Children's Home run by Hertfordshire County Council in Hertfordshire

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:

 A multi-disciplinary team provides focused assessments highlighting a young person’s specific needs, mental health and care requirements. This enables informed decisions to be made about care planning.  Relationships between staff and young people are warm, respectful and positive and young people build good relationships with the staff group. Positive behaviour is recognised, encouraged and rewarded. Staff work hard to ensure that young people begin to believe they are valued and cared for.  Skilled work is undertaken with young people to begin to enable them to develop the skills and insight required to self-regulate their behaviour.  Staff and management are well aware of and competent in their understanding and response to the risk of Child Sexual Exploitation.  Staff are creative and innovative in finding solutions to ensure young people are kept safe and protected. The response to children who go missing from

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The children's home provision is good because:

the home is effective and well organised.  There is real commitment from managers and staff to make a difference and improve the lives of the young people with whom they work.  Any allegation made by a young person against a staff member must be reported to the placing authority and recorded in line with safeguarding policy.  Risk Assessments need to be individualised and updated on a regular basis.  When considering the admission of a young person to the home, due consideration must be given to the impact of young people already living there.  Staff must ensure that working relationships with relevant persons (including parents and carers) are given priority.

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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

The registered person must ensure that the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located and provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34) (2)(b) (d). 21/08/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child. With particular regard to individual children's risk assessments. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 42 paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 56 paragraph 11.4)  Ensure staff continually develop the home's effective working relationships with each child's placing authority and with other relevant persons, particularly parents and family members. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 52

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority home which provides short term placements for the assessment of young people’s needs. It accommodates up to three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

10/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

17/02/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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Good

Young people build good relationships and strong bonds with staff working in the home despite the fact this is a short term provision. There is a commitment to making young people feel safe and they able to begin to re-build trust in those caring for them. The focus is on reinforcement of positives alongside reflection on the impact of more negative behaviours. As a consequence young people begin to become more self-aware, better informed and more able to begin to self-regulate their behaviour.

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Good

Each young person has a clear, detailed and accessible support plan in place which also contains their own view of themselves and their needs in a section entitled ‘Who I am’. Short term targets are identified and agreed with the young people and celebrated when achieved. Positive feedback sheets are completed by staff every week and show clearly that young people are congratulated and encouraged on a consistent basis, with the smallest of successes noticed and commended. For example, ‘you are amazing, don’t let anyone tell you different’ and ‘thank you for working with staff and coming back last night’. Young people are praised and encouraged wherever possible.

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Good

Every effort is made to ensure that young people are kept safe and protected whilst in the care of the home. Staff are able to recognise situations where it is impossible to ensure a young person’s safety, due to, for example, continual absconding. In such instances creative solutions are sought.

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Good

Staff have a good understanding of the risk of child sexual exploitation with strong links and support from other agencies. They have a clear policy, in the form of a ‘pledge’ in place around their response to young people going missing. Individual work is done with young people to help them better understand risk and develop strategies to reduce the risk of harm.

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Good

Wherever possible young people are admitted to the home in a planned and managed way. Staff meet the young person, and where appropriate the family prior to moving in. Clear objectives are identified which inform and shape the plan. Young people are encouraged and enabled to be part of this on an ongoing basis. However, on occasion the impact of new admissions on young people living at the home is not fully considered.

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Good

Young people benefit from a multi-disciplinary programme of assessment with input from a consultant psychiatrist and therapists. The assessment informs the next step of the child’s journey albeit a return home or a more specialist provision. Work can then be undertaken with parents or carers around specific areas of need, for example, behaviour management. This helps to ensure continuity of care and approach thereby offering the best chance of a positive outcome.

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Good

Young people are at the centre of all decisions made. They are respected and valued and there is evidence that their views are taken into account. As well as the strong relationships developed with the staff working in the home, the young people have regular access to an independent advocate who visits on a monthly basis. They also have a private telephone available with numbers of relevant organisations clearly displayed.

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Good

The home has regular support, on a weekly basis, from a consultant psychiatrist who assesses the young people in the home with regards their mental health. Reports produced are clear and definitive in terms of future care planning. The education needs of each young person are clearly identified by a specialist education advisor prior to arrival. Plans are then made to offer the best chance of accessing an appropriate provision during their stay. It is acknowledged, however, that sometimes young people are not able to take up this offer due to the level of crisis they are experiencing.

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Good

Activities are available both in the home and in the community. Resources within the home are of a high standard and plentiful with access to games, pampering products, study aids, arts and crafts. There is a well-equipped music room containing a number of musical instruments, a sensory room in progress and a therapeutic swing in the garden. Young people are encouraged to develop interests as well as learn skills required for independent living. Staff gave examples of young people who learnt to cook and do their laundry whilst staying at the home.

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Good

There was evidence that young people are encouraged and enabled to learn about diversity and difference. Staff work hard to ensure that every young person has their specific needs met and case files reflect that the importance of identity and belonging is understood. It was also clear that staff are particularly aware that young people may be confused and unclear about their own identity which can make them more vulnerable in specific situations.

