Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

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:

 The resident group has remained unchanged, which has allowed the young men to become accustomed to each other and to benefit well from the home.  Two young people have made significant progress towards greater independence. Two will move to new placements in the near future.  Staff establish meaningful relationships with young people, which are the basis of their good progress.  Therapists form a key part of the service and add substantial value.  Young people’s negative behaviour gradually declines. Young people know that staff will help them to stay safe.  Staff promote the education of young people well and young people learn to engage consistently. Staff advocate firmly for young people, for example when addressing delays by other professionals.  Staff liaise well with other agencies, including the police. This helps to teach young people to keep themselves safe and out of trouble, especially when

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The children’s home provision is good because:

they are in the community.  Improved management of the service is gradually making it more robust. Staff act with confidence and organise shifts efficiently.  Staff receive regular supervision and training, which makes them feel supported.  Monitoring exercises are strong and ensure that the service provides a good standard of care to young people.

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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

In order to meet the protection of children standard, to ensure that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe, the registered provider must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. This is with regard to the key safe and the office remaining locked. 17/10/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children to manage long-term conditions and where necessary meet specific individual health needs arising from complex needs. This is with regard to staff clearly using the home’s therapeutic models in conversations and records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)  Ensure that staff have the relevant knowledge to be able to help children to understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet. This is with regard to relevant information being kept of children’s nutritional intake and being used as necessary. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  Lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. This is with regard to ensuring that all staff read all the relevant documents. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful recording. This is with regard to ensuring that children’s personal details are accurate and are understood by staff. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children’s home

This four-bed children’s home provides care and accommodation for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A large provider of children’s services runs it.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/09/2015 Full Good 20/01/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/06/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

Young people are satisfied with the home. Since the last inspection, there have been no changes in residents, which has allowed the young people to grow accustomed to each other. This has helped to reduce incidents and to make everyone feel safe. Staff establish good relationships with each young person. This critical feature means that, for example, one young person has remained here longer than he had in any previous placement. Staff gain a good understanding of young people’s views by holding meetings, addressing complaints, and being alert to activities in the home. However, staff are not always fully up to date because they do not read important documents promptly. This potentially reduces the effectiveness of the team.

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Good

Each young person is clear about his future. Two will leave soon. They are well prepared for these moves in terms of their practical skills. One has benefited from living in the attached flat where he has improved his budgeting and cooking skills. Both are also emotionally ready for the next stages of their lives. This is not to say that each has made maximum progress but rather it has been as good as possible. Each has experienced a recent period of stability in which they have made clear progress towards adulthood. Staff ensure that young people who are a long way from their home areas receive the services they need here. For one young person this means that he is finding out about supported accommodation nearby rather than returning to his home area.

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Good

Personality conflicts and some bullying have created tensions. Staff have dealt with these problems swiftly and minimised the negative effects. However, long-term resolution has only been possible by the group changing. This has coincided favourably with the older boys improving their skills and needing different placements. Social workers verify that staff proactively address difficulties. One said regarding her young person, ‘They are not just containing him.’

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Good

Young people have sustained satisfactory academic progress in their education placements. One is concentrating on building up his attendance. Another has successfully completed his examinations and arranged a college placement for himself. He has improved his engagement in education, has planned his future, and now confidently makes most practical arrangements independently. Staff facilitate this progress well and firmly address obstacles, some of which the placing authorities have created.

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Good

Staff ensure that young people attend health appointments and enjoy good general health. Young people learn about the risks from smoking cigarettes and taking illicit drugs. Consequently, they moderate such behaviour, which improves their health. Staff offer young people healthy meals but it is not clear that young people’s intake is nutritionally balanced. This is an important consideration regarding any behavioural issues.

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Good

The service follows clear theoretical models in a number of areas of care, including the clinical one. A therapist provides valuable support regularly. He mainly does this through staff but young people may also have individual sessions. The clinical team has produced very thorough assessments of young people, when commissioned to do so by the placing authorities. The therapist uses these to guide and educate staff when working with young people. Such information also contributes to clear and concise written targets for each young person, regarding, for example, racist comments. The manager has introduced a simple system for recording young people’s progress against their targets. This is an important development worthy of wider dissemination.

