Children's Home run by Destiny House in Harrow

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:

 The home’s management of challenging behaviours and risks is highly effective. Staff are skilled not only at safely containing difficult situations but also, at helping young people to adopt safer behaviour and to turn their lives around.  The staff team is stable, cohesive, skilled and effective at reaching young people and supporting their positive outcomes. They work closely together with other professionals and parents to effectively deliver young people’s care plans.  Young people experience good care, consistency and stability. This facilitates a shift in their mood and attitudes towards others and themselves. A more positive mind-set and more constructive engagement enable them to achieve good progress across different aspects of their welfare.  The manager is aware of the areas that require improvement. She is working towards full compliance with the regulations regarding the statement of purpose, policies and procedures, the use of video-surveillance

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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

13. The leadership and management standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (i) developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must review and if necessary, revise the home’s policies, procedures and documents to bring them in line with the current legislation and good practice guidance. 01/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. She must notify HMCI Ofsted of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates in particular to having a statement of purpose that provides clear information about the matters listed in Schedule 1, accurately describes the service and is shared with Ofsted in a timely manner. (Regulation 16(1)(3)(5)) 01/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if— (b) the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance; (c) so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age 01/11/2015 and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates in particular to making sure that full information is given to the placing authority and the young people on the extent of the video-surveillance used by the home, when confirming their consent by signing the surveillance-agreement. (Regulation 24(1)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— (a) maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; (b) ensure that the records are kept up to date.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates in particular to maintaining accurate records of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual hours worked. (Regulation 37(1)(2)(a)(b) Schedule 4.3) 01/11/2015

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Information about this children's home

This private home provides care and accommodation for up to eight young people from 13 to 17 years who may 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

24/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

08/01/2014 Interim Satisfactory Progress

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Good

Young people have a positive experience of the service. They say that they live in a good home. They recognise and appreciate that they are well looked after.

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Good

They enjoy eating good food. They are introduced to various healthy food, including fruits and vegetables that they have not tried before. They get good support to keep their environment clean and in order. They benefit from the consistent implementation of clear house rules and firm boundaries. They are beginning to form trusting relationships with the staff members.

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Good

Having positive experiences enables young people to engage more constructively with staff and other people and services that are available to them. Their attitudes towards accepting help, talking about difficult feelings, looking after their physical and mental health, engaging in structured learning and striving to become a decent member of society have shifted in a positive direction. This change in attitude is a milestone that has had a significant impact across all aspects of their welfare. Taking into account their starting points and the length of stay in this home, they have made good progress in many aspects of their lives. They have made particularly good progress in their ability to manage difficult feelings and the behaviours that spring from those feelings, more constructively.

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Good

The home has been effective at bringing stability to the lives of young people, in line with their individual care plans. This includes young people who previously experienced a number of placement breakdowns. One young person who had eight placements in the eight weeks prior to coming to live in this home, stayed for over two months before moving in a planned manner to a specialist provision. Another young person had 26 placements before settling in this home with ease. A commissioning manager commented that the local authority was impressed how the staff managed some young people with highly complex needs. She said that the service was ‘tried and tested’ and came out very well each time.

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Good

Staff prepare young people well for independent living through enabling them to gain a range of independent living skills. The kitchen is specifically designed as a teaching environment to facilitate development of young people’s cooking skills. The provider also runs an independent living scheme; this can be used for promoting stability of relationships beyond childhood. Judgement grade

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Good

The team’s behaviour management and overall safeguarding practice are highly effective. Social workers comment that ‘the staff did a brilliant job’ even when working with those young people whose challenging behaviour other services were unable to manage. Staff are skilled not only at safely containing difficult situations but also at helping young people to adopt safer behaviour and to move forward in their lives.

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Good

The staff’s nurturing and supportive attitudes counter balance the institutional feel that the use of video surveillance brings to the environment. Staff provide high levels of monitoring, as well as the high levels of emotional support. They understand the emotional needs that drive the young people’s challenging and risky behaviour; this behaviour has included serious offending and violence. Without condoning these behaviours, staff see them in the context of the young people’s personal histories, experiences and negative social influences. Having good understanding of the root causes of the young people’s feelings, behaviour and vulnerabilities, enable staff to reach young people effectively. A feeling of being ‘truly seen’ without being judged, strengthens young people’s self-esteem, self-awareness and engagement. They feel valued and cared for. They begin to develop a feeling of well-being and safety.

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Good

A well-structured programme of key-working sessions underpins the home’s good safeguarding practice. The programme focuses on various topics, such as anger management, anti-bullying and alcohol and cannabis awareness. It effectively promotes young people’s awareness of risks and equips them with protective strategies.

