Children's Home run by Positive Outcomes Childcare Ltd in Dudley

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:

 Plans for new admissions to the home do not take into account staffing sufficiency or their compatibility with existing young people living there.  None of the young people are in full-time education and as a consequence are not achieving good educational progress.  Young people are not in consistent, positive, structured routines and can find it difficult to motivate themselves. Staff are not always effective in ensuring that young people are motivated to participate in education or alternative structured activities.  Young people’s independence skills are not consistently progressed and evaluated.  Some of the records that the home is required to maintain are not in place. This undermines the quality and range of information available to managers and staff to enable them to effectively evaluate and track young people’s progress.  There is an absence of both workforce and development plans for the home.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

This compromises the manager’s ability to ensure that there is sufficient staffing, and to plan future development and improvements.  Complaints and their outcomes are not consistently recorded.

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The children’s home strengths:

 Managers and staff are committed to making a positive difference to young people’s lives. They are persistent and do not give up.  Young people are positive about the care and support that they receive. They feel safe and comfortable in the home.  Staff establish positive relationships with young people’s families. They support young people to retain regular contact with their families and to develop these relationships further.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person 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 must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(b)(vi) help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently. 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

8: The education standard In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must ensure: 2(a)(iv) that staff help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment (b) that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. This is in specific reference to access to a personal computer, as stated in the statement of purpose, to complete school work. 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person: (2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. This is in specific reference to online safety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and substance misuse. (h) is required to demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by the use of monitoring and review systems, in order to make continuous improvements to the quality of care provided in the home. Specifically, that the home should have an up-to-date development plan in place, setting targets for continuing the home’s improvement and development. 30 June 2016 14 Care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

2(a) ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose, with particular reference to ensuring that they have fully considered the compatibility with existing young people living there. 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which: (1)(a) include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child (b) are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(3)) 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating: 2(c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children (5) considering the opinions of parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(2)(c)) 30 June 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 that there is a workforce plan in place which can fulfil the requirements of Regulation 16 Schedule 1. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home. It is registered for three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or mild to moderate learning difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

19 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people’s experiences and progress are variable. All benefit from a stable and committed staff team who work hard to ensure that each young person is settled and happy. Those young people who have previous experience of placement disruptions are beginning to develop positive relationships with some staff members. Progress for some, however, is compromised by the competing needs of those living here who are more vocal and challenging. New admissions are not consistently risk-assessed to take into account staffing sufficiency and their compatibility with existing young people living here. For some young people, this means that their needs are not appropriately met and for others, that their progress is limited. Attendance and engagement with education could be significantly improved. Despite staff efforts, some young people refuse to engage with any training or education. This means that some young people have not accessed full-time

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Requires improvement

education for considerable periods of time, and their educational progress has been significantly compromised. There is a lack of consistent structure and routine in the home. Although staff have been imaginative in identifying alternative structured learning activities, for example bush craft and garden design, young people’s engagement is not consistent or sustained. These informal learning opportunities have had limited success in stimulating their desire to learn. They do not see education as important at this stage of their development. As one education professional observed, ‘this culture of non-engagement with education has a profound impact on any young person living there’, and has had a significant negative impact upon young people joining the home. Staff positively engage with education professionals, but have been ineffective in challenging the timeliness of services identifying appropriate alternative provision,

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Requires improvement

which has had a detrimental impact upon young people’s attitudes to learning and their progress. Young people’s physical health needs are appropriately monitored and assessed, but some are unable to access services easily in order to support their emotional and psychological well-being. Staff have effectively challenged this to ensure that specialist services prioritise their needs. Some young people are now making positive choices in managing their own health needs, and staff have worked alongside healthcare professionals to support young people to manage specific conditions, such as diabetes. While staff try to encourage young people to be engaged in activities and hobbies, such as boxing and Duke of Edinburgh awards, young people show great reluctance to sustain participation in any organised activity. They do engage in day trips with staff, which provide young people with positive experiences, but they

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Requires improvement

would benefit from sustained efforts to increase their participation. Young people have recently used their new gardening skills to improve their neighbour’s garden. This has proved a beneficial experience for all and helped to promote young people’s self-esteem. Staff consult with young people regarding the day-to-day running of the home. Young people say that they are involved in decisions about the internal decoration of the home and the fixtures and fittings. Weekly young people’s meetings are held. These have not been successful recently, and the registered manager has acknowledged that more imaginative approaches need to be trialled. Young people know how to make a complaint, including the use of external professionals and advocacy services. This helps them to feel confident that any complaints that they make will be addressed quickly. However, recording of complaints is not consistent or detailed and does not specify the actions taken to

