Children's home run by Back on Track Children’s Services SE LTD in Dover

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:

 Young people are helped by a patient and resilient staff team to regain a sense of purpose and direction. Young people become more trusting of adults and build positive relationships.  Staff are highly motivated and focused to meet the complex needs of young people and are strongly invested in their progress and well-being.  The registered manager and staff team have accumulated substantial knowledge and experience and use this to safeguard young people who challenge boundaries.  Young people profit from the positive and effective relationships that staff build and maintain with the network of professionals who help to keep them safe and support their progress.  Young people are also helped to gain maximum benefit from the services available to them because the adults who care for them are skilled and tenacious in advocating on their behalf.  The leadership and staff continuously seek to improve the standards of their

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The children's home provision is good because:

practice and the way in which they care for young people and help them to make progress.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 That the registered manager continues to develop and review the home’s statement of purpose and ensures that staff understand and apply this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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Recommendations

 That the registered manager makes full use of the Regulation 45 review process to analyse and understand the key strengths and weaknesses in the home and then uses this understanding to plan for continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

 That the children’s guide be reviewed and further updated to help young people better understand the day-to-day routines in the home, together with the ethos of the home as reflected in the statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraphs 4.21 and 4.22)

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Recommendations

 That the registered manager reviews the practice of staff supervision in the home and ensures that this meets the needs for staff to reflect meaningfully on their practice as well as how they may be affected by the behaviour of young people. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2 and page 39, paragraph 8.15)

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Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 26/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/05/2015 Full Good 23/10/2014 Interim Declined in effectiveness 02/07/2014 Full Adequate 12/05/2014 Full Inadequate

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Good

Young people are introduced into the home in a careful and planned manner, wherever possible. The home shows rigour in the way in which it seeks key information about the young people and uses this to effectively plan and manage the changes and adjustments that are part of the process of new young people moving in. This helps young people to feel welcome and to settle. It also equips the home to manage effectively any risks that are associated with their care.

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Good

Young people are treated with care and respect at the very beginning of moving in. Staff understand what underpins their challenging behaviour and are consistent and controlled in their responses. They enforce reasonable boundaries with fairness and consistency. They are affirming of positive behaviour and want young people to have fun. This helps young people to settle and form positive relationships; to develop trust in adults; and to make progress with their lives.

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Good

The home works closely with placing authorities, therapists and teachers, and other professionals, such as the probation service. Proactive working in partnership creates helpful placement plans. This approach helps young people to understand and be meaningfully involved in the plans for their care and progress.

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Good

When young people become disillusioned and negative about the care system and feel let down, staff are sensitive and supportive. Where necessary, they are skilled and persistent in securing the best possible responses from placing authorities. This is completed in a careful and constructive manner with the best interests of the young people remaining paramount. Young people learn to make appropriate challenges and positively engage with the plans for their future.

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Good

Young people become more confident; they expand their interests, try new activities and increase their social interaction. This is because staff are ambitious for them and optimistic about what they can achieve. A formerly socially withdrawn young person is scheduled to attend a taster day for the Prince’s Trust programme and is feeling positive about this.

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Good

The young people say that staff care about them and make them feel safe. One said, ‘We can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes but they don’t give up on us.’ Young people say that they are able to talk to staff when they are worried or upset. Some young people display a high level of trust in particular staff members.

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Good

Education and learning are very important in this home, and staff show a high level of commitment to ensuring that each young person is accessing the most suitable learning opportunities. Some young people are fully engaged and making good independent progress with their learning; others are being strongly supported to do so.

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Good

Local health services are easily accessible. Specialist services such as counselling and therapy are secured through the home’s in-house therapist or elsewhere when appropriate and when the young person is willing. There is a real drive by staff to encourage the young people to make responsible choices with regards to their health.

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Good

Young people are effectively supported by the staff to maintain contact with their families in a way that benefits them and protects them from unnecessary emotional trauma. This is because the home seeks to build meaningful relationships with family members, works closely with placing authorities and also understands the potential hazards of contact for young people with attachment difficulties.

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Good

Young people moving on are supported with careful consideration and the home co-operates closely with placing authorities as well as with the young person. Young people say that they are strongly supported by the home when the time comes to move on. They say that their anxieties are understood and that staff listen to what they say. The home is adept at advocating for young people during these difficult times, to increase certainty and predictability in their lives. The use of independent advocates by young people is also consistently promoted.

