Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

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:

 This service offers a warm, nurturing, homely environment and excels at establishing open and trusting relationships with disaffected young people.  Staff have the proven ability to work in partnership with resistant families, to quickly re-establish constructive family contact for young people and, ensure it remains a positive experience for all concerned.  This home actively and effectively supports young people to ensure they receive the most appropriate education that best meets their individual emotional, behavioural and learning needs, so they can reach their full potential.  Staff are strong and effective advocates for young people. This ensures they receive the specialist services they need in a timely manner to help meet their more complex needs.  There are particularly good opportunities and specific facilities in place to enable all the young people to gain age and ability appropriate life skills

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The children’s home provision is good because:

needed to effectively prepare them for future independent living.  Staff place the well-being of individual young people at the centre of their practice and treat them with dignity and respect at all times, irrespective of the significant challenges they may present.  This experience and competent staff team effectively manage some highly challenging behaviours without resorting to police assistance.  This home has a strong, child-focused manager who leads by example, providing very clear direction, supervision and support to a highly motivated staff team.  There are four areas requiring improvements namely: restraint records; impact risk assessments; the arrangements in place to ensure timely independent return interviews when a child returns from going missing; and, ensuring an effective system is in place for ascertaining the views and opinions of parents and relatives as part of the monthly independent

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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

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that, within 24 hours of every restraint, a record is made which includes all the required particulars. (Regulation 35(3)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that, staff assess and make arrangements to reduce the risk of harm to each child including ensuring independent return interviews are undertaken in a timely manner to assess the risks associated with going missing and make appropriate arrangements to reduce the risk of harm to that child. (Regulation 12(2)(a)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

44: Independent person: visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

Demonstrate that independent monitoring reports are consistently informed by the views of young people’s parents and relatives when reaching an opinion about the arrangements for safeguarding and promoting children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(2)(a)) 30/11/2016

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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

 Demonstrate that placements are only accepted when the home is satisfied that they can respond effectively to their assessed needs and after fully considering the impact that placement will have on the existing group of young people living there. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children and young people at any given time who may be experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/08/2015 Full Good 19/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/08/2014 Full Good

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Good

All the young people say that they enjoy sound relationships with all of the staff and confirm that they have at least one member of staff whom they feel able to talk to about any concerns that they may have. One young person said, ‘I think of her like a grandma. She slept on a chair next to me when I was in hospital, and I will never forget that.’

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Good

Good staffing ratios enable the staff to be very attentive to individual needs and preferences. Young people are treated and respected as individuals in their own right, which makes them feel loved and valued. One young person said, ‘One of my favourite activities is going shopping on my own with one particular member of staff.’

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Good

Other comments include, ‘I feel safe here and I am able to see my family and friends’, ‘The staff treat me well and there is always someone whom I can talk to if I am worried about anything. They all listen to me’ and ‘I am happy with my education now and I like the food here.’ This last comment shows significant progress. Due to previous neglect, on admission this young person would frequently raid the fridge and freezer at night and hoard food in his bedroom. This behaviour has now completely stopped. Moreover, he happily sits at the dining table enjoying nutritious homemade meals with the other young people and staff.

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Good

Young people positively contribute to their day-to-day lives, their futures and the continual development of the service. Recent examples of the last include active involvement in rewording the children’s guide so that it is now more child friendly, having their say in the recent staff recruitment process and deciding that, if they do not go to school, it is fair and appropriate that they can still go out after the end of the school day, but will not be given a lift. One young person said, ‘When another young person moved into the flat, I moved into her bedroom. It is really big and is the exact room that I wanted.’

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Good

This staff team has a proven ability for ensuring that all young people receive education that best meets their individual learning and behavioural needs. This means that all the young people, the majority of whom had completely disengaged prior to admission, are now benefiting from education or employment. A tutor for one young person is very impressed with his progress. She said, ‘It is still early days, but he has attended every session to date and is now so well engaged that I have to say that we have finished the lesson. He is also now working independently on topics. Prior to coming to this home, he did not attend any lessons. The staff at this home clearly encourage and support him, and show a genuine keen interest in his education. There is particularly good communication with me.’

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Good

This experienced staff team has increasingly gained the confidence to challenge suspensions and exclusions successfully and appropriately. Monthly meetings with the virtual school are also now firmly established. This ensures effectively that there is no unnecessary delay in meeting young people’s educational needs and that the hours provided are continually increased. Consequently, one young person is now back in full-time education in a mainstream school and is engaging in additional maths and English tuition in her free time. This is exceptional progress from her individual starting point.

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Good

Staff ensured that one young person was provided with timely alternative educational provision on admission and then successfully advocated for him to attend his previous school to undertake his final examinations. They then successfully supported him into meaningful employment. He is now looking forward to driving lessons so that he can drive the company cars at work. This demonstrates ongoing progress culminating in an excellent outcome.