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Requires improvement

resolve them. This lack of transparency compromises young people’s safety. Family members are warmly welcomed into the home and receive regular updates from staff. Young people do not live too far from their home areas, and are well supported to stay in touch with people who are important to them. As one family member commented, ‘staff keep me regularly updated and want to work with me.’ Young people are aiming for greater independence and autonomy, but how they are supported to achieve those is not clear. There is limited evidence of how their independence skills are being consistently promoted and progressed. Staff are not working to any agreed plan to help young people to develop their life skills or grow their independence. Little is done to assess young people’s needs around key skills or to provide clear written plans that staff can follow to evaluate an individual’s progress. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people say that they are safe and feel safe. As one young person said, ‘I suppose I do feel safe here because I know the staff care about me and what happens to me.’ Risk management strategies are regularly completed and updated. Staff are proactive at identifying changing circumstances and ensuring that strategies are reviewed. This ensures that young people are supported in accessing specialist support and information to help them to make the right choices to keep themselves safe. Drug misuse is acknowledged as a problem for some young people living at this home. There is good evidence that drug awareness is promoted. Referrals are made to specialist agencies, the local community police officer has visited the home to raise the young people’s awareness of the wider safeguarding risks linked with substance misuse, including child sexual exploitation, and staff do individual work with young people on the dangers of drug misuse. However, the problem

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Good

persists and more robust strategies need to be implemented which will fully support them to become drug free. Currently, young people do not go missing from the home, as staff provide an environment where they are able to manage their behaviour in safer ways. For some who arrived at the home with previous histories of going missing, this is considerable progress from their starting points. Agreed working practices ensure that staff respond immediately should a missing from care event occur. This includes following the local multi-agency protocol for missing young people as well as following any specific actions which have been agreed for each young person. Some young people living at this home are, or have been, involved in criminal and anti-social behaviour. Their engagement with the youth offending teams is supported by the home and their engagement is generally good. Staff closely monitor young people’s relationships and any poor behaviour is

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Good

challenged. Staff endeavour to model their behaviour in a way that promotes clear and reasonable boundaries. This practically demonstrates to young people how to conduct positive and respectful relationships. Consequently, young people are encouraged and motivated to behave in ways that are socially acceptable. Rewards and incentives are used to promote socially acceptable behaviour and improve their sense of safety and well-being. There have been no incidents of physical restraint because staff focus on verbal de-escalation and distraction techniques. When restraint is necessary to keep young people safe, records are detailed and include young people’s comments and views. This ensures that the effectiveness and appropriateness of this measure of control is monitored to protect young people. Staff have not been trained in online safety, or in keeping young people safe in their use of the internet and social media. Although there are systems in place to

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Good

monitor young people’s access to the internet, not all staff are confident about the risks associated with online gaming, and consequently are unable to develop effective strategies to address this. There is a detailed location risk assessment that highlights risk factors in the surrounding area and indicates how these will be managed. Staff complete regular fire and health and safety checks in the home.

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Requires improvement

The home has an appropriately experienced registered manager who has been registered with Ofsted since August 2015. She is currently completing her level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. She has a number of years of experience of working in children’s residential care. Staff report feeling supported and say that the manager is readily available to them. The manager is passionate about providing the best care and experiences to the young people in her care and ensuring that they feel valued and cared for in the home. The internal and external monitoring of the home are completed regularly and the reports are forwarded to Ofsted. Internal monitoring systems are weak, because they do not stipulate actions required to improve the quality of care for young people or routinely include formal feedback from professionals, staff or young people. Consequently, stakeholder feedback is not used to shape and inform the

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Requires improvement

home’s development or improvement. Quality assurance processes are not used to evidence the actions taken as a result of any consultation, especially with young people. The registered manager is aware that this aspect of the service falls below acceptable standards, as it was a requirement made at the last inspection. She is currently collating information for a quality assurance report, but has yet to address this shortfall. It will therefore remain as a requirement. There is a statement of purpose in place that is up to date and relevant. However, the personal computer that the statement of purpose says is available to young people is broken and needs replacement. There is no current development plan for the home and this significantly compromises the registered manager’s ability to plan for continuous improvement. The staff team is stable, with some of the staff having been in post since the home

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Requires improvement

opened. All care staff have the appropriate NVQ qualification and significant experience in working with young people and vulnerable young adults. The home does not use agency staff to cover annual leave and sickness, as this is covered by regular casual staff or managers. This provides continuity of care to young people but can compromise management capacity. Staff do not have access to a comprehensive range of information about young people’s needs. The home’s case files do not contain the necessary range of information required to reflect fully the experiences, events and progress of young people currently placed. This has compromised the ability of the service to accurately reflect on and address young people’s needs. Staff are supported to develop their practice through monthly team meetings and regular supervision, both of which enable them to reflect on their practice, discuss how well the young people are progressing and provide challenge. Staff access

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Requires improvement

training courses to further enhance their knowledge, for example in child sexual exploitation, but have not accessed training to address the presenting needs of some young people, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorders or substance misuse. This compromises their effectiveness in supporting young people. The home adheres to organisational recruitment procedures to safeguard young people. Safety checks are carried out in full on all new staff This means that young people work with suitably vetted and selected staff. There is no workforce plan, which means that staff planning is restricted. Staff have developed positive working relationships with a number of key stakeholders, including the youth offending service, education professionals and social workers. All are positive about the level and quality of communication they receive from the home, which promotes effective partnership working. Staff use

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Requires improvement

partnership relationships to advocate and challenge on behalf of young people, to ensure that they receive appropriate support to meet their needs. For some young people this has been very effective, for example in securing appropriate health support, but for others this has been less successful and managers have been ineffective in escalating their concerns.

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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, work- based 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

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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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