Children's Home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in West Sussex

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:

 Leadership and management of the children’s home is strong. Staff adhere to comprehensive behaviour management plans and strategies, which are effective in managing risky behaviours.  The Registered Manager consults with other agencies including the psychological services and trauma team to help them protect young people.  Young people contribute to house meetings and key work sessions; they effectively influence the running of the home; staff value young people’s contribution to the running of the home.  Staff facilitate family contact to make it a positive experience for all. Young people are able to see those who are important to them.  Stakeholders value the service; they report that ‘staff have enabled a young person to feel safe and secure’.  Young people enjoy warm, nurturing relationships with staff. One young person reports that ‘I love it here’. However, some young people struggle sometimes to understand each other’s behaviour. They express concerns

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The children's home provision is good because:

about the impact of a young person’s risky actions on themselves and staff. They are open to external health professionals input.

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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, in particular with regard to the coordination of young people’s health care and risk assessment the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(1) (b) promote their welfare 30/12/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The registered person should provide opportunities and support, where needed for children to engage with local organisations for support, this is regarding young people having support around the emotional impact on them about other young people's risky behaviour. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 34, paragraph 7.10)

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Information about this children's home

This setting is registered to accommodate three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is managed by a private organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

24/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

28/07/2014 Full Good 17/02/2014 Interim Good progress

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Good

Staff adhere to comprehensive behaviour management plans and strategies, which ensure that young people make measurable progress. A psychotherapist completed emotional needs assessments, which informs care plans. Staff review care plans monthly to ensure that they remain effective. An incentive system rewards positive behaviour and achievements, one young person is learning to manage his emotions more effectively and talk to staff rather than become aggressive.

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Good

Young people contribute to their care plans, attend important meetings and agree short and long-term goals. They are actively involved in working with professionals to identify achievable outcomes. Young people live in a stable, secure environment. Staff effectively manage risky behaviours. The strong relationships with staff enable young people to work through difficult periods in the knowledge that staff will remain committed to them.

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Good

Young people enjoy nurturing relationships with staff who are committed to meeting their emotional needs. A young person said ‘you treat staff with respect, they treat you with respect, staff are transparent they tell you what’s happening’ and ‘I can talk to the staff if I have problems’. This enables young people to feel valued and improve their social skills.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to work towards independence, for example, taking part in household chores, eating healthily and taking responsibility for themselves. One young person said ‘I have incentive money to spend; I am working on independence, washing, cooking and waking up on my own’.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to participate in community activities. This includes attending St. John’s Ambulance, going to the cinema, paint balling and fishing.

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Good

All young people are attending education full time and are making progress. One young person gained three C grades at GCSE level a year early, previously her attendance at school was poor. Staff support one young person to attend mainstream school one day a week; this enables her to mix with her peers. Another young person’s attendance has improved since moving to a suitable specialist education provision.

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Good

Staff promote good relationships with young people’s family and friends. Parents speak favourably about the impact that the home has on young people. Comments from parents include ‘he is always really happy, they meet his needs’ and ‘I have nothing bad to say about them, I’m very happy’. Staff welcome parents into the home and arrange safe contact. Young people enjoy overnight stays with their family and friends. Young people know that they can call on staff for support if needed.

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Good

Young people’s meetings are a strong mechanism to share their views. They discuss concerns about the impact their behaviour has on each other. One young person chaired a young people’s meeting and initiated a conversation to address frustrations regarding a peer’s risk taking behaviour. Staff effectively facilitated this difficult discussion.

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Good

Staff have an excellent understanding of young peoples’ safety; they effectively identify, understand and manage very risky situations. The Registered Manager consults with a team of health professionals to protect one young person from the risk of serious self-harm. Staff are vigilant, able to identify and manage triggers and offer a high level of supervision to safeguard the young person. Where necessary they follow the young person and call for assistance from medical professionals and police appropriately.

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Good

Good quality behaviour management plans, risk assessments, and strategies ensure that staff are responsive to young peoples’ needs. However, guidance for assessing breathing difficulties needs clarification by a qualified health professional.

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Good

The Registered Manager attends strategy meetings with professionals. The multi professional team work together to safeguard the young person. Young people previously judged to be at risk of child sexual exploitation are supported to reduce their vulnerability. This includes staff engaging with their families and friends to formalise safe contact arrangements.

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Good

Young people rarely go missing; they inform staff of their whereabouts. However, if they do go missing staff are proactive; they follow young people and search extensively if they lose sight of them. Staff alert relevant authorities regarding young people’s vulnerability. The Registered Manager ensures that return interviews take place. Young people are able to talk to someone impartial.

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Good

The home maintains close links with the local police community support officer, who visits the home regularly allowing young people form positive relationships. This helps them to trust the services and organisations, which exist to protect them.

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Good

Recruitment processes are robust. The Registered Manager ensures that unsuitable staff do not pass probation. This ensures that only experienced and competent staff care for the young people. The Registered Manager is currently recruiting for new staff. Permanent staff and regular bank or agency staff cover shifts. This provides a high level of consistency as staff are familiar with the young people’s needs.

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Good

Staff clearly understand safe internet use policies. They promote safe use with young people. One young person has a certificate of achievement for engaging with e-learning. Restrictions on the use of mobiles are agreed with young people in their best interest.

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Good

Staff clearly record incidents of physical intervention, including the circumstances leading to the use of restraint. Young people have the opportunity to discuss the incident with someone who was not involved. The Registered Manager evaluates and signs the records; this ensures good reflection and analysis of staff’s actions and lessons learnt.

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Good

The Registered Manager has a Level 5 qualification in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare. He is an experienced Registered Manager who has been in post since January 2013.

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Good

The Registered Manager and organisation are committed to ensuring that staff increase their knowledge and keep up to date with research, policy and practice. Frequent training available to all, includes child sexual exploitation, street gangs, self-harm and child protection in residential care. Discussion with staff demonstrated that they were confident and knowledgeable regarding safeguarding policies and procedures.

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Good

Supervision is of a high calibre, regular and effective. Accountability and reflection underpins the learning for supervisees, which increases their confidence and skill base. Staff are able to reflect on the emotional impact of caring for young people who present with risky behaviours. This increases the resilience of the staff who are able to meet the young person’s complex needs. Staff appraisals focus on the young people, impact on staff and staff’s personal development. The organisation funds therapeutic specialist input and consultations for staff to help them deal with their emotions. Feedback from this service is positive; a psychotherapist says ‘I’m impressed with how the Registered Manager and staff manage the young person, they are sensitive and insightful’.

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Good

Monthly staff team meetings focus on the young people to ensure staff consistency and good practice. Young people are at the forefront of practice. Staff say the Registered Manager is approachable and available, especially regarding the emotional impact of working in high risk situations.

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Good

Good professional relationships between the home and partner agencies results in highly effective multi-disciplinary working to ensure the best possible care and experiences for the young people. A Social Worker reports that the young person ‘receives a high level of staff intervention and support, she has settled in well and has made good relationships with staff and other young people’.

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Good

The Registered Manager works hard to build a strong and effective staff team. Staff are observed to enjoy interacting with young people and work closely as a team. Staff report that ‘I prefer to work here than anywhere else, the staff team support each other, we have different skills but work well together’.

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Good

The statement of purpose accurately describes the aims and objectives of the home, which are followed in practice. External independent monitoring visits take place monthly and are suitably challenging of care practice. The Registered Manager uses these reports and other monitoring to improve the quality of care provided in the home. He has a good knowledge of the homes strengths and weaknesses through robust auditing. He continually strives to improve and develop the service.

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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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