Children's home in Sutton

The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

children and young people since the most recent full inspection. This home was judged good at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness . Young people continue to make good progress as a result of living in the home. They have strong relationships with staff and are confident in their interactions with them. Observations showed young people approaching staff to engage in activities, such as cleaning the car, looking after the rabbit and guinea pigs and showing them the work that they had completed at school. Young people are positive about their relationships with staff and feel that there is someone who they can go to with any worries or concerns. Three young people were placed in the home at the time of the last inspection, and one of these young people remains in the home. She is making excellent progress and has just finished a college course and is seeking to enrol on a new

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

course in the next academic year. Her social worker was complimentary of the home’s impact on the young person’s behaviour and emotional well-being and was impressed with the significant reduction in situations where she is at risk in the community. Examples include staff supporting the young person to end an emotionally abusive relationship and boosting her self-esteem. As a result, the risk of her being exploited has dramatically reduced. Both of the young people who have moved on, have not done so in a planned manner. However, the manager and staff sought to sustain the placements, but were objective in evaluating their ability to support the young people to stay safe. One young person had been in placement for over a year and staff had worked well with her until her emotional instability during the therapeutic process meant that they were no longer able to keep her safe. The other young person was

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

succeeding and managed to distance themselves from negative influences in the community and from those exploiting him. However, risks became too great when other young people in the home were targeted by those who had exploited and groomed the young person. The staff and managers within the home remained in close contact with social workers, specialist police officers and the designated officer for child protection throughout the time that the young people were placed and worked tirelessly to support their placement within the home. Two young people have moved into the home since the last inspection. Planning prior to placement is good, with thoughtful impact risk assessments prior to their moving in. Staff have a good understanding of the young people that they care for and they follow the placing authority’s plans effectively. Progress is clearly tracked through weekly reports, which then inform statutory reviews. Staff attend regular

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

meetings regarding young people with partner agencies to determine progress and discuss extra support that young people may require, such as referrals to emotional well-being services. Young people feel safe in the home, and their interactions with staff demonstrate that they are comfortable in their company. Staff are confident in their roles in keeping young people safe and respond swiftly to any issues raised. Staff have a good knowledge of the vulnerabilities of those who they care for. Any concerns are forwarded to partner agencies, and appropriate action has been taken when concerns relate to staff’s conduct. The managers and staff demonstrated excellent joint working when a young person was in crisis and making several unfounded allegations regarding staff and members of the public. While it was a distressing time for those involved, staff continued to support the young person to the best of their abilities, while following appropriate processes and procedures and reporting

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

all concerns to the relevant safeguarding professionals. Young people now rarely go missing from the home. Should this occur, staff search for them in known locations and try to make contact with them via mobile phones. When appropriate, the police are contacted to support the location and safe return of young people. Staff have received training around child sexual exploitation, and those young people who were at significant risk, or who were being exploited prior to placement, have responded well to staff support and boundaries. As a result, their risk of exploitation has greatly reduced. When necessary, young people engage with the youth offending team. Currently, engagement in programmes relates to orders in place prior to young people’s placement, although serious damage to staff cars has required further input by the service. Offending has reduced for those young people since living in the home.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Staff have close links with substance misuse workers, although the young person most at risk declines to engage in any formal support. The children looked after nurse engages with the young person and also advises staff on how best to support the young person when they are concerned. While substance misuse remains an issue for the young person, their use and severity of substances used has dramatically decreased since being in placement. Positive behaviour is promoted within the home and staff work consistently as a team to ensure that young people know what is expected of them. Sanctions are mostly fair and proportionate, although records lack young people’s views on the effectiveness of the measure used. Restraint is rarely used and the police have only been called to the home when staff have exhausted all other options in order to keep safe the young person and others in the home. The home continues to be well run by an experienced registered manager. He has

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the home and of the service provided. He is keen to continually improve practice and is open to advice and guidance from partner agencies and the regulator. He utilises the support and guidance from the independent visitor in line with Regulation 44 and produces sound evaluative six-monthly monitoring reports. The development plan for the financial year is robust and most of the actions have already been completed. However, there are gaps such as recognising the improvement required to the fabric of the building, in particular the extremely dated kitchen and consideration for where the second sleep in member of staff sleeps. Requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection have been addressed. Permission has been gained from placing authorities and young people for the independent visitor to have access to their files. The concern of young

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

people not signing their placement plans has been remedied by the individual concerned agreeing with staff that she will not sign her plans in a key work session, as she feels that it is institutional. Her view is respected by staff and the inspector. Weekly young people’s records have been amended for staff to be able to sign them and finally, the location risk assessment has also been updated to include local environmental risks, such as the home’s proximity to the sea.

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have 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

10/09/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

Within 48 hours of the use of behaviour management measures (including sanctions), the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’) has spoken to the user about the measure, and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate, and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 29/07/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 For children's homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children's homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene and so on). However, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than 'institutional' impression (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9).  The design of the home should provide staff that sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26).  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing

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Recommendations

authority, must include details of the steps that the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5).

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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 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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