Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

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 make noticeable progress as a result of their short breaks at this home. They look forward to their visits and thoroughly enjoy spending time with staff.  Young people are enabled to remain living safely at home with their families. Undoubtedly, the service empowers parents to care and protect their children in their own family home.  Young people benefit from developing warm, nurturing and trusting relationships with staff. These positive relationships are helping young people to build emotional resilience and greater confidence and to thrive.  Staff support young people to participate in hobbies and activities that they enjoy. Not only does this improve young people’s social development and skills, it supports them to develop interests in activities that are safe and enriching.  Staff demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of young people’s needs, strengths and vulnerabilities. They are alert to all potential dangers

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The children’s home provision is good because:

and have strategies in place to manage risk and keep young people safe. Staff’s vigilance and diligence increases young people’s safety.  Staff are extremely nurturing and have created a warm, welcoming, homely environment. This ensures that young people feel comfortable, valued and safe during their short breaks.  Partnership working with young people, parents, social workers and other professionals is excellent. As a result, young people and their families are swiftly linked in with the support services that they need.  A strong leadership team runs the service effectively. Staff feel wholly supported, and this is reflected in the high level of support that they provide to young people and their families.  Improvements can be made in the home’s statement of purpose and the internal monitoring system.

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Statutory requirements

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

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must–

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Requirement Due date

(2)(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is robust auditing of the home’s records. 31/03/2017

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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 16 (3)(a)(b)) 31/03/2017

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority service provides short-break care for up to three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The purpose of the service is to enable young people to remain living at home with their families.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/11/2016 Interim Not judged 08/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/07/2015 Full Outstanding 18/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

The service provides weekend short breaks to young people who are experiencing difficulties within their families. The service is part of the ‘Families First’ team, a team that provides intensive support to families in need of social care intervention. Without a doubt, this service is making a positive difference to young people’s lives and is enabling many young people to remain living safely at home with their families.

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Good

Short-break planning is effective. The team works collaboratively with young people, parents and social workers to tailor individualised plans which identify the areas where support is required. Staff provide outreach support to families as well as providing the short-break care in the home. Consequently, when young people come to stay at the home, they know staff extremely well and are familiar with the running of the service. This helps young people to feel comfortable and secure during their short-break visits.

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Good

A young person described the service as ‘perfect’ and confirmed that he gets along with all staff. Some minor shortfalls were identified in the home’s records. For example, on more than one occasion documents were not signed or dated by the author, which made it difficult to track the record. This stifles the monitoring of young people’s progress, because it is not clear when and by whom their needs were assessed. These shortfalls reflect weaknesses in the home’s monitoring system rather than shortfalls in the quality of care provided.

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Good

Staff are extremely nurturing, knowledgeable and committed to improving young people’s lives and experiences. They provide young people with a safe space to reflect on their family experiences and develop a greater understanding of the difficulties that their family faces. As a result, young people and their families develop suitable skills to resolve such challenges and sustain a healthier family life.

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Good

Young people benefit from becoming more confident, resilient and self-assured. Staff give young people space, time and support to develop their self-esteem, which involves staff emphasising young people’s strengths and qualities. Furthermore, staff empower parents to understand their children’s emotions and behaviour, as well as supporting them to implement effective behaviour management strategies, for example praise and reward charts. Relationships between young people and their parents improve and this enables young people to remain living at home with their families. Parents and other professionals spoke highly of the service and staff. A parent said: ‘Everyone has been great. I can’t fault them. Our key-worker is like a godsend… She goes above and beyond what is expected.’

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Good

Staff provide young people with ample opportunities to participate in activities and hobbies that they thoroughly enjoy, such as visits to local scooter parks. These community-based hobbies are enhancing young people’s social development, increasing their confidence and steering them away from unsafe activities.

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Good

The responsibility for young people’s health and education remains solely with their parents. However, suitable arrangements are in place should a child become unwell during their visit. Furthermore, staff work closely with parents, social workers and, when necessary, therapists to ensure that young people are accessing the support and services that they require. Similarly, staff support parents to work in partnership with schools and help them to resolve any barriers to their child’s education, such as exclusions.

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Good

The home is maintained to a high standard. Young people are encouraged to personalise their own space and this helps them to feel comfortable, relaxed and secure during their visits.

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Good

Young people’s welfare and safety is staff’s priority. Staff know the young people extremely well and follow detailed risk assessments that have been drawn up in agreement with parents and social workers. This ensures that young people are safeguarded consistently, both at home with their families and during their short breaks with staff.

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Good

Staff receive training on a range of safeguarding matters, including child sexual exploitation. This provides staff with an in-depth understanding of all potential risks and makes them wholly aware of their safeguarding duties and responsibilities.

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Good

Staff manage young people’s behaviour extremely well. With staff support and guidance, young people are learning how to make safer choices and keep themselves safe. Staff are skilled at de-escalating challenging situations when they arise and, as a result, the use of physical restraint has not been necessary.

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Good

Staff support parents to develop better safeguarding measures within their family home. Consequently, young people are safer, due to the diligent support that the team provides to young people and their parents. This is evident in the significant reduction in a young person’s missing from home episodes. A missing-from-home worker confirmed this in her comments: ‘I’ve seen improvement since he’s been using this service. The staff put a lot of time in. They have worked with parents on using reward charts and relationship building. Communication from staff is most definitely good.’

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Good

To date, young people have not gone missing during their short break visits. The service has clear risk assessments, policies and procedures in place, should a young person go missing. This pro-active safeguarding approach is ensuring that all potential dangers are evaluated and prepared for.

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Good

Young people know how to make a complaint. The complaints procedure is made clear to young people and their parents from the very start. Providing young people with a strong voice and ensuring that their views and comments are heard enhances their safety and their participation in service development.

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Good

Regular health-and-safety checks, such as service maintenance of all appliances and fire equipment, ensure that the home remains a safe and secure environment.

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Good

The registered manager has been absent from the home since February 2017 and she is due to retire at the end of March 2017. In her absence, the service manager and deputy manager have assumed responsibility for the day-to-day running of the home. The newly recruited manager is currently in the process of submitting her application to register with Ofsted. The service employs an experienced deputy manager who supports the day-to-day running of the home.

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Good

The service employs a sufficient number of experienced staff. This dedicated, stable and diverse team is a key strength of the service. Team members come from a range of professional backgrounds, including social work, children’s residential work, youth offending and youth careers services. This highly skilled and knowledgeable team is enabling young people to access a host of specialist information and support. Furthermore, partnership working with other services, such as the therapeutic social work team and the specialist child sexual exploitation service, is enhancing young people’s safety and life chances.

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Good

Staff receive regular professional supervision that provides them with opportunities to discuss their work, reflect on their practice and continue to learn and develop. Staff spoken to were extremely enthusiastic about their work and are extremely proud of their achievements and positive outcomes. In the last seven months, the service has prevented 65 young people from coming into care. The service provides its staff with a wide range of training opportunities, which include empowering families, emergency first aid and family group conferencing. As a result, staff are wholly equipped with the knowledge, skills and expertise to carry out their roles effectively. The system for recording and monitoring staff training can improve by ensuring that the team’s training matrix is kept up to date to reflect all training that staff have attended.

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Good

The statement of purpose and ‘Young people’s guide’ have not been updated to reflect all staff changes. Furthermore, the ‘Young person’s guide’ provided incorrect contact details for Ofsted. This potentially compromises young people’s rights by preventing them from contacting the service regulator independently. These administrative shortfalls demonstrate further gaps in service monitoring.

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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. Whenever 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 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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