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Good

Young people exercise a genuine choice about contact with family and friends. This is encouraged and supported by the staff to ensure that it is a positive experience for all concerned. This helps them to understand their background and retain their unique identity. One young person was thrilled that his brother and dad went on trips with him over the summer holidays, and another young person thoroughly enjoyed a family wedding abroad.

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Good

Although young people choose to spend much of their free time with their own friends out in the community, they always have the opportunity to engage in a wide range of constructive activities, both inside and outside the home, which improves their social skills and self-esteem. Currently, the computer and music rooms are proving popular and two young people particularly enjoy playing snooker together. One young person had built up the confidence at this home to go on a summer camp for two weeks and had a great time. Another young person was overwhelmed by all his birthday treats.

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Good

Individual interests and talents are actively encouraged and supported, which further strengthens confidences and competencies. As an example, one young person was recently rewarded for his sustained good behaviour with prints made of his own artwork.

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Good

Staff are strong and effective advocates for young people. This ensures that they receive the specialist services that they need in a timely manner to help to meet their more complex needs. A significant development since the last inspection is the effective working relationship established with an assigned psychologist, who provides training for staff and attends their meetings to discuss specific strategies to manage some highly challenging behaviours. Recent guest speakers at young people’s meetings have included the specialist nurse for children looked after and children’s rights. This builds on young people’s knowledge and understanding of services available to them.

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Good

There are particularly good opportunities and specific facilities in place to enable all the young people to gain age- and ability-appropriate life skills needed to prepare them successfully for future independent living. As a result, one young person is now described as ‘a phenomenal cook.’

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Good

This home benefits from two fully-furnished flats, enabling young people to experience independence with the added reassurance of ongoing staff support. One young person, who has lived at this home for three years, has recently moved into one of the flats. She has made significant progress at this home, including in the ability to keep herself safe. Consequently, she is now enjoying a positive age- appropriate relationship. There has also been a continual reduction in challenging behaviours, which are now described as ‘minimal’. Moreover, she successfully completed her education and has independently pursued an apprenticeship.

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Good

Two young people have recently felt ready to move on into full independence from this home, secure in the knowledge of continued support from this staff team. They both were helped to find good-quality accommodation in the exact location of their choice, close to family, friends and college, thus providing them with ongoing support.

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Good

External feedback from parents and placing social workers is consistently positive. Recent examples include, ‘My daughter is doing well here’ and 'This placement is extremely positive for my young person. She receives consistent support and good advocacy.'

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Requires improvement

This experienced staff team has a good understanding of attachment disorders and excel at providing a particularly nurturing environment. This means that new admissions settle relatively quickly and start the process of building trusting relationships. In turn, this is enabling them to open up about past traumatic events and discuss more appropriate ways of trying to manage their intense feelings of anger and frustration.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager of this home has a good relationship with all the young people and spends quality time with them. He has an approachable and calm persona, and is firm but fair in his approach, which young people respect.

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Requires improvement

Staff clearly place the well-being of individual young people at the centre of their practice and treat them with dignity and respect at all times, irrespective of the significant challenges that they may present. They demonstrate tremendous resilience. This is because they clearly understand and are sensitive to the fact that building positive trusting relationships can take a significant period of time, and young people will regularly resort to learned behaviours. One young person, for example, has lived at this home for 15 months. He is just starting to feel safe and comfortable enough to share his feelings. That said, he still has to be constantly reassured that he can stay at this home for the next four years if he wishes to. He said, ‘I feel safe here now and get on with all the other young people, and most of the staff are very patient with me.’

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Requires improvement

This local authority home has gained a good reputation within the county for accepting young people with highly complex needs and significant risks and vulnerabilities, then demonstrating a dogged determination never to give up on them. This means that young people feel safe and secure at this home, in the knowledge that this is a long-term placement so that they can stay at this home, regardless of the challenges that they present, until they feel ready to move on. Consequently, young people with multiple previous disruptions are starting to invest noticeably in this placement.

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Requires improvement

One young person has benefited from the stability of a long-term placement at this home for nearly three years. Another young person was recently offered a move to a children’s home closer to his family, but he choose to stay here. He feels that the distance helps him to avoid engaging in previous negative activities. This demonstrates his developing maturity, which is outstanding progress.

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Requires improvement

In response to a recommendation made at the last inspection in March 2016, a more detailed pro forma has been produced to ensure that robust impact risk assessments are completed prior to every admission. However, this has not yet been used. Consequently, the most recent examples still do not consistently demonstrate an evaluation of the needs, vulnerabilities and risks of the young people already in placement and any specific views or worries that they may have about a new admission. This is particularly pertinent as one young person really struggles with any change. This fact is not consistently reflected or evaluated in the last two impact risk assessments, so this recommendation has been repeated.

