Children's Home run by Care Afloat Ltd in Lancashire

Requires improvement

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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because:

 While, the young people currently in placement are settled, engaging well in the placement and making good progress. This was not the case for other young people who are no longer in placement.  Missing from home was a particular issue for one young person and whilst initially the missing from home episodes decreased they resumed their high levels after a short period in placement.  When young people go missing, there is inconsistent evidence of return home interviews.  Risk taking behaviours for young people who have now left the placement did not reduce. Other young people make good progress in this area, particularly in relation to reducing child sexual exploitation risks.  Engagement with further education opportunities has been poor for some young people.  Young people do not always have positive relationships with each other and whilst staff manage their behaviours effectively there is no clear evidence of

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because:

what action is taken to support young people to get along better.  Incidents of physical intervention are thoroughly recorded, however there is no evidence of analysis of patterns or trends or that any learning is captured.  Young people’s health care information is recorded in different places within their records, which makes it confusing for the reader to gain an accurate picture of the individual’s health. This is a recording issue as the home has a generally positive response to the management of young people’s health needs.  Some young people find it difficult to manage their personal hygiene needs. Whilst there is a structured response and support plan to address this there is not always evidence of progress.

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The children's home strengths

 The staff team work hard to make the home a friendly and welcoming environment. The recent redecoration of a number of communal areas has improved the quality of the décor, and soft furnishings are in place, which creates a homely atmosphere.  One young person, from her starting point, has reduced her risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) as well as engaging positively in education and having very good attendance.  Engagement with education for young people of statutory school age has been positive and shows a marked improvement from the point of placement.  The staff team are stable and provide consistency to the young people, allowing the opportunity for them to develop trusting relationships with carers.  The staff receive regular supervision and feel supported in their role. They are able to acknowledge that young people’s behaviour has been challenging recently and believe that they have assisted each other to

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The children's home strengths

manage this.  A new format for the young person’s meeting has been devised and in its initial use has been successful in obtaining young people’s wishes and feelings.  Staff can be creative and adaptable in respect of promoting family contact. Where parents are not engaging in planned contact arrangements staff try hard to make them feel accepted and wanted within the home.  For some young people, moving on from this home is a positive experience.

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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 protection of children standard the registered person must ensure ;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b) that the homes day to day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 29.02.2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and wellbeing standard the registered must ensure ;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(iv) that staff help each child to understand and develop skills to promote the child's wellbeing. This relates to personal hygiene issues. 29.02.2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationship standard the registered person must ensure;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(iv) that staff help each child to develop and practice skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. 29.02.2016

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (the missing child policy) setting out-

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Requirement Due date

(b) the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home in relation to a child who has been absent, with particular regard to the completion of return home interviews. 29.02.2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Records of restraint must be kept to enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (The guide to the quality standards 9.59, p 49)  All children’s care records must be kept up to date whilst they reside in the home, particular care should be given to cross referencing health data when it is kept within different records. (The guide to the quality standards 14.3, p 62)  Ensure all eligible young people continue in education or training until their 18 th birthday. (The guide to the quality standards 5.16, p 28)

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Recommendations

 Emergency admissions should not be taken unless the home’s Statement of Purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that is has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice while continuing to offer high quality care to children already living in the home. (The guide to the quality standards 3.6, p15).

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Information about this children's home

This service is a private children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people aged between 10 and 17 years, who may be experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

05/03/2015 Interim sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement

The home provides individualised care to young people delivered by a stable staff team. For some young people, positive relationships with staff help them to make progress. Other young people have not effectively engaged with staff and have not made good progress whilst in placement.

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requires improvement

Attendance at education is a strength for statutory school aged young people, with marked progress for those that historically have not engaged in education. For example, one young person’s rate of school attendance increased from 0% to 48%. Another young person has participated positively in education and is making good progress in this area. A bespoke educational programme has been developed which incorporates activities and learning experiences of her choosing which means she is engaged and enjoying her learning. However, opportunities for education or training post 16 is not as readily taken up by young people. This disadvantages them in the job market and within higher education programmes.

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requires improvement

Staff attempt to achieve the best possible outcomes for young people, although the young people are not yet making consistent positive progress across the areas of development. In respect of their social development, young people are not always making positive choices about friendships and have become involved with people who pose a risk to them. The young people within this home and the organisation’s other homes had become involved in some high risk taking behaviours in respect of their relationship with other local groups of youths. Action taken by staff means that this is no longer an issue.

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requires improvement

Young people are encouraged to address their health issues and are supported to meet their health needs. There are a number of issues affecting young people’s health, for example, one young person was persistently missing from home so missed taking prescribed medications on many occasions. Some young people at this home are involved in drug misuse which impacts negatively on their health. Many of the young people at the home find meeting their personal hygiene needs challenging, and whilst support is in place to help them in this area, there is little evidence of progress made. A variety of strategies such as rewards, support and education are used to encourage young people to maintain good personal hygiene.

