Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Unique reference number SC398386 Inspection date 31/03/2014 Inspector Chris Scully Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/06/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is part of a range of children's services within a private care organisation. It is registered to accommodate three young people with emotional and/or 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 last inspection in June 2013 the children's home’s overall effectiveness was judged to be good. One Recommendation was raised in relation to sending in copies of the manager’s monitoring to Ofsted. The home is making satisfactory progress.

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Progress

The Registered Manager carries out satisfactory monitoring of the home on a monthly basis. Copies of these reports are sent to Ofsted at least twice a year. Consequently, the home is more able to demonstrate how the home is initiating improvements and developments in the service. The Statement of Purpose has recently been revised and a copy forwarded to Ofsted and local authorities. This means all parties including parents and young people are aware of the type of care and support offered by the home.

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Progress

Recently there has been a spike in the incidents of young people going missing. The Registered Manager has considered these incidents and has identified some external influences, which have contributed in the decline in some young people's behaviour and incidents of being missing. This means staff are able to carry out targeted work with young people on these issues to help them come to some resolutions. The home works well with local authorities, police and other agencies to support young people and as a result this is now slowly reducing.

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Progress

Staff are aware of young people’s vulnerabilities and are able to identify when young people may go missing. This means they are able to initiate strategies to help prevent them from going missing. This includes each young person having their own missing from care risk assessment outlining the risks associated to them. This means should they go missing this information can be passed to the police so that they can carry out an informed search for young people. Some missing from care risk assessment and behaviour management plans provide conflicting information and are not sufficiently clear. This is because they do not adequately describe what reasonable and permissible actions the staff can take should young people leave the premises without permission. This means that the liberty of young people may be inappropriately and unlawfully restricted.

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Progress

Some young people's behaviour can be erratic. This has resulted in a number of sanctions, some of which appear to be inappropriate, for example, what appears to be the removal of young people's 'free time' as a consequence of them going missing. However, this is a recording issue as this is, in reality, an additional measure which has been initiated in consultation with social workers to help keep young people safe.

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Progress

Young people are occasionally physically restrained for their own safety. Records of sanctions are maintained and any physical interventions used. However, some entries do not contain all of the required information such as the actual duration of the restraint and if young people have been spoken to and have been able to make comment in the records.

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Progress

The safety and well-being of young people is high on the agenda for staff. They take effective action to prevent young people from purchasing ‘legal highs' for example by talking to stall holders who are selling this and explaining the age of the young person and passing information to police. Young people are developing an awareness of the dangers of these substances through discussions with staff and by engaging in drug awareness sessions.

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Progress

Young people enjoy positive relationships with staff. They say they are really pleased to be having overnight contact visits with their families and are reassured that staff are staying close by should they need support. Young people are engaged in a wide range of community activities and have developed firm friendships within these groups. Young people are confident to approach staff with requests, such as having an African land snail as a pet. They carefully explain how they will care for them and provide adequate food and shelter for them resulting in the Registered Manager agreeing to their request. Young people live in a well maintained homely environment. They are able to personalise their bedrooms in a way that clearly reflects their individual tastes and interests.

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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 measure of control, restraint or discipline in the home a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose in particular conformation the young person and staff have been spoken to about the measure and the duration of the restraint (Regulation 17B 3 (h) (4) (a)) 15/05/2014

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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 staff are aware of current legislation and government guidance on the measures they can take to prevent a child leaving without permission and do not exceed these (NMS 5.3)  ensure there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed. In particular that the behaviour management plans and missing from care risk assessments remain accurate and are consistent (NMS 22.1)  ensure sanctions for behaviour are clear, reasonable and fair and are understood by all staff and young people (NMS 3.8)

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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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