Children's Home run by Motivations Activity Projects Ltd in Sandwell

Unique reference number SC457013 Inspection date 19/03/2014 Inspector Pippa Greed Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 16/05/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The children's home is privately owned. Care is provided for up to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress .

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Progress

At the full inspection in May 2013, the overall effectiveness rating for the service was judged as good with two recommendations made. The home has proactively addressed the recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. These include improving the young person’s guide to make clearer how to contact significant others and embed a system of quality assurance feedback. Social workers confirm that in their view the service is good, they receive updates regularly and statutory reviews are attended by staff from the home.

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Progress

The home has maintained outcomes for young people with nurturing care provided. In recent months the home has experienced a period of instability, which has impacted on other young people placed in the home. The impact was as a result of young people influencing other young people to abscond without authority. One young person has since moved on when it became clear that the risks of young people going missing from care was escalating. A new placement has been identified for the young person who has since moved on. Young people living in the home are now much more settled and missing from care events have reduced significantly. Since the last inspection, the home has experienced a change of manager. The new manager started in November 2013 and is presently applying to register with Ofsted. The manager has made some positive changes within the home and there is a clear commitment towards developing the service. The manager has demonstrated

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Progress

reflective thinking and lessons learnt from previous placement by instilling the importance of clearer boundaries for young people, identifying learning needs for staff and embedding house meetings for young people known as ‘child chat’. However, the manager’s reflection with regards to the home’s location and how this can potentially impact on young people is not formally documented as a risk assessment.

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Progress

Young people are supported to express themselves. Young people say they get to tell staff their views. This means their voice is listened to and enables them to influence ideas for the home. Young people are supported to make choices in their daily lives, engage in education and choose activities they enjoy. Young people confirm they feel able to talk to their key worker and make decisions, for instance, approving a sanction that young people suggest as fair and proportionate. Young people’s comments include, ‘I like the staff here and like to spend time with them.’ Young people are supported to engage in education, progress in their studies and are praised by the staff team when positive efforts with attendance have been made.

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Progress

Young people enjoy a varied range of activities offered. Examples include going to the gym, visiting the cinema and participating in Girl Guides. Through strong relationship with staff based on trust, young people benefit from developing social skills, learning and having fun. Young people make progress from their starting points. This includes growing in trust and self-esteem to allow nurturing relationships to take place and forming attachments. This means young people are enabled to flourish. Appropriate to their age and abilities, young people are guided to practice life skills such as cooking a meal and the planning of time set aside for revision or activities. This means young people are gently encouraged to follow routines and increase their personal responsibility at a pace they are comfortable with, which in turn instils in them a sense of pride and self-esteem.

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Progress

The home environment is decorated and presented in a manner that is homely and family style in feel. There are some areas identified for maintenance upgrade. The manager has taken steps to formalise maintenance request arrangements by securing allocated maintenance days. However, some aspects around the home are in need of addressing through a programme of replacement, for example, dining chairs and a bathroom panel. Although the manager has ideas for service improvement including purchase of play equipment for the garden, this is not fully embedded in the form of a written development plan.

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Progress

Staff spoken with confirmed they feel well supported to expand in their role and spoke of effective delegation, which allows them to develop new skills. Training records sampled presented some gaps in mandatory training. The manager has set up a training account with local authority in order to increase the training take-up. However, records seen show in particular significant gaps in safeguarding and child protection training for staff. Young people benefit from being cared for by a nurturing and observant staff team. The manager and staff team provide an environment that is warm and welcoming, which in turn creates a feeling of being at home.

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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) the registered person shall ensure that all persons employed by him receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal. This relates to safeguarding and child protection training. Regulation 27 (4) (a) 19/05/2014

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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 the wishes, feelings and views of children and those significant to them are taken into account in monitoring staff and in developing the home. This relates to the development plan for the home (NMS 1.7)  ensure that the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated. This relates to programme of maintenance to ensure repairs and replacements are followed through (NMS 10.3)  ensure risk assessments of the whole children's home environment, including impact from location are carried out, to identify any potential sources of harm to the children are recorded in writing and regularly reviewed (NMS 10.8)  ensure there is a good quality learning and development programme which staff and volunteers are supported to undertake. It includes induction, post-qualifying and in-service training to enhance individual skills and to keep staff up-to-date with professional and legal developments. Staff are equipped with the skills

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Recommendations

required to meet the needs of the children and purpose of the setting, and training keeps them up-to-date with professional, legal and practice developments and reflects the policies, legal obligations and business needs of the home. (NMS 18.1)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

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