Children's Home run by Surrey County Council in Surrey

Unique reference number SC040628 Inspection date 20/12/2013 Inspector Jennie Christopher Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 19/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is managed by the local authority providing care and accommodation for up to seven children and young people 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

Young people are consistently positive about the home and say they have some excellent relationships with the staff who support them. They feel staff support them to overcome challenges and barriers in their lives and that their ‘opinions are listened to and respected’. Young people are able to progress in all areas of their lives as a result of strong relationships with staff. Young people are able to build, often their first, solid relationships with adults in a safe and nurturing environment.

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Overall effectiveness

The homes management and senior staff team has been formed since the last inspection, consisting of staff promoted from within the home. While adapting to their new roles, they are able to effectively guide and support the staff team. Staff feel they are well trained and benefit from formal and informal support from senior staff. New staff say they have had a comprehensive induction and excellent support from their colleagues. Young people benefit as a result of staff consistency in approach to care. Young people are supported to live in a group, which at times they are struggling with, but demonstrate they are able to value others opinions and beliefs. Bullying is raised as a concern, but young people feel staff manage incidents well. Young people are actively involved in consultation and service development through formal house meetings, tea time discussions and individual work.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff form excellent relationships with parents, carers, education and a wide range of specialist services to ensure a cohesive and consistent approach to care and placement planning. The management and senior teams continually strive for improvement and are aware of the strengths and value of living in the home. Weaknesses are tackled promptly, including the areas for improvement identified during the inspection. These include: reviewing the use of internal locks to ensure all young people have freedom of movement; ensuring telephone enquiries are made alongside obtaining written references for new staff and considering young people’s views during the staff appraisal process.

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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 that physical restrictions on normal movement within the home are not used unless this is necessary to safeguard children and promote their welfare and development. Such measures are only used where agreed with the responsible authority and, if appropriate, the parents. Such restrictions for one child do not impose similar restrictions on other children (NMS 10.4)  ensure telephone enquiries are made as well as obtaining written references; including when references have been obtained via email (NMS 16.1)  take into account the views of young people when staff have their performance appraised annually. (NMS 19.6)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make excellent progress in all aspects of their lives, in relation to their often extremely challenging starting points. Young people benefit from thoughtful, individualised care and support which promotes improved confidence and self- esteem. Young people are further supported to have an understanding of their personal history and how this impacts on them currently. One professional stated that 'staff are committed to helping the children make sense of what has happened to them in their lives'. Young people are unreservedly valued as individuals and staff’s consistent positive regard enables strong attachments. As a result young people are developing the skills and foundations to sustain appropriate relationships with peers and family.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have a good understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. They engage in physical activities both in the home and community, furthermore they have a sound understanding of healthy eating. Young people who smoke are supported to quit through staff and specialist cessation support. There is little use of prescribed medication, and when assessed as appropriate, young people are able to self-medicate.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Excellent support and encouragement from staff ensures young people are able to better understand the causes of their behaviours which can place them at risk of harm. Young people work positively towards reducing dangerous or risky behaviour and as a result, incidents of offending and being missing from care reduce for young people while living in the home. Where young people continue to struggle with at risk behaviours, specialist support agencies engage with both the home and young person to reduce the frequency or replace the behaviour with a more positive response.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Attendance at school is exceptional. Joint working between the home and schools enables young people to progress and achieve in line with their peers, including sitting exams and progressing onto apprenticeships. Those who have struggled with formal education receive proactive support from both staff and external agencies; which has enabled them to overcome their barriers to learning.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Some young people who have recently moved on from the home continue to engage in education and training and have maintained links to the home and staff through outreach work. Young people also enjoy positive relationships in the community, accessing sports and leisure activities and socialising with appropriate peers for example.

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Outcomes for children and young people

While living in the home young people learn a wide range of practical skills, such as household cleaning tasks, budgeting and cooking meals. Young people also learn essential self-care and life skills in preparation for moving on to independence or their next identified placement. Observations demonstrated staff support young people to consider what were priority items to buy with their clothing allowance.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people develop emotionally and socially as a result of their constructive relationships with staff who are demonstrably concerned about all aspects of their welfare. Young people are positive about staff and observed interactions are also extremely nurturing and supportive within appropriate boundaries. Young people comment that ‘staff have always got my back and if I need a shoulder to cry on they are always there’.

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Quality of care

Regular informal and formal consultation with young people through house meetings and tea time discussions ensures their views are sought on a variety of home based issues. Whenever possible, young people’s ideas are acted upon. These sessions are also used to open up lively debate and understanding of each other’s views, with topics such as evolution versus creationism and incorporating others’ beliefs regarding eating or not eating meat in a shared environment.

