Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Cumberland

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:

Relationships  Young people settle quickly into this home, achieving positive stability in their lives  Young people enjoy trusting and meaningful relationships with staff that helps them make good progress during their placement.  Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the young people they care for and are able to support and manage their behaviour well. Safety  Young people do not go missing from this home making themselves vulnerable to risks within the community.  Despite some shortfalls in the recording of individual risk assessments, staff demonstrate an accurate knowledge and understanding of risk relating to each young person is and how risks should be managed.  Staff show skill in de-escalating challenging behaviour, successfully avoiding the need for physical intervention. Young people’s risk of harm or injury is reduced as a result. Education  Staff provide practical support and encouragement to help young people

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The children's home provision is good because:

learn and achieve. This includes support with additional home study for formal education and encouragement to learn new tasks that will help them achieve independence into adulthood Leadership  The Registered Manager effectively leads and manages her staff team, challenging practice routinely through her regular monitoring activities.  Staff are regularly supervised and provided with good training opportunities that supports their professional development.  The Registered Manager has established good working partnerships with a range of professionals that are able to support and promote young people’s progress.

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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

44: Independent person: visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

Ensure the independent person’s report sets out clearly the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. This relates specifically to avoiding repetitious reporting and including greater evaluation of observations and information gathered. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b)) 23/12/2015

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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 suitable arrangements exist to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. This relates specifically to the quantity of non–prescribed medications stored within the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  Ensure staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This relates specifically to reviewing the content of young people's individual risk assessments and ensuring that risks are accurately defined and recorded based on known information. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  Decide what each six monthly review should focus on based on the specific circumstances of the home and any areas of high risk to children. The review does not need to address every part of the Quality Standards but should clearly

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Recommendations

identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this children's home

 The home can provide care and accommodation for up to 4 children  It is owned and operated by a private company  The home provides care and accommodation for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties (EBD)

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

None – first inspection since registration.

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good

Young people live in a well maintained homely environment that is comfortable and welcoming. They appreciate the spaciousness of the property and surrounding gardens and outbuildings that enable them to have time away from others to enjoy the peace of the rural location.

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good

Young people settle quickly into the home’s routine and generally find the relaxed and friendly approach of staff to be supportive in helping them to adapt to their new environment. Staff encourage young people to participate fully in the life of the home, specifically organising regular young people’s meetings and personal key worker sessions to promote their choice and preferences and reflect their views and wishes concerning their care. As such young people respect their home and feel a positive sense of belonging. They know that their views are important and that staff will take account of them.

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good

Young people quickly develop positive and meaningful relationships with staff that enable them to feel trust and an ability to move forwards with their lives. One young person commented, ‘I do like staff here; they are the best I have ever met. They are amazing. They took time to get to know us, and this feels like a family house.’

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good

Young people are supported to understand that they have been placed some distance from their home area to ensure their immediate safety as many have previously experienced frequent occasions when they have been missing or absent from home. Young people are positively supported to reflect on the negative impact of their behaviour and how it has affected their home life stability and education; particularly increasing their vulnerability to such as drug and alcohol misuse and exploitation.

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good

Staff involve young people in their planning process to ensure that their needs and wishes are well understood and that arrangements are in place to ensure these are appropriately addressed. Planning is comprehensive and takes good account of the full range of young people’s personal needs ensuring all staff share a common understanding and have guidance to provide the individual support and help required.

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good

Staff successfully promote young people’s health ensuring that they are registered and have good access to a range of health care practitioners and services. They encourage young people to appreciate the benefit of living healthy lifestyles; educating them on a number of health programmes such as developing their knowledge and understanding good nutrition; the benefits of regular exercise; good hygiene and oral health care; and sexual health.

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good

Young people have good opportunities to develop their personal interests and experience new activities while living at the home. For some, this has included activities such as hill walking, horse riding, boxing and swimming. However, most also enjoy less energetic activities such as personal time spent with staff shopping, going for meals or outings to the cinema.

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good

Young people mostly attend the provider’s education facility that is located in a nearby city. They generally make good progress in relation to their starting points given that most have disengaged from school prior to coming to the home and at that point lack motivation for learning. Staff are proactive in supporting young people, making sure that they are helped with their homework and have additional revision resources that will assist their progress.

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good

Contact is well promoted by staff, ensuring that young people are able to keep in touch with those family members that are most important to them. Staff maintain good communication with parents, placing authorities and other professionals ensuring that they are appropriately kept up to date with young people’s concerns, progress and achievements. One social worker commented, ‘Staff are good advocates and keep you in the loop.’

