Children's Home run by Individual Specialist Care Limited in Sandwell

Unique reference number SC481235 Inspector Carole Moore Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Individual Specialist Care Ltd Registered person address 30 Leahouse Road OLDBURY West Midlands B68 8PD Responsible individual Nicola Dewar Registered manager Maria Beckford Date of last inspection N/A 2 of 8 Inspection date 03/02/2015

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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 good Keeping children and young people safe good Leadership and management adequate

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Overall effectiveness

This is the home's first inspection since they were registered in August 2014. Young people receive good standards of personalised care in this home. Staff place the young person's well-being at the centre of their practice and are able to demonstrate a good understanding of the individual needs of the young people. There is a nurturing and relaxed atmosphere in this home which parents and professionals say contribute to the overall care of the young people.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides a comfortable environment for young people with appropriate space for communal living. Young people demonstrate by their trusting and relaxed behaviour in the home that they feel safe. Staff underpin this by good quality risk assessments and by their detailed understanding of each young person's moods.

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Overall effectiveness

This home is still in its early stages of development and the Registered Manager has a clear vision for the future of the home. She is aware of the strengths and shortfalls of the service and has a good quality assurance programme in place.

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Overall effectiveness

One requirement and three recommendations have been raised as a result of this inspection. These relate to consultation, training and supervision. 3 of 8

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides accommodation for up to three young people who have learning disabilities and is run by a private provider.

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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) ensure all persons employed by the registered person receives appropriate training, supervision and appraisal.(Regulation 27(4)(a)) 02/03/2015

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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

 ensure the views of the child, the child's family, social worker and independent reviewing officer (IRO) are sought regularly on the child's care (NMS 1.4)  ensure the young person's guide includes the telephone no of the Children's Rights Director (NMS13.5)  ensure staff receive high quality training to enhance their individual skills, equip them to meet the needs of the young people and keep them up to date with professional and legal developments. (NMS 18.1) 4 of 8

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people have only been in this placement a short time but there has been some progress made in different aspects of their lives. This is based on the attachments that they are able to make with a caring staff team that support them. As far as practically possible young people receive guidance to help them understand their circumstances and background. A social worker stated that staff have focussed on areas that are important to their young person such as lowering anxieties and this has really helped with them settling in to the placement.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people's health improves through well organised and consistent approaches to some very complex health needs.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people are in the process of being assessed for a college placement and close links have been forged with the college to support this process.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people are encouraged to keep good levels of contact with family and friends. All young people’s contact arrangements are fully detailed and agreed in their placement plans. The safety of young people and their welfare is always promoted. Young people benefit from direct face-to-face visits and telephone calls. As a result, this helps to maintain continuity of all relationships in young people’s lives in order to maintain their identity.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Staff do their best to encourage young people to enjoy their leisure time. This has been restrictive as the young people are currently reluctant to engage in many activities. Staff want to make good use of community resources to allow young people to have as many experiences as possible. They continually encourage the young people's participation. Young people's activity plans are age appropriate and responsive to their likes and dislikes such as walking, listening to music, eating out and trips to their favourite shop. Within the home environment young people systematically develop their confidence by having access to resources and opportunities to share their leisure time with staff.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people develop their independence skills at a pace that is manageable and realistic to them personally. A member of staff said, ‘Young people are encouraged to help with the cooking and clearing away after meals.' This means young people develop life skills despite the difficulties they face. As a result, young people develop a sense of achievement and pride.

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Quality of care good

5 of 8 The quality of care provided at the home is good. This is achieved through a committed staff team who have a thorough awareness of the differing needs of the young people and how to respond to their complex needs. Placement plans are informative and contain clear information for any new staff. A high level of detail is included within these plans and they clearly show a wide range of information about how the young person would like to be cared for. Placement plans link up to other plans, such as education and health plans, to ensure a continuity of care is achieved across the provision. Plans are updated on a regular basis to ensure that the correct information is in place. A social worker said, 'I am really pleased with the improvement that has been made so far.' Parents have said,' 'It puts my mind at rest knowing he is safe and well cared for.'

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Quality of care good

Staff use a variety of diversionary techniques for young people regarding their behaviours and innovative ways of affecting change in communication and in improving independent skills. Positive behaviour management is used and rewards and praise given.

