Children's Home run by Care 2 Share 2 Ltd in Redbridge

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:

 Young people have very positive experiences and make good progress across different aspects of their welfare and development. Their files, records of achievements and photo-journals celebrate their life-journeys.  Care planning is exceptionally detailed and the care is highly individualised. The staff team is stable and provides continuity and consistency of excellent quality care and support. Staff are skilled at forming trusting relationships with young people and giving them a sense of belonging.  Risk management practice is proactive and dynamic. Individual risk management assessments and plans are comprehensive, insightful and regularly updated.  The registered person provides strong leadership. She has built a formidable reputation amongst professionals regarding her contribution to the young people’s care within the framework of ‘working together’.  The areas for improvement relate to recordkeeping, particularly to those

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The children's home provision is good because:

relating to the use of physical interventions and of surveillance. These and other minor weaknesses relating to the records indicate that the home’s monitoring practice has not been robust enough to identify and rectify all the gaps. The weaknesses have not had a negative impact on young people.

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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, with the particular reference to (2)(h) using monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements, the registered manager must make monitoring more robust so that all records are kept clearly and consistently. This relates to a wide range of records, including those relating to medication, the gym risk assessment, the register of admissions and incidents of young people being absent without authority or missing. 01/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if – (a) the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned or other children; (b) the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance; (c) so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and (d) the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 01/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure – (b) within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)- (i) has spoken to the user about the measure; and (ii) has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and (c) within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record conformation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 01/01/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Notify Ofsted of each serious event within 24 hours (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 63, paragraph 14.13)

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for five young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties. The registered person also manages the home. The company has another children’s home and a range of other services for children and adults.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

30/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

Living in this home brings many positive experiences to young people. They have good opportunities to build emotionally warm and trusting relationships with staff members. A young person said that they related to the staff members as if they were his older brothers and sisters. When reflecting on the best experiences during her time at the home, an ex-resident wrote: ‘The house was welcoming and felt like a family.’ She also made these concluding remarks regarding her placement: ‘Even though I hated the home half the time, I loved my time here and have made so many changes with my life. If I didn’t move down here, I don’t know where I would be’. A young person on a short-term placement commented recently that this was his best placement and that he wished he could have stayed.

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good

Young people receive highly individualised and exceptionally well planned care that meets their needs very well. Staff consult young people about their views, wishes and feelings, and listen to what they have to say. They enable young people to actively participate in the daily life of the home and in their care-planning. Staff are skilled at helping young people to build on their confidence and self-belief. An effective key-working system contributes strongly to the young people’s positive outcomes.

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good

Having a more positive view of themselves and the world around them enables young people to become more open to engaging and learning. They find it easier to engage in a range of situations. Their school attendance and engagement has improved. They are more able to accept help from specialist services, such as dental and mental health. Through providing excellent support, staff enable young people to feel valued and to make good progress across different aspects of their wellbeing.

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good

Young people enjoy a wide-range of social, educational and recreational opportunities in and outside the home. In consultation with young people, staff organise interesting trips and relaxing holidays. They encourage young people to build positive relationships with the neighbours and the local community. Through encouraging young people to do charity work for the local children’s hospice, staff promote young people’s inclusive and respectful attitudes, generosity and empathy, as well as their own social inclusion.

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good

Whenever it is in the best interest of the young person, staff work in close partnership with their parents to promote positive family relationships. The managers use delegated authority effectively to bring a sense of normality into young people’s lives.

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good

Staff support young people well to develop emotional resilience and practical living skills. They have stayed in appropriate contact with many young people who have moved to a different type of service or onto independent living accommodation. A young person who moved out of the home last year wrote recently: ‘When I came here, I was a very hard person to work with and you helped me to become a positive young adult’.

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good

Robust staff recruitment procedures and comprehensive training on a range of safeguarding topics contribute to ensuring that young people are protected. Staff have high safeguarding awareness and are skilled at promoting young people’s welfare. They understand the young people’s vulnerabilities very well and take effective actions to protect them. Risk management practice is proactive and dynamic. Individual risk management assessments and plans are comprehensive, insightful and regularly updated. Staff work in close partnership with the social services, police and other professionals. They draw on everybody’s expertise and share information appropriately to achieve an integrated approach to protecting young people’s welfare.