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Good

Contact with family and friends is encouraged wherever possible. If required the home is able to manage face to face contact in a way enables young people to maintain important links in a safe way.

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Good

Staff have a very good understanding of risks posed to the vulnerable young people in their care. They have received comprehensive training around safeguarding, particularly with regards child sexual exploitation and as a result are vigilant and alert to potential risk. In addition they work closely with other agencies to offer a coordinated response to managing and reducing risk. Young people are encouraged to take part in individual and group work designed to enable them to develop the personal skills, insight and resilience to be able to better protect themselves.

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Good

Safeguarding policies are clear and robust but not all allegations made by young people are reported to the placing local authority in line with the home’s safeguarding policy.

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Good

This home has an extremely proactive response to young people who go missing whilst in their care. They were able to offer evidence of recent incidents where young people were followed and tracked over many miles in an attempt to find them and bring them back to a place of safety. Detailed records show that whenever a young person goes missing the staff are clear about their role and responsibilities and make every effort to keep in touch with and find the young person. Links with other agencies such as the police child exploitation specialist unit and the local missing persons department. The manager and staff were able to recognise when they were unable to keep a young person safe and were creative and imaginative in finding a solution to manage in the short term.

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Good

Each young person in the home has a detailed risk assessment, informed by the use of the risk matrix tool. This is designed to highlight specific areas of concern for each young person. Although detailed and comprehensive at the point of completion, the assessment is not updated on a regular basis to ensure that the tool is sufficiently individualised in the risks to young people.

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Good

Staff are confident and consistent in managing behaviour. A restorative approach is used wherever possible, actively encouraging young people to make links to their actions. Their focus is on noticing and praising positive behaviour, whilst at the same time helping young people to make links to how negative behaviour makes them and others feel. Staff are committed to encouraging and enabling young people to develop the skills required for self-regulation and control.

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Good

Good examples of positive reinforcement were consistently evident in individual case files and in the interactions observed between staff and young people. Where a young person refuses to work in a restorative way, imposed consequences, such as time out or increased supervision are used. The deputy manager oversees all sanctions and details of incidents and subsequent actions are recorded in the ‘Making it Right’ book. This offers young people the chance to understand the impact of behaviours and the opportunity to offer reparation and consider future actions.

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Good

The home will not tolerate any form of bullying and have a ‘pledge’ in place written by young people clearly stating how it will be dealt with. Every incident and action taken is recorded. It is acknowledged that a robust and consistent approach, understood and accepted by staff and young people is essential. Work is ongoing in relation to identifying and intervening where bullying is present.

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Good

The current manager of this home is currently awaiting confirmation of registration having taken over from the Registered Manager who is on maternity leave. He holds an NVQ level 4 in Management and Social Care, an NVQ Diploma level 7 in Management and a post graduate certificate in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. The manager has the appropriate levels of experience and knowledge to undertake this role to a high standard. He is clearly committed to the work of the home and the young people living there and speaks with obvious passion and enthusiasm about the difference they can make to care planning for young people. He is able to acknowledge the limits of being a short term provision but is adamant that positive attachments can and are made within the timescales they operate. His focus on building positive relationships with the young people, showing them that they are valued and cared about is shared across the staff group. Staff consider it

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Good

part of their everyday responsibility to go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure that young people are safe and protected as evidenced in their consistent response to attempting to safely returning young people who go missing.

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Good

The manager was clear that ideally the home should be staffed at all times by permanent staff members known to the young people. He acknowledged that this is not always possible and when required he will endeavour to use familiar staff from other homes in the group or known agency staff. As a last resort, and to ensure the safety of the young people, he will temporarily refuse admissions to the emergency bed.

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Good

The manager and staff are able to describe how young people make progress in the time that they are with them, stating that this is evidenced by their behaviour, their increased self-confidence and self-esteem and feedback from other professionals. It is possible to track some of this progress in individual case files through minutes of network meetings, link meetings with the young people and discussion around personal targets.

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Good

Staff are well trained, supervised and supported in their professional development. It is clear that they understand risk to a good standard and as a consequence the home provides a safe and secure environment. They have access to high quality, relevant training which they attend in person and update online. Where specific training needs are identified links have been made with a specialist independent training company who have delivered targeted training events and consultation that staff have been able to access. This adds to the high level of knowledge and awareness staff at this home have.

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Good

There are strong professional links with other external agencies, particularly Halo, the child sexual exploitation unit of the police and the local missing persons unit. Referring social workers confirm that communication with the home is good and staff are present and proactive in meetings to review progress and plan for the young people.

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Good

Staff accept and understand the importance of maintaining effective relationships with parents or carers, particularly in a short term provision. Consequently young people are encouraged to maintain contact with family and friends wherever possible either directly, face to face, or through telephone or letter contact. However, staff do not consistently respond to calls and queries from family members ensuring that lines of communication stay open.

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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

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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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