Children's home run by PIC Children’s Services in St. Helens

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:

 The young person benefits from living in a small solo home, and consequently receives a highly individualised care package, with high levels of support every day.  Strong relationships are established between the young person and the staff team. This ensures that the young person has adults around him whom he trusts and with whom he enjoys spending time.  The young person feels settled and happy in the home and appears relaxed and content when interacting with staff. Taking his starting point into consideration, the young person has continued to make progress. He is more settled, less disruptive in the home and has started to open up about his early childhood experiences. It is clear that he benefits immensely from the positive relationships that he has with staff.  Professionals are positive about the quality of care provided. One social worker said, ‘From where [Name] has come from, the progress he has made

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The children’s home provision is good because:

is great. At one time, he really was all over the place. However, he has learned very quickly that staff stick by him no matter what. The staff team genuinely cares for [Name] and he has clearly benefited from the consistent care.’  The staff team benefits from a motivated manager who is committed to supporting both the young person and the staff team members to achieve their potential.  The staff said that they are well supported in their roles by the manager, and that they have regular supervision and team meetings. They also participate in regular training. This ensures that they are well equipped to meet the individual needs of any young person placed in the home.  Internal and external monitoring systems are not robust. The independent visitor’s reports do not consistently provide a summary of the visitor’s opinion as to how effective the home is at promoting the young person’s well-being and safety.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 There are some elements of safeguarding practice which require improvement. These relate to the following: – the need to improve the behaviour management strategies, such as incentives and rewards, as the current system lacks clarity and is ineffective – the need for the manager to take robust action to address the risk presented to the young person when they spend time in the community independently.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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

11. In order to meet the positive relationship standard, the registered person must ensure that staff — (2)(a)(i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding This is with specific reference to having clear incentive and reward schemes, according to the child’s level of understanding. 31/01/2017

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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 (2)(b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. With specific reference to taking robust action to address the increased risks presented to the young person when he is out in the community. 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are safeguarded effectively, and whether the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(4) (a)(b)) 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating and must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(5)) 31/01/2017

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Recommendation

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

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Recommendation

 When children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on the school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulation including the quality standards’, paragraph 5.5, page 28)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately run and is registered for up to one young person who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

29/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Good-quality, individualised care is provided by a small and nurturing staff team. The young person has made particularly strong relationships with the staff; this is because the team have remained consistent during his time at the home. Relationships are built on mutual respect and trust. The young person commented: ‘I like staff. They are sound. I know I can talk to them about stuff.’ The positive relationships between the young person and staff have undoubtedly supported him to remain in the home. Consequently, the young person is enjoying a considerable period of stability. Placement plans are child-focused and provide a good overview of young person’s needs, while never losing sight of his individuality. Staff ensure that the young person’s views and opinions are central to the development and review of how care is delivered. This is achieved through regular meetings and consultations with staff.

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Good

Furthermore, the young person is now confident enough to engage in his review meetings, which signifies considerable progress as previously he refused to engage. This demonstrates that staff make every effort to ensure that the young person is able contribute to the decisions being made about his life. This is important for future planning and helps to develop self-esteem and confidence. Educational outcomes are variable. Although the young person is keen to learn, disruptive behaviour in the classroom environment has resulted in a number of exclusions. When educational progress is interrupted, there is clear evidence that every effort is made to challenge barriers and promote the young person’s participation. The manager has escalated her concerns with the placing authority and the virtual school head teacher, and the young person is receiving home tuition. The young person is at a crucial point in his education and further

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Good

disruption will impact on his future education and employment prospects. The young person’s health has improved. The staff have worked hard to ensure that his health needs are met and they support him to attend routine health appointments. This is a significant area of progress for the young person. Previously, he refused to attend medication reviews and would not consent to dental treatment. He is now confident enough to attend routine dental appointments and contributes fully to his medication reviews. The young person maintains appropriate contact with his family. This is facilitated by staff who understand the importance of helping young people to maintain these significant attachments. Staff are conscious of the impact of contact and remain supportive in their approach. They have forged positive working relationships with the young person’s family which enable them to work in partnership in the best

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Good

interests of the young person. At the start of the placement, the young person engaged in a number of activities provided by the staff team and enjoyed a summer holiday. However, linked to his recent behaviour, the young person has refused a number of planned and suggested activities. Despite this, the staff team continues to offer activities to re- engage him and to broaden his experiences. As a result, the young person has recently enjoyed spending time with staff making Christmas decorations, baking and taking trips out to the cinema and restaurants. Since the last inspection, the staff team has significantly improved the decor of the home by purchasing new furniture and undertaking a programme of redecoration. . The young person is now more settled and has not caused damage to fixtures and fittings for a considerable period of time. The staff team is proud of the young person and displays a number of photographs around the house. This helps to

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Good

create a homely feel in the house, which in turn helps the young person to feel settled in the home and builds in him a sense of ownership of the environment.

