Children's Home run by After Care (NW) Limited in Sefton

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 make continual progress from their starting points. This is down to staff’s nurturing care and high aspirations.  They benefit from trusting relationships with staff and each other. They feel respected, listened to and cared for. Consequently, the home is a settled and peaceful environment.  Their health is promoted. They have access to a range of specialist support including drug and alcohol services, sexual health clinics and the in-house therapist. As a result, their physical and emotional health improves.  Effective partnership working with the police, drug and alcohol services, and social workers is helping to reduce incidents of missing and child sexual exploitation (CSE).  Young people are helped to sustain positive relationships with people who play an important role in their lives. Family contact is maintained through careful and sensitive planning and, when safe and appropriate, increases.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people enjoy a range of fun activities with staff and their friends. They are learning new skills and, thus, developing their confidence and self- esteem.  Improvements can be made in how staff support young people to understand and follow the home’s rules and policies. For example, ensuring that the home is a smoke-free and a healthy environment.  Key work sessions are not consistently supporting young people to address their risk taking behaviour and learn how to keep themselves safe. Staff do not always understand their safeguarding roles and responsibilities, with particular regard to reporting all concerns to the relevant bodies.  Not all staff benefit from regular supervision or the opportunity to reflect on their practice. Furthermore, the team does not benefit from a having their training needs individually reviewed and planned accordingly.  Internal and external monitoring systems are not yet fully effective.

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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 that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(iii)(v) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, and, communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. Particularly, in relation to young people smoking inside the home. 26 Feb 2016

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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)(a) that staff – (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 26 Feb 2016

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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 person must – (2)(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 26 Feb 2016 Ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 26 Feb 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):

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Recommendations

 Ensure to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical health. With particular regard to smoking within the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, paragraph 7.3, page 33)

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Recommendations

 Ensure to have in place a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (The Guide to the Quality Standards, paragraph 10.8, page 53)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home's care. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, paragraph 15.5, page 65)

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

02/01/2015 Interim sustained effectiveness

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good

Young people make considerable progress from their starting points. They benefit from positive, trusting relationships with staff. This is reflected in their comments, ‘staff listen to me. They are like my friends and my family,’ ‘Staff are decent. They made me feel 100% welcome when I moved in.’

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good

Staff’s high aspirations coupled with effective partnership working with schools, colleges and the in-house tutor is improving outcomes and helping young people to realise their goals and ambitions. All young people attend full-time education or vocational training. Due to consistent care and routines, their attendance significantly improves and they are making continual progress. One young person had missed a significant part of her education prior to moving into the home. With staff’s support and additional tuition, she gained seven GCSE’s grade A – C. Both she and staff are extremely proud of her achievements and her success is inspiring other young people to work hard.

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good

Young people are fit and healthy. They are encouraged and supported to attend routine appointments with doctors, dentists and opticians. This is helping young people to understand the importance of maintaining good health through regular check-ups. The in-house therapist provides weekly sessions to young people when necessary. This therapeutic support is helping them to make sense of their past and develop safer coping strategies. A young person said, ‘I stopped taking drugs and running away because I could see that staff cared for me and I didn’t want to let them down or disappoint them.’

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good

A range of activities, such as, bowling, swimming, and free pass leisure passes are helping to keep young people active and entertained. Furthermore, it is providing them with opportunities to experience different interests and make new friends. This in turn, is helping to build their confidence and self-esteem.

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good

Staff support, facilitate and when necessary supervise family contact. Staff fully understand the importance of maintaining regular contact with parents and relatives, especially for young people who are placed a distance from home. Through staff’s close working with social workers and family members, some young people’s contact has increased since moving into the home.

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good

Young people are well prepared, both practically and emotionally, for adulthood. As well as teaching them the basic life skills, such as cooking, budgeting and shopping, they support them emotionally by building up their confidence, self- esteem and a network of local support. Consequently, young people are not afraid to move on and they are confident that staff will continue to support them when they leave.

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good

Young people’s views are sought on a day-to-day basis. This ensures their on- going involvement in the planning of their daily routines. They are fully supported, by staff, to play an active role in care planning. This was confirmed by an independent reviewing officer who praised staff for getting a young person to attend his care plan review for the first time.

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good

The home is well maintained and staff have created a stable, welcoming homely environment. However, some young people are not sticking to the home’s no- smoking policy, which is clearly documented in the young people’s guide and welcome pack. Furthermore, staff are not consistently supporting them to understand why these rules are in place and how their actions can potentially impact on others living and working in the home. This undermines a healthy living environment.

