Children's Home run by United Children's Services Limited in Leicestershire

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 Children and young people are happy and speak positively about their experiences living in this home. They make good progress in many areas of their development.  Children and young people enjoy very good relationships with the members of a consistent staff team, who are extremely committed and very nurturing, and who have a genuine attachment to those they care for.  Staff, in consultation with expert in-house therapists, provide very good support to children and young people with extremely complex emotional difficulties. Staff are calm and thoughtful. Alongside providing children and young people with structure and predictable care, they provide them with high levels of encouragement and emotional warmth.  The actions of staff keep children and young people who display extremely risky behaviours as safe as possible.  Partnership working is very well established. This results in consistent, multi-

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

disciplinary support being provided to children and young people to address individual difficulties and ultimately to improve their outcomes.  A very experienced, enthusiastic and child-focused registered manager motivates the staff team. The staff feel valued and share their manager’s vison to improve the life chances of the children and young people they are caring for.  Two shortfalls and two areas for improvement are identified as a result of this inspection. These matters are not currently having an impact on the safety of children and young people but have the potential to do so if not addressed.

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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, the registered person must ensure that: (2)(a)(ii) staff help each child to understand how to keep safe, with particular reference to helping them understand the dangers associated with smoking in their bedrooms. 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 18/11/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon, with particular reference to minutes of children’s and young people’s meetings, including feedback regarding children’s and young people’s views and suggestions during such meetings. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that every effort is made so that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for a child to have a return interview after they have been missing from care or absent from the home without permission. The home should take account of the information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 07/10/2015 Full Inspection Good

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Good

Children and young people are happy and speak very positively about their experiences of living in the home. They also recognise that they are making progress in a variety of ways. One young person said: ‘I have changed for the better in terms of my behaviour and attitude.’ Another commented: ‘I have become more sociable, I have made friends of my own age for the first time. It is nice here and I feel happy.’

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Good

Placements endure. Children and young people with extremely complex needs and histories of placement breakdown are now living in an environment where they feel stable and secure. An independent reviewing officer said: ‘The commitment and consistency of the staff team has been excellent. The placement has provided this young person with the stability and security he really needs.’

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Good

A key strength of this home is the positive relationship that children and young people have with a very committed and extremely resilient staff team which knows them well. Children and young people learn to trust staff because of the calm, consistent and emotionally warm care they provide. A young person said of the staff: ‘They constantly praise and encourage. They have managed to motivate me where other carers could not. They make me feel good about myself.’ The positive relationships that children and young people have with staff, alongside high levels of praise and encouragement, help to build confidence and self-esteem.

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Good

All children and young people have access to individualised packages of full-time education and the majority have very good attendance. For those children and young people who struggle to attend regularly, or fully engage once they are there, staff work tirelessly to promote improved educational outcomes. A young person said: ‘The staff really push us to do things. They never give up as they want us to achieve.’ An educational professional was also impressed with the efforts of staff. She said: ‘This young person is very challenging, but the staff are completely on board with getting her to achieve educationally.’ Because of the help and support provided by staff, children and young people are given the opportunity to reach their educational potential.

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Good

Children’s and young people’s physical and emotional health is promoted through attendance at core health appointments, the promotion of healthy eating and exercise, and through access to specialist therapeutic services. All children and young people have an in-house therapist allocated to them, who is available to provide direct therapy weekly and for regular consultations with the staff team. Through this coordinated approach, children and young people are helped to understand and start to come to terms with their experiences and difficulties. An independent reviewing officer commented in respect of one young person: ‘He has developed insight into his difficulties here and has been supported well to manage his anxieties.’

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Good

Well-planned transitions into the home help new children and young people to settle quickly. Prior to their arrival, the manager carefully considers all information available to her about a potential new child or young person, the skills of her staff team and the needs of those already living in the home. Children and young people receive a detailed young person’s guide to help them to understand the regime of the home. The home’s newest young person said: ‘When I came, staff helped me to settle in and made me feel very welcome.’ Careful planning and a warm welcome help children and young people to settle and feel more secure in their new environment.

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Good

Work undertaken by the staff and in-house therapists with children and young people and their families is effective. For one young person, this has resulted in her contact progressing from being supervised for time-limited periods to regular overnight contact. A social worker said: ‘For this young person, their relationship with family members has really improved.’ For another young person, family therapy sessions provided by the service have facilitated a successful reunification with his family. Children and young people benefit greatly from improved family relationships in terms of their sense of identity. These improvements also provide an opportunity for them to have an improved support network in the longer term.

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Good

Staff respect and value children and young people. Children and young people know how to complain, and they are encouraged to express their views in house meetings, in individual key working sessions and through feedback questionnaires. They are also encouraged to get involved with the preparation and review of their care plans. Good levels of communication and consultation are empowering for children and young people, and help to raise their confidence and self-esteem. However, practice could improve further in this area by demonstrating how children’s and young people’s views have been listened to and acted upon in house meeting minutes.

