Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

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 are happy in this home and feel safe. They are confident that staff care about them and will listen to them. This is because staff develop positive relationships with them and promote positive behaviour.  Young people are making good progress from their starting points. This is reflected in the views of both family members and professionals. Young people benefit from consistency and structure. These give them a sense of emotional security.  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 who are new to the home are given high levels of support to help them to settle and become familiar with the expectations of the home.  Managers ensure that partnership working is effective in making sure that young people are provided with the necessary support to meet their assessed needs.  Managers and staff are committed to developing positive relationships with

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The children's home provision is good because:

family members. Staff flexibly support and promote contact. This has enabled young people to spend positive time with their families and begin to rebuild sometimes damaged relationships

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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 ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within 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 the registered person is required to demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by the: (2)(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that the home should have an up-to-date development plan in place that sets targets for continuing the home’s improvement and development. 29 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that:- 3(a)within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home ,a record is made which includes :- (i)the name of the child; (ii)details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; (iii)the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv)a description of the measure and its duration; (v) details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (vi)the name of the person who used the measure(‘’the user’’),and of any other person present when the measure was used; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; 29 July 2016 (b) within 48 hours of use of the measure, the registered person - (i) has spoken to the user about the measure and (ii) signed the record to confirm it is accurate and (c) within 5 days of the use of the measure record confirmation

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Requirement Due date

that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3(a(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))(b(i)(ii))(c))

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Requirement Due date

45. In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

2(c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children (Regulation 45(2)(c)). 29 July 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):  Ensure that young people are able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon.

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Recommendations

This is with particular reference to follow up on children's meetings (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11).

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Information about this children's home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behaviour difficulties. The service is operated by a private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

16 February 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

5 February 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people are positive about their experience of living in this home: ’Managers and staff are great. I’d rate them as ten out of ten. I can’t think of anything I’d change.’ They benefit from a consistent approach which gives them a sense of emotional security. This is reflected in the progress observed by the professionals working with them. As one social worker commented, ’He has come on in leaps and bounds. His self-confidence and independent living skills have improved considerably.’

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Good

Staff provide the young people with a warm, caring and positive environment, which allows young people to feel valued, respected and loved. This promotes their confidence, self-esteem and identity.

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Good

Managers ensure that young people coming to live in this home benefit from careful pre-placement planning. This ensures that they are correctly matched and that their needs can be met. Young people and their family members are offered opportunities to visit the home before the young person moves in. They stay for tea and meet the other young people living here. This promotes placement stability and positive outcomes.

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Good

Relationships between young people and staff are a key strength of this home. The manager ensures that there is consistency in the approach, and this promotes relationship building with young people. Opportunities to undertake shared activities and experiences are encouraged, from playing badminton in the garden to shared caravan holidays. This approach benefits young people when they experience difficulties in their lives, as they have trusted adults whom they can talk to. Young people say that they feel supported by staff and report that they could speak to staff if there was something upsetting them. The staff invest time in the young people and show interest in their day-to-day experiences. Young people report feeling that their views are listened to and are confident about raising concerns. There are regular young people’s meetings and monthly feedback questionnaires. Unfortunately, it is not consistently evident how the managers and

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Good

staff utilise young people’s views in the day-to-day running of the home, as staff do not consistently record the outcome of their discussions with young people.

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Good

Staff work hard to help young people to reach their educational potential. Although not all the young people are currently in full-time education or training placements, staff have persistently worked alongside education providers to ensure that appropriate tailored alternative provision is identified. Some young people are in stable education provision and are making good, sustained progress from their starting points. Staff are committed to making a positive contribution to improving young people’s learning and educational opportunities. As one education professional observed, ’Staff are committed to creating a solid partnership and building a shared understanding of behaviour strategies to enhance learning opportunities.’

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Good

Staff support young people to access a range of specialist services to ensure that their physical, psychological and emotional needs are met. Some young people are not making positive choices in managing their own health needs. Staff have consistently supported young people to understand the implications of their decision making.

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Good

Transition to independence is well managed by staff. Young people are gradually prepared for independence. This is achieved by ensuring that the young person is fully involved in planning and target setting, while still being offered a good level of support and inclusion in the home.

