Esther House

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 and young people develop good relationships and young people gain a sense of belonging.  Relationships are long lasting. For example, young people who have left the home keep in contact with staff and approach them for advice and guidance.  Young people trust staff and talk to them about matters that are worrying them.  Young people make improvements in their emotional well-being and begin to make improvements in their behaviour.  Some young people have ceased self-harming behaviours as a result of developing safer coping strategies.  Staff work well with families to support them in their parenting of their child.  Young people’s relationships with their parents improve. For one young person, the improvement in her relationship with her family means that she can return home.  Staff care about the young people and offer them unconditional positive regard.  Staff understand each young person’s needs and work hard to meet them.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff use their knowledge and skills to help young people grow and develop in all areas of their lives.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (case records) for each child which— are kept up to date. With reference also to improving the arrangements for auditing the plans for young people. (Regulation 36 (1) (b)) 28/02/17

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (the missing child policy) setting out— the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to the missing child policy, the registered person must— consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person; and have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (4) (a) (b) (5) (a) (b)) 28/02/2017

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Requirement Due date

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 13 (3) (b)) 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:  Staff should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons in supporting young people to develop independence skills. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.28) With specific reference to ensuring that there are clear written plans for each young person that are up to date and achievable to promote the development of the skills they will need to live successfully in the community.

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide should help children to understand: how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)

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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 care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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Recommendations

 The home’s missing from care procedures must take into account the views of appropriate local services and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing person's incidents in the area where the home is located. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.29)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure the independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home's care. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is registered to take up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is owned by a private organisation. The organisation is registered to provide education to the young people it cares for.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 03/11/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/06/2015 Full Requires improvement 09/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/09/2014 Full Good

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Good

The arrangements for young people moving to live in the home help them to settle well. When possible, young people visit the home before moving in so they can see where they will be living and meet the staff and other young people. Impact risk assessments are carried out to establish if there are any areas of incompatibility with the young people already living in the home. Any identified risks are catered for. During the inspection, staff were preparing for a new admission and were busy purchasing the things she was likely to need.

p.7

Good

Young people and staff build positive relationships with each other. Staff listen to young people, show an interest in them and their well-being and care about them. Young people develop a sense of belonging and staff treat them with dignity and respect at all times. A parent said her daughter was, ‘Really comfortable with the staff and the others’. Young people who moved out of the home some time ago have remained in contact with staff and ask for advice and support from time to time. This demonstrates that staff and young people develop lasting, good quality relationships.

p.7

Good

Young people struggle with expressing their feelings at times and can be disruptive as a result. Staff remain calm and firm during young people’s outbursts. Staff understand how past trauma impacts on young people’s behaviour. Staff support young people to develop strategies to deal more appropriately with issues that frustrate them. This support has led to the young people beginning to manage their behaviour more effectively. A social worker said of the young person she works with, ‘This is the most stable she has been.’

p.7

Good

Young people’s views and wishes are listened to. When their wishes are reasonable staff do their best to ensure that these are carried out. When requests are not reasonable or not possible, staff explain the reasons for these not being carried forward. A parent said, ‘They (the staff) talk to her and calm her down and she is so comfortable talking to them.’

p.7

Good

Young people are aware of the complaints procedure. Young people do not often make formal complaints because they are able to get their views across in a variety of ways. These include residents’ meetings, keywork sessions and during day-to- day conversations with staff and the manager.

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Good

Young people struggle with their engagement in education but have made some progress. Some young people’s education attendance has improved and they are beginning to achieve as a result. Staff work well with young people to support their attendance and attainment in education and have high aspirations for them. Young people, through a diversion scheme, take part in a range of interesting, educational and fun activities such as horse riding, trips to the cinema and holidays away from the home. From these they develop skills that will be useful to them in their futures and they have fun.

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Good

None of the young people have significant physical health issues and their attendance at all routine health appointments is well supported by staff. The young people have significant emotional needs, mostly relating to their past experiences. Specialist appointments in relation to young people’s emotional and mental health needs are arranged and supported by staff. Some young people have made very good progress in their emotional well-being since living in the home. For example, young people who frequently self-harmed have not done so for some time. Staff have worked very well in conjunction with external and internal mental health specialists to help young people achieve this very positive progress. The staff work well with specialists in educating young people in other health-related issues, such as promoting their sexual health and stopping substance misuse. The arrangements for the administration and storage of medication ensure that

p.8

Good

medicines are managed safely and securely and young people get the medicine they require at the correct time.

p.8

Good

A strength of the home has been the work with young people’s families. For example, one young person returned to her mother as a direct result of the work and support the two have had. A parent said, ‘They really have supported me with problems at home and supported her (the young person) with them too.’ Other young people and their parents have developed stronger relationships that have meant that they have increased time at the family home, allowing them to maintain connections in their home area. One young person has progressed to having unsupervised time with her family and is now travelling to the family home independently. In line with a recommendation made at the last inspection, staff have been provided with clear guidance about the purpose of family contact they are required to supervise.

