Children's Home run by Coventry City Council in Coventry

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 well-resourced staff team provides high-quality care to a constantly changing group of young people.  Staff manage the changing dynamics of the young people skilfully and sensitively.  The views of young people are important in shaping the care provided in the home.  Young people make good progress during their relatively brief stays at the home.  Staff members are competent in managing the behaviour of a constantly changing group of young people.  The staff team is alert to risks and efficiently manage them accordingly.  Missing and absent episodes are treated equally seriously and result in multi-agency responses that safeguard young people.  The registered manager is assertive and manages the home’s resources effectively and efficiently.  One aspect of record keeping requires additional details to become compliant with the regulations. Relief staff require more regular supervision in accordance with the home’s own guidance. One bedroom

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The children's home provision is good because:

requires attention to bring it up to the standard of the others.

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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

In order to meet the positive relationships standard the registered person must ensure— (2) (a) that staff— (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. 02/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 02/12/2015

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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 the home meets children’s basic day to day needs and physical necessities, particularly in relation to the standard of bedroom accommodation. (Guide to the Quality Standards, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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Information about this children's home

The home provides short-term assessment placements to a maximum of twelve weeks for up to five children or young people. These assessments of need inform decisions about the next suitable placement for young people. The service is operated by a local authority.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

03/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

The purpose of the home is to provide time limited placements to allow young people to be assessed and for suitable longer terms placements to be identified. Despite the transient nature of these placements, young people invest in the ethos of the home and their relationships with staff members. As well as assessing current and future needs, the high standard of care provided has the effect of stabilising many young people, some of whom arrive at a time of crisis in their lives. Young people rate the home and the support they receive highly.

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good

Regular consultation with young people takes place, both individually and as a group. They have a chance to express their needs, wishes and preferences on a range of issues concerning their day-to-day care, such as food choices and activity options. An independent advocate from Barnardo’s visits on a regular basis and is welcomed by young people. Young people are also involved in informing staff recruitment and their contributions were considered as part of the recent appointment of a deputy manager. Young people feel empowered by these activities, which demonstrate the ways in which adults are prepared to listen to them and take them seriously.

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good

Most young people are engaged in mainstream education and training. Where this is not the case, staff members are advocating on their behalf for a return to their substantive school place. School attendance levels are good and the culture of the home supports this. Although care placements at the home are relatively short- term, staff understand that education can provide stability and consistency across the provision of several care placements.

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good

Young people are in good health generally. They have access to a range of physical and mental health services if they require them. Staff at the home try to maintain contact and registrations with the dentists and doctors that young people are already familiar with. Young people who are addicted to smoking when they arrive at the home are offered support to help them to cut down their tobacco consumption with a view to them stopping altogether.

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good

Dependent upon placement plans and family circumstances, young people are supported to maintain regular contact with family and friends. This can involve contact meetings taking place in a range of locations, at different times and with various conditions. The staff team manages these arrangements well and in doing so, helps to prevent young people’s sense of isolation and separation from their loved ones. The manager is acutely aware that in a home where admissions and discharges are so common, the impact of these processes can be considerable. Accordingly, she is mindful of the group living dimension in making decisions that are sensitive of the needs of existing, as well as potential, residents. There are ample testimonies displayed around the home and in the young person’s guide of young people who have valued both the time they have spent at the home and the supportive relationships they have developed with staff. Many former residents stay in touch

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good

with staff members and trust them sufficiently to ask for advice about their new living arrangements.

p.7

good

Staff members work effectively with partner agencies to identify and assess a range of risks for young people with complex needs. The team works well with the local authority and police colleagues to raise the awareness of young people about child sexual exploitation. Young people are supported to understand how they can protect themselves.

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good

Young people do not routinely go missing from the home. Most young people are content to respect the behavioural boundaries set by staff, because of the strength and quality of the relationships that staff form with young people. Young people see staff as supportive and trustworthy. For those young people that are absent without permission, staff in the home co-ordinate a full response, involving parents and social workers as part of the attempts to locate them.

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good

As one primary purpose of the home is for assessment, staff monitor young people closely throughout their stay. Such supervision could be oppressive, but young people say they feel safe and that staff presence is a factor in this. The manager ensures that a zero-tolerance approach to bullying means that all instances, however minor, are dealt with seriously.

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good

Room searches are rare, but they have proved to be effective in recovering items that are likely to have been used by young people to harm themselves.

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good

Staff maintain a high level of vigilance to issues of risk and they are adept at reading behaviours for signs of upset or conflict. This awareness often allows staff to employ diffusion techniques to prevent difficult situations from arising. As a result, behaviour is well-managed and an atmosphere of co-operative group living is maintained. Recruitment processes are robust and ensure that the work histories and references of prospective employees have been thoroughly checked and are acceptable. The effectiveness of this process ensures that the adults who are allowed to work in the home, do not present a risk for young people.

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good

The energy utilities and safety measures in the home are regularly checked by staff members to ensure that the home provides a safe environment for young people to live and for staff members to work.

p.8

good

A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager leads her team effectively. The home is well resourced and has a range of support staff that enables the care staff to concentrate on their primary goal of forming relationships with a view to assessing the needs of young people. The strength of these relationships inform the assessments completed by the staff team, which determine the next placement of young people.

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good

Although record-keeping is generally good, the young person’s register does not contain all of the information required by schedule 4 of the Children’s Homes regulations 2015. Additional detail is required about young people’s addresses before and after admission.

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good

The home is located in a city residential suburb, with good links to local transport and amenities. The home is a purpose-built property and provides plenty of space for young people and staff to live and work comfortably. The home is clean, well- decorated and has a homely feel. One bedroom requires extra work to eradicate an unpleasant odour and to bring it up to the standard of the others.

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good

Although the majority of the team receive timely and effective supervision, relief workers are not supervised in accordance with the home’s own policy on the frequency of supervision. Such workers require support through supervision that is tailored to their working frequency, to enable them to meet the needs of young people effectively.

p.8

good

The one requirement from the interim inspection has been met in full. As a result, the manager has provided Ofsted with notifications that have been both detailed and relevant.

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good

Care planning is a particular strength within the home. The twelve-week time limit on placements drives the staff team to ensure that care review meeting timescales are adhered to and that consequently the turnover of young people allows more young people to derive benefit from the services the home provides.

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good

The staff team’s efforts are not only appreciated by young people; an allocated social worker said: ‘the staff team have done some great work,’ with the young person whose case she manages. Other agencies are invited to comment on the impact the home has on the lives of young people. These comments are all positive and recognise the role that staff in the home have had in stabilising and engaging young people.

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good

The manager is a formidable advocate on behalf of the young people resident at the home. When she feels that a proposed admission is not in the interests of the wider group, she is prepared to say so. When she was presented with no other alternative, she demonstrated her support for young people and her staff team by leading shifts in the home. She personally oversaw the admission, settling and subsequent discharge of just such a placement. This exemplifies the determination and commitment of the manager.

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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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