Children's home run by Crossway Services Limited in Liverpool

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 work hard to improve the overall experience and progress of young people living in the home. As a result, young people make progress from moving into the home relative to their individual circumstances.  Staff understand how to protect young people from harm and ensure that they are safe. They work effectively with professionals to ensure a consistent approach to safeguarding.  Staff support young people with their education and work collaboratively with education professionals to ensure that the most appropriate education provision and support are in place.  Professionals speak about the good communication between the home and themselves. One professional said, „I have developed a really good relationship with the home, which has benefited the young person.‟  Young people benefit from a wide range of social and recreational opportunities that are of particular interest to them.  Behaviour management in the home is good. There are clear expectations,

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The children's home provision is good because:

routines and boundaries in place for young people.  Staff are supported by the interim manager and receive regular reflective supervision. However, supervision records are not safely stored on company premises.  Recording in the home is not robust. Plans and records do not include sufficient detail to show the journey of young people. In addition, records are not always signed and dated by the author.  The home does not routinely share relevant documents with Ofsted. Therefore, Ofsted is not kept up to date on the quality of care provided in the home and any changes to its statement of purpose.

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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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (1) that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) the staff— (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child's relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (b) that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and protect each child effectively from harm; and (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health.

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure that children: (1)(a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home. This is with particular reference to the home's placement plans. 30/01/2017 16: Statement of purpose The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

44: Independent person: visits and reports The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children's home at least once a month. The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person‟s report to HMCI (Regulation 44 (1)(7)(a)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

45: Review of quality of care The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least every 6 months. The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(4)(a)) 30/01/2017

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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

 All children's case records (Regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely while they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  For children's homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases be homely, domestic environments. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9.) This relates to the conditions within the young person‟s bedroom.  Ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff that provides evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.3.) This relates to the registered manager ensuring that records of staff supervision

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Recommendations

are securely stored on company premises.

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and managed by a private organisation. It provides care and accommodation for one young person with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 16/02/2016 Full Good 05/11/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/02/2015 Full Adequate 22/05/2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people receive a good quality of care that is making a difference to their lives. The staff have a good understanding of their needs and work effectively with other professionals to ensure that their needs are met. The young person living in the home at the time of the inspection came to live at the home almost three months ago following a very unsettled time at home and in foster care. He has made some progress relative to his starting point, particularly in relation to his education, taking his prescribed medication and contact with his family. He said, „Staff do their best to support me.‟ The interim manager and staff value the importance of education and have been proactive in working with educational professionals to ensure that the appropriate education provision is in place. This has resulted in the young person increasing his attendance at college and his level of engagement has improved. A member of

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Good

staff from college said, „Since living at the home his timetable has increased, he is more settled and appears to be enjoying his time at college more.‟ The home and college are continuing to work together with the young person to increase his timetable further to support him to have improved educational outcomes. Care planning in the home is individualised to the young person‟s needs but is not robust. This is because his placement plan does not accurately reflect his day-to- day needs. The plan does not include accurate, up-to-date information relating to all areas of his life including the young person‟s health and education. Furthermore, the young person‟s views are not incorporated into his plan. This means that the plan clouds the issues for the young person and the support being offered. The young person is consulted about his day-to-day care and is kept informed of matters relating to his care. As the home is a solo placement, they do not have

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Good

young people‟s meetings. However, the young person is invited to the staff team meetings. This has proved to be very positive as the staff and young person can discuss all issues relating to the home and the young person and staff can reflect on issues together. For example, during one team meeting, they discussed the young person‟s health needs and how these would be met, how he would be supported with his contact and general housekeeping within the home. Consequently, the young person and staff team were all able to agree on what they felt was best for the young person and the home. Any particular issues relating to staff that are not appropriate to discuss with the young person are spoken about separately. In addition, regular key work sessions take place with the young person, usually on an informal basis, as this is when he engages most with staff. This affords the young person the opportunity to discuss any worries or

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Good

concerns that he may have and for staff to offer him appropriate support, advice and guidance. The young person benefits from a wide range of social and recreational opportunities that are of interest to him. Prior to moving into the home, he attended the cadets regularly and was keen to continue this. Therefore, the staff made enquiries in the local area as to what was on offer and gave the young person a choice of which cadet detachment he would prefer to attend. He joined a new cadet force detachment, which means less travelling for him and this has also given him the opportunity to make new friendships in the area he is living in. The young person is also encouraged and supported to engage in activities relating to his interest in music. He has attended drumming sessions and has music-related games to play on his games console. The range of opportunities for the young person have supported him to pursue his particular interests, develop new