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good

When a young person goes missing, staff consistently follow the statutory guidance and relevant local protocols. They work in effective partnership with the police, social services and parents where appropriate, to locate the young person. Staff always warmly welcome young people to the home and spend time talking with them. When reflecting on how the staff assist young people in developing safety awareness, a young person said that the staff, ‘always told me the risks of what I was doing and the consequences.’

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good

The excellent relationships between young people and staff members effectively underpin good safeguarding practice in this home. Young people say that staff are always there to help them. They report feeling safe and having more confidence in themselves. They have a better understanding of their own feelings and have developed more constructive coping mechanisms. Young people said that the staff helped them to be better at controlling their anger. A young person commented that having clear boundaries affected him in a positive manner. Young people highlight that one of their main achievements is to have become more patient. One young person commented how this helped them to ‘kick-start developing better social skills’. Young people have not reported experiencing any intimidation or bullying. Staff consistently promote young people’s safer choices. An effective reward system contributes to the development of more constructive behaviours. Staff use

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good

behaviour control measures including physical interventions appropriately. However, the records of these incidents do not cover all the detail required. An example of this is that although the manager and other staff debrief the young person and the staff members following a restraint, they do not record these discussions.

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good

Another area of safeguarding practice in which the records do not fully reflect the practice relate to the use of the movement surveillance in the home. The bedroom doors link to an alarm system that is audible only in the office. The manager explained that discussions regarding the use of this surveillance measure take place at the placement planning meeting. However, the evidence regarding this is not clear. The home does not have a written consent from the young people’s placing authorities to use this measure. The manager updated the young people’s guide at the inspection to make this surveillance measure clearer to them. When the home asked for suggestions for improving the home further, one young person wrote this: ‘I understand you have to, but don’t be so nosy because it makes the young person lose your trust’.

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good

Regular health and safety checks ensure that young people live in a physically safe environment. In consultation with the local police, the manager has reviewed and updated the location risk assessment. She is implementing further actions to continue to update the already strong safeguarding awareness and practice. Arrangements are being made for the managers to receive training on protecting young people from radicalisation. There have been no radicalisation concerns in the home.

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good

A highly experienced and suitably qualified Registered Manager is also the registered provider of the service. She has been in her post since the home registered in 2004. She has a competent deputy and a stable staff team. All staff receive comprehensive training, frequent formal supervision and regular appraisal of their practice.

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good

The registered person has resourced the service exceptionally well to support her vision of providing the best possible care to young people and to fulfil the home’s statement of purpose. Employing an education coordinator who has a sole focus on promoting young people’s learning, training and educational achievements is an example of commendable practice. Many aspects of the care provided to young people are of outstanding quality. The care planning is exceptionally comprehensive and highly individualised. In addition, each young person has a separate health plan and a diversity plan.

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good

Young people’s files provide a crystal clear picture of their needs, the work undertaken by staff and the good progress that they have made. They decisively demonstrate that the care is outcomes-focused and effective at promoting positive outcomes for young people. Separate files for recording young people’s achievements and a photo-journal of their experiences contribute to the celebration of their life-journeys.

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good

The home has excellent links with professionals. The manager has built a formidable reputation regarding the quality of her work and the contribution to the young people’s care. The commissioners and social workers are highly satisfied with the service. They highlight the excellent communication, the unwavering commitment to providing care of excellent quality to young people, the stability of the staff team and their competence, and the manager’s consistently sound professional judgement as the best things about it.

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good

Ofsted receives notifications of significant incidents. However, we do not always receive this information which is vital for our monitoring, in a timely manner.

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good

An independent person monitors the quality of the service through monthly visits. Another quality assurance visitor has recently identified records of sanctions as an area for improvement. The manager has taken this fully on board. The manager’s own review of the quality of care is consultative, evaluative and outcomes-focused.

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good

The home has good systems in place for record-keeping and efficient management of information. However, this inspection highlighted a number of weaknesses relating to record-keeping. The weaknesses indicate that the managers do not always follow these systems or monitor their implementation stringently enough to identify any issues. In addition to the recording gaps that have been already mentioned in this report, there have been some weaknesses in the records relating to medication, the risk assessment relating to home’s own gym and the register of admissions. The home’s central logs were not updated in a timely manner, making monitoring for trends more difficult. In addition, a distinction between young people being absent without authority or missing was not always clear. These weaknesses were minor and did not impact negatively on the young people’s outcomes that remain very positive. The manager was able to rectify the great

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good

majority of the recording weaknesses during the inspection.

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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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