Children's home run by Worcestershire County Council in Worcester

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:

 Staff practice and routines are adapted and adjusted quickly in response to changing needs, which makes the service very responsive to each young person’s circumstances.  Young people develop positive relationships with staff, who sensitively support them and their families, who are often in crisis.  Young people make good progress in relation to their assessed needs.  Staff successfully engage young people in productive hobbies and interests.  Staff support and educate young people to keep themselves safe.  Staff ensure good partnership work with parents and professionals.  The registered manager continues to develop the service in line with needs identified by the local authority.  There were some shortfalls identified: – Missing from care incidents are not being clearly recorded. – Regular management discussions are not taking place between the home’s management team and the local authority’s new ‘front door’

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The children’s home provision is good because:

service. – The staff training record is not being maintained to ensure that gaps in staff training are 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

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which— (a) include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; (b) are kept up to date; and (c) are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to Regulation 36(1) Schedule 3(14). 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

Regulation 5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure that each child’s needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must ensure effective partnership working with placing authorities. 5. In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff: (a) seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; (b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; (d) seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate, having regard to the

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Requirement Due date

range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to developing clear lines of contact with the local authority’s new ‘front door service’. 31/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14)). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, the child’s parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and be used to

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Recommendations

record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority operated home. It provides short breaks to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties, some of whom are children looked after and some of whom live at home with their parents or carers.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 07/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good 20/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 02/12/2014 Full Good

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Good

The registered manager and staff team are clear of the purpose of this service. It is tailored specifically to each individual’s needs. For some, it provides a safe haven. For others, it promotes age-appropriate community participation or stabilises inappropriate, unsafe behaviours. Some only stay a couple of nights. Others have regular overnight stays every week or month. During these stays, staff work effectively in partnership with the young person and their family to promote the young person’s life at home and in their local community. Short breaks are used to enhance life at home, support young people to make good progress, and increase their opportunities and horizons.

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Good

Staff sensitively support young people to come to know the service. As a result, they quickly settle in. As soon as young people arrive, staff work successfully to increase their positive participation and engagement. They establish active, constructive days, regular, nutritious mealtimes and healthy sleep patterns.

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Good

Staff build positive relationships. This enables them to promote age-appropriate interests skilfully. One young person has learned to ride a bike and is now progressing to learn to ride safely on the road. She is also now pursuing this hobby at home.

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Good

Young people have good educational attendance. They are supported to continue to access their school or college during their stays. When young people have not been accessing education, staff support them to re-engage. They often accompany parents to meetings with education professionals and help to address any issues that might be getting in the way of regular attendance and progress.

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Good

Young people influence decisions and feel listened to. They feel that staff are ‘approachable’, ‘easy to talk to’ and ‘good fun’. They are able to discuss and raise concerns and resolve issues in their own lives. During and at the end of each stay, they are able to comment on their experience and identify what they want to do and achieve at future stays.

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Good

Young people learn new life skills which help them to make informed decisions in their lives in the future, for example cooking, personal care and money skills. This increases their experiences and independence. Staff ensure that these tasks are fun, yet also educational. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people learn a wide range of new skills that promote personal safety and are specific to their individual needs. These skills are transferable and therefore have a positive impact on young people's lives at home and in other settings.

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Good

Considering the number of young people who have used the service, the numbers of incidents are very low. This is because the registered manager and staff team promote young people’s well-being and safety at all times. For example, there have only been two incidents, both involving one young person who went missing from the home. On each occasion, staff acted quickly and worked effectively in partnership with external agencies and the family. As a result, the young person was found safe and well. The records of these two missing from care incidents are not detailed. They do not reflect the positive actions taken by the staff team in partnership with the family or other agencies. Neither do they include a review of the incident by the registered manager. This does not ensure a culture of reflective practice which would allow lessons to be learned or inform future practice and staff training needs.

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Good

Staff have a clear understanding of how to manage safeguarding allegations. They receive regular safeguarding training, which includes a range of topics including children missing from home and awareness raising in relation to child sexual exploitation.

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Good

Young people know how to raise issues and how to complain. They say that they feel safe and well supported. They have access to a range of staff and individuals whom they can go to if they have any worries.

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Good

Incidents that relate to inappropriate behaviour are rare. When they do occur, staff are proactive in managing them. They provide support to the young person to help them to understand their behaviours and learn new coping strategies. A social worker stated: ‘I have had one young person who received respite care for a few months and this was really helpful in preventing breakdown at home. The young person was supported with her emotional and behavioural issues, developing strategies to cope and helping to stabilise the situation at home. Towards the end of the plan, she no longer needed to attend, as there was a great improvement at home.’

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Good

The house is bright, warm and welcoming. It is well maintained. Young people are able to relax and feel safe. They are able to bring items on their stay that make them feel at home and comfortable. There is a range of activities available within the home that reflects young people’s personalities and interests. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people benefit from a well-managed home that is having a good impact on their outcomes and life experiences. The registered manager and staff team effectively communicate the aims and objectives of the service to professionals, families and the young people who come to the home. This is supported by an informative statement of purpose and a young person's guide. The registered manager regularly reviews the statement of purpose, and it accurately reflects the aims and objectives of the service. The requirement made at the last inspection has been met.

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Good

The registered manager is suitably experienced and appropriately qualified, holding a level 5 diploma in leadership. Staff are well informed and understand their roles and responsibilities. They know whom they are accountable to and what tasks and responsibilities are delegated to them. They feel that the registered manager is ‘very approachable’ and that effective support structures, such as supervision and appraisal, ensure reflection and their continuing professional development.

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Good

Staff who are not appropriately qualified are in the process of undertaking their award. There was an initial delay in staff accessing this course, and they are now anxious about completing within the timescale. The registered manager is aware of their concerns and has put strategies in place to support them.

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Good

Staff are well informed and have access to additional learning opportunities. When the service was first established, they also attended training alongside ‘edge of care’ colleagues. This ensured that everyone was clear of their roles and had the required skills and competencies.

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Good

The training matrix, which records all staff training, is not being maintained. It has not been updated to record all mandatory training. Neither does it record any additional training specific to this service that is undertaken by staff. This means that it is not possible for managers easily to see any gaps in learning for individual staff or for the staff team.

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Good

Staff undertake effective partnership work with other professionals. A social worker stated: ‘I have been very impressed by the speed at which referrals are acted upon and their flexibility to offer places at short notice. The staff work very well with other agencies and fully involve themselves in any ongoing plans for the children.’

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Good

When the service first started, there were close links with the ‘edge of care’ team. This worked well and managers had a clear overview of the service and what was happening to support each family and young person. Since the last inspection, the local authority has replaced the ‘edge of care’ service with a ‘front door’ service. Communication processes between the social work teams, outreach teams and the home’s staff team have changed. The overview of the service has been lost, making it difficult to evaluate the impact and quality of the service.

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Good

The registered manager has a good understanding of the strengths of the home and the areas for further development. Since the last inspection, a new independent monthly visitor has been appointed. This has resulted in better scrutiny of the service, and the registered manager values the input and challenge. This is supporting him to drive up standards and develop the service.

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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 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 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

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

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