Children's home run by Action in Care Ltd

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

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

 Young people develop trusting relationships which enable them to reflect on their life experiences, develop insight and learn new coping skills and behaviour management strategies.  Young people make good progress in their education, particularly when bearing in mind their starting points. Members of staff advocate vigorously on behalf of the young people and support them to attend their education settings.  Young people have very good opportunities to develop their life skills and wider interests, particularly with regard to activities and clubs in the community.  Effective working with safeguarding agencies ensures that young people’s safety and well-being are promoted to a good standard.  The manager and staff maintain good communication with placing authorities so that plans can be amended and reviewed promptly and effectively.  Young people’s views are valued and promoted and this ensures that the young

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

people are confident in expressing their opinions and are confident that they are listened to.

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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

13. The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: (2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. This is with regard to ensuring that all members of staff receive training in e-safety. 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c )) This is in relation to ensuring that all members of staff receive supervision regularly. 28/02/2017

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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

 Ensure that all members of staff understand that restraint also involves restricting a child’s liberty. Restrictions such as these, and all other restrictions of liberty of movement, should be recorded as restraint. This is with particular reference to reviewing the practice of locking the kitchen and lounge at night time. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.42)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home. This is with regard to ensuring that each young person’s protocol is up to date and contains the correct process to be followed if they are missing. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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Recommendations

 Staff should have sufficient understanding of relevant health services, including the functions of the designated nurse for looked-after children in their area. They should support children to navigate these services, advocating on their behalf where necessary and appropriate. This is with particular reference to organising access to smoking cessation services. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.8)

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned and is registered to accommodate up to five young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 31/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/07/2015 Full Requires improvement 13/03/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/09/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

Young people speak positively about their relationships with members of staff. ‘They don’t punish, they talk, they’re good’, said one young person. As a result of the trusting relationships which develop, the young people are able to reflect on their behaviours and past histories and learn to make positive choices. This enables them to make good progress in all aspects of their lives.

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Good

Young people enjoy living in a comfortable home which is well maintained. They all have their own rooms, which they can lock and which they can personalise to suit their own tastes. Some doors to communal areas, such as the kitchen and lounge, are routinely locked at night when it is time for the young people to go to their rooms to settle. A recommendation is made for the registered manager to review this practice and to record when it is imposed as well as the grounds for this action, as it is, in effect, a physical restriction of movement. The young people have not complained of this practice and have not challenged it. However, the practice is in need of exploration and justification.

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Good

Considering their starting points, the young people achieve good levels of attendance at school. Members of staff promote the value of education and work extremely hard to help the young people to engage and attend. Communication with educational placements is good and managers advocate strongly on behalf of the young people to ensure that they receive the right support in their education.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to develop community links. Consequently they are able to attend local clubs, such as basketball and football, and partake in social activities, such as bowling trips. This enables them to develop their confidence and friendship circles as well as helping them to increase their social skills.

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Good

Young people are given opportunities to develop their life skills and this is done in a planned and structured way. Members of staff put in place individual programmes which identify what levels of support the young people need to increase their independence skills. The individual programmes identify whether these are basic, such as road safety or travelling on public transport, or more sophisticated, such as opening bank accounts and learning to cater and budget for themselves. As a result, the young people grow in confidence and ability.

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Good

Healthcare needs are met to a good standard. Members of staff assist the young people to make health appointments and give them the support they need to attend them. At the time of the inspection, all the young people in the home were active smokers. Efforts made to discourage this are not effective and no external services, such as those from health professionals or smoking cessation services, have been approached so that the young people are given more information or opportunities to give up smoking.

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Good

When possible, young people are given opportunities to prepare for a move into the home. For example, members of staff and managers will visit them and encourage them to visit. This prepares the young people effectively for the changes. Young people moving on from the home are supported to do so by the staff who care for them. ‘This was the best planned ending of a placement he has had in his life’, said a young person’s social worker. On occasion, the home has ended placements when the manager has felt that they can no longer meet a young person’s needs. This has still been managed as sensitively as possible, and the communication and planning between the manager and the placing authority has been clear and structured.

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Good

Young people are supported to maintain contact with their families and friends. Good support is provided in order to sustain these contacts. Members of staff are sensitive to the challenges that these can pose to the young people, especially if relationships are challenging and at times strained. The support given to the young people during and after contact visits is well planned and carefully thought through.

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Good

Members of staff work well with other professionals to ensure that the young people are safe within this home. Concerns about young people’s well-being are shared promptly with relevant professionals, such as placing authorities and the police, and this ensures that good communication is maintained and effective plans are put in place to promote the young people’s safety.

