Children's Home run by White Orchid Care Limited in Milton Keynes

Unique reference number SC465588 Inspection date 16/01/2014 Inspector Maureen Hamer Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 03/07/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a privately run home that can accommodate up to four children with emotional and 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

The culture of the home is nurturing, safe and stable. This is providing a positive environment for children with emotional issues to form good relationships.

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Overall effectiveness

Children are making good progress since living in this home particularly in relation to improved psychological well-being, engagement in education and reducing physically violent behaviour.

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Overall effectiveness

Placement plans are of a good quality. However keyworker sessions are not always completed on a regular basis and children’s progress against their care plans is not always fully demonstrated. Staff know and verbally effectively communicate about children’s progress to each other and partners. The staff team provide consistent boundaries for children.

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Overall effectiveness

A particular strength of the home is effective partnership working. This promotes children's safety and well-being. The manager has effective quality assurance in place.

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Overall effectiveness

There is a culture of continuous improvement and a capacity to improve.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  ensure that each children's placement plan is monitored by a keyworker within the home who ensures that the requirements of the plan are implemented in the day-to-day care of the child. (NMS 25.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children with complex psychological issues and associated challenging behaviour are making good progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children are developing an understanding of their past and how that experience impacts on their behaviour. Children are responding positively to successful psychological intervention that has resulted in improved self-management and a reduction in physically violent behaviours.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Attendance at and educational progress at school is good. Children are engaged in their school work and are keen to discuss what they learnt at school on their return to the home. Staff respond positively to children’s interests and this promotes young people’s self-esteem and their further interest in their school work. This demonstrates children’s positive attitude to education and improves engagement in their classroom work.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children have access to universal health services such as the local General Practitioner to ensure aspects of physical and emotional well-being are addressed. Other services are called upon such as dental nurse to promote good dental hygiene.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children make some contribution to the home by helping to keep their bedrooms tidy. Staff take children to school to ensure that they are safe. When children are ready they are supported to walk into school on their own. This shows increased self- confidence and a sense of feeling secure. This contributes to the development of independent skills.

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Quality of care

Staff provide a nurturing and homely environment. This is enabling children with attachment issues to attain stable placements.

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Quality of care

Staffs’ positive role modelling has helped children to improve their communication and social skills and has contributed to raising their self-esteem. As a result children are beginning to develop friendships outside of the home.

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Quality of care

Staff are successfully working with educational colleagues to provide a consistent approach. Daily communication between settings promotes continuity of care and good monitoring of progress. This enables children to improve their engagement and behaviour in school. Staff attend parent evenings and give practical support to children to encourage their educational progress. Episodes of conflict in school have greatly reduced and this has contributed to positive reports from school.

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Quality of care

Children have good individualised care plans and daily routines. Effective partnership working with for example psychologist and social workers ensure that children get the right support to address a diverse range of need. Keyworker sessions are in place and actions are evaluated to assess their effectiveness however the regularity and content of the keyworker sessions are not always comprehensive. Placing authorities report that staff give very good and consistent care. Social worker reports that staff help and support children when they are very challenging. Children learn that they are not going to be rejected and this helps them to feel safe and to greatly reduce episodes of aggressive behaviour. The home provides placing authorities with regular and relevant information about incidents and progress.

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Quality of care

Children feel that the home’s rules are fair including incentives and sanctions. Children’s views are gained through formal and informal means. Meal times are sociable and staff are times when staff engage with children and are attentive to children’s concerns and interactions. In addition there are regular house meetings. Child friendly care plans are created by staff that help towards children’s understanding of actions that are being taken to help them to do well. This has a positive impact on relationships between children and staff. Children say: ‘staff listen to me, they help me to stay calm’. Agreed positive behaviour plans are in place. Staff adhere to the plans and are successful at deescalating situations.

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Quality of care

Staff do listen to children and respond positively to help them to understand when their wishes cannot be met. Sanctions and incentives are decided agreed upon on as a team and include children’s views. The impact of incentives and sanctions are evaluated and recorded to inform children’s behaviour plans. Advocacy is promoted to children and they have access to a telephone to ensure children’s rights are promoted. Children are made aware of how to complain.

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Quality of care

In house psychological support is available to children. Input is also provided from the psychologist to team meetings. This enables staff to discuss concerns and promotes a consistent approach to children.

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Quality of care

Children are encouraged to engage in a range of activities such as biking, swimming and football to broaden and develop their skills and confidence. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and private.

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Quality of care

Staff provide individualised support to parents to help to redevelop positive relationships with their children. This individualised mediation has led to very successful visits. Staff provide support to parents to help them to engage with their children.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. Children say that they feel safe and they are safe in this nurturing home environment. Staff successfully act to promote children’s welfare.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff act decisively when they have concerns about children’s behaviours. Staff report concerns and any serious incidents appropriately to promote children’s well- being and safety.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff work with children to provide support to help to develop self-reflection and self- management of behaviour. As a result there is a reduction in children’s risk taking behaviour such as physically aggressive behaviour. The use of physical restraint is only used when children are at risk of harm. Children have an opportunity to engage in de-briefing following an incident. Staff are good at ensuring all such incidents are well recorded to enable a thorough evaluation of such incidents taking place.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has a ‘missing person’ protocol in place. Effective action is in place to find children when they go missing, such events are very rare. Children are provided with support when they are safely returned home. Children’s risk assessments identify individualised antecedents and protective factors that are well understood and addressed by staff. Staff work very successfully with relevant partners including the police to put in place effective boundaries. As a result, children are no longer going missing. This greatly improves children’s safety.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff provide children with appropriate supervision to ensure their safety. Episodes of bullying outside of the home are taken seriously by the home to provide support for the young person and to stop such incidents occurring. Staff address any disrespectfulness in a positive manner to promote the reduction of such behaviours.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are selected and vetted robustly to ensure that children are cared for by suitably qualified adults.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Health and safety in the home is monitored and appropriate and prompt action is taken when there are any shortfalls. This ensures that children are safe in the home

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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

Management of this home is effective and efficient. A comprehensive Statement of Purpose is in place with clear aims and objectives that the home works to. The manager promotes a culture of care, reflection and learning. This provides a stable and safe home for children to live and thrive.

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Leadership and management

Staff are encouraged to appreciate and respect children as individuals. Staff receive regular supervision that is focused on the quality of care that is provided to children. There are regular staff meetings that focus on the needs of children. The home’s psychologist also provides one-to-one sessions to staff in the event that they need further support. The psychologist acts to promote deeper reflection and understanding of children’s challenging behaviour. Staff feel well supported.

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Leadership and management

An extensive range of training is available to staff. Staff report that they are able to access the good training options and they feel skilled and competent to care for the needs of children.

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Leadership and management

There is good monitoring of quality of care and this includes input from children and placing authorities. The manager uses this management information to inform the home’s priorities. There is a development plan in place and its progress is well monitored. The home was registered in July 2013 consequently this is its first full inspection. The manager is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. Weaknesses such as the need to ensure new staff to the home are well supported, are addressed by ensuring that they work with experienced staff.

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Leadership and management

All personal records are clear and stored securely, and contribute to an understanding of the children’s lives. Statutory reviews are undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that the care provided is meeting children’s needs.

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Leadership and management

All significant events relating to children are well recorded and reported to relevant partners. A social worker stated that staff always report incidents to them. The promptness of communication ensures that events are assessed to ensure that effective action is in place to manage children’s safely.

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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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