Children's home run by Aspire Residential Care Home Limited in Birmingham

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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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The home has been without a registered manager since January 2014.  The progress made at the start of long-term placements has stopped.  Young people do not form stable and secure relationships with staff.  Weaknesses in partnership working with placing authorises compromises placements.  Lack of robust oversight by staff on the use of online technology means young people are at risk of harm.  Young people do not always receive the encouragement they need to make measurable progress in their education.  Staff are not consistent in ensuring young people feel consulted.  Staff practice does not always achieve the overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for young people covered in the statement of purpose.

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The children's home strengths

 A new manager has been appointed to provide stability and consistency after a period of considerable change.  Selection and recruitment of adults to work with young people is robust.  Incidents of missing from the home are rare.

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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

5. Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met:

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, with particular reference to making sound decisions on admissions, the registered person must, ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

(b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. 29/04/2016

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Requirement Due date

7. The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard with particular reference to consultation processes, the registered person must ensure that staff:-

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(iv) regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care; 29/04/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard with particular reference to risks posed by the use of new technology, the registered person must ensure:-

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Requirement Due date

(2)(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. 29/04/2016

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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 with particular reference to the stated purpose of the home, the registered person must:- 29/04/2016 (2)(a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

If the person who is in day-to-day charge of the children’s home proposes to be absent from the home for a continuous period of 28 days or more, the registered person must give notice in writing to HMCI of the proposed absence. (Regulation 48(1)) 29/04/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure the necessary support is given to children to enable them to access their education or training. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 28, paragraph 5.13)

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Information about this children's home

This is a three bedded home, offering care and accommodation for young people who have emotional and/or behavioural issues. It is run by a private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

18/03/2015 CH - Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people’s progress and experience has been mixed since the last inspection. The success in the early stages of their placements has not been sustained.

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Requires improvement

The quality of relationships between staff and young people are not used to bring about beneficial changes. Basic tasks such as getting young people up and out of bed on time in the morning and ensuring they attend education are not achieved. This lack of commitment and motivation to promote education means young people do not make meaningful progress in their learning.

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Requires improvement

Staff members’ attempts to engage young people in planning and negotiating group living are unsuccessful. Young people’s meetings, that allow the opportunity to express views and wishes formally about everyday choices such as food menus and activities, do not take place regularly. This leaves young people with limited opportunities to express their views or to be involved in decisions which affect them.

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Requires improvement

Transitions to and from the home are not always well planned. Since the last inspection, two emergency admissions have resulted in two relatively short-term placements. The absence of effective multi-agencies working has meant information sharing has not been robust and key information not secured until placements begin to breakdown.

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Requires improvement

There has been little in the way of stability and consistency in the staff team. For example, nearly the whole staff team has been replaced since the last inspection. This has compromised young people having continuous relationships with adults they grow to trust and respect.

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Requires improvement

Young people benefit from assessed, supported and appropriate contacts with family members. This helps them to maintain relationships with key people in their lives. One social worker commented, the staff team’s efforts to support contact have been a ‘major stabilising factor’. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Young people report feeling safe. However, in two separate emergency admissions, risks such as self-harming behaviour were not fully assessed prior to the placements commencing. Consequently, placements ended suddenly and unplanned.

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Requires improvement

Staff do not rigorously manage the use of new technology by young people. Their use of social media is not monitored. Internet histories are not checked. E-safety agreements are not in place. For example, young people play console games rated as only suitable for adults. This leaves young people at risk from a range of unsuitable material and online facilities which place them and others at potential harm exploitation.

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Requires improvement

There are some inconsistencies in behaviour management. For example, recommendations made in team meetings over approaches to help young people to attend education are not maintained. This resulted in sanctions being used differently between staff and young people getting mixed messages and increasingly unwilling to cooperative with staff.

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Requires improvement

The selection and vetting of staff is efficient and thorough. The numerous checks made before employment mean that safe and suitable adults are recruited to care for young people.

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Requires improvement

Missing incidents are rare. On the few occasions young people have gone missing, the response by staff has ensured their safe return. Judgement grade

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inadequate

Management of the home has not been consistent. The home has been without a registered manager since January 2014. The present manager has been in post for six weeks and is the home’s second manager since the interim inspection. She has submitted an application to Ofsted to be the registered manager.

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inadequate

Substantial changes have occurred since the inspection. Nine new members of staff have been recruited and established staff have left. There have been inconsistencies in the management of behaviour, especially around the use of sanctions. The staff team’s ability to engage with young people and ensure they achieve their potential has declined. The current manager acknowledges that there has been a significant decline in the behaviour and motivation of young people, during the time prior to her arrival.

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inadequate

Previous requirements have been met and the remedial actions have resulted in improvements to the standards of monitoring and recording in the home.

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inadequate

The new manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home. She is conscious of the urgent need for her to take decisive and effective actions to ensure that young people make progress again in the home.

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inadequate

At present, the home is not achieving its core purpose to ‘meet the needs of each young person in placement through the provision of firm boundaries, structured care and to promote and effect positive changes for the children and young people’ as set out in its’ statement of purpose.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers have not maximised their joint working with placing authorities to ensure the needs of young people can be met from the point of admission. This has resulted in placements breaking down prematurely.

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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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