police. Concerns raised by external personnel do not always included the action taken in response to the concern, and are not always adequately recorded. Young people are provided with contact details of independent advocates and they are involved as needed, facilitating young people in a variety of ways.

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Quality of care

Staff are motivated and skilled in helping some young people achieve the objectives of their placement. For example, they work closely with the placing social workers to ensure that individual needs, such as education and contact, are addressed. Young people confirm that they are involved in all aspects of their care and that they are given opportunities to contribute to their own care planning arrangements. Staff seek young people's views and they both value young peoples opinions as well as challenge assumptions. Staff place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice, however young people sometimes are clear about their rights without accepting responsibility. The home strives to promote a culture which recognises and respects young people's rights and responsibilities. Young people sometimes recognise and speak positively about how staff support them.

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Quality of care

Young people receive support in accessing health services. Their physical, emotional and psychological well-being is important and staff support and try to help overcome the barriers they face. There are good links with health services. Minimal medication is administered and where appropriate young people are able to self medicate.

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to access activities in the community and pursue individual interests, for example with cadets or gym attendance. Young people frequently visit family and friends nearby and will use these opportunities to maintain contact and socialise.

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Quality of care

Young people are sporadic in attending education. Staff encourage them to do well and pursue an individual approach. Staff also encourage young people to develop interests in further education to promote courses where personal interests and aspirations can be achieved. This is helped by the links maintained with schools and colleges.

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Quality of care

The physical environment is being quickly repaired, after areas of the home sustained damage inflicted by some young people. The broken furniture stored outside the property and the recently felled tree branches that remain in situ, detract from the otherwise reasonable physical appearance of the home. Improvements to the home help to provide a homely environment particularly in the living rooms. Bedrooms remain the responsibility of the individual young person and reflect their own taste in individualising them.

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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

Staff take positive steps to ensure that the young people live in a safe, and caring environment. Young people usually feel safe in the home and confirm the availability and access to adults at all times.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected from abuse. Staff receive training in safeguarding and have a good understanding about their roles and responsibilities in responding to actual or potential abuse. The local authorities recruitment and vetting procedure are followed. These are consistently applied ensuring that the young people are not cared for by adults who may cause them harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are aware of information to safeguard individual young people and work with risk assessments to ensure that young people are kept safe. Staff are fully aware of the danger that young people place themselves in by leaving or going missing from the home without authority and follow agreed protocols to respond to incidents.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people’s privacy is respected and information confidentially handled. Staff respect young people's privacy where possible and knock before they enter young people's rooms. Care records are maintained securely. A balance is achieved between respecting young people’s wish for privacy, ensuring their safety and encouraging their independence and appropriate participation in activities to promote contact with others.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people state that bullying is not an issue but there are at the moment times when they do not get on very well and ' fall out'. They say staff respond to incidents and deal with concerns. The management of the young people's behaviour is not always effective, however young people feel that the rules in the home are fair and understand their purpose, even though they don’t always make positive choices. The home’s incentive scheme attempts to reinforces good behaviour thus enabling young people to recognise when their actions are or are not appropriate.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are suitably trained in the use of de-escalation and restraint techniques. Staff use the training and their relationships with the young people effectively resulting in minimal use of restraint. Young people feel the sanctions that are used are generally fair, but understanding why their behaviour has been inappropriate and the impact that it has on others is slowly progressing. The management team monitor the use of all measures of control and uses information obtained to help staff to reflect and improve on their understanding and management of young people's behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Positive steps are taken which ensure that the young people are safe from fire and other hazards. Established systems are in place for the routine checking and servicing of fire safety and other equipment.

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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

The experienced manager is supported by a stable and dedicated staff team who are committed to the care of the young people and strive to develop good relationships and provide appropriate care. Staff reported; ' I am happy with the work I do, we all work very well together and we can rely on each other.' It has been a tough few weeks but we all work well together and support each other'. Staff are provided with a range of training, including mandatory courses in safeguarding, first aid and the administration of medication. This promotes the welfare of young people. All staff working at the home have a qualification in caring for children or are working towards it. Comments received include, 'We have annual training in areas such as child protection'.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from a stable staffing structure which provide consistency. Extra staffing is sometimes deployed to meet the needs of the individual young people in placement and young people are encouraged to become independent. Staff are allocated to undertake individual work with young people, to attend team meetings and to complete necessary paperwork. Staff have supervision sessions with their line manager, which addresses their development and training needs. The manager and staff demonstrate a commitment to reviewing and improving the service that is offered to young people and their families. Team meetings are used to look at current practise issues and the needs of the young people. This helps to ensure all staff are aware of any issues relating to young people's behaviour and promotes a consistent approach. The home has monthly Regulation 33 inspections which report the quality of care provided. The manager undertakes monthly

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Leadership and management

Regulation 34 monitoring and uses these as part of the quality assurance for the improvement of the home. Administrative support is usually provided to ensure care records on each young person's remain confidential, are maintained securely and include the information necessary to plan and deliver their care.

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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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