Children's Home run by Staffordshire County Council in Staffordshire

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 in crisis receive a warm welcome from dedicated staff who understand their needs on all levels.  The home is spacious, comfortable and well maintained, with a large garden. This environment enables young people to relax and spend time alone or with others as they wish.  Staff listen to young people and encourage and enable them to express their views, wishes and feelings.  Highly trained staff keep young people safe and work with them to enable them to learn how to keep themselves safe.  Young people have fun with staff who enthusiastically engage them in a range of leisure activities, which support their physical and emotional well- being.  Staff work in close liaison with other agencies and families to successfully provide young people with the very best opportunities to return home quickly. This reduces the risks of young people remaining in care.  In February 2016, the registered manager amended the home's statement

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The children's home provision is good because:

of purpose to limit the length of stay for young people to four weeks. The focus of the service is now on returning young people to their families without delay.  The registered manager has not fully effectively monitored or reviewed the impact of these changes on young people and staff.  The local authority has required the registered manager to admit some young people in emergencies, when their plans are not in keeping with the home’s statement of purpose.  The local authority has not increased staffing levels in line with the significant demands of managing very short placements. Consequently, staff sometimes struggle to meet the needs of young people for personal attention and behaviour management.  Staff do not always challenge other professionals who are failing to meet the needs of young people.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that must be taken so that the registered persons meet 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met. In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority's or a relevant person's performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child's needs are met in accordance with the child's relevant plans. 09/09/2016

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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 must: (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; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. 09/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard (1) The care planning standard is that children receive well- planned care from the home and have a positive experience of admission and transition processes. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure: (a) 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, as set out in the home's statement of 09/09/2016 purpose.

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Requirement Due date

45: Review of quality of care. In order to meet regulation 45, with particular reference to the impact on the service and young people of the change to the statement of purpose to four-week placements, the registered person must: (2) establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating (a) the quality of care provided for children; (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and (c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. 09/09/2016

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority-owned children’s home. It is registered to care for up to five children and young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home provides care for up to five young people aged between 12 and 17 years on a short- term basis. Young people normally stay no longer than four weeks, during which time staff support them to return home or to move on to appropriate long-term placements. 

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

08/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

17/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people remain in the home for a maximum of four weeks, or for six in exceptional circumstances, following crisis in the family or a placement breakdown. They are welcomed by the dedicated and highly trained staff, who are strongly motivated to help them to return home as soon as possible. Staff understand the complex emotional needs of the young people and provide them with a warm and comfortable environment in which to relax and focus on their own needs. The home is large, spacious and homely. It is well maintained and safe, and the large garden provides opportunities for barbeques and ball games. The education room has books, globes, and computers. The games room has a large table, which enables young people to play snooker and table football. The family contact room is cosy and comfortable. Young people are encouraged to personalise their rooms, but staff recognise that they may not wish to, due to the hope that they will be

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Good

returning home or moving to a long-term placement shortly. Enthusiastic staff quickly engage young people in a range of fun activities to help them to settle in and develop trust in staff. These include baking, music, and using art materials. Staff take young people out, have ‘DVD nights’, go for drives and go to the cinema. One young person does horse riding and helps care for some local horses. Another young person enjoys making cookies with the cook. Staff take young people to the gym if they wish to go. There is a lot of chatting and laughter in the dining room, which forms a focus for the home. Mealtimes are very sociable, and staff are highly visible and approachable. Young people enjoy joking with staff and having discussions. When one young person left the placement, she hugged the registered manager and staff and said that she would miss her favourite staff member, because he makes her ‘think positively’. Another young person, who has received a high level

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Good

of emotional support from staff for her complex needs, commented, 'It's all right here,’ which was clearly meant to be high praise. Young people have little time to form trusting relationships with staff and peers, but respond positively to the child-focused staff who listen to them and encourage them to express their views, wishes and feelings. Young people say that they feel that staff care about them. They are able to experience a period of stability and security, which supports their emotional development. During this time, young people may have a demanding programme of family contact and direct work by staff and other childcare professionals to address behaviour and relationship issues, in order for them to return home. A number of young people have made sufficient progress to return home. Childcare professionals provide very positive feedback regarding the experiences and progress of young people. The social worker for one young person said that

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Good

the young person ‘has been happy here… Staff have worked very hard with her and the placement has been successful. It has stabilised her and given her routines and boundaries to help when she returns home. She is eating regular meals and has had regular contact with her mum, during which staff work with her to improve family dynamics.’ However, young people do not always receive the level of personal attention that they need, due to the increased demands on staff time under the new four-week placement arrangements. Staff have not effectively challenged the local authority regarding one young person who was frustrated and distressed by the lack of a clear plan for her to return home.