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Quality of care good

Young people's health care is central to the home. Young people receive effective support to access the health services they need in line with their differing range of needs and the complexities of their conditions. Suitable arrangements are made for their basic healthcare. For example, medicals, dental treatment and routine health visits, as well as more specialised services such as child and mental health services (CAMHS). Most staff have had medication training to ensure safe practice in this area.

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Quality of care good

Staff fully support young people through providing a continuity of care that covers education. Care staff are involved in supporting young people's education on a daily basis and working towards admission to college.

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Quality of care good

Young people know how to make a formal complaint if they are not happy about something; this has not been necessary since placements began. Young people meet with staff regularly as a group and in one-to-one key worker sessions to talk about how the home is running and sort out any issues quickly and informally. This has resulted in the home purchasing a trampoline.

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Quality of care good

The home environment and appearance is of a good standard. Internally it is well- maintained. This contributes to young people feeling valued.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people receive high levels of supervision in order to maintain their overall safety and well-being. Behaviour support and positive handling plans are of good quality, identifying risks and protective factors for individual young people. These are known by staff so that risks are addressed as part of daily living with each young person. 6 of 8 The staff team are calm in defusing any potentially difficult and challenging situations swiftly and without issue. They are aware of the known triggers and the primary intervention to follow. They consistently apply rewards and praise young people for positive behaviour. Staff are to receive training this month regarding behaviour management to ensure the new staff are up to date and consistent with this practice. All staff have a good understanding of individual plans relating specifically to differing behaviours and the strategies in place for responding to these. Young people

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Keeping children and young people safe good

experience nurturing, warm and positive relationships with staff. This in turn creates effective routines and boundaries and these are becoming well established. Restraint is used as a last resort. In the event of a restraint taking place appropriate records are maintained.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The environment is physically safe. Daily checks of systems and equipment as well as risk assessments contribute to the safety of the premises. There has been damage to some of the window restrictors but this was being rectified during the inspection. A high profile is given to fire safety and each young person has a personal evacuation plan to make sure all young people know how to respond in the event of an emergency in order to keep them safe. The outside perimeter of the property is being altered to further ensure the safety of the young people. This is programmed for the summer of 2015.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Some young people have left the home without permission which increases their vulnerability. Staff have been prompt in responding and have escorted the young people quickly back to the home. The Registered Manager has established good working relationships with the police coordinator for the area in order to work together should young people go missing.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Staff are appropriately vetted before starting work in the home. This ensures unsuitable adults do not work with young people.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home is run by an experienced and permanent manager who has been registered with Ofsted since the home opened in 2014. The Registered Manager holds suitable qualifications in children’s social care and management skills. The Registered Manager offers clear leadership to her staff team. She also has an equally experienced deputy who shares some of the management roles.

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Leadership and management adequate

This home has only been operating since October 2014 and there is still some recruitment of staff being undertaken. Agency staff have been used and these staff are now to be contracted to the service.

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Leadership and management adequate

The staff team is well-balanced in terms of age, gender and life experience which provides young people with a richness of experiences and relationships. The training 7 of 8 programme is being developed and core training such as autism and epilepsy has not as yet been put in place. Some of the core staff team are experienced but new staff have not had the specific training to meet the individual needs of the young people.

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Leadership and management adequate

The registered person has systems in place to notify the appropriate authorities of all significant events relating to the protection of looked after young people and confirming that appropriate action follows any incident.

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Leadership and management adequate

Staff are committed to promoting good outcomes for young people in their care. The staff are managed in a way that encourages regular reflection of their work, but not all staff have received one-to-one supervision.

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Leadership and management adequate

The statement of purpose is clear, concise and detailed and the home meets the aims and objectives set out in it. Young people, placing social workers and the staff team have an accurate knowledge of the stated aims and objectives. The young person's guide is a bespoke document but does not have the telephone number of the Children's Rights officer. Verbal feedback from placing authorities have been very positive on the work carried out so far with the young people.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home’s quality assurance programme is good. Monitoring, both internal and external, is rigorous and effective in driving improvements. Consultation systems have not yet been developed to include formal consultation with young people, parents, and stakeholders. The Registered Manager undertakes the quality assurance and this has provided a good analysis of the current systems and are fed into the three monthly report to Ofsted. This is indicative of a service which wants to further develop and improve its practice so that young people have better outcomes. 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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