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good

Young people say that they feel safe in this home and well protected by the staff team. They mostly understand the concerns that adults have for their welfare and the behaviours that were concerning prior to their admission to the home. Many have been involved in a range of risk taking behaviours that includes being missing from home, misusing alcohol and drugs, and offending. Consequently, increasing their vulnerability to child sexual exploitation.

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good

Since the home opened there have been no incidents of young people being missing or engaging with such risk taking behaviour as described that has further compromised their safety. The isolated location of the home is helpful in discouraging young people from leaving without staff permission and staff spend quality time helping young people to reflect on the dangers of such behaviours.

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good

Staff recognise that the quality of their relationships with young people is also an important factor in them staying within the safety of the home. Although there have not been any incidents to date staff are conversant with the procedures to follow to ensure a safe and early return, should a young person leave the home without permission. One social worker noted, ‘This placement stabilises her. She has a good relationship with her key worker. The opportunities to run off from here are limited.’

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good

Staff focus on developing their relationships, getting to know young people’s preferences, personality and temperament. One young person said, ‘Staff know my moods. If any member of staff here was my social worker it would be amazing.’ Although young people’s behaviour at times can be challenging, there has been not been any use of restraint in the home so far. Staff are trained and familiar with behaviour management strategies and techniques which they use effectively to avoid conflict escalating.

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good

Young people’s individual risk assessments are completed soon after their admission and are regularly reviewed for progress and amendment where concern is heightened. However, the home has a practice of rating young people’s risks as high on entry to the home despite information being available that would determine risk to be low. This does not provide an accurate account of risks to guide staff, but has not negatively impacted on the care that young people receive.

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good

Staff are familiar with the home’s arrangements for safe handling and administration of medication and manage this effectively. They support some young people to manage their own personal medication requirements, increasing their independence in the process.

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good

Staff prioritise young people’s health and safety effectively ensuring that regularly monitor checks are carried out around the home to ensure that safety equipment and appliances are working and well -maintained. Staff organise regular fire evacuation drills at differing times of the day and night to ensure that young people are familiar with the home’s escape routes. This also ensures that young people and staff are well-rehearsed should need to leave the home in the event of a real emergency.

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good

The home is led and managed by an appropriately qualified and experienced Registered Manager that is soon to complete her Level 5 award for leadership and management in children’s residential services. She values the time spent on her own personal development and is equally passionate about ensuring her staff have a variety of training and development opportunities that will enhance their performance and professional development. This ensures that they have good opportunity to keep up to date with changes in legislation and best practice.

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good

She is appropriately challenging of her staff team and demands high professional standards, ensuring that young people receive a high quality of care. The staff team speak positively of the support and encouragement they receive from their manager that enables them to work most effectively with young people. One staff member commented, ‘She gets the best out of her staff by being supportive, understanding and accommodating.’

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good

The complete staff team is now established with individuals that have a good range of experience and diverse skills. They share a common vision for supporting young people to achieve stability and positive change in their lifestyles that will enable them to make continuous good progress before leaving care. Staff understand the importance of positive role modelling and use these skills with good effect to promote positive and productive behaviour with young people.

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good

Staff describe the team as working well together, providing consistency for young people and good support that enables them to make some positive and constructive attachments. One staff member commented, ‘I think young people like the staff team; they respect us. We make the environment homely and relaxed; they know what to expect.’

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good

The home has developed good professional relationships with a number of key professionals and organisations and is achieving a sound working together approach that ensures young people’s safety and well-being is appropriately prioritised and promoted.

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good

The Registered Manager has refined and improved her monitoring systems since taking up post ensuring that she has a good overview of practice within the home. She can successfully evaluate and identify where the home’s strengths and weaknesses lie. This enables her to act on any issues or resolve problems swiftly. Although she can articulate these well, her six-monthly review report to Ofsted lacked clarity of the key issues and the actions planned for the next six-month period of delivery. Such reports should demonstrate that development planning is progressive and ensure that information is accessible to staff and other relevant professionals.

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good

The home appropriately engages an independent visitor to fulfil the home’s external quality assurance arrangements. Visits occur regularly to assess the home’s ability to effectively safeguard young people and promote their welfare. However, the content of reports provided to Ofsted by the independent visitor are often repetitious and fail to routinely evaluating observations and information gathered. This falls short of the expected reporting requirement and does not demonstrate a sufficiently analytical or rigorous approach to determining the quality of the service. However, at this time it has not shown to have any negative impact on the care young people receive.

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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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