Children's home run by Headway Adolescent Resources Limited in Monmouthshire

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:

 Staff gather the young people’s views, wishes and feelings informally on a daily basis. However, the young people’s engagement in house meetings is problematic. In addition, internal consultation surveys are not utilised. These are missed opportunities for the young people to contribute to the development of the home and influence the quality of the service with which they are provided.  One young person who spends time with friends in the community is not at home most evenings. Staff do not always check on his welfare when he is out of the home, as required by his care plan.  One young person eats his main meal late at night when he returns to the home. This limits the opportunities for him to join his peers and staff at mealtimes and has a detrimental impact on his health. Staff have not developed effective strategies to address this pattern.  The manager has not considered all known and potential risks to young

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

people from unsafe activities in the local area and included these in the home’s locality risk assessment.

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The children's home strengths

 The manager and staff have good relationships with professionals. A headteacher said; ‘The manager and his team are strong advocates for the young people’s educational needs. The manager confidently challenges any decisions made that he believes are not in the best interest of the child.’  Staff speak positively about the young people and clearly enjoy supporting them. They work hard to keep the young people safe and ensure that they maintain constructive and positive relationships with their families.  Staff provide young people with good-quality activities that they may not previously have experienced, for example bodyboarding.  One of the manager’s strengths is the effectiveness of his multi-agency work. He is persistent in pursuing and challenging agencies to ensure that they meet their statutory duty. A social worker said, ‘A strength of the manager is identifying and sharing information when safeguarding concerns

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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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard relating to ensuring the welfare of young people during their free time, the registered person must (2)(b) ensure that staff— (ix) make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. 30/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard In order to meet the positive relationship standard, the registered person must continue to— (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding; (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child's age and understanding, personal and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful. 30/09/2016

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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 is required to— (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (ii) feedback on the experiences of children. (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous 30/09/2016 improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

46: Review of premises The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children's home at least once in each calendar year, taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). 30/09/2016

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people who may have behavioural and or emotional difficulties. This home is one of a number of children’s homes that are operated and managed by the same private company in the surrounding area.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

11/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Overall, the outcomes for young people are mixed, with some doing better than others. Young people are making some, but not consistent progress toward their individual goals and placement aims. One local authority spoken to said that it is very happy with the progress that a young person has made since living at the home.

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Requires improvement

One young person’s health and well-being has declined as a result of the excessive amount of time that he spends out of the home. Records show that there have been occasions when the young person has returned to the home under the influence of alcohol and illegal substances. This young person is rarely at home in the evenings and rarely engages in home activities or shared evening meals. Staff have not considered the appropriateness of this, given his age, or assessed the impact that this behaviour is having on the young person’s health and well-being.

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Requires improvement

Another young person who at high risk of exploitation is regularly going missing from the home. The manager maintains regular communication with all agencies to ensure that appropriate action is taken in response to these incidents. The staff are successful in gaining information about where the young person has been and with whom. They share this information with other agencies. The manager has secured the support and services of specialist provision to support the young person. To date, the young person has received and engaged well with two independent return to home interviews. Despite the efforts made by the manager he has not been successful in ensuring that one takes place following every missing from home episode.

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Requires improvement

Staff have not identified creative ways to engage the young people in the running and development of the home. Weekly house meetings are not well attended by the young people. These meetings are adult led and do not inspire the young people to share their ideas or views on the quality of care that they are provided with. Topics of discussions are often limited to ‘what would you like to eat?’ and ‘what activities would you like to go on?’

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Requires improvement

The young people living at this home have complex behavioural needs. In the main, their behaviour is managed well by staff. Relationships formed with young people are positive and have contributed significantly to the steady reduction in incidents. The manager encourages the staff team to focus on recognising and rewarding good behaviour. However, the records of sanctions show that those imposed for unwanted behaviour do not provide the young people with an opportunity to consider the impact that their behaviour has on themselves and others.

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Requires improvement

Young people benefit from the stability that the staff team provides. They regularly attend school and, from their starting points, are achieving well. Some young people engage in a wide range of activities that allow them to develop new interests, and maintain individual talents and personal preferences.

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Requires improvement

The home requires improvement, because the safety, health and well-being of the young people are not consistently prioritised.

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Requires improvement

The care plan requirements for one young person who has excessive amounts of free time away from the home are not being adhered to by all staff. In addition, staff do not always know the whereabouts of the young person and the activities that he is engaging in when away from the home. This approach does not demonstrate good childcare.

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Requires improvement

Missing from home incidents are a cause for concern for one young person living at this home, who is at high risk of exploitation. When the young person has been identified as missing, staff follow the home’s own missing from home protocols. Her safety is given the highest priority by staff, who search all known areas and do not settle until the young person returns home. However, the missing from home protocols that staff follow have not been approved or agreed with the local police. This means that there is no shared understanding of each agency’s expectations and responsibilities, increasing risk and potentially delaying police intervention.

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Requires improvement

The manager and staff team have responded effectively to child protection concerns. Incidents are managed in line with safeguarding policies and statutory guidance. Young people’s needs are central to decisions made about child protection, and this ensures that they are kept safe. Good links have been developed and maintained with most agencies. The manager regularly requests and attends multi-agency meetings. His contribution to these meetings is effective, and he has challenged poor attendance and contributions by other agencies. The manager recognises the importance of multi-agency working to ensure that young people are safeguarded, and holds others to account if they do not contribute well to this process.

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Requires improvement

The locality risk assessment does not sufficiently consider the risks prevalent in the local area in line with the needs of the young people. For example, the assessment has not considered the impact of transport links, crime, exploitation and radicalisation. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Monitoring of the quality of care has not been effective. Visits by the independent visitor have not been rigorous or supported the home to improve. The reports lack sufficient evaluation to assist the manager to determine the impact that the staff’s work has had on the experiences and progress of young people. The registered person has identified this as a concern and is actively seeking a new visitor.

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Requires improvement

The home’s recording systems are not child focused and, as a result, will be hard for the young people to make sense of later in life. The records do not provide a comprehensive overview of the young people’s day and fail to capture the voice of the child. The reporting systems are over complicated and require staff to record the same information a number of times. As a result, a number of omissions and discrepancies between the records are evident. Managerial oversight of these records has not identified these weaknesses.

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Requires improvement

Staff say that they feel well supported by each other and the managers. Staff benefit from the on-call system and are able to liaise with a range of managers for advice and guidance, should they need it. All staff are provided with monthly supervision, and this is valued by staff. Staff meetings take place monthly. They are well attended and topics of discussion include a general overview of the young people’s activities. However, these records do not demonstrate that staff are provided with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and consider or share alternative behaviour management strategies, either as a team or individually.

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Requires improvement

The manager demonstrates capacity to make improvements to the quality of care. Two out of the three recommendations made at the previous inspection have been met. As a result, all three young people are enrolled at and are attending their designated school, and placing authority placement plans are current and now on file. The previous recommendation about the effectiveness of the manager’s monitoring has not been met.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 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 ‘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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