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Good

Staff work together with the network of professionals, such as those from social, mental health and youth offending services, to jointly promote young people’s welfare. They accompany young people to the courts and stand by them in whatever circumstances they find themselves in. Staff make a conscious effort to accept young people unconditionally. They also make sure that young people gain increased levels of awareness of the impact of their behaviour on others and on themselves. Staff role-play various scenarios with young people to connect them emotionally with the victims of crime and to help them to develop empathy and care for others. Young people observe how staff look after the home’s cats and learn about the joys of caring for animals.

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Good

Staff talk with young people about the value of positive relationships, diversity and good community life. As a result, young people begin to engage less in the behaviour that is destructive and which puts them and others at risk. Their criminal behaviour diminishes and their social awareness improves. They go missing less frequently. There have been no concerns regarding self-harm, child sexual exploitation or radicalisation.

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Good

Regular health and safety checks make sure that the physical environment is kept safe. The manager sees the suitability of the home’s locality for the young people in dynamic terms. On a basis of detailed monthly reports on the crime in the area, she keeps the locality assessment under review. She works closely with the police and regularly receives information from the local neighbourhood police team.

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Good

By comprehensive individual risk assessments, the home uses video-surveillance to enhance everybody’s safety. The local authority and the young people know where the cameras are. They have signed an agreement consenting to the use of surveillance in the building. The manager and staff have a strong view that without the extensive video-surveillance strategies that are in place, they would have not been able to offer a safe service to a number of the young people that they have effectively helped. The privacy of young people is protected when they are in their bedrooms.

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Requires improvement

The Registered Manager is also the registered provider of the service. She is a qualified social worker with a master’s degree in business administration. She has been managing this home since it opened in 2002. Through regular team meetings, supervision, appraisal of individual performance and training, she has created a culture in which everybody’s main focus is to help young people to turn their lives around. She leads a stable, cohesive, well-qualified and effective staff team. Their practice has had a positive impact on young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager is passionately committed to working in partnership with other professionals. She makes sure that the care planning is integrated and the support is consistent, so that young people have the best chances to achieve good outcomes. She robustly advocates on behalf of young people and is prepared to actively challenge other services to improve. An example of this is that she sent a formal letter to an educational provider, asking them to strengthen the quality of their academic provision.

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Requires improvement

The manager has taken a number of actions to improve her own service, since Ofsted judged the leadership and management of the home as inadequate, nine months ago. She meets regularly with the managers of other children’s homes in the region to seek advice and to share good practice. She has commissioned a therapeutic consultant to facilitate the team’s reflection and learning. She has also commissioned a new independent visitor to carry out more comprehensive monthly monitoring visits. The increased scrutiny has identified a number of specific areas for improvement. The manager has taken action and is aware that further work to fully resolve all weaknesses in the provision is needed. These weaknesses mainly relate to the administrative aspects of the running of the children’s home and have not had a negative impact on young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager has done significant work on reviewing and clarifying the home’s statement of purpose (SOP). The first draft of the revised SOP developed in consultation with the team is in place. The manager has also taken into account the views of the local authorities’ commissioners on what kind of provision is needed in the region.

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Requires improvement

She has also started revising the home’s policies, procedures and documents to bring them up to date with the current legislation and good practice. This work is in progress with many policies still to be reviewed.

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Requires improvement

The implementation of the documents that are amended is not embedded in practice, as yet. For example, the written surveillance-agreement between the home, the placing authority and a young person is out of date and does not fully specify the extent of surveillance used by the home. It does not make clear that there are 11 cameras in the internal areas of the home, including the kitchen and the dining area of the lounge. The young people’s individual risk assessments explain the need for the cameras in the particular areas of the home. The weaknesses in records relating to surveillance have not had a negative impact on young people. However, the cameras in the internal areas of the building diminish its, otherwise, homely feel. Young people, their social workers and parents describe the environment as welcoming despite the use of the cameras.

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Requires improvement

The home does not use the video-surveillance to substitute for staffing levels. There are appropriately maintained staffing levels. This can be evidenced through various home’s records and by talking with people, but not through the duty rosters. The staff duty roster is not always updated to reflect the staff on duty and therefore, does not meet the requirement regarding records that each children’s home must keep.

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Requires improvement

Young people’s files are maintained well. The records demonstrate the staff’s insightful analysis of the needs, good monitoring of the progress that young people have made and timely fine-tuning of the support they receive. The service is effective at enabling young people to achieve their targets and reach their goals.

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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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