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Good

Staff address young people’s targets through frequent one-to-one meetings with them. All three young people are of White British heritage and staff address their religious and racial needs satisfactorily. However, staff are not sufficiently clear in conversation or written reports how they apply the therapeutic model. This risks diluting the impact of their work and reducing the progress that young people make. The therapist also makes a valuable contribution to the identification of young people’s overall good progress via periodic reports.

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Good

The location of the property means that young people have easy access to community facilities. They use social and recreational resources as befits their ages and independence. Importantly, staff apply meaningful control over young people’s free time until their abilities in the community are proven. Young people also have immediate access to the countryside, which they sometimes use for walking and running. The outside of the house has benefited recently from the removal of excess foliage and lower branches on trees. As a result, the property looks and feels much lighter, which benefits everyone. Internal improvements are under way, including the addition of a further bedroom.

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Good

Some young people have found it difficult to benefit as much as possible from the service. Incidents have occurred between young people in the home and young people have not always come home when expected. The service is designed to address such difficulties. Young people are not at risk from sexual exploitation but criminal behaviour has occurred. Staff liaise well with the police to identify serious risks and put in place measures that protect young people from others and themselves. Staff escalate their strategies until young people behave appropriately. Despite the efforts of staff, some placing authorities do not arrange to interview young people after they have been missing. Staff pursue these shortfalls and ensure that they understand why young people go missing. Primarily, it is because of social pressures and wanting to be with friends rather than difficulties in the home.

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Good

Young people improve their behaviour because of the direct work by staff and other agencies. They are at different stages and their progress is not always straightforward. However, they learn to regulate their emotions with progressively less support from staff. Negative incidents, such as angry outbursts and mixing with inappropriate adults, fall. This reduces the risk of police involvement and allows young people to focus on positive activities. Young people’s improved behaviours have allowed the staffing ratio to fall, which means that fewer unfamiliar adults work in the home. Young people appreciate this and express concern when there are changes in personnel.

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Good

Staff seldom use physical intervention to control the young people, because they say it has limited value. They do use rewards, encouragement, reparation and mediation. Young people do not always react positively to these efforts but they learn that staff want to treat them positively. The team regularly reviews each young person’s behaviour to determine the causes and best solutions. They understand the risks posed by each young person well. This helps young people to improve over time. Young people use the complaints procedure without hesitation and staff take appropriate action to make sure that young people feel safe. Records indicate that young people are satisfied with such steps.

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Good

The levels of physical safety in the home are satisfactory. Staff now usually keep the office locked and the internal security of keys and other items has improved. However, their practice is not consistent and an unnecessary degree of risk remains. Despite previous problems in this area, staff do not always lock the key safe, and young people feel they have a right of entry to the office.

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Good

The manager has been in post since 2014 and is suitably qualified in care and management. He is gradually consolidating the good levels of care in the home but has faced staffing difficulties and particularly challenging combinations of young people. From the perspective of the young people, the fluctuation in carers is ongoing. Recently, three new staff have started. They bring maturity and a high degree of natural competence but are relatively inexperienced. On the other hand, the organisation of each shift is effective and staff act with confidence.

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Good

The manager and staff maintain good relationships with other professionals. Social workers, for example, consistently report positively about the service they and their young people receive. The registered manager will challenge other agencies on behalf of the young people when necessary.

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Good

Staff feel supported and benefit from regular supervision and training. The training programme regularly alters to address new issues, such as radicalisation and female genital mutilation. This ensures that staff are up to date with social and legal issues and can explain such issues to young people. All staff either have an appropriate qualification in residential childcare or are on course to pass within the required timescale. New staff follow a clear programme of induction training that prepares them well for their role. Staff are not clear about some legal terms, including next of kin, which has been confused with parental responsibility on some documents. This potentially causes embarrassment and confusion.

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Good

Monitoring of the service is good. There is strong independent monitoring and the evaluation of the service by the manager is accurate and meaningful. Both systems seriously consider the views of young people and implement their wishes, where appropriate. Action by the manager has addressed the recommendation of the last inspection. This means that the manager identifies and acts upon new patterns and trends. He introduces useful improvements and has clear objectives. The organisation has recently merged with another and this led to an additional quality assurance exercise. The manager has implemented these recommendations as well. This inspection does not identify substantial shortfalls but rather a small number of inconsistencies with the potential to cause difficulties.

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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 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 children looked after 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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