Children's Home run by Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd in Staffordshire

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 enjoy a comfortable and well-maintained home, which staff have recently redecorated in young and vibrant colours. Young people personalise their rooms and are able to relax and focus on their own needs.  Young people form warm and trusting relationships with dedicated and sensitive staff who listen to them and give consideration to their views, wishes and feelings.  Young people engage in the weekly young people meetings, when they discuss any issues of concern and choose their menus and activities for the coming week.  Young people have fun with staff, who enable them to enjoy a range of stimulating activities.  Staff help young people to keep themselves safe and they liaise closely with other professionals to ensure that risk assessments and behaviour management plans are accurate and relevant.  The highly competent registered manager ensures that staff receive regular supervision and training, and that staff are confident in their roles.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The registered manager consults with young people, staff, professionals and family members to review the service, and uses the feedback to drive up standards.  Staff do not always record their actions taken in response to a complaint by a young person and the outcome of the investigation. This is an area for improvement.

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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 ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 27/02/2017

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Information about this children's home

This privately run children’s home is registered to care for up to two young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is located next to its sister home. The service currently provides short or long-term care for children and young people aged eight to 18 years.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/11/2015 Full Good 25/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/12/2014 Full Good

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Good

Since the last inspection, creative staff have refurbished the home to a high standard with fun, youthful colours and furniture. This has created a welcoming home and a warm, friendly atmosphere, which supports young people’s emotional well-being and helps them relax. Young people have personalised their rooms and they can enjoy the well-maintained garden in the summer months.

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Good

Young people benefit from a high level of support from caring and sensitive staff. One young person, who was placed at the home very recently, came for an introductory visit and chose this home in preference to another home that he had also visited. Staff have effectively helped him to settle in and he has quickly formed positive relationships with all of the staff. Since the last inspection, one young person moved to another home within the company, as part of her plan to become semi-independent. Her key worker was able to move to the new placement with her for a period of three months, to support her plan. This enabled the young person to move confidently on to semi-independence.

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Good

Young people receive consistent care from a stable staff team, which works closely to provide effective boundaries and routines that enable young people to feel secure. Staff are warm and supportive, and young people form trusting relationships with them. Key work sessions with young people address a wide range of personal and often challenging issues, including behaviour, education, independence, personal hygiene, smoking and child sexual exploitation. Young people make significant progress in attending education, developing independence skills and accepting rules and boundaries. These support their emotional and social development and help to prepare them for a positive future.

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Good

One young person has chosen to spend as little time as possible in the home and this has been challenging for the staff. However, when he has been present, the tenacious and child-focused staff have worked hard to engage him in valuable conversations about his behaviour and choices, and to make positive contributions to his experiences and development.

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Good

Staff listen to young people and take their views, wishes and feelings into account. Young people engage in the weekly young people meetings when they feel able to express their views, wishes and feelings. The meetings enable them to choose menus and activities and to express any concerns they may have.

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Good

Young people enjoy a range of fun activities with enthusiastic staff, including go- karting, going to the cinema, bowling, attending a local trampoline centre and cycling. These activities support their social, educational and emotional development. Staff constantly support and monitor young people’s education and health, ensuring that they attend education and addressing their health needs quickly and appropriately. Staff encourage young people to meet their potential and work towards positive outcomes.

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Good

The social worker of one young person who has recently left the placement commented: ‘He always commented on how homely the placement is, and I agree. Staff are professional but clearly genuinely warm and caring. The patience and resilience demonstrated by workers is to be admired. They work well not just with myself and other professionals, but also with family. I am certain that his experience of the high standard of care provided to him will assist him with future outcomes.’

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Good

Thorough and detailed risk assessments and behaviour management plans provide the vigilant staff with the information they need to anticipate and reduce risk and to respond appropriately to incidents. The registered manager regularly reviews these plans to ensure that they remain relevant and help to keep young people safe.

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Good

Staff are highly trained in safeguarding and child protection including in self-harm and child sexual exploitation. Their training is up to date and enables them to be confident in their roles. When staff use physical intervention it is as a last resort, and staff are highly skilled at de-escalating conflict with young people. Staff work with young people to understand risks and keep themselves safe. Key work sessions address behaviour, criminal activity, historic abuse, child sexual exploitation and drugs. Staff follow placement plans and risk assessments carefully and, when necessary, supervise family contact in order to protect young people.

