Children's Home run by Positive Outcomes Childcare Ltd in Dudley

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Managers and staff are committed to making a positive difference to young people’s lives. They are persistent and do not give up.  Young people are making progress from their starting points. They have positive relationships with staff and their interests and experiences are encouraged.  Partnership working with a range of agencies is effective in ensuring young people are provided with the necessary support to meet assessed needs.  Relationships with parents and carers are good and staff are fully committed to supporting contact.  Behaviour is well managed, sanctions and physical interventions are infrequently used.  Young people have become increasingly safer as staff have helped them reduce risk taking behaviours including missing from home for long periods.  There are a few shortfalls in practice. These include; some young people do not always make positive choices about managing their health. Risk

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The children's home provision is good because:

assessments are not consistently completed and young people do not consistently have return interviews carried out by an independent person when they have been missing from care.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff:-

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Requirement Due date

(i)assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child's relevant plans and make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. 4/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

13 The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person should demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on;

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Requirement Due date

(i)feedback on the experiences of children, their family members/carers, professionals involved in the care and protection of each child

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Requirement Due date

(b)use of monitoring and review systems make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home 4/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the recording, safe administration and disposal of medicines (Reg 23(1)) 4/09/2015

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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 when a child returns to the home after being missing from care, the responsible local authority must provide opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Information about this children's home

This is a privately owned home. It is registered for three young people with emotional and /or behavioural difficulties and /or mild to moderate learning difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

good

Young people benefit from living in a home where the staff and managers are determined and committed to make a positive impact on their lives. This is a staff team who do not give up. As one education professional observed ‘whatever there is to try, they will go out of their way to do it’. Their perseverance supports young people to make progress.

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good

Relationships between staff and young people are good. Staff clearly care about them and are interested in their welfare. For example, when they return home from school they take a real interest in how their day has been and look for ways to support them with challenges that have emerged. As one young people commented, ‘they listen to you and understand you’. Some young people find it more difficult to develop relationships but as one social worker observed. ‘staff use their initiative to find ways to try and engage with him’. As a result, young people feel staff care about them, listen to them and consider their views.

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good

All young people have educational provision that is appropriate for their needs. This is a considerable achievement given some young people have significant histories of non-school engagement before they arrived. Staff and managers have been pro-active in identifying and working with education providers to identify appropriate provision. One young people who had previously been out of mainstream provision has been supported to return. An educational professional commented, ‘a brilliant care home who have put in lots of support and incentives to encourage x to participate in his education’. Young people are making progress from their starting points. One parent happily reported, ‘staff continually encourage him and are persistent. They don’t give up. At his previously placement they knocked on your door once in the morning to get up, and if you didn’t that was it. Here, they keep trying’. As a result, young people’s educational attainment has

p.6

good

Staff support young people to access a range of specialist services to ensure their physical, psychological and emotional needs are met. Some young people are not making positive choices in managing their own health needs and staff have consistently worked alongside health care professionals to support them manage specific conditions such as diabetes. Staff attend training and appointments with them and have sought additional support from community organisations to identify buddies with the same health condition. A health professional noted, ‘staff go above and beyond what I would have expected to try and encourage him to comply’. Their support and guidance to young people completing their own health monitoring and safe needle disposal is not always evident in young people’s health records. This inconsistency has the potential to impact on effective assessment and planning of health care professionals.

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good

Young people’s meetings are regularly held which provide opportunities for their voices to be heard. They make clear choices about activities, menus and have contributed to the home’s development plan. Young people are encouraged to develop individual interests such as football and archery and share joint celebratory meals out. In their meetings, the young people have asked for a games room to be developed which will provide a focal point for shared activity in the home. This is now included in the home’s development plan and is currently being progressed.

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good

New young people are welcomed into the home and staff ensure they have as much information as possible so they can appropriately respond to their needs. They receive a copy of the children’s guide, which has recently been reviewed with the support of young people. It clearly outlines the expectations for the home, who they should contact if they have a concern and how to make a complaint.