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Good

friendships and build his social interaction, confidence and self-esteem. The health and development needs of the young person are well supported by the staff. Prior to moving into the home, the young person was not taking his prescribed medication regularly. This was having an impact on his overall health and well-being. Staff at the home have supported the young person in establishing a regular routine to ensure that his medication is taken as prescribed. His healthcare plan includes his individual health conditions and medication. However, the plan is not robust. It does not provide detailed information relating to how his health and development needs are being met by staff. The plan does not sufficiently show how staff promote a healthier lifestyle nor does it record the details of the young person‟s health appointments and how he is encouraged to attend these. Furthermore, details relating to his statutory looked after child health

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Good

assessment and the young person‟s views relating to his health and development are not included. This does not provide a detailed overview of the young person‟s health needs and the strategies, support and guidance in place to promote them. A young person who has left the home since the last inspection went through a difficult few months prior to leaving due to his risk-taking behaviours. The staff team worked hard to ensure that his needs were met and implemented various strategies to try to maintain his placement. However, the interim manager recognised that the placement was not meeting his needs or keeping him safe so she felt that she had no option but to end his placement. The home liaised with relevant professionals to ensure that a suitable alternative placement was identified that was felt to be able to meet his needs and keep him safe. Staff supported the young person and prepared him for the transition.

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Good

The physical environment of the home is generally good. It is well maintained, nicely decorated and furnished. However, the conditions in the young person‟s bedroom are concerning. The curtains were drawn throughout the day of the inspection while the young person was in education and there were lots of clothes and other belongings strewn across the bedroom floor. The wardrobe had clothing piled up at the bottom with very few items of clothing hung up. In addition, there were a number of empty drinks bottles across the floor and under the young person‟s bed. The young person‟s planner was on the wall outside of his bedroom on which the young person had written inappropriate comments. Although action was taken to rectify the issues raised during the inspection, the interim manager and staff had previously failed to address this with the young person. This is not conducive to creating a homely, warm and nurturing environment for a young

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Good

Safeguarding practice in the home is good and promotes the welfare and safety of young people. The interim manager and staff are adequately trained in safeguarding and this is a priority for them. Effective multi-agency working also helps to keep the young person safe. Staff are aware of the actions to take if they are concerned about the young person‟s welfare. Shortly after the interim manager took up her post at the home, she identified that the home was unable to keep the young person safe who was living there at the time. He was placing himself at a considerable amount of risk due to being missing from the home for significant periods of time and often not taking his diabetic medication with him, which could ultimately be life threatening for him. The interim manager and staff worked collaboratively with the placing authority, missing from care coordinators, health professionals and the young person to implement various

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Good

strategies to minimise the risks but this was unsuccessful. Therefore, the interim manager took the decision to end the placement. Although this was a difficult decision to make, the interim manager and staff agreed it was the most appropriate decision in order to ensure that the young person moved to a home where he was more likely to be safeguarded. Behaviour management in the home is good due to the clear, consistent boundaries in place. These are understood by the staff and the young person. There have been three sanctions for the young person since he moved into the home and these were appropriately recorded and proportionate with the behaviour that the young person presented. Positive behaviour strategies focus on praising and rewarding young people. The behaviour management plan in place for the young person is detailed and clearly outlines how specific behaviours will be managed. The staff team has clear behaviour management strategies in place to

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Good

prevent behaviours escalating, which appears to be effective. The home does not use physical intervention as a form of control. Rather, there are other strategies in place to manage behaviours that may cause a risk of harm. The robust procedures in place in relation to the management of behaviour in the home have resulted in improved behaviour as well as increasing young people‟s self-esteem, confidence and emotional stability. Staff have responded well to recent safeguarding concerns for the young person in relation to internet safety. They have been proactive in obtaining information in relation to current technology that would assist them in ensuring that appropriate safeguards are in place, both inside and outside of the home, to protect the young person and others from risks associated with social media and the internet. In addition, they have completed key work sessions with the young person to raise his

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Good

awareness and discuss the risks to himself and others and the potential consequences of his actions relating to inappropriate use of social media and the internet. Staff have spent time with the young person at the local library undertaking some research in relation to this. This has been shared across the staff team to raise their awareness and understanding of inappropriate social media and internet use and how they can safeguard the young person from this. Improvements in the young person‟s risk assessments would further enhance his safety. His risk assessments currently omit important detail and do not provide a robust evaluation of possible danger. For example, the risks relating to internet safety for the young person and how these are being managed are not included in his risk assessment. Some of the risk assessments in place do not provide the relevant information to confirm the appropriate measures are in place to safeguard