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requires improvement

Young people are consulted about their day-to-day care arrangements. The home identified that young people were not engaging very productively with keyworker sessions and young people’s meetings. They have implemented a new format for young person’s meeting with very positive effect; the young person engaged very well and actively contributed her wishes and feelings.

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requires improvement

The home supports family contact. Where staff feel there is a risk to the young person from family contact they put in place additional supports to promote the young people’s safety and wellbeing. Where parents are not engaging in planned contact the home makes every effort to contact them and to promote contact in the best interests of young people.

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requires improvement

Relationships between young people are fractious at times and the home do not have effective strategies in place to help young people to improve their relationship and so live together more harmoniously.

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requires improvement

Some young people are assisted and supported to make positive transitions. They are helped to move towards being able to live more independently. Where young people have moved on under difficult circumstances the home have pro-actively supported their next placement by offering advice.

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requires improvement

Risks for young people are identified at an early stage and strategies put in place to manage them. For some young people some specific risks are reducing, such as child sexual exploitation. For others their risks increased over the duration of the placement and this was not identified or acted on in a timely manner.

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requires improvement

For other young people the home have identified when risk levels have increased and have taken effective action to reduce the risk, such as moving the young person temporarily to another provision with good effect.

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requires improvement

Missing from home is an identified risk for young people. There is effective liaison with police, local authorities and families when this occurs, but for one young person previously resident, missing from home became an increasingly regular occurrence. This was despite staff intervention and continued new strategies to reduce incidents of missing, such as offering activities and time away on holiday. The completion of return home interviews is not consistent, despite the efforts of the home. This means that young people’s reasons for leaving the home are not captured by a person independent of the home.

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requires improvement

The introduction of a new young person into the home led to a sharp rise in the number of incidents where restrictive physical intervention. In all cases the intervention was low level, such as a guide. These are linked to the young people in placement not having a positive relationship and involving themselves in physical altercations. Whilst these are thoroughly documented, there is no evidence that any effective analysis or learning from these incidents has occurred.

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requires improvement

Drug misuse is identified as a risk for one young person and whilst placed at the home the young person was persistently reported to be under the influence of illegal substances. The young person’s safety was compromised through obtaining and using illegal substances. The home effectively liaised with local drug agencies and the youth offending team to ensure work was completed with the young person around drug misuse.

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requires improvement

Young people placed at this home have, on one occasion, been involved in the possession of weapons and in a confrontation with a group of local youths. The home have enlisted the assistance of the police to address this issue and have worked with other homes in the organisation to prevent young people from socialising together and becoming involved in conflicts. The actions implemented by the home have been effective and there have been no further incidents.

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requires improvement

The home had not been effective in implementing boundaries for some young people which has impacted upon their safety, enabling them to spend large amounts of time unsupervised in the community mixing with inappropriate adults.

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requires improvement

The majority of the safeguarding concerns identified for this home relate to one particular young person who is no longer in placement. The other young people in the home have better safeguarding outcomes and respond more positively to the efforts of staff at the home to ensure they are safe. This mixed progression in safeguarding has resulted in the judgement of requires improvement in this area.

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requires improvement

The home has an appropriately qualified and experienced manager. The manager has been in post since June 2014 and holds an NVQ in leadership and management. Staff report feeling supported by both the manager and the care coordinator and newer staff feel that both have been available to assist with the induction process.

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requires improvement

The home accepts emergency placements and where young people have been admitted on an emergency basis the information available to the managers has not always been sufficient to indicate that a match would be unsuitable. Gathering further information at the matching stage, or delaying admission would enable the manager to make more informed decisions in respect of admission.

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requires improvement

The home is adequately staffed and resourced to meet the needs of the young people who live there. Staff either hold the relevant child care qualification or are working towards it. Staff benefit from regular supervision and appraisal and there is an extensive training programme in place, which supports their ongoing development.

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requires improvement

The home develops effective partnership working with other agencies including police, health, youth offending and host authorities, which promotes all-round support to young people across their areas of development.

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requires improvement

Regular monitoring activity takes place and reports are forwarded to Ofsted as required. Internal monitoring lacks analysis of the rise in physical intervention that could be used to promote learning for staff. There is a suitable development plan in place to progress the home and improve outcomes for young people.

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requires improvement

The home challenges the placing authorities where young people have been missing from home and return interviews have not taken place, but there are still inconsistencies in this area.

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requires improvement

Records for children could be clearer in some areas. While, all of the necessary health information for each young person is in place, it is not contained within one document. This is a recording issue and it means that staff have to look in various places for the relevant data.

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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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