Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Walsall

Good

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

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This children’s home provision is good because:

 Managers and staff are committed to making a positive difference to young people’s lives.  Young people benefit from relationships with staff who know them well.  The voice of young people is strong. Personal communication needs are not a barrier to participating.  Relationships with family members are good and staff are fully committed to supporting contact arrangements.  Partnership working with a range of professionals is effective in ensuring young people are provided with the necessary support to meet their needs.  Activities are varied and tailored to the preferences of each young person.  There are a few shortfalls in practice. These include; young people do not have up-to-date placements plans, there is insufficient challenge to the absence of pathway plans and there is no comprehensive workforce plan. 

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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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard , the registered person must ensure

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Requirement Due date

(c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans with particular reference to Pathway Plans. 07/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records, with particular reference to placement plans, for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 07/12/2015

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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 there is a workforce plan in place which can fulfil the requirements of Regulation 16 Schedule 1. (The Guide to Quality Standards, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children's home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people. The service is available to children and young people with a learning disability, a physical disability, sensory impairment or any combination of the three. The service is operated by a private organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

Young people benefit from living in a home where staff are passionate and committed to making a positive difference in their lives. As one social worker commented ‘staff are outstanding, I highly recommend the home ’.

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good

Staff develop warm nurturing relationships with young people. They ensure that young people receive personalised care that reflects their complex care needs. The high staffing ratio enables staff to provide individual attention. This promotes young people’s opportunities to form trusting relationships with staff members. Young people are happy and relaxed in their company. Visiting professionals consistently praise the ‘family like atmosphere’. A family member commented, ’they really look after her very well’.

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good

Staff effectively support young people to make clear choices about their care. Staff are responsive and imaginative in their approach, using a range of non-verbal communication skills to identify the views of young people. For example, when young people are unable to communicate verbally or use alternative communication systems, staff monitor their facial expressions and eye movements to ascertain their response. Weekly young people’s meetings provide an opportunity to express preferences, in activities, menus and bedroom decoration. Key workers regularly spend individual time with young people to review their plans. This approach helps promote confidence and self-esteem.

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good

All young people attend school regularly and make positive progress with their educational targets. Communication with education staff is highly effective in promoting consistency of care. The use of daily home-school diaries enables staff to review progress and report changes on a daily basis. Staff regularly visit school’s to ensure physical and communication aids are consistently used in both settings. This approach promotes young people’s learning. One educational professional commented ‘all the learning opportunities we have been able to implement, none would have been possible without the staff’s support and dedication’.

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good

Staff demonstrate a good awareness of young people’s health care needs. One social worker noted ‘they are very attentive to all their health needs and always seek appropriate medical advice’. They work effectively with a range of specialist health care professionals to ensure young people’s complex health needs are addressed. All young people have specific health care plans that are regularly reviewed with health professionals. These include protocols for health emergencies. These ensure that young people receive the consistent care they require to maintain their safety and promote their well-being. Staff receive specialist training in areas such as epilepsy and autism. They complete core competencies in specialist health care. For example, in gastrostomy feeding that are verified by nursing professionals. This ensures staff have the appropriate knowledge and skills to meet their health care needs effectively.

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good

Medication is appropriately administered and regularly audited to ensure that any errors are quickly identified and rectified. This promotes young people’s safety.

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good

Staff are passionate about supporting young people to experience a wide range of activities and events. These are tailored to promote individual interests. For example, one young person who enjoys sport has recently attended a rugby world cup match and another visited the set of a television soap they enjoy. Young people are supported to join community groups such as wheelchair football. These are safely facilitated through robust risk management planning and high staffing ratios. These positive experiences are reinforced through memory boxes which document their journey in the home with photographs and mementoes which helps develop a positive sense of identity.

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good

Family members are warmly welcomed into the home and receive regular updates from staff. For young people who are living away from their home area staff facilitate flexible contact arrangements, including for some young people daily telephone contact. This promotes positive family relationships and helps keep young people safe. Young people know how to make a complaint. Their children’s guide has been updated and is personalised to meet individual communication needs. Family members are confident that concerns raised are appropriately addressed by the registered manager. Complaints are appropriately investigated and resolved within acceptable time-scales.

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good

Staff have a strong understanding of how to keep young people safe and implement effective risk management strategies, to reduce risk. Staff undertake safeguarding and manual handling training which help them understand the specific vulnerabilities of young people with disabilities. Staff are aware that some young people are unable to verbalise their concerns and use pictorial social stories with them to help promote their safety.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been one safeguarding incident. This has been effectively managed and appropriately shared with key agencies. Learning from this incident has been identified and addressed with the staff team.

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good

Behaviour management strategies are effective and consistently reviewed. Staff use continual praise to reinforce acceptable behaviour. Young people respond positively to this feedback and there has been no incidents necessitating physical intervention. This means that young people understand the acceptable behaviours expected of them.

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good

Young people do not gone missing from this home. They are continually under staff supervision and do not go out alone. There is a high vigilance about their contact with adults in the community and visitors to the home.

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good

Young people benefit from living in a comfortable and well-maintained home, which is fully equipped to meet their specific needs. There are robust systems in place to keep young people safe from the risk of fire and other potential hazards. Health and safety risk assessments and individual evacuation plans are in place and regularly reviewed to ensure young people’s safety.

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good

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified registered manager who places the well-being of young people at the heart of her practice. She has been registered with Ofsted since October 2013 and has a number of years’ experience of working in and managing children’s residential care.

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good

The registered manager welcomes external scrutiny and challenge and uses this to improve the quality of care provided in the home. She has an established and effective quality assurance monitoring processes that are informed by the views of young people, parents, social workers and other service providers. She has recently updated the statement of purpose to accurately provide parents and placing authorities with a clear understanding of the aims and objectives of the home. Young people’s care files have also been revised to reflect their unique needs and personal histories. Unfortunately their placements plans have not been updated and compromise the effectiveness of these revisions. The registered manager is aware of these shortfalls and has identified strategies to address these.

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good

The registered manager is committed to developing her staff team. They are supported to develop their practice through regular team meetings and supervision. This enables staff to reflect on their practice, discuss young people’s progress and identify developmental opportunities. Staff benefit from a thorough induction and training programme that supports them to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to meet the complex needs of the young people.

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good

There is no workforce plan. This impacts upon the ability of the registered manager to plan future staffing sufficiency.

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good

The organisation employs a safe recruitment procedure that ensures young people are looked after by staff who have been appropriately checked and vetted. Staffing consistency is promoted by the use of agency staff employed on a temporary to permanent contract basis, to reduce staff turnover. This means that young people are cared for by a staff team who are stable and familiar in their home.

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good

Staff have developed very positive working relationships with a number of agencies. These include the occupational therapists, community children’s nurse, schools, social workers and independent reviewing officers. All are positive about the level and quality of communication, which promotes effective partnership working. Staff advocate on behalf of young people to secure additional resources such as specialist mattresses but have not effectively challenged or escalated their concerns about the absence of pathway plans for young people. This leaves staff without coordinated plans which set out future transitions. .

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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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