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Good

Young people say that they feel safe and that they know that the staff care about them. They are able to tell staff about their concerns and are confident that staff will take immediate action when appropriate.

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Good

When young people go missing from this home the response of staff is exceptional. No stone is left unturned in seeking to locate and safeguard young people who engage in this high-risk behaviour. Staff have good knowledge of their locality and are further informed about potential hazards and resources in the area by their up- to-date locality risk assessment.

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Good

They maintain a close working relationship with the police and are vigorous and proactive in their efforts to reduce the likelihood of young people going missing. The local police missing-person’s co-ordinator said that, in her experience, the home does everything it can to safeguard young people who have a tendency to go missing. She stated: ‘In my view this home stands above most homes in their care and response when young people go missing.’

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Good

Young people are further protected by staff who are trained and knowledgeable about the full range of risks to which young people are exposed. Staff take appropriate action when issues arise. Staff members’ training and competence includes specialist areas such as online safety, child sexual exploitation, sexually harmful behaviour and radicalisation. The young people are further protected by clear, individualised profiles of vulnerability which indicate how specific risks are best managed and how risk levels can be reduced.

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Good

Young people are also safeguarded by the impressive links that the home maintains with key professionals through regular network meetings, risk meetings and continuous communication. A local authority social worker said: ‘They are brilliant at communicating and have a really good understanding of my young person and understand the safeguarding issues.’

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Good

Physical restraint of young people is occasional and appropriately used when de- escalation efforts have been exhausted. This helps to keep young people and others safe and reduces harm to property. Restraint records meet all requirements and reflect good debriefing practice that enables young people and staff to reflect on the event, resolve emotional tension and consider ways of reducing the likelihood of events being repeated.

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Good

Young people are regularly involved in developing their own risk assessments and identifying the triggers for impulsive behaviour and preventative ways of addressing these.

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Good

Young people are kept safe from identified health and safety risks within the home. The property is well maintained, and health and safety checks are all completed within timescales, including those for fire safety.

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Good

A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager leads the home. She manages a very stable and experienced staff team, with eight out of nine staff members having achieved the Level 3 diploma, and the remainder within timescales to achieve this. The registered manager is closely supported by a knowledgeable responsible individual who takes an active interest in the day-to-day running of the home. Most staff have been working at the home for more than three years. They receive regular training updates and have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to provide the young people with the required level of care and supervision. Two new staff are in the final stages of the recruitment process.

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Good

The leadership promotes a culture in the home that encourages patience with troubled young people, and there is a high tolerance for unwanted behaviours. Staff understand the issues that underpin challenging behaviours and this helps them to respond appropriately and provide young people with the opportunity for change. An independent reviewing officer said: ‘I am in full admiration for their ability to hang in.’

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Good

Plans for young people are clear and relevant. This enables staff to be consistent in their interactions with the young people. When plans are not working as expected, the home is quick to communicate with placing authorities and seek a review of planning. A noteworthy strength of this home is staff and managers’ good communication with external agencies and their readiness, vigour and tact in challenging the acts and omissions of external agencies when these undermine the progress and well-being of young people.

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Good

Staff are helped to sustain their motivation and focus in supporting, supervising and enabling young people through regular staff meetings, daily handover meetings, ongoing training and regular individual supervision. Although reported to be a positive and useful forum, there is an absence of structure and focus with regards to supervision meetings. This limits the level of detail recorded, and currently, such records do not include reflective or research-based practice.

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Good

Clear and comprehensive case records provide a vivid picture of the highs and lows of young people’s journeys. Keyworking is regular and meaningful, and there is a consistent effort by staff to facilitate young people’s engagement in positive leisure activities.

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Good

The home’s statement of purpose meets requirements but the current description of the home’s ethos and values lacks clarity. In order to provide the staff team and other stakeholders with a sharper description, it is recommended that these aspects are reviewed.

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Good

The leadership effectively monitors the quality of care in the home and this is reflected in the Regulation 45 review process. Development plans are in place but these would benefit from setting out clearer and more explicit targets and plans for further improvement.

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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 that 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

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

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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