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Requires improvement

In respect of the most recent admission, the young people met him in the community while he was missing and asked the manager whether could he be admitted. This demonstrates how much they appreciate the good care that they receive at this home.

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Requires improvement

Prior to moving to this home, the vast majority of young people were not used to any routines and boundaries to their behaviours. Consequently, they do still go missing and stay at acquaintances’ houses without permission. Also, they cannot understand why this is not always allowed. None of the young people say that they are running away from the home and, overall, incidents have been reduced compared to in their known histories. Comments included, ‘I was at a friend’s party, so I didn’t want to come back. I wasn’t missing and I kept myself safe. I do feel a lot better now I’m back, though, and I was treated sound by the staff on my return’, and ‘I had fallen asleep, so I didn’t hear the staff’s phone calls. I was fine. There was no issue.’

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Requires improvement

There is clear evidence of timely multi-agency intervention meetings to look at strategies to break patterns of risk-taking behaviours. This has included the effective serving of abduction orders and the prosecution of a perpetrator, resulting in a custodial sentence. In contrast, staff also advocated for one young person to be allowed to stay at her friend’s home as part of her preparation for independence. This effectively reduced the necessity to report her missing.

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Requires improvement

A significant recent development has been the establishment of good partnership working with previously resistant families. This means that they are now actively helping staff to locate young people quickly when they are missing and thereby ensure their safety. One parent said, 'The staff are helpful and supportive and always keep in touch with me.'

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Requires improvement

Following a recommendation made at the last inspection, the home now records when it requests an independent return interview to young people’s social workers. However, this improved system is not proving to be effective in practice. Consequently, for example, out of 14 missing from care incidents by one young person, only five independent return interviews have been completed. In response, more recently, the authority has established a formal escalation process to senior managers, but the impact of this has yet to be realised.

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Requires improvement

This home manages some significant challenging behaviours effectively without resorting to police assistance. The appropriate use of restorative justice also ensures that young people are not unnecessarily criminalised, but still reflect on the potential consequences of their actions, for example criminal damage within the home. One young person with a significant offending history has not been charged with any further offences at this children’s home, which will impact positively on his future job opportunities. A youth offending officer confirmed, ‘Good communication and information sharing with this staff team.’

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Requires improvement

All the young people continue to smoke. One young person did successfully stop smoking for a sustained period of time, but has started again. There has also been one known incident of cannabis use in the home. These are habits formed prior to admission, but are known to impact negatively on long-term physical health. A full and frank discussion has been pursued about the legalities of these addictions and it was made clear that any further incidents would result in police involvement.

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Requires improvement

Staff training in behaviour management is refreshed annually. They also benefit from the fact that the manager of this home is the county-wide trainer. This means they can de-escalate some highly challenging behaviours effectively. The 13 restraints in the last seven months all relate to one young person who struggles to manage his emotions. The home’s robust evaluation of patterns and trends clearly shows that this is directly related to family contact, and a sharp increase in one month was due to his anxieties about arrangements for his birthday. Records demonstrate that when a restraint is deemed necessary, the least restrictive hold is always used and for the shortest period of time, and he has never been injured. However, some entries are incomplete. In June, he started to reflect on the incidents with staff, which is significant progress and demonstrates his increased ability to trust. Moreover, there were then no further incidents for

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Requires improvement

two months, as he began to settle in placement and grasp that staff would not give up on him. One member of staff said, ‘He now feels able to express himself more and has got the message that we are sticking with him, no matter what.’

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Requires improvement

All the required health and safety certificates are in place to ensure a safe environment. The home does face consistent criminal damage, but it now has an assigned maintenance man who ensures that all repairs are efficiently rectified. Consequently, the home is maintained to a good standard throughout.

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Requires improvement

The music room has been developed since the last inspection and one young person enjoys playing keyboards as an effective means of relaxing and regulating his emotions.

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Good

Young people are well cared for by a particularly stable and experienced staff team. The vast majority of staff are qualified for their respective roles and the team includes four qualified social workers. The home currently has one vacancy, following a recent promotion. Any gaps in shifts are covered by part-time workers taking on extra shifts, experienced individuals from other children’s homes in the authority or regular casual staff. This means that they know the systems and documentation used, and are well known and liked by the young people.

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Good

The needs and wishes of all the young people are discussed at every monthly team, and meeting and handovers after each shift ensure continuity and consistent care. Staff also benefit from regular development days to enhance their learning continually. Recent examples include ligature training, drug awareness and ‘Excellent’ attachment training. This provided the team with the opportunity to explore openly the effectiveness of using incentives to promote positive behaviours, compared to their previously more punitive approach to behaviour management. This has been a gradual and significant culture shift which commenced when the current manager took over.

