Children's home run by Bettercare Keys Ltd in Belfast

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:

 Young people are not making progress in their education.  Records require improvement. These need to be signed and dated by the author, and be clear and free from vague or emotive language.  Records need to evidence what staff are doing to engage young people in their therapy sessions.  There should be clear information about goals and aspirations for young people and how they will be supported to achieve these.  Leaders’ and managers’ monitoring systems must include more evaluation. Information from this evaluation can then be used to improve practice.  Staff supervision records need to set out clearly the actions to be taken, by whom and by when.  When a restraint has taken place, young people should receive a de-briefing from a member of staff who was not involved in the physical intervention.  Recruitment records should to contain a key to the scoring system used, which then relates to the decision to employ or not.

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The children's home strengths

 Staff have developed strong, trusting relationships with the young people whom they care for.  Leaders and managers have a good understating of the strengths and areas for improvement of the service.  Young people’s risk-taking behaviours have reduced and they have developed self-management strategies. This is particularly evident in the decrease in the levels of violence and aggression demonstrated by young people.  Staffing arrangements at the home have stabilised, which has improved the consistency of care that the young people receive.

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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

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1)(2(a( i, ii, iii, iv, x)) 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1(a), (2(g (ii) h)) 01/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 Any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35(3)(c)). Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this (regulation 7(2)(b)(iii)). In particular these sessions should be carried out by a member of staff not involved in the restraint. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 49 and 50, paragraph 9.60)

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. In particular, the record of staff interviews should include an explanation of the scoring system used to decide whether to employ or not. (Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards, page 61, paragraph 13.1).

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). In particular the supervision records should consistently record actions to be taken, by whom and by when. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 61, paragraph 13.2, 13.3)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children's home

This section should outline: This home is one of a number of homes operated and managed by an organisation which is a national provider of care and education for young people. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for no more than three young people who may have behavioural or emotional difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 16/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/05/2015 Full Requires improvement 18/09/2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/07/2014 Full Adequate

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Requires improvement

Young people benefit from living at this home but there remains areas that require improvements.

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Requires improvement

Currently young people at the home are not engaged in fulltime education. The staff have worked with education providers to address this but this work is still ongoing. Both young people are currently receiving home tuition. Staff work with education professionals in developing bespoke educational packages. These have included skills base work and linking education to young people interest. These have had limited success.

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Requires improvement

Currently young people are not attending their therapeutic sessions. Records maintained do not effectively demonstrate what staff are doing to engage them. In addition, there is a lack of direction in the homes records relating to supporting young people’s development. This include staff not identifying in the records what their aspirations for the young people are and how they will support young people to achieve these.

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Requires improvement

Complaints are appropriately dealt with and records are maintained. These records do not consistently record if the complainant is happy with the outcome of the complaint.

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Requires improvement

Staff have built strong appropriate relationships with the young people based on trust and respect. They have a good understanding of young people’s needs, history and behavioural triggers. Staff wherever possible, involve young people in the development and review of their plans. This approach helps young people develop their understanding of their own behaviours but what brought them into care.

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Requires improvement

Young people value the support and advice the staff give them. One young person said ‘I might not like what they say sometime but I know they want what’s best for me’. Staff have young people’s welfare and best interests at the centre of their work.

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Requires improvement

Young people are encouraged to take part in a range of activities. These incorporate young people’s known interests and to encourage them to try new things. The success of this varies this is not due to lack effort on the staff team’s behalf who continue to attempt to positively engage young people.

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Requires improvement

Young people health care needs are met. Records of medication administered are appropriate and include a clear audit trail.

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Requires improvement

Over the summer there was some significant damage to the property but this has been rectified. The property offers a homely environment; young people are involved in decorating and furnishing choices.

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Requires improvement

Staff support young people to maintain contact with their families. This includes the use of Skype for those whose family live some distance from the home. The staff team act as advocates with placing authorities in arranging and supporting family contact for young people’s families.

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Requires improvement

Since moving in, young people have reduced their risk taking and challenging behaviours at the home. Incidents of young people going missing, the use of physical intervention and incidents have all reduced.

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Requires improvement

Records of incidents contain all the required information but some contain vague and emotive language such as the young person was in a ‘violent rage’ or the young person was ‘in crises. The use of these terms do not enable effective understanding and evaluation of the events.

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Requires improvement

The use of physical intervention is rare. There has only been one restraint since the interim inspection in March 2016. In this one case, a debrief was held with the young person but this was carried but a member of staff who was involved in the physical intervention instead of an member of staff not involved in the physical intervention.

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Requires improvement

Behaviour at the home is well managed. Young people have individualised plans which are followed by staff. Some young people have made excellent progress in this area. Both parents and professional from outside of the home praised the team for their work in this area. The staff are skilled at enabling young people to develop effective self-management techniques in relation to their behaviours

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Requires improvement

Records are maintained on the recruitment process but currently there is no explanation of what the scoring system for interviews means. This would add to the clarity on how the decision to employ is reached.

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Requires improvement

Safeguarding arrangements are appropriate and are followed in practice. Staff interviewed demonstrated a working understanding of these and understood their duty of care. Training in safeguarding is regularly updated to ensure staffs practice is in line with developments in this area of work. Managers have developed effective working relationship with the Local Authority Designated Officer and follow their guidance and instructions in safeguarding matters.

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Requires improvement

Young people said they feel safe at the home and they could identify a number of staff they would go to if they had any concerns. Staff have built strong relationships with young people which is key to young people feeling safe and comfortable raising concerns with them.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager left the home in September 2016. A new manager has been recruited but they had not taken up the post at the point of inspection. In the interim period the organisations operations manager has been carrying out the manager’s role. They have a clear understanding of the strengths and areas of improvement needed within the home.

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Requires improvement

Staffing levels at the home has recently improved. The operation manager said that they have decided that no other young people will move to the home until all staff vacancies are filled and new staff have undertaken their induction. They said the stability of the staff team is key to providing effective care. Prior to this there was significant use of agency staff as well as staff from the organisations other homes and the organisations bank staff. For example in June 23 shifts needed to be covered. Of these 19 were covered by 11 different agency staff and four were covered by two staff from the organisations other home. This is unacceptable as it did not provide young people with continuity in the adults who care for them.

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Requires improvement

Staff feel well supported by the operation manager and their peers. Formal supervision is taking place and this covers the required areas. At the outset of each session the actions from the previous session are revisited. Within some recorded inspected the actions set lack clarity as to how these will be achieved and within what time scale.

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Requires improvement

The staff team work well with external agencies and parents. Staff effectively challenging placing authorities when staff feel these authorities are not fulfilling their responsibilities to the young people they have placed at the home. External professionals and parents said the staff were supportive of them and their communication was good. One professional said the staff try a range of strategies to engage young people and they are open to new ideas.

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Requires improvement

Staff receive a good training opportunities, including induction training. New staff said they felt their induction prepared them well for their role at the home.

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Requires improvement

The monitoring of the work undertaken at the home has improved but there is still inconsistency in the evaluation aspect of the monitoring and using this information to further improve practice.

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Requires improvement

The quality of records at the home is inconsistent. A number of documents were not dated or signed by the author so it was difficult to identify which were the most current documents.

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Requires improvement

The homes statement of purpose is current and reflects the services provided. The independent visitor comes to the home regularly. The reports produced are used to improve practice.

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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 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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