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Requires improvement

The young person benefits from living in a solo placement, which enables him to be supported every day by a dedicated team member. Behaviour is generally well managed by the staff team, and the young person adheres to the boundaries and routines in place. The staff team is effective in helping the young person to process and understand emotions such as anger and anxiety. This is achieved through structured project work on associated risk-taking behaviours such as exploitation, e-safety, substance abuse and running away. These sessions have enabled the young person to reflect on where his anger is coming from, which has encouraged him to think about approaching situations differently. Consequently, there has been a clear reduction in the frequency and intensity of aggressive and challenging behaviour in the home environment. The young person was observed as being very relaxed in the company of staff and

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Requires improvement

they share mutually respectful banter with one another. Strong relationships are a key element of behaviour management in the home. One-to-one staffing ratios, good knowledge of the young person’s specific triggers and competence in using de-escalation techniques to diffuse challenging behaviours mean that physical restraint has not been used. This is positive and further demonstrates the positive relationships that exist in the home. However, some elements of behaviour management require improvement. For example, incentive and reward systems are ineffective because they lack clarity and are not consistently implemented by staff. This means that the manager is unable to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of behaviour management strategies. Furthermore, there is little evidence that positive behaviour is consistently rewarded. This does not provide a clear framework to celebrate positive behaviour and recognise when the young person

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Requires improvement

The manager and staff acknowledge that there has been an increase in the young person’s risk-taking behaviour, particularly in relation to anti-social behaviour out in the community. When the young person is away from the home with his peers, the manager cannot ensure his safety. Currently, the pull of spending time with his associates is too strong. The manager has shared the emerging concerns with the appropriate agencies. However, the risk management plans in place to support the staff in managing and reducing these risk-taking behaviours are not being reviewed in conjunction with the placing authority and other relevant parties. This means that interventions aimed at protecting the young person and gathering information about whom he is spending time with are, at best, fragmented and clearly need to improve. The manager needs to take all necessary steps in order to escalate and review such concerns effectively and thus ensure that the young person receives

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Requires improvement

the support that he requires. More positively, there is evidence to demonstrate that the practice of the staff team when the young person goes missing is extremely proactive. Staff complete regular searches of the local area and make numerous attempts to contact the young person in order to locate him and safely return him to the home. Staff make sure that they maintain detailed records of all missing-from-care incidents and ensure that safe and welfare checks have taken place. Staff follow up any missing-from- care episodes in key-work sessions and have lengthy discussions with the young person about associated risks. These sessions have been useful in helping staff to understand the push-and-pull factors behind the missing-from-care episodes. The manager is committed to providing a safe environment and she ensures that regular health and safety checks are completed in the home. Appropriate checks and monitoring of visitors while they are at the home help to protect young people

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Requires improvement

from unsuitable adults in the home as far as possible.

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Good

There has been a change in management since the last inspection. The new manager is suitably experienced to undertake the role and has enrolled on the necessary training to obtain the required qualification. She is in the process of resubmitting her application for registration with Ofsted. The manager and the deputy manager are child focused, committed and motivated individuals. Both have a good understanding of the young person and have high aspirations for him to achieve. The home is well resourced in terms of staffing. Staff have a broad range of experience and skills that enable them to meet the everyday challenges of caring for young people. Leaders, managers and staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities and they are all given regular opportunities to develop and reflect on practice. Team meetings and handovers provide good opportunities to discuss the young person’s progress and to identify areas for development. These

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Good

mechanisms have undoubtedly contributed to the improved communication and consistency within the team. The quality of support ensures that the staff team feels valued and respected. Regular formal supervision gives staff the opportunity to discuss their work and the care and well-being of the young person. They also have access to guidance from managers outside of these formal meetings. This ensures that they are fully supported to maintain a good standard of care in the home. Staff report that they are happy in their roles and that staff morale is very good. This presents itself to the young person through a positive atmosphere in the home. Training and development activities are good. Staff are given regular opportunities to develop their practice through attending training events. This includes core training, such as safeguarding and child sexual exploitation, along with other, bespoke training that is brought in to address areas of need. Training is ongoing

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Good

and regular opportunities are in place to refresh old skills and develop new ones in line with updated regulations, policy and research. This ensures that care practice remains current and well informed. Monitoring undertaken for the organisation by the manager and by the independent person is not sufficiently robust. The manager completes a review of the quality of care every six months. The report offers a lot of detail and provides some analysis of the quality of care that the young person receives. However, the current systems to gather the views of the young person, relatives and professionals are ineffective. This does not help the manager to understand the effectiveness of the home’s approaches to securing improved outcomes for the young person. An independent person visits monthly. However, there are some shortfalls in this external monitoring. Significant incidents are not reviewed with sufficient rigour, and the reports do not consistently provide a summary of the

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Good

visitor’s opinion as to how effective the home is at promoting young people’s well- being and safety. This decreases the effectiveness of the independent visitor’s work and does not demonstrate a drive to make improvements. The manager responds effectively to, and investigates, any serious incidents to ensure that appropriate action is taken. All significant events relating to the welfare and protection of the young person are reported to the appropriate authorities in a timely manner. This provides the young person with effective protection. Partnership working is effective and the manager has good working relationships with relatives and the placing authority, as well as with other professionals, such as the police. This provides a holistic approach to young person’s care.

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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 whom 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 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

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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