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Good

This home demonstrates a good capacity to improve. This is based on previous Ofsted judgements and continual positive developments. For example, the staff really appreciate the administrative days built into the rotas and the new study room. Also, identified team members each champion one of the quality standards to ensure that they all remain high on everyone’s agenda. No requirements were made at the last interim inspection on 23 March 2016. Comments from staff includes, ‘We are continually looking at ways to improve young people’s experiences and the service that we provide’ and ‘My manager listens to my views as to how we can improve.’ This approach ensures shared responsibility and accountability.

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Good

This home continues to be very well managed by a qualified, highly experienced and child-focused individual who provides clear direction, supervision and support to his staff. He ensures good staffing ratios at all times to safeguard all the young people and to meet their diverse, highly complex and often competing needs and unique personal preferences. He has also successfully ensured that all the team members have now secured permanent contracts, which is, in itself, a strong motivator. Consequently, he is held in high regard by his team. Comments included, ‘He is always accessible’, ‘He encourages and supports me to develop and acts on our feedback about how to constantly improve’, ‘He motivates me and is a good ambassador for the team’ and ‘He has integrity and consistency, and will tackle poor performance.’

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Good

This manager has an appropriately calm, sensitive and reflective manner, and leads by example. Consequently, for example, over his two and half years in post, he has successfully fostered good relationships with the neighbours. Prior to his appointment, there had been a significant number of complaints and MPs were actively involved. There have been none since. In turn, he confirms good support from his line manager. He said, ‘The new responsible individual has really invested in us and is particularly strong on safeguarding.’

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Good

All the team benefit from an extremely efficient administrator, whom the manager described as ‘worth her weight in gold’. Part of her responsibilities includes maintaining a training matrix which flags up when mandatory refresher courses are due. This effectively ensures that all the staff benefit from continuous and relevant training opportunities. These are purposely offered to meet organisational needs, their own professional development needs and the specific needs of the young people currently living in the home. For example, during this inspection, she arranged online training in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for the staff. This will help them to gain a more in-depth understanding of the complex needs and challenging behaviours of the most recent admission.

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Good

Staff are highly satisfied with the range and quality of the training opportunities on offer. Comments include, ‘I have undertaken lots of training including safeguarding, child sexual exploitation, the Solihull approach and food hygiene’, ‘I have just completed a two day outdoor first aid course which is essential because I take young people to the stables and mountain biking which I am also trained in’ and, ‘We have refresher training in behaviour management every 12 months when we get the opportunity to discuss strategies to meet individual needs.’

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Good

Staff confirm regular, good quality supervision and timely annual appraisals that support and challenge their individual performances. This enables them to continually improve their practices. Clear personalised targets and interests are set to continually motivate and develop the team. Examples include, being a practice educator and management training.

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Good

As a direct consequence of the development opportunities and support from this manager, one member of staff has successfully gained an assistant manager’s post in another children’s home within the same authority. He said, ‘This manager recognised my potential and developed it. He has been brilliant at supporting me into a management role and he let me go early due to staff shortages at the other home. I still cover shifts here when I can because it is a great place to work.’

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Good

This manager has established a system over the last two years for regularly ascertaining the views of the young people about the staff, which then informs their ongoing development. This work has recently been shared with other registered managers within the authority as an example of good practice. The matrix shows clear patterns and trends. For example, all the team score high in their ability to show genuine sympathy to young people and the manager is described as, ‘A really good listener.’

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Good

The manager has an established system in place for monitoring all the home’s activities every month which informs his six monthly review report.

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Good

The quality of the reports following monthly independent monitoring visits continue to improve. The intention is to further strengthen these following the recent appointment of a quality assurance officer. The process is increasingly more rigorous especially following a decision to limit visitors to a smaller and specifically trained team. This means they are starting to better understand the ethos of the home and build relationships with young people so they feel comfortable chatting to them about their experiences. However, apart from one month when a parent was visiting the home, there is no evidence of attempting to ascertain the views of young people’s in any of the reports since the last inspection. Moving forward, the manager is confident that this regulatory shortfall will be addressed as it has been specifically emphasised at their last two training events.

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Good

The statement of purpose is regularly reviewed and revised as necessary to ensure it always accurately reflects the current aims, policies, practices and staffing of the home. A user friendly children's guide is also given to young people prior to admission. This means they are well informed about the services provided and the expectations on their behaviour.

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Good

Detailed notifications of significant events are forwarded to Ofsted in a timely manner. These show that appropriate action is taken in full collaboration with relevant safeguarding agencies and agreed strategies put in place to try to prevent a recurrence and thereby ensure young people’s continued protection.

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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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