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Good

Staff liaise closely with a range of other professionals including schools, the police, social workers and the youth offending service, to understand risk and keep young people safe. The registered manager reviews the locality assessment, which highlights potential risks in the area for staff and young people.

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Good

The most recent young person to be admitted had threatened to run away from the placement before he arrived. He has not however absconded, because staff have quickly established positive relationships with him. They have put firm routines and boundaries in place, which support him to manage his emotions and reduce his risk-taking behaviour.

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Good

Staff have worked in collaboration with the social worker for one young person who refuses to spend time in the home or engage with staff. Together they have written and implemented a support plan to reduce and manage the risks to him when he is away from the home. This includes staff undertaking key work to educate him on staying safe in the community, attending professionals meetings to discuss risk, ensuring that he has the home’s telephone number and calling him on a daily basis. They have produced a child sexual exploitation folder, which includes details of known addresses and associates in the area who pose a risk of child sexual exploitation, to which staff can refer. The registered manager has sent a risk factor matrix for the young person to the police child sexual exploitation unit and placing authority, which she reviews every six weeks. His social worker has stated that prior to coming to this placement the young person would be missing for

p.8

Good

weeks at a time and would not maintain contact with staff. Significantly, in this placement, although he regularly goes missing from the home, he answers the phone when staff call him on a daily basis. This enables staff to monitor his well- being and alerts them to any problems. The registered manager has effectively challenged the young person’s placing authority, which has acknowledged that this placement cannot fully meet his safeguarding needs. They are now seeking an alternative placement for him.

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Good

The home is well maintained and safe. A discussion with the registered manager regarding a minor health and safety issue, which did not have an impact on the young people, resulted in her immediate and appropriate response to the matter.

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Good

The registered manager holds a level 5 diploma in management. She has had many years’ experience of working with children and young people, and has been in this post since 2008. She also manages the sister home next door, which is judged as good. All staff either hold a level 3 qualification or are currently undertaking the diploma. All staff hold first aid qualifications. The registered manager is a very competent manager who provides staff with good all round support and is highly child focused. She is skilled in all areas of management and leadership and pays attention to detail. Staff feel strongly supported by the registered manager, who also challenges them in regular supervision and team meetings.

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Good

The registered manager expects staff to contribute to the development of the home and they openly express their views and ideas in team meetings and supervision. Recent feedback from staff has resulted in less online training. Staff said they did not feel they were benefiting from the online courses and that they preferred ‘hands on’ training with a trainer present. The service responded to this feedback and staff have received training directly from a trainer for self-harm and food safety. They provided very positive feedback from this, saying how much they had enjoyed the courses and how much this approach has enhanced their learning. Staff receive relevant and regular training, which supports their work and enables them to feel confident in their roles.

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Good

The registered manager challenges other professionals who are not meeting the needs of young people. She has advocated on behalf of the young person who repeatedly stays away from the home, stating that this placement is not able to meet his needs. The placing authority has listened to her and is now identifying a new placement for him. Staff are also confident to state their views and challenge other professionals, and the registered manager supports them in this. One of the newer members of staff commented that in the short time she has been here she has grown in confidence. She now feels able provide her opinions, as well as information about young people in looked after reviews.

p.9

Good

Staff work with a range of professionals including the police, social workers, drugs services and the children and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) to provide valuable support networks for young people. Staff provide excellent detailed weekly reports to social workers and independent reviewing officers. These reports provide valuable information about the progress that young people are making and highlight any issues of concern. This supports professionals to make appropriate placement plans for young people and to be aware of their progress in the placement on a week-by-week basis.

p.9

Good

The registered manager consults with young people, staff, professionals and family and uses this feedback to inform her review of the service and to drive up standards. Improvements to the service since the last inspection include providing an independence file for each young person, containing evidence of their achievements and details of the work that staff need to undertake with them in order to support their development. The registered manager has revised risk management plans to enable staff to increase the involvement of young people in finding solutions. She has also reviewed and improved the daily personal progress record sheets for young people, which now include specific areas of importance for each individual young person. Social workers have responded very positively to what they see as additional focus in the records.

p.9

Good

One area for improvement is that staff do not always complete records of actions taken in response to complaints in order to demonstrate that they have fully adhered to the complaints process.

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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 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 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

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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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