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Good

Highly trained and skilled staff keep young people safe, and key work and informal conversations help young people to learn how to keep themselves safe. Staff address a wide range of issues, including child sexual exploitation and going missing, with great skill and knowledge. Key-work sessions sometimes involve watching informative DVDs and engaging young people in discussions about previous experiences of abuse, bullying, drugs and criminal behaviour. Staff are not afraid to undertake challenging work. They liaise closely with therapeutic services for support and advice to meet young people’s complex emotional and behavioural needs. Staff review and update risk assessments and behaviour management plans regularly. Thorough handovers ensure that staff are always aware of issues that might impact on young people emotionally and lead to challenging behaviour. Staff recruitment is safe, and their training is relevant and up to date.

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Good

All of this contributes effectively to keeping young people safe. Young people say that they feel safe, and missing incidents have significantly decreased. Childcare professionals confirm that staff keep young people as safe as they can. Since the registered manager implemented four-week placements, there have been instances of poor matching of young people. The local authority has directed a number of inappropriate emergency admissions of young people with plans that are not in keeping with the home’s statement of purpose. Poor matching has led to some violent and aggressive behaviour by young people in the home. While staff are skilled at de-escalating challenging behaviour and only use physical intervention as a last resort, some staff have recently sustained physical injuries caused by young people. This has led to high levels of staff sickness and a reliance on pool staff and staff from other homes, who are not familiar with the young

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Good

people and the aims of the home. Staff have effectively safeguarded young people from each other. One young person, who had a chair thrown at her by a peer, said that staff removed her from the situation, reassured her and made her feel safe. She did not sustain any injuries, but had been very frightened.

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Good

The registered manager holds a level 4 qualification in leadership and management and has over 30 years’ experience in residential childcare. Of the 16 staff, 14 hold a level 3 qualification and two are currently undertaking the level 3 diploma. 13 staff members are first aid trained. Since February, the registered manager has had to manage a significant amount of change as the length of placements and focus of work have changed. This has proved to be a complex and challenging time for her and the staff team as the demands of a faster pace and the need to work closely with families have stretched the resources of the home. However, the registered manager and the staff team are highly committed to the principle of returning children home and avoiding their remaining in the care system for longer than is necessary. She has provided the staff with training that is relevant to their changed roles, including working with families. She has also

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Good

sourced training on how to work with young people who have experienced child sexual exploitation, in order to enable staff to better understand and support their emotional needs. Staff supervision is reflective and supportive. The registered manager ensures that she addresses the personal toll on staff taken by the new system, and the challenging behaviour by some young people and staff shortages due to sickness. Staff say that the registered manager is a very good manager and that she is supporting them to gradually adjust to the change in pace and focus of their work. Despite the registered manager’s hard work and commitment, staff sickness has had a negative impact on the ability of the team to provide consistent care. It is evident that there is a long way to go to establish the team in new ways of working. Staff now undertake more family work, which takes them out of the home, making effective planning of rotas and tasks by the registered manager even more crucial.

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Good

The registered manager has requested higher staffing numbers from the local authority in order to ensure consistency of care for young people. Challenging her managers has proved difficult when there are no other placements available, leading to some inappropriate emergency placements. Social worker do not always work with the plans to move young people home quickly, which hinders the task- centred approach of the staff. Despite the new system having now been in place for six months, the registered manager has not been able to evidence managerial monitoring and review of the impact of the changes on young people and staff. She has not systematically consulted staff, young people, professionals and families in order to improve the service. It is evident that the home needs additional staff to provide a stable staff team and consistency of care for young people. The registered manager is working hard to

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Good

establish ways of working that can have great benefits for young people, but the current level of resources threatens to compromise the aims of 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 children looked after 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 that 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 that 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 whom 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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