Children's Home run by Nottinghamshire YMCA in Nottingham

Unique reference number SC444681 Inspector Philip Cass Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Nottinghamshire YMCA Registered person address YMCA 4 Shakespeare Street NOTTINGHAM NG1 4FG Responsible individual Brenda Arlene Serrant Registered manager Richard Slater Date of last inspection 25/03/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 26/11/2014

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Previous inspection good progress 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

Staff and managers demonstrate great compassion and empathy in their interactions with young people. However, they sometimes struggle to engage young people in meaningful or constructive activity. As a result, care quality is not of a consistently good standard. Educational outcomes are often good. However, some young people have poor attendance or do not take up training opportunities.

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Overall effectiveness

Behaviour management strategies are not wholly effective. There are good examples of very effective support to young people who display challenging behaviours. However, there are also young people who routinely refuse to adhere to the behavioural expectations of the home. This means that young people do not achieve consistently good outcomes.

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Overall effectiveness

Despite periods of instability in the home, and incidents of anti-social behaviour in the community, young people do make progress in relation to their health, emotional well-being, and social skills. The home works effectively with other agencies to prepare young people for independence. Consequently, managers are able to demonstrate that, over time, young people achieve positive outcomes. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. This mitigates the impact of risk taking behaviours and enables young people to feel safe. 3 of 11 The home is required to better support young people to use their time constructively. It is also asked to fully record the use of sanctions, reflect the use of electronic surveillance in the Statement of Purpose, improve the quality of external monitoring arrangements, notify Ofsted of significant incidents in the home, and ensure that young people can access a phone on which to make private calls at all

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a national charity and provides care and accommodation for up to three young people at the main residential site and a further two young people at a satellite home close by. The home provides care and accommodation for young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/03/2014 Interim good progress 15/01/2014 Full adequate 24/10/2012 Interim good progress 25/07/2012 Full adequate

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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 sanction, a full written record is made as required (Regulation 17B(3)(a)–(i)) 19/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

4 (2001) produce a Statement of Purpose which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1 (Regulation 4 & Schedule 1(13)) 19/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the independent person, when carrying out a visit, shall inspect the premises and records, and interview such of the children, their parents, relatives, and persons working at the home, as appear necessary to form an opinion as to the 19/01/2015 5 of 11 safety and welfare of children accommodated there (Regulation 33(8)(a,b))

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that, if any of the events listed in column 1 of the table in schedule 5 takes place, the registered person shall without delay notify the persons indicated in respect of the event in column 2 of the table. (Regulation 30 (1)) 19/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that children accommodated in the home are provided at all reasonable times with access to a phone on which to make and receive phone calls in private which they may use without reference to persons working in the home (Regulation 15 (4)(a)) 19/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that children accommodated in the home are encouraged to develop and pursue appropriate leisure interests (Regulation 18 (2)(a)) 19/01/2015 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Over time, most young people make progress towards improved social skills. They become better able to regulate their emotional responses. This means that they experience fewer outbursts of anger. They learn to interact better in the home, school and community. Where young people do not make obvious progress in developing improved emotional resilience, managers and staff demonstrate a good understanding of the barriers to success. They implement realistic plans to help young people overcome these barriers. As a result, the home provides young people with the opportunity to achieve positive outcomes.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people are well supported to maintain appropriate contact with their family and other support networks in their communities. Where young people struggle to cope with restrictions placed on their family contact, staff support them so that risks are minimised. Some planned moves to independence take place in a very structured and supportive manner. This gives young people every opportunity to lead successful adult lives. Other young people experience less well organised transitions. However, the home is able to demonstrate that young people acquire practical life skills to prepare them for adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Educational outcomes are mixed. Some young people make great progress in both attendance and achievement. They gain qualifications, or are on course to gain qualifications, that enable them to move into further education or gain employment. In some cases, young people with a significant history of educational failure make real progress in overcoming barriers to achievement. They learn to value school and achieve success. However, other young people do not make the same progress. Lower than anticipated levels of attendance generate disappointing examination grades that limit career opportunities. Some older residents refuse to take up opportunities to attend training courses. Their current limited engagement with education is unlikely to lead to realistic employment opportunities.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Most young people have better mental and emotional health as a result of their placement in the home. As they build trusting relationships with staff, they become more emotionally resilient. By providing young people with unconditional positive regard, staff help them to grow in self-esteem and feel valued. This approach supports young people to manage the impact of previous negative life experience.

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Quality of care adequate

7 of 11 Although young people are occasionally disrespectful towards their carers, they hold them in high regard and value their support and care. Staff show a high level of commitment to the young people. This is particularly evident when they face significant hostility. The resilience of staff enables young people to build trusting relationships. Staff are good role models because they are consistently courteous and respectful in their interactions. Following incidents of anti-social behaviour, staff work with young people to help them to take responsibility for their actions. The home has well established behaviour management strategies that staff understand. However, these are not always effective in addressing the very complex emotional needs of some young people. Consequently, there are periods when young people do not adhere to the rules or routines of the home.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people are provided with good quality health care. Effective multi-agency arrangements mean that a comprehensive range of health services are available to young people. Medication administration systems are safe. Where potential improvements are identified, medication procedures are quickly updated. Mental and emotional health conditions are addressed well by the home. Managers develop very innovative and high quality plans to support young people who have complex mental health needs. These plans are described as ‘excellent’ by specialist health workers.