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Good

Young people develop some of the skills and confidence they will need to live as successful young adults in the future. Some travel independently to see their family and they have learned the value of money and developed budgeting skills. However, there is a lack of formal independence planning and not all local authority pathway plans are up to date. This means the aims and objectives of this work are not clear. There is the potential that young people will not develop all the skills they need to successfully live independently. Judgement grade

p.8

Good

Young people talk to staff about things that are worrying them most of the time. Due to their complex needs, young people do not always understand their feelings. Staff work with young people to help them explore and understand these and to learn to express them in appropriate ways.

p.9

Good

Risks to young people are assessed and strategies developed to reduce these. There has been an increase in young people coming home late or being reported missing when compared with earlier in the year. While these incidents are dealt with effectively by the staff there is no information in the going missing policy about the expectations of staff once a young person’s whereabouts are unknown. Additionally, there is limited information in the young people’s individual risk assessments about the actions that staff should take when a young person is late home. For example, there is no information about young people’s known associates who may know where they are and no guidance about the timescales for reporting them missing. The deputy manager began to address this during the inspection. However, despite the lack of guidance, staff practice was appropriate during a young person’s recent episode of going missing. Staff were tireless in their

p.9

Good

While there are still disruptive incidents, some progress has been made by the young people in reducing the frequency of their more extreme behaviour. They are beginning to take responsibility for their actions. The use of an incentive scheme and the restorative approach taken to behaviour management are supporting young people to learn how to behave in socially acceptable ways. The use of physical intervention has decreased, and when it is used it is for appropriate reasons. The use of police to assist in dealing with incidents is low and the police report a good working relationship with the manager and staff.

p.9

Good

There have been some incidents of bullying since the last full inspection. These have been appropriately dealt with, and work with the bully and the victim has led to relationships being repaired. The incidents of bullying have reduced.

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Good

Risks from young people accessing the internet are managed well. Staff and young people are aware of the dangers and young people’s access to the internet is monitored.

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Good

Appropriate referrals are made to the designated officer in the local authority and the officer reports a good working relationship with the manager and staff, and she feels they have a commitment to the safeguarding process. Staff are aware of how to deal with allegations of abuse and with dangers arising from all forms of exploitation. The home is located in a rural area that has been assessed as a safe and appropriate place to locate a children’s home. Relationships with neighbours are cordial overall and the young people have made a good effort to become involved in their community by baking cakes for a coffee morning held in the village. The home is well maintained and provides a homely, safe and pleasant environment for the young people. Staff recruitment practice ensures that staff are suitable to work in the home.

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Requires improvement

The manager has been in post since November 2014 and was registered with Ofsted in August 2015. The manager had brought stability to the home but had left the home the day before the inspection. He returned to support the new manager during the visit. The current manager was the deputy of the home so he is known to the staff and young people. He was in the process of making his application to register. In addition to the manager leaving, there have been a number of staff leaving the home, the majority of them due to promotion or movement within the organisation. While there was no evidence that this had impacted significantly on young people, changes in, for example, keyworkers as well as relationship endings have undoubtedly caused them some disruption.

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Requires improvement

The requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. The operation of the home is underpinned by a clear statement of purpose that sets out the aims and objectives of the home. The statement had been amended, as recommended at the last inspection, but had not been forwarded to HMCI.

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Requires improvement

Overall there is good partnership working with other agencies such as the police and the children and adolescent health services, and through these relationships there is a coordinated approach taken to care planning. While staff have a good understanding about each young person’s needs, wishes and progress, not all care plans contain accurate and up-to-date information. The details about one young person’s arrangements in relation to their contact and medication regime were very out of date and this has the potential for confusion about the young person’s current care needs.

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Requires improvement

The arrangements for monitoring need improvement. There is an independent visitor who comes to the home on a monthly basis. Her reports lack evaluation and her view about the quality of safeguarding practice and about how well young people’s well-being is promoted is not included in them. The manager’s monitoring shows he has an insight into strengths and areas for development and that in reaching his conclusions he has considered feedback from stakeholders. He also develops plans to addresses shortfalls. However, this monitoring failed to identify the shortfalls found during this inspection in relation to care plans and gaps in the policy and other documentation relating to young people being missing from care.

p.10

Requires improvement

There are low levels of complaints but the manager has taken these seriously and addressed them. Where required he has made sure that young people make amends, for example for an incident in the local community.

p.11

Requires improvement

Staff are competent and confident in their roles. They care about each young person and want them to achieve to the best of their ability. Young people are the priority for the manager and staff. Staff are well supported in their roles and receive regular good quality supervision. Staff work well as a team. A new member of staff said they felt exceptionally well supported by colleagues.

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Requires improvement

All staff have or are working towards achieving a level 3 qualification. Staff have undertaken the required mandatory training and they have access to appropriate additional training opportunities. Their practice demonstrates that they use what they have learned from training.

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Requires improvement

There is a useful guide for young people with information about the home and the young people have been involved in its development. Some of their thoughts and feelings about going to live in the home are included in the guide. This is useful for young people coming to live in the home as they can see that other young people were anxious about moving in but that they are now settled and enjoying life there. Some of the contact information in the guide about external professionals and agencies is incorrect and the contact details for the Children’s Commissioner for England and Wales are not included in the document.

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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 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 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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