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Good

Children and young people report feeling safe in this home. One young person said: ‘It is safe here because the staff make it safe.’ Another expanded on this and explained, ‘The area and the house are safe, and there are always people here who check on me, always ask if I am OK and who are always there if I need to talk. The staff are really caring.’ A physically safe environment as well as the emotionally safe environment created through positive relationships with staff provides children and young people with a strong sense of safety and well-being.

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Good

A multi-agency approach to help and protection is very effective. Six-weekly care meetings held between the manager and key workers, social workers, education professionals and therapists help to ensure that children’s and young people’s needs are regularly reviewed. Plans are updated when needs or risks change. An independent reviewing officer said, in respect of a young person: ‘There is good partnership working and, as a result, there are strategies in place to support him holistically. All agencies are on the same page and such a coordinated approach creates a safe environment for him.’

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Good

Some children and young people have significant histories of going missing and some are assessed as being at high risk of sexual exploitation. Managers and staff have clear strategies to manage and reduce unauthorised absences. Each child or young person has an individualised missing from home protocol, which is followed every time that a child or young person goes missing. Staff know children and young people well, understand their patterns of behaviour and are aware of the places they tend to frequent. In addition, they constantly look for them and phone them when they go missing. This ensures that children and young people are promptly located and safely welcomed home. A social worker commented: ‘There are robust responses when this young person goes missing. I feel staff do everything they can to keep them as safe as possible.’ Work is ongoing with children and young people around the risks associated with going missing. After

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Good

any incident of missing or unauthorised absence, staff request independent return interviews from placing authorities. However, these are not always occurring. Additionally, when they do occur, information from the interviews is not routinely being shared with staff. As a result, there are missed opportunities to gather information to reduce risk, and managers and staff need to escalate this concern with placing authorities.

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Good

Proactive behaviour management systems are effective. Despite some children and young people displaying very challenging behaviours, recourse to physical intervention is infrequent, as de-escalation strategies usually work. A young person said: ‘Staff help me. They know me well and when I am annoyed they will know when to take me for a walk to calm down.’ All physical interventions that have occurred are at a very low level. After each incident, the children and young people have debriefs. A system has recently been introduced into the home to ensure that staff are also debriefed after any physical intervention or other significant incident. This will enable staff to reflect more on their practice and provides scope for further improvement.

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Good

Risk assessments are detailed. In one instance, where the risk of a young person smoking in his bedroom has been assessed as high, staff and the young person involved report that discussions have taken place about this. However, these actions have not yet been effective in changing this specific behaviour and reducing this risk. Further, and more intensive, intervention is thus required to improve safety in this area.

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Good

The registered manager is very experienced and suitably qualified. She is extremely hard working, committed and child-focused. Her knowledge of the children living in the home is very good. In addition, through networking, she keeps abreast of developments in research and legislation relating to residential care and seeks out intelligence in relation to the local area. She shares this knowledge with her staff team.

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Good

The registered manager leads by example. Staff hold her in high regard. One member of staff said: ‘The manager is very supportive, she is always available and listens to our views and we feel valued. It is a great place to work.’ Staff retention is good and a highly motivated team shares their manager’s passion and commitment to improving children’s and young people’s lives. Despite experiencing a very challenging time recently, as a result of some children’s and young people’s complex needs, morale in the home remains high. The cohesive staff team ensures that children and young people consistently receive good quality care and support.

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Good

All staff are either suitably qualified or are working towards the required professional qualification within the timescales stipulated in the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Staff also have access to a wide range of training opportunities, which helps them to develop their understanding of the specific needs of the children and young people currently living in the home, as well as other emerging issues which may affect any child or young person living in residential care. This training, alongside regular consultations with the in-house therapists, helps to enhance staff practice.

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Good

Staff attend regular team meetings and the majority receive regular supervision, which monitors and supports the quality of their practice. However, some staff have infrequent supervision. For example, for one, there has been a gap of some nine months. Although there is no evidence to suggest that this is currently having an impact on the care being provided to children and young people, it has the potential to do so.

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Good

Partnership working is very well established. This ensures consistency of care. A parent said: ‘We work well together. I feel we are a team and we work together to keep my child as safe as possible.’ A social worker commented: ‘Partnership working is really good. Regular multi-agency meetings enable us to regularly review plans and progress.’

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Good

The manager monitors effectively the progress that children and young people make. ‘Positive weekly reports’ highlight all of the good things which have happened for each child or young person each week. Weekly and monthly progress reports enable parents and social workers to see what children and young people have achieved over time in all aspects of their development. Reports for statutory reviews are also of a high quality and demonstrate the progress that children and young people make. In addition to this, data and analysis provided by the home are used to inform multi-agency care planning meetings. The monitoring systems allow the manager to demonstrate the impact and value that living in this home is having on children’s and young people’s lives.

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Good

Well-established external and internal quality assurance systems monitor the effectiveness of the service. The manager has a good understanding of the strengths of the home and she has plans for further development. These include developing systems to ascertain feedback from children and young people, parents and professionals more effectively, in order to promote improvements.

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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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