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Quality of care adequate

Care planning processes are effective. Each young person has a detailed care plan that provides clear guidance to staff. This means that the needs of young people can be addressed. Key working and consultation systems are used appropriately to ensure that the views of young people are central in all decision making. The home also consults with families and social workers to ensure that care plans are accurate and well informed. Staff are good at identifying needs that stem from the culture, heritage and background of young people. Consequently, the home is good at promoting equality and diversity.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people know how to complain and report that they are listened to and respected. Their views and wishes influence the running of the home. The home ensures that most young people can make phone calls in private by providing credit for their mobile phones. However, when it is deemed unsafe to provide young people with a mobile phone, the home does not put alternative systems in place. As a result, the home has failed to ensure that young people are able to contact advocates, safeguarding agencies, or other support networks without seeking the permission of staff. This limits the ability of young people to raise concerns about their care.

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Quality of care adequate

The home offers a range of activities that young people sometimes take part in. Young people report that they enjoy these activities, and that they enjoy their leisure time with staff. By taking part in positive activity, young people begin to develop interests and skills that improve their self-esteem. However, some young people display resistance to engaging in constructive and purposeful activity. The home enables them to spend significant periods of time away from the home, in unstructured and unsupervised activity. Although the home is careful to agree free time arrangements with placing authorities, the failure to consistently engage young 8 of 11 people in stimulating activity does not support them to overcome engrained patterns of negative and risk taking behaviour.

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Quality of care adequate

The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. The standard of decoration ensures that young people live in a pleasant and homely environment. Routine maintenance is completed in a timely manner and emergency repairs addressed promptly. Young people are able to personalise their bedrooms and, where possible, can choose which bedroom they have. Because staff are respectful of young people’s bedrooms, privacy is maintained.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home has strong safeguarding arrangements that are well understood by staff. This minimises the risk of abusive practice developing in the home. All staff are trained in child protection. This means that they know what to do if they are worried that a child is vulnerable to abuse or exploitation. Safe recruitment processes underpin the safeguarding arrangements in the home. Managers go to great lengths in their efforts to prevent unsuitable adults gaining access to the vulnerable young people in the home. Pre-employment checks include criminal record checks and telephone verification of references.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Some young people are admitted to the home with established patterns of running away and placing themselves at risk. Staff understand the factors that may trigger young people to go missing from the home. Where managers become aware that young people are engaging in potentially harmful behaviours, they act quickly to prevent or reduce these behaviours. Some young people are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation in the community. The home works diligently to reduce these risks in co-operation with safeguarding agencies such as the police. Although some young people have made limited progress towards learning safe and appropriate behaviours during their time at the home, the actions of staff mean that they become safer.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Sanctions are used sparingly by staff in their efforts to address unacceptable behaviours. However, the recording of sanctions does not demonstrate that sanctions are promptly reviewed by managers to ensure that they are appropriate and effective. This contributes to the fact that some sanctions are repeatedly given to young people without full consideration of whether they serve to modify behaviour. Restraint is infrequent and used only to ensure the safety of young people. All staff receive training to minimise the risk of accidental injury or trauma to young people during a restraint. Careful review by managers and external auditors ensures that restraint is used appropriately. Good quality recording of all restraint supports managers to undertake robust evaluation of practice.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Health and safety systems are good. Environmental risk assessments are comprehensive and frequently updated in response to identified risk. Consequently, 9 of 11 the risk of accidental injury is minimised. Fire safety systems are effective and appropriately monitored by the manager and senior staff. Periodic testing of gas and electrical systems also reduces the likelihood of accidental injury.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager has been in post for over a year. He is suitably qualified and experienced to undertake the role. He is well respected by staff who recognise his experience and knowledge. As the home is on two sites, the Registered Manager is supported by assistant managers. Both are experienced and competent. Delegated responsibilities are clearly understood and lines of accountability are well defined. This ensures that the home is well managed in the absence of the registered manager. Two recommendations were made at the last inspection. These have been addressed. As a result, staff benefit from more regular supervision, and young people are better supported to learn independence skills as they approach adulthood.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home commissions an independent person to visit the home each month, evaluate the quality of care provided, and provide a written report about the visit. However, the independent visitor does not carry out a robust assessment of practices, processes, and records. As a result, improvement is not promoted. However, this shortfall is not currently impacting on the welfare of young people because monitoring carried out by the Responsible Individual and Registered Manager clearly identifies shortfalls and drives improvement. Improvement is further promoted by the home’s development plan. This has generated improvement in a range of areas including training, activity planning, and maintenance systems.

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Leadership and management adequate

Managers are committed to providing helpful information to young people when they arrive at the home. A young person’s guide is produced that clearly outlines the range of support services and resources available. The home’s written Statement of Purpose ensures that parents, social workers and other key stakeholders are also provided with information about the home. This information is relevant and accurate. However, an administrative oversight means that the methods of electronic surveillance used by the home are not described in this document. Although this has minimal impact on young people, it means that comprehensive information is not provided.

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Leadership and management adequate

Managers generally work well with a range of health, social care, and education agencies. This ensures that information is shared promptly and decision making is informed by up-to-date and relevant information. The safety of young people is promoted because managers ensure that all significant events relating to the protection of children are notified to safeguarding agencies. However, the failure to notify Ofsted of significant incidents in the home limits the effectiveness of regulatory processes. 10 of 11 Training, particularly induction training, is much improved. Where staff had previously reported that their induction did not fully equip them to undertake their role, they now say that their introduction to the role is ‘brilliant’. Staff report that they receive good quality training. This enables them to understand a range of care issues such as safeguarding, behaviour management, sexual health, attachment, and gang

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Leadership and management adequate

affiliations. The safety of young people is promoted because all staff have first aid and food hygiene training. 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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