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Good

All staff have been trained in safeguarding and child protection procedures and know what to do and who to inform if there are concerns about a young person’s safety or well-being. This training is put into effective practice if there is any incident which needs to be shared with safeguarding and child protection agencies.

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Good

Young people have numerous adults they can approach for support and advice. This also includes adults who are external to the home, such as advocates. As a result, young people feel that they can voice their opinions and feelings and are confident they have a say and can influence their plans. There are clear risk assessments and care plans, which guide members of staff in what strategies to use when supporting the young people. Importantly, the young people are aware of their care plans and are actively involved in their development. This means that the plans are meaningful and that the young people feel they are understood by the members of staff caring for them. Young people make good progress in areas such as reducing missing episodes and developing self- management techniques, especially when bearing in mind their starting points.

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Good

Each young person has an individual protocol in place, which outlines the steps to be followed in the event that they are missing from the home. These plans are not always up to date and have contained advice regarding contacting local authority emergency duty teams before reporting a young person missing. This could potentially cause delay, especially if the placing authority team cannot be contacted promptly. Members of staff have been aware of this shortfall and have used their initiative to ensure that the correct information has been shared with local police officers promptly. As a result, this shortfall has not had an impact on young people’s welfare, although the protocol has not been amended by managers.

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Good

Positive behaviour is encouraged and rewarded. Behaviour management plans assist both the members of staff and young people in developing coping strategies and implementing newly learned techniques to manage their behaviours. This has enabled young people to develop insight into their behaviour and to make good progress.

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Good

Young people report that the rules are ‘common sense really’ and that they are treated fairly. As a result, there is limited use of sanctions and these are relevant to the misdemeanour. An emphasis is placed on making amends for behaviour so that wrongdoing can be put right rather than being punished.

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Good

Members of staff receive training in the method of physical restraint used in the home. They know how to apply the techniques safely. Incidents of restraint are rare, three incidents having occurred since the last inspection. Incidents of restraint are reviewed with the young people to ensure that they understand why the measure was used and to enable them to give their opinion. This encourages the young person to reflect upon their behaviour and to consider how they can develop their strategies and identify any triggers so that future restraints and incidents can be avoided.

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Good

Recruitment of staff is thorough, and all necessary background checks, such as checks with references and with the Disclosure and Barring Service are completed before someone can begin to work with the young people. This ensures that only adults with suitable backgrounds are employed. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The registered manager has a management qualification, the national vocational qualification in leadership and management of care services, and has over 15 years of experience in working with young people. He has driven forward standards in the home and has embedded an expectation of high professional conduct and performance. He provides strong leadership and members of staff speak unanimously about the positive level of support and guidance he provides.

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Requires improvement

Some restructuring of the staff team has provided support to the registered manager so that he can concentrate on managerial tasks, such as quality assurance and providing supervision. This restructuring has yet to become embedded and so progress so far has not been sustained or consolidated.

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Requires improvement

The past few months have been a testing period for the home. Some young people have found it hard to cope with their overwhelming emotions and their behaviour had to be managed by staff. This meant staff having their experience and robustness tested to the full. This has also led to some staff changes, which has challenged consistency and stability for both the staff team and the young people. Nevertheless, members of staff have remained dedicated to their roles and resiliently met the challenges placed before them.

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Requires improvement

Members of staff receive mandatory training in areas such as safeguarding, physical restraint, recognising child sexual exploitation, first aid and administration of medication. There has been no formal training in internet safety. Although this has not had an impact on the safety of any young people, this knowledge is important in understanding the role and risks which electronic communication and the internet can have on the young people’s lives.

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Requires improvement

Members of staff report good informal support from both colleagues and managers. Formal supervision is not provided consistently and records of some of the completed sessions lack detail. This makes it hard to monitor or evidence how any issues have been addressed or to what extent discussions have explored any issues of concerns or practice matters. Additionally, members of staff have not met for team meetings regularly and this is a lost opportunity for the staff team to discuss consistency and to reflect on practice.

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Requires improvement

Care plans are of good standard and outline how young people are to be supported during their time in the home. Interim care plans are put in place if information from placing authorities has not been forthcoming in the event of emergency placements. This ensures that staff know what strategies to use to support the young people and how to respond to any behaviours or incidents. If young people are not making progress or are displaying concerning behaviours which place them or others at risk, the registered manager diligently shares this information with placing authorities so that plans and strategies can be reviewed. This ensures that there is no complacency and that young people’s needs and progress are treated as being of paramount importance.

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Requires improvement

Since the last inspection, the statement of purpose has been reviewed and updated. The document now clearly outlines what services the home can provide and, in particular, the process for admitting young people.

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Requires improvement

Any significant events are shared promptly with relevant agencies so that any concerns can be addressed effectively and the home is transparent and accountable for its 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 children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

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

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