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to be involved in their reviews and care planning, with separate sections in some plans which young people have devised. Staff have extremely high aspirations for all young people in their care and individual’s well- being and development is central to all planning. Young people’s changing needs are continually monitored and plans are updated regularly in consultation with young people, and where appropriate, parents, social workers and other relevant professionals. Staff actively support educational placements with robust communication between home and education. Staff encourage and assist young people with homework and other activities dependant on their course. One education professional states, ‘we have seen a real turn around in our student since they have moved into the home’. Close links with specialist education workers support staff and young people when necessary, ensuring when there are issues or concerns, disruption to education is

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Quality of care

Young people attend all required medical appointments with staff support or independently when assessed as appropriate to do so. The home has forged close links with specialist health and emotional health professionals, such as the designated Community Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for children who are looked after. Close liaison ensures consistency of approach in supporting young people’s emotional well-being and responses to risky or unwanted behaviours. Clear direction and support from specialist workers, for example, has ensured young people’s placements have remained successful despite displaying behaviours that have caused breakdowns in the past. Medication is stored appropriately and there is a thorough system to ensure safety when administering. In case of emergency, there are several first aiders on site at all times.

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Quality of care

Young people have access to independent advocates and youth support workers with whom they can raise concerns or worries. Young people also know how to make complaints and who to complain to. Further information on how to access a range of advocacy and support services is readily available. The home’s proactive response to young people’s complaints made formally and informally, has ensured a swift resolution and change where necessary. Young people say bullying is currently not a major issue, but when incidents arise, restorative approaches have been used to try and resolve any concerns. Observations suggest that this approach is effective, as young people are able to express how the incident has made them feel.

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Quality of care

The building has homely living and safety in mind. It is well maintained, and any breakages, damage or potential risks are reported and remedied promptly. There are many areas for independent or group interaction including ‘boys only’ and ‘girls only’ communal areas, at the young people’s request.

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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 say they feel safe within the home and that staff do all they can to keep them safe. Young people’s welfare is actively promoted in all aspects of their care and staff protect young people effectively from abuse or harm. Staff are confident in identifying signs of abuse and are aware of processes to follow should they be concerned for a young person’s safety or welfare. On occasion, personal items have gone missing within the home, which has led to some young people feeling their belongings are unsafe. As a result procedures within the home have been amended, including locking doors to laundry areas and locking bedroom doors. Young people feel these measures are having a detrimental impact on their homely living experience; however they do understand the need for the measure. Young people are also confident that when they raise bullying as a concern staff act promptly to ensure it does not continue.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people do go missing from care and there are extremely robust measures in place when this happens. Staff actively search for young people, and often are successful in returning them to the home safely. Staff identify and explore with young people the reasons why they go missing and approaches to care and risk assessments are updated to reflect this. Policies and procedures are updated in response to lessons learned locally and nationally; including identifying signs of exploitation. Staff are aware of individual vulnerabilities and work extremely closely with specialist police officers and external agencies to further protect young people who are at risk when they are missing. Joint working helps to identify support and protective factors for those who have a history of, or are at risk of, offending. As a result of gaining young people’s trust and working effectively with other agencies, incidences of being missing from care and other at risk behaviours such as offending

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Safeguarding children and young people

have dramatically reduced and in some cases ceased.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The organisation’s recruitment policy is generic and is not sufficiently robust for employment in a children’s home. Specifically, references are not followed up with a telephone call if they are received via email. However, suitable personnel and identification checks are carried out.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Highly individualised positive behaviour plans reward young people through positive reinforcement. Sanctions are proportionate, and young people actively comment in the records regarding their effectiveness. Young people are further encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and consider how future responses can be different. There is limited use of restraint in the home, with clear records indicating techniques deployed prior the intervention to prevent a hold being required. Young people’s risk assessments are robust, proportionate and thoughtful and link effectively to care plans. This enables young people to take controlled risks depending on their individual behaviours and vulnerabilities.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safe from fire and other hazards as a result of thorough checks and procedures. The building is regularly maintained and any identified damage, risks or hazards are rectified promptly.

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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 manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They undertake effective monthly monitoring of the building and records. These checks effectively demonstrate the impact that living in the home has for young people and identifies areas for improvement. Reports in relation to visits made to the home to monitor its conduct in line with Regulation 33 are sound. Within these processes the management team seeks the views of young people their families and other stakeholders whenever possible. The development plan is young people focussed and highlights areas identified through monitoring and how young people would like the home to move forwards. Young people benefit from an evolving and improving service and are involved in the formulation of plans and documents for the home whenever possible.

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Leadership and management

The provider meets the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose, which features young people’s views of the service. As a result young people and staff fully understand the functions, purpose and ethos of the home. The young people’s guide is in the first person and is written by young people for young people. It is in a simple format and contains information on external advice and advocacy services alongside real life peer views on living in the home.

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Leadership and management

The home has excellent multi-agency links which are working to improve outcomes for young people. A wide variety of prevention and specialist support services are actively involved with young people and staff to ensure the best possible care and outcomes. Although currently not a concern, services that are not performing are challenged appropriately. Young people are supported to complain, when necessary, about services they receive. Relationships with the local community are largely positive with young people involved appropriately with friends and activities close by. A much improved and very robust system for the swift notification of events to external agencies as required by regulation has recently been implemented.

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Leadership and management

The staff team is consistent, although some roles have changed through promotion. Staff are enthusiastic in their roles and say they are well trained and supported through regular formal and informal supervision. Training needs are identified in yearly appraisals. However, young people’s views are not used in the annual appraisal process. Newly appointed staff complete a thorough induction programme specific to the service, based on the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction standards. Most recently appointed employees have developed the document to ensure it is user friendly and relevant to the role.

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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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