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Good

Staff actively support and promote contact with family members. They encourage and support young people to ensure that the time spent with family is really positive. For some young people, staff support them during their contact and for others they remain in telephone contact. Managers and staff actively promote positive working relationships with family members, many of whom have previously held negative views about professionals working with their young people. Staff communicate effectively with family members. As one commented, ‘staff are very supportive and keep me regularly updated. I can see the difference that they are making.’ For young people who are placed out of the area, staff recognise the importance of maintaining links with family and familiar services.

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Good

Young people say that they feel safe. Risks are identified as part of the care planning process. Managers make sure that they are regularly reviewed to ensure that the appropriate strategies are in place to minimise harm. There is clear identification of the risks, potential triggers for risk-taking behaviours and strategies to minimise or manage risks.

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Good

Staff are highly motivated to keep young people safe. They work hard with young people to help them to address their risk-taking behaviours. Key-worker sessions evidence frequent discussions on areas of risk and the identification of proactive ways of supporting young people to manage their own behaviours and reduce their risks. Physical intervention is rarely used to manage challenging behaviour and, when it is, it is only as a last resort. However, managers have not ensured that an incident of physical intervention was thoroughly documented. Staff records did not consistently capture the details leading up to the behaviour or the staff’s attempts to de-escalate the situation. There is no evidence to show that any learning is captured from the event. This denies staff and the young person the opportunity to reflect and learn from this.

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Good

Young people rarely go missing from the home. There have been two incidents recorded since the last inspection. This represents a significant improvement for some young people who went missing from their previous placements. Staff act appropriately when young people do go missing. Return home interviews, conducted by an independent person, are actively promoted. This ensures that young people have the opportunity to speak privately about incidents and for risk assessments to be adjusted accordingly. The potential risks of young people being at risk of sexual exploitation during ‘missing’ incidents are recognised by staff and are actively considered with young people. When young people leave the home without permission, members of staff follow them and successfully encourage them to return. As a result, young people are kept safe.

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Good

Online safety is taken seriously. Staff training raises their awareness of online safety and keeping young people safe in their use of the Internet and social media. There are systems in place to monitor young people’s access to the Internet. A recent incident when a young person accessed inappropriate online sites was appropriately addressed by the manager to ensure that young people are protected from harm.

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Good

A strength of the staff is their effective behaviour management. This means that staff identify problems early and take steps to prevent the escalation of incidents. Boundaries have been vigorously tested by some young people as they adjust to living at the home. Staff are good at responding to challenging behaviour with a calm and consistent approach. Boundaries are distinct, and the reward scheme helps to promote acceptable behaviour and self-regulation. Young people themselves recognise that the staff approach is making a significant difference to their lives.

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Good

Managers ensure that safe recruitment practices are utilised to ensure that young people are protected, and that all staff at the home are suitable and safe to work with young people.

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Good

Young people live in a physically safe environment where the manager ensures that all routine checks, risk assessments, and safety policies and procedures are rigorously adhered to. Judgement grade

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Good

The home is led by a suitably qualified registered manager who has been in post since November 2015. He has the support of an appropriately experienced deputy manager. The staff are mainly experienced, with half holding the level 3 qualification and the others working towards it in appropriate timescales. The staff team is generally stable and good staff morale is evident, with staff consistently reporting that the home is a good place to work.

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Good

The manager and deputy are passionate about providing the best care and experiences for the young people. They ensure that the needs of young people are clearly prioritised at the home. The staff team shows high levels of commitment to ensuring that young people progress and achieve.

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Good

The manager and deputy complete regular staff supervision. Staff report that they receive regular high-quality supervision that they find constructive and which helps them to develop their practice. Training levels are good and there is a move to focus training on the specific needs of the young people placed, as most staff have now completed the full complement of core training. This includes awareness- raising around sexually inappropriate behaviour and the impact of mental ill health on young people.

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Good

The home has a clear statement of purpose, and is achieving its aims and objectives as set out in the statement. This provides useful information to interested parties, such as placing authorities and families, on what services and support can be expected of the home.

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Good

The manager ensures that good-quality internal and external monitoring takes place and that reports are regularly forwarded to Ofsted. The manager is well aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. The monitoring reports are regularly shared with staff in team meetings to improve practice. His internal quality review demonstrates an excellent evaluation of the home’s last six months, but fails to identify the actions needed to sustain effective improvement. There is no current development plan for the home. This significantly compromises the manager’s ability to plan for continuous improvement.

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Good

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 received from the home, and this promotes effective partnership working. Staff use 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 training.

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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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 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.

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Information about this inspection

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 Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‘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 0300 123 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

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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