Children's Home run by CareTech Community Services Limited in Telford and Wrekin

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 registered manager ensures that child-centred decisions are made about children and young people coming to live at the home or who access the home for short breaks or respite care.   Staff are skilled in developing positive relationships with children and young people. They understand their complex needs and are able to develop highly individualised care as a result.   Staff ensure that children and young people attend school and are making good progress from their individual starting points.   Staff support children and young people, including those who cannot communicate verbally, to actively engage in daily activities and also more complex decisions about their lives.   Staff are passionate about ensuring children and young people benefit from a wide variety of recreational and community based activities.   Staff develop positive relationships with professional stakeholders and families. This promotes improved outcomes for children and young people. 

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff ensure that children and young people are well safeguarded both whilst at home and within the community. Children and young people do not go missing from the home although staff are aware of missing protocols should this be necessary.   There are a few shortfalls. The registered manager has established a system to review and monitor the quality of care although has not ensured this information is evaluated to improve outcomes. She has not ensured that all the information is available in the home for agency staff that are used or that their appropriate checks are in place. There is no evidence that these shortfalls have adversely impacted on children and young people and there is capacity to take the necessary action to rectify them.  

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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 the registered provider must ensure they: -

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Requirement Due date

2 (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experience of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 24/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only allow an individual to work at the home if the registered provider has full and satisfactory information available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 24/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4 and ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)-(b)) 24/12/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation:  The registered person must ensure that the behaviour management strategy is understood and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, April 2015, page 46, para 9.34)

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care for six children with learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. The home provides five children with long term care and provides one place for short break or respite care. The home forms part of a large social care company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

27/01/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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good

Children and young people benefit from living in a stable environment with high levels of consistency in their lives. Staff develop positive relationships with children and young people. They know them well and respond effectively to subtle changes in their behaviour or presentation to ensure their needs are met. Staff ensure children and young people are involved in day to day choices as well as more complex decisions. Staff support children and young people who cannot communicate verbally, by supporting them with alternative methods of communication such as PES or Makaton, to ensure their views are obtained.

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good

Children and young people attend school and make good progress from their starting points. Staff are proactive at developing positive relationships with schools before children and young people join the home. This ensures that there is regular communication and consistency in their approaches. Staff support children and young people to prepare for school and welcome them back at the end of the day showing interest in their day to day experiences. Children and young people’s improved stability whilst living at the home leads to improved educational progress with some children and young people making greater than expected improvements within their levels of achievements.

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good

Staff support children and young people to access a variety of activities within the home. These include books, games, ipads, baking, arts and crafts, singing and dancing as well as activities outside such as a trampoline, climbing equipment and bikes. Staff are passionate in ensuring children and young people are integrated into activities within the community such as swimming and bowling and attending scouts. They support children and young people with their particular interests such as travelling on and watching trains or horse riding. Consequently children and young people develop improved self-confidence. This is recognised by children and young people and families alike – one young person said: ‘...it’s great, I have made new friends…It’s the best place to stay’ and another ‘I want to stay forever.’ A parent said, ‘My daughter’s confidence has come on and you are doing an amazing job. She absolutely loves it and didn’t stop talking about her stay for two weeks.’

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good

Staff work effectively with families. Where children and young people access the short break and respite service staff communicate effectively with families about plans and their time at the home. Staff are flexible and ensure they respond to families requests for additional support whenever that is possible. Where children and young people are receiving long term care staff promote contact where that is safe and in their best interests. This promotes children and young people’s identity. Staff work effectively with professional stakeholders to ensure children and young people’s welfare is promoted. Staff are robust in their management of children and young people’s health needs and proactive in ensuring that services, such as child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), are provided in a timely manner. As a result children and young people benefit from good quality multi-disciplinary care.

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good

Children and young people benefit from receiving care which respects their culture and specific needs. Staff ensure that children are at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges they may present. A social worker commented:’ Staff are always very positive about my young person even when her behaviour has been challenging.’

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good

Staff ensure that all children and young people develop skills to be more independent than from their starting point. For some children and young people these developments are marked by small steps whereas for others these developments are more significant, for example, making a cup of tea. Staff positively reward all progress which results in improved outcomes for all children and young people.

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good

Children and young people are safe and demonstrate through their behaviours that they are comfortable in the home and with staff. For example, children and young people are happy to return for short breaks and those that are receiving long term care settle well and develop positive behaviours. Professional stakeholders and families value staff’s promotion of children and young people’s welfare and safety. One social worker commented: ‘What a fantastic placement – my young person is doing so well’ and a parent said: ’Thanks again for taking such good care of him.’

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good

Staff ensure that children and young people have clear and consistent boundaries so that they develop an understanding of what constitutes appropriate behaviour. Some children and young people make good progress and the use of physical intervention, although infrequent, decreases. Where children and young people do not make the expected progress staff work effectively with therapists and the police to assist them in understanding what constitutes appropriate behaviour. This promotes all children and young people’s safety and well-being.

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good

Staff are clear about procedures where they may have concerns for children or young people’s safety. Any child protection concerns are immediately referred to placing and local authorities so that the matter can be investigated. This ensures that children and young people are safeguarded.

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good

Children and young people do not go missing. Staff are aware of missing protocols and have appropriate information with them at the home and when they take children and young people into the community, to ensure any missing episodes would be reported promptly. Staff ensure that new activities are appropriately risk assessed so that children and young people can safely enjoy varied and interesting experiences. Some risk assessments are not updated to reflect changes in children and young people’s behaviour providing a misleading representation of some aspects of their care.

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good

The home is managed by a suitably skilled and experienced registered manager. She has been managing the home for less than a year and is just enrolling on the level five diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. The registered manager ensures that the home operates in line with the statement of purpose to provide ‘a safe, warm and nurturing environment’. One parent commented: ’It feels like he is in a home situation rather than an institution and his bedroom is always lovely with new duvets with characters which he likes….he has made enormous progress under their care and guidance.’

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good

The registered manager ensure that the statement of purpose is regularly updated to reflect changes in staffing and to any aspect of the care provided. This ensures that all stakeholders have clear expectations of the care provided. She ensures that child-centred decisions are made about children and young people coming to live in the home or access short breaks or respite care. She considers the impact on the stability of the group environment of new children or young people joining the group. Consequently children and young people benefit from stable and secure care where they are also able to make new friends.

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good

The registered manager understands children and young people’s plans and recognises the progress they make. She is passionate about ensuring their needs are met and is proactive in challenging services which do not respond promptly to meet their needs. She ensures that the selection of permanent staff is robust in ensuring that unsuitable people are not recruited. Staff induction and training is effective in preparing staff for their role and they are well supported through informal and formal supervision. This ensures that children and young people are cared for by appropriately skilled, qualified and supported staff who are able to meet their needs.

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good

The registered manager has developed a system to monitor and review the quality of care. This includes seeking the views of children and young people and stakeholders. However she has not ensured there is evaluation which leads to improvements in the quality of care provided.

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good

Agency staff are used infrequently. However, when used the registered manager has not insured that all details are held in the home regarding agency staff including valid disclosure and barring checks and fully completed rotas. There is the capacity to rectify these shortfalls to ensure children and young people’s welfare is promoted and safeguarded.

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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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