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good

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures. When young people go missing from home, staff follow missing protocols well and provide detailed records of the event and their actions. Improvements have been made in the home’s procedure for escalating more serious concerns to multi- disciplinary strategy meetings. This will ensure that all relevant professionals are aware of the level of concern and are working together.

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good

Incidents of missing have significantly decreased for young people who are currently living in the home. Consequently, associated risks, such as CSE, drug use, and offending behaviour have also reduced. A young person placed a long way from her family said, ‘moving here was the best thing that ever happened to me. I used to go out, stay out, and take drugs, when I moved here that stopped. I don’t want to move away I am settled here now. If I didn’t move here I would be on drugs or in jail.’ This demonstrates that young people feel safe and supported and are enabled to turn their lives around.

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good

Individual risk assessments provide staff with clear information and guidance on recognising and responding to incidents of missing and CSE, which is significantly reducing. However, not all potential risks are rigorously assessed. For example, drug and alcohol use, including ‘legal highs’. Furthermore, the daily routines of the home have not prevented alcohol and drugs from being brought into the home. Staff are not being guided by robust risk assessments that address all safeguarding concerns.

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good

Young people confirmed that they receive regular key work sessions with staff where they discuss their risk taking behaviour. However, some key work session records were extremely brief and failed to demonstrate how staff consistently support young people to understand their vulnerability and learn how to keep themselves safe. This is largely related to staff’s poor recording and shortfalls in the home’s monitoring systems.

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good

Staff have not consistently followed safeguarding procedures. On occasion, relevant information, including serious complaints against staff and young people’s drug use, has not been shared with relevant professionals. This in turn hinders prompt investigation into concerns and external scrutiny of the home’s safeguarding practice.

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requires improvement

Young people benefit from the dedicated support of a suitably qualified and experienced manager. He is currently registered for another home within the company and his application to register for this service is underway.

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requires improvement

Without doubt, he has the welfare of young people at the centre of his practice. He is very ‘hands-on’ and has nurtured warm, caring relationships within the home. This is evident in the measurable and sustained progress made by young people.

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requires improvement

Strong links have been forged with local services that provide on-going support and guidance to young people and staff. As a result, young people are effectively supported through a range of specialist teams, including sexual health clinics, in- house therapists, alternative education, and, in-house teachers. The majority of professionals consulted with spoke highly of staff’s practice and partnership working. This is reflected in a commissioners comments, ‘we have worked with (service name) for a number of years. They have delivered very good outcomes for the young people placed with them and have exceeded our expectations. In addition to this they have worked in collaboration with the local authority, and are very good at reporting any concerns to the commissioner and social workers.’

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requires improvement

The home employs a suitable number of experienced and skilled staff. The recently established core team is made up of staff that are new to the role and experienced longstanding members. The staff spoken with felt fully supported by the manager and stated that they can always approach him for guidance and support. New staff undertake a thorough induction programme and complete all mandatory training. Including, safeguarding, therapeutic crisis intervention, and, they are soon to attend CSE training.

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requires improvement

However, improvements can be made in staff’s professional supervision and on- going development. Some staff’s supervision had been missed and supervision sessions had not been routinely recorded. This has resulted in some concerns around staff’s practice and poor performance not being appropriately addressed and documented. Furthermore, supervision is not providing staff with sufficient opportunity to reflect on their practice and explore new ways of managing difficult behaviours and situations. Staff’s on-going development is further hindered by the lack of a co-ordinated training and development plan. The manager does not have a workforce development plan in place to help him to identify gaps in the team’s knowledge and learning.

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requires improvement

The manager is aware of the strengths of the service and acknowledges areas for improvement. Most of the shortfalls are related to staff’s recordings and the effectiveness of his monitoring, as appose to poor practice. For example, while complaints are being appropriately managed. Complaint records do not detail the action taken, or demonstrate that the complainant was informed of the outcome. Consequently, fairness and transparency is not confirmed in complaints records.

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requires improvement

Independent monitoring of the home takes place monthly. However, the reports from these visits do not provide a rigorous assessment of the care and protection provided by staff. On occasion, the manager does not swiftly address the shortfalls raised at these visits. For example, improvement in staff’s supervision was raised in three consecutive reports. The manager is not, therefore, making good use of external monitoring systems to ensure continued improvements within the home.

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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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