Children's Home run by Steps 4 Life Care Limited in Wolverhampton

Unique reference number SC474724 Inspector Hannah Bates Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Steps 4 Life Care Ltd Registered person address Arbor House Broadway North Walsall West Midlands WS1 2AN Responsible individual Sharon Suzanne Tott Registered manager Natalie Williams Date of last inspection N/A 2 of 10 Inspection date 10/12/2014

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Previous inspection N/A Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness adequate

Outcomes for children and young people adequate Quality of care adequate Keeping children and young people safe adequate Leadership and management adequate

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are not actively involved in their care planning or their risk management plans. Young people are not consistently debriefed after incidents or sanctions are imposed. This means that the home is not actively encouraging young people to have consistent opportunities to learn from their behaviours. Young people’s ability to modify their risk taking behaviours is not being promoted. Young people attend education, however, the home does not maximise young people’s opportunities to learn outside of their educational setting. Young people are not reaching their full potential.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people enjoy good health. Staff support young people to attend appointments although there is a lack of proactive plans to help young people to stop smoking. Young people have access to leisure activities and are encouraged to take part in exercise.

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Overall effectiveness

The home creates a nurturing environment. Staff get to know young people so that individual behaviour management plans can be implemented. Young people say they enjoy positive relationships with staff. There is a high staffing ratio which promotes the safety and wellbeing of young people. Young people’s risk-taking behaviours have reduced. 3 of 10 The home communicates with other agencies and there is strong multi-agency working. This ensures that care planning is effective and that boundaries across agencies are consistent. 4 of 10

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private company that provides care and accommodation for 3 children with emotional and or behavioural difficulties.

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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) The registered person must ensure the person authorised by the registered provider to make the record has spoken to the child concerned and the person using the measure about the use of the measure (17B(3)(g)) 19/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) The registered person shall maintain in respect of each child who is accommodated in a children’s home a record in permanent form which includes the information, documents and records specified in Schedule 3 relating to that child (28(1)(a)) 19/01/2015

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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

 Children understand their health needs, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to make informed decisions about their own health (NMS 6.2)  Children have access to a range of educational resources to support their learning and have opportunities beyond the school day to engage in activities which promote learning (NMS 8.2) 5 of 10  Children who have been excluded from school have access to appropriate education and training, so that they are supported and enabled to resume full time education (NMS 8.8)  Ensure there is a good quality learning and development programme for staff so that staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of the children and the purpose of the setting (NMS18) 6 of 10

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

There is a lack of planned work around developing young people’s independence skills. There are no independence plans in place for young people. This means that they are not being fully equipped for learning the skills needed when they leave the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people attend education. There is improvement in their attendance in educational settings compared to their attendance rates at the start of their placements. Young people who do not attend full-time education do not receive alternative input into learning within the home. This means young people’s opportunity to learn and develop skills for later life is not promoted.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Leisure activities are identified and tailored according to young people’s individual preferences. For example, they take part in go-karting, football and horse riding. Young people say they enjoy the activities and these develop their social skills which, in turn, helps to develop their self-confidence.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Staff give young people information about how to take care of their personal hygiene as well as their health. Information such as how to check for breast abnormalities is made available to young people. This encourages young people to start to invest in their own health and equips them with skills to notice if there are any problems.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people develop their understanding of communal living. Staff say, ‘We teach young people that they may disagree with one another but they learn to be civil and tolerate one another. They are starting to do this well’. This is important in teaching young people how to manage in different social situations. In turn this gives young people opportunities to develop social skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people develop a positive sense of identity. Diversity is encouraged and the staff encourage young people to tell them about their friendships and relationships. Young people are encouraged to share their views, wishes and feelings in an open and transparent way. They start to form their own identities in a non-judgemental environment. This promotes young people’s self confidence in their own identity.

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Quality of care adequate

The monitoring of young people’s behaviour is under-developed and so does not inform staff practice. Responses to behaviours are inconsistent so young people can get confused about the expectations of them. The home does not involve young people within their daily care planning or risk management planning. Young people’s 7 of 10 sense of autonomy is lost.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people overall enjoy good health. Staff support young people to attend health appointments. They talk to young people about how to take care of their bodies and look after themselves. This equips young people with skills for later life and encourages them to take some ownership of their health needs. Young people who smoke do not have smoking cessation plans in place. Whilst staff support them to think about stopping smoking, it is not actively promoted. This has a detrimental impact on young people’s overall health and wellbeing.

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Quality of care adequate

There is partnership working between the staff team and other agencies. The home supports and encourages young people to attend their appointments. The home communicates well with placing authorities about any changes in young people’s behaviours. A social worker said, ‘Communication from the home is very good. We work well together to prevent a crisis from happening’. Effective communication and partnership working underpins consistency of care planning. Young people know what is happening to them which, in turn, promotes their feelings of safety and emotional wellbeing.