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Good

the young person. Therefore, risk assessments need to be strengthened to ensure that young people are effectively safeguarded and provide staff with clear and effective risk management strategies to employ. There are no issues for the young person currently living in the home relating to him going missing. However, this was a significant issue for another young person who has left the home in recent months. The high numbers of episodes of being missing from home were a contributing factor to his placement ending. The records in the home relating to this were detailed and demonstrated that the staff team had effective links with the police, social workers and families and friends to ensure the safe return of the young person as soon as possible. However, they did not demonstrate that he was always offered an independent return interview to gather information from him about the reasons why he was missing, the risks he faced

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Good

and how further missing from care episodes could be avoided. This is a missed opportunity to gather useful information about the reasons why young people are going missing in order to further reduce risks and ensure young people‟s safety. There is a review of the home‟s location in place that addresses known risks in the community. However, it does not evaluate the impact on the young people or how the risks will be managed. Therefore, the location review does not safeguard young people effectively from risks within the community. In addition, the main entrance door to the home is not secure as it can be opened from the outside if the lock or chain is not in use. This potentially places the young person and staff at risk from unwanted visitors entering the home.

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Requires improvement

The home has an interim manager in post who has applied to Ofsted to become the registered manager. Her application is currently being processed. She has suitable experience and qualifications to fulfil the post as the registered manager and is very committed and motivated to manage the home effectively. She has been a residential care worker in one of the company‟s other children‟s homes for a number of years. The responsible individual said, „In the short time she has been the interim manager she has made the systems in the home much better and done a really good job.‟ In addition to the change of manager, the company is currently in the process of being sold to another well-established company with a chain of children‟s homes. The registered individual is confident that this will not affect the young person or staff in the home, as there is a robust transition plan in place to ensure that there is as little change as possible.

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Requires improvement

Staff feel supported by the interim manager and say that things have improved in the home since she has been in post. A member of staff said, „Her approach to staff and young people is great, she puts us all at ease and the home environment is a much nicer place to be.‟ Staff are supported by regular, effective supervision that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of young people. Supervision for new staff is more frequent and is part of their induction plan. However, the records for supervision are not securely stored on company premises. When this was raised with the interim manager, she agreed to rectify this with immediate effect. All staff working at the home are suitably qualified and experienced and work well together. Staff morale has improved in recent months and they feel that this is a much nicer place to work. Staff rotas are clear and the staff team and interim manager plan these together to fit in with the needs of the young person and to

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Requires improvement

give staff a good home life and work balance. This flexible approach to rotas is working well and the staff team members support each other as much as possible. The staff have not been given regular opportunities to promote their continuous professional development. Not all staff have completed the company‟s mandatory training programme or had other relevant training and development opportunities. As a result, staff are not fully equipped with the relevant knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that they provide a good quality of care to meet the needs of young people and to keep them safe. The monitoring and review systems in the home need to be strengthened to enable the manager to identify areas for development and to take action to address any shortfalls identified. The home has not routinely sent the reports for their monthly independent monitoring visits or their own six-monthly quality of care review

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Requires improvement

reports to Ofsted in line with the regulations for children‟s homes. Therefore, Ofsted is not kept fully up to date about the quality of care provided to young people living in the home, whether young people are safeguarded effectively and whether the conduct of the home is promoting young people‟s well-being. The quality of recording in the home is not robust. Some of the records and plans, such as, risk assessments, missing from care records and health and education plans omit significant detail and relevant information. This means that the young person‟s records do not provide an up-to-date account of the young person‟s journey and current situation. The home‟s statement of purpose has recently been updated and reflects the changes in staffing. The statement of purpose lacks individuality for the home and does not clearly outline the home‟s ethos and aims and objectives. Furthermore, the statement of purpose has not been sent to Ofsted in line with the regulations

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Requires improvement

for children‟s homes. Therefore, Ofsted, as the regulator, is not kept up to date about amendments or changes that may affect the quality and purpose of care provided by the home. Professional relationships between the home, social workers, independent reviewing officers, the police and health and educational professionals are good. Staff regularly share relevant information about young people with professionals, to ensure that the appropriate support is in place to meet their identified needs. Furthermore, this results in a consistent approach in supporting young people in all areas of their development. A social worker said, „I am extremely happy with the placement as the young person [is] well looked after. I can see improvements for him since he moved into the home. Staff keep in regular contact with me and are really positive and effective.‟

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against „Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection‟.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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