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good

Staff actively promote young people’s contact with their families and previous carers. They encourage young people and work effectively with family members to ensure that time spent together is really positive. For young people who are placed at a distance from their home area, they identify ways families can be involved, for example, one young person’s family were supported to attend a football tournament in Wales where he was playing for a local team. Family members are regularly updated on young people’s progress. As a parent observed, ‘they work alongside me’. Staff recognise the importance of young people maintain relationships with significant people in their lives in a safe and positive way.

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requires improvement

Risks at this home are not always consistently assessed. When young people are placed at the home for example, with significant histories of being missing from care, their risks assessments have not always been consistently completed and have not taken sufficient account of risk assessments completed previously. Although incidents of young people missing from care have significantly reduced from their starting point, their risk management plans do not always give staff sufficient detail to guide and manage potential risks. When young people have gone missing, not all have a return interview from a person independent of the care provider and staff have not been proactive in challenging this.

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requires improvement

Young people say they feel safe and their behaviour has improved as a result. One young person who had a significant history of being missing from care when first placed has not repeated this risk. They say this is because ‘of the people, they care and I enjoy living here’. Staff relationships and behaviour are helping young people to become safer.

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requires improvement

Incidents have been appropriately responded to inline to safeguarding procedures and staff have worked in partnership with safeguarding agencies.

p.8

requires improvement

Behaviour is well managed. Staff have consistent boundaries which provide young people with a sense of safety and security. Staff effectively use incentives and positive relationships rather than sanctions which promotes positive behaviour. Incentives are regularly reviewed and adjusted to reflect priorities. Young people are consequently encouraged and motivated to behave in ways that are socially acceptable. They feel the rules are fair and they can earn rewards for good behaviour.

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requires improvement

For some young people the use of physical restraint has been a necessary part of managing risks. Formal sanctions are infrequently used but are appropriately matched with individual circumstances. Young people are given chances to improve inappropriate behaviour before sanctions are made.

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good

This is the first inspection of this home since it was registered in November 2014. There is an experienced registered manager in post who is also the responsible individual. He has been joined by an acting manager who has taken over responsibility of the day to day running of the home. She has submitted her application to become the registered manager and has recently enrolled onto the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare.

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good

The most recent internal monitoring reports demonstrates that the acting manager has an understanding of the shortfalls where improvements need to be made and how these are going to be achieved. A new filing and audit system has been introduced but is yet to be established. The external monitoring is thorough and provides constructive challenge to the operation of the home. The internal monitoring and evaluation however does not include formal feedback from young people, staff and professionals. This means that stakeholder feedback is not consistently used to shape and inform the home’s development and improvement. This shortfall has been acknowledged by the acting manager.

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good

The home provides and pleasant and comfortable environment in which young people can feel safe and secure. Bedrooms are personalised to reflect young people's individuality. There is a stable staff team who are appropriately qualified and experienced. Agency staff are not consistently used. Staff are supported to develop their practice through regular supervision and team meetings. Both of which enable them to reflect on their practice and discuss the progress of young people. In addition to mandatory training, staff have access to relevant specialist training courses, such as diabetes care to further enhance their knowledge and ability to meet the needs of young people placed.

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good

The organisation employs safe recruitment procedures which ensures young people are looked after by people who have been appropriately checked and vetted. The home’s statement of purpose has recently been reviewed and updated by managers to ensure it accurately reflects the aims and objectives of the service.

p.9

good

Staff develop very positive working relationships with key stakeholders. These include; police, health and education professionals. All are exceptionally positive about the commitment and quality of communication, but some have raised concerns about the consistency of the recording. This has been acknowledged by the acting manager who has reviewed and developed new auditing processes.

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good

Managers and staff are committed to ensuring young people receive appropriate services to meet their needs and have challenged placing local authorities planning when this has not been sufficient and timely. Staff are also proactive in identifying specialist local resources, such as anger management counselling to ensure young people's needs are met in a timely way.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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