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Quality of care adequate

The ethos of the home is one of nurturing the young people. Time is taken to get to know young people so that staff can provide individual care that suits their needs. Staff say, ‘We listen to young people. We are empathetic about their past experiences and actually ask them how they are feeling’. The home actively supports young people regarding their contact with their families. This encourages young people’s emotional wellbeing.

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Quality of care adequate

There is encouragement for young people to develop a positive sense of identity. The home is conscious about gender balances and wanting young people to experience role models of both genders. Pictures and information of black women who have achieved are available for young people to read. Staff say, ‘We discuss choices with young people. We explain to them that the choices and decisions they make now will affect them for the rest of their lives’. Young people’s sense of identity is promoted.

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Quality of care adequate

The home is spacious. Young people get to choose how they want their room decorated and staff support them with this. This helps young people to own the space they live in and start to take responsibility for it. This in turn encourages young people to invest in their environment. A young person said; ‘This is a children’s home but more like a foster home. It’s like being with a family’.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people’s files do not contain relevant paperwork needed in order for effective implementation of behaviour management strategies. The lack of provision of relevant paperwork hinders effective behaviour management assessments. This detrimentally impacts on young people as it means that the home is ill-equipped to 8 of 10 deal with behaviours as they arise. Care provided to young people becomes reactive rather than proactive.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home does not consistently debrief young people after incidents of risk-taking behaviour. Sanctions are inconsistent and not always relevant to the behaviour. This results in confusion regarding expectations of behaviour and how young people learn about modifying their risk taking behaviours. The home does not consistently update risk management plans after incidents. This means that they do not act as a tool to guide staff practice resulting in reactive interventions.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Physical interventions are rare. The home focuses on de-escalation and prevention of incidents from happening. This works for young people within the home. Young people say that their relationships with staff helps them to feel safe. Risk-taking behaviours have reduced compared to young people’s starting points on admission to the home. A youth offending worker said, ‘The home is willing to explore what they can do for the young person as a team and with us. They have lots of patience. They speak to me weekly and are responsive to situations’. The home keeps young people safe.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home liaises with local police regarding the local area and there is good sharing of information. Police are kept up-to-date with new admissions. There are missing from care protocols in place which incorporate the information provided by the police regarding any potential harmful areas for young people. This partnership working has helped risk-taking behaviours to reduce. CCTV is in operation at the front of the home. The home is able to evidence occasions when this has been necessary and beneficial to young people’s safety. There is consistent review of the use of CCTV. This ensures that it continues to be purposeful to young people’s safety and wellbeing.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Staff are proactive about bullying. They consistently discuss relationships with young people and try to create an environment of mutual respect. Staff educate young people about bullying and this empowers them to take responsibility for their behaviours. Staff quickly recognise any peer group difficulties and implement strategies to manage the relationships and reduce the risk to young people’s emotional wellbeing. The home safeguards young people’s emotional wellbeing.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people know how to make a complaint. There is a swift response to complaints made by young people. They have a voice within the home. This empowers them and promotes their feelings of self-worth.

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Leadership and management adequate

9 of 10 This home is the first home within a new company. This is the first inspection of the home. As such, there have been no requirements or recommendations made previously. The Registered Manager is suitably qualified and experienced. She has vast experience of working with traumatised young people who have complex needs. She has undertaken training in therapeutic work with children and young people. This means that the Registered Manager is bringing different styles of working with traumatised young people to this home.

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Leadership and management adequate

There is management oversight of the running of the home as well as independent visits. The Registered Manager completes robust assessments of young people prior to their placement. Any identified matching issues are swiftly acted upon. This promotes young people’s emotional wellbeing.

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Leadership and management adequate

There is a clear development plan in place. The Registered Manager has a good grasp of where she wants the home to improve in terms of practice and ethos of care to young people. There is evidence of some of these areas, such as training, starting to be being implemented with the staff team. The Statement of Purpose outlines the ethos of the home including its application of restorative justice and social pedagogy. Training within these areas is yet to be implemented within the staff team although practice does have a focus on giving young people choices.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager has a very ‘hands on’ approach to the running of the home and the development of the staff team. Practice is reflected on in team meetings and new approaches to caring for young people are discussed and reviewed. Although the Registered Manager expresses an intention to improve the skills of the staff team, the current training programme is inadequate to meet this ambition.

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Leadership and management adequate

Staff supervision is of good quality and regular. Staff say they feel supported by the Registered Manager. When there have been incidents which have emotionally impacted on staff this has been addressed within supervision and practice has been reflected upon.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager is creative with ways of meeting young people’s emotional needs. For example, a colour therapist and art therapist have recently been tasked with working with young people in the home. Young people say they like this. This promotes young people’s emotional wellbeing. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management adequate

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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