Children's Home run by Phoenix Childcare Ltd in Devon

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:

 Measures to address shortfalls identified at the previous inspection have still to be fully implemented or embedded in practice to ensure that a consistently good service is available to young people.  It is not clear that all staff have sufficient experience, training and/or opportunity to fully understanding the welfare issues that impacted on the previous inspection judgement. This risks a repeat of issues.  Approaches and responses to young people by the manager do not effectively demonstrate de-escalation techniques or positive relationship skills.  Attention to unconditional positive regard for young people is not evident. Staff have not been in touch or sent any positive correspondence to a long- term resident who recently moved to live elsewhere.  Aspects of the home’s action plan incorrectly displace responsibility for previous inspection shortfalls to other professionals and to a young person.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

This approach will not resolve issues or promote the changes needed.

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The children's home strengths

 Following the previous inspection and a review of the service, it has been agreed that the home will only provide care and accommodation for one young person. This will avoid some of the previous matching and relationship difficulties.  Significant changes to care planning and record keeping support positive understanding of young people’s needs and their safety. A development plan is nearly completed to further improve the service provided.  A varied range of activities are offered to enable young people to gain additional skills, keep healthy and enjoy themselves.  Young people completed full-time education, sustaining a good attendance record and undertaking GCSE examinations.  The care staff work in partnership with other agencies such as social workers and educators. This supports positive outcomes for young people and contributes to them overcoming any difficulties.  The home has offered stability of placement for young people. This is

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The children's home strengths

particularly significant for one young person and follows nine previous placement moves.

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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

12: The protection of children standard (1) In order to meet the protection of children standard, children are protected from harm and are enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies; (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. 04/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard In order to meet the positive relationship standard, the registered person must ensure— (1) That children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— 04/10/2016 (i) meet each child's emotional and behavioural needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans; (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; (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child's

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Requirement Due date

behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations, 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, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; (viii) strive to gain each child's respect and trust; (ix) understand how children's previous and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children; (xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is

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Requirement Due date

unacceptable; and (xiii) have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard (1) In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children's home that— (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 04/10/2016 registered person to— (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (e) ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child; (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, including complaints

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Requirement Due date

received; and (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  To ensure that a children's home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. This particularly relates to ensuring that attention is given to maintenance of the garden area. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private provider of education and social care for children and young people. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or a learning disability.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 31/08/2016 Full Inadequate 27/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/11/2015 Full Requires improvement 19/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/01/2015 Full Good

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Requires improvement

The home is not yet able to demonstrate that it is delivering a good quality of care and help to young people. Several weaknesses identified at the previous inspection have yet to be fully addressed and/or embedded in practice to ensure sustained improvements.

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Requires improvement

Relationships between staff and young people remain variable. The current young person has some positive sustained relationships with a number of care staff. She enjoys spending time with them. This young person also expressed some discontent about some staff and the manager. The manager was unable to demonstrate effective de-escalation techniques or appropriate responses when challenged by this young person during the inspection.

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Requires improvement

A long-term resident who has just moved from the home has yet to be contacted by staff to see how she is getting on.

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Requires improvement

The home has reduced the number of young people that it cares for to one young person. This will avoid any matching issues and difficult peer relationships, which previously impacted negatively on young people’s experiences in the home.

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Requires improvement

Care planning has improved and detailed plans are in place to support transitions to other services. The present young person has several opportunities to visit and spend time in her new home before moving. Any concerns or fears are discussed with future carers and resolved as soon as possible. This has reduced anxiety for the young person.

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Requires improvement

Staff have not received appropriate training or secured specialist services to help support a young person to understand and develop meaningful personal relationships.

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Requires improvement

The manager and staff have traditionally offered a wide variety of activities and opportunities for young people to broaden their skills, create social networks and enjoy themselves. The current resident enjoys singing lessons and is practising daily to take part in a swimming marathon.

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Requires improvement

Contact with families is supported and encouraged. This has been particularly important when young people are from ethnic minorities and have few role models in or around the home. The manager does not demonstrate a full understanding of diverse cultural needs and related responsibilities. It is unlikely that young people from ethnic minority groups would be able to develop their full potential in this home. Young people have finished their full-time compulsory education and took exams at the end of the school term. They have, or are moving on to, placements where they can continue with further education and learning.

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Requires improvement

The organisation’s psychologist is able to offer assessment, support and guidance for staff in dealing with the emotional and mental health needs of young people. This is particularly important in this area where the local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) can take a long time to secure.

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Requires improvement

The home has provided stability of placement for two young people until recently. For one young person who has just moved on, this has been significant and follows several previous placement breakdowns.

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Requires improvement

The manager and senior staff have made significant changes to improve the safety of young people. It has not been possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of these changes in the five weeks since the last full inspection.

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Requires improvement

There are no immediate safeguarding concerns or failures in the service provided to suggest that the current young person is unsafe or at risk of harm. It is not clear to the manager or evidenced that all staff understand how to protect the welfare and safeguard young people. Additional assessments of staff knowledge have not been completed although further training is to be provided.

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Requires improvement

New protocols are in place and there is a reduction in the number of young people accommodated. This allows for sufficient staffing to respond appropriately should a young person go missing or leave the home without permission. Additional staffing availability will reduce the need for unnecessary police involvement in the lives of young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager has audited and reviewed recruitment checks. These now contain full and satisfactory information, which supports the safety of young people and avoids those known to be unsuitable from working with children in this home.

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Requires improvement

Risk assessments provide the detail needed to effectively care for young people and inform staff how to respond to keep young people safe. There have not been any reported safeguarding or serious behavioural incidents since the last inspection. Staff are clear about the need to record full and accurate information should any incidents occur. This has been discussed in team meetings and in individual support sessions for staff.

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Requires improvement

Complaints records have yet to be amended. They do not currently support gathering sufficient information, detail any resolution and/or feedback to young people.

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Requires improvement

The characteristics of good management and leadership are not yet in place. A development plan is nearly completed and the manager and staff are keen to demonstrate an ability to improve. It is not clear that the manager and staff fully understand the effect of their influence and experiences on the progress of young people and/or how this impacted on the previous inspection judgement. This will make it difficult to make the necessary adjustments and provide the best possible service to young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager has addressed several aspects of the requirements and recommendations made. There is still some work to do around ensuring that all staff are clear about their responsibilities, and how to respond to any concerns about the welfare of young people. For this reason, some aspects of the requirements have been repeated until fully resolved. Training is to be provided to address some of the outstanding issues.

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Requires improvement

Improvements since the previous inspection included a review of the home, record keeping, planning and staffing arrangements. The changes made support the welfare and safety of young people alongside an understanding of their needs and how staff can support their progress.

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Requires improvement

Individualised care is being provided for the current resident. Arrangements for her to move to a further education placement are detailed and effective.

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Requires improvement

Staffing arrangements are designed to make the best use of staff skills and experience. This allows for more learning opportunities for new staff who will work with the most experienced members of staff.

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Requires improvement

Work in partnership with other agencies supports the provision of additional services such as education and mental health to meet young people’s needs. The manager keeps in touch with family who are important to the young person currently accommodated. The garden of the home remains untidy and full of weeds. A gardener is to be provided and there are plans to remove an old hedge, which will bring more space and light to the garden. The home has recently leased a nearby allotment, which will provide some additional opportunities for young people to learn new skills. The space available in the home is better suited to the needs of one young person rather than two young people and there is now sufficient space for two members of staff to stay on site overnight if needed.

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Requires improvement

Independent visits are completed every month to help with the identification of any shortfalls which may impact on the welfare of young people.

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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 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. 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 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, 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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