Children's home run by Dove Adolescent Services Limited in Wakefield

Outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people make exceptional progress across all aspects of their development.  The manager and staff are skilled at establishing trusting relationships with young people. This gives young people a sound basis from which they can begin to overcome trauma and adversity.  The manager is prepared to challenge others in the interests of the young people. This ensures that young people receive the services and resources that they need.  Partnership working is strong, particularly with family members. This enables young people to experience improvements in the quality of contact with their families.  Management, leadership and monitoring activities are highly effective in achieving high-quality care for young people.

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who have 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

29/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

28/01/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

Young people make significant progress relative to their starting points. This is because they develop very positive bonds with experienced, motivated and well- supported staff who provide them with highly nurturing standards of care. One young person said: ‘I like living here. There is nothing I would change.’ Staff spend good-quality time with young people and show genuine interest in their well-being. They persevere through challenging times to help young people to find their way through life to achieve optimum outcomes. As a result, young people engage well in education, become more emotionally resilient, take pride in their personal appearance and enjoy improved contact with families. For example, one young person’s relationship with family progressed so successfully that overnight stays were agreed. As young people begin to feel more confident, they increasingly take more responsibility for themselves, such as getting themselves up for college. Young

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Outstanding

people participate in activities of their own choosing, such as fishing, football and rugby, and enjoy these activities in the company of staff. This is testament to the quality of the relationships that exist between staff and young people. The consideration of new referrals to the home is underpinned by risk assessments that look at the potential impact on young people who are already living at the home. This ensures that new placements get off to a good start and that the competing and complex needs of all young people can be successfully met. Young people enjoy excellent support to move on to independence in a way which best meets their needs. Staff keep in touch with young people once they have left the home, making contact with them at Christmas and on their birthdays for example. In acknowledgement of the appreciation felt by a young person who recently moved, he wrote in a letter: ‘The past four years have been by far the

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Outstanding

most fun, happiest and memorable four years of my life.’ Young people are very much involved in decisions about the running of the home and in setting their short-, medium- and long-term goals. This helps to make care planning more individualised for the young person concerned, and helps them to understand what outcomes they are working towards. Judgement grade

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Outstanding

One of the most significant strengths of the home is the ability of staff to achieve meaningful relationships with young people. This helps young people to develop trust in adults. One young person said of staff: ‘I can tell anybody anything.’ Recognising that there may be occasions when young people want to raise matters to professionals outside of the home, a separate email address for the independent visitor is provided. This gives young people a secure and private means of disclosing any concerns and contributes to overall safeguarding measures. Staff are acutely aware of the dangers of young people going missing from the home and the potential exposure to child sexual exploitation. Staff are adept in identifying and reducing such risks. This helps young people to become increasingly safe. On the rare occasions when it is judged that young people’s safeguarding needs cannot be met, staff actively work with other professionals to secure alternative

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Outstanding

placements as quickly as possible. Young people are not abandoned in these circumstances; in one such case, staff stayed with a young person for three days to help her to settle in her new placement. Staff are skilled at dealing with challenging behaviour without the need for physical restraint. Young people increasingly respond to the boundaries and expectations set for them. When things go wrong, staff continue to persevere to help young people to reflect on and adjust their behaviour. Young people are safe because recruitment procedures ensure that only individuals who are safe to work with vulnerable groups are employed at the home. Regular fire and other health and safety checks also ensure that this is a home that is free from hazards and environmental risks.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is suitably qualified and has extensive experience of working with children and young people. She has managed this home for several years and is well regarded by staff and other professionals. The manager exercises effective leadership qualities, promoting for young people excellent care, highly individualised care planning and strong partnership working. Parents have complimented staff on the work that they are undertaking with their children and note the difference that this is making. Monitoring is strong, and the manager has a very good understanding of the need to evaluate progress in relation to each young person’s starting point. She ensures that there are clear targets for each young person, linked to their placement plan, and that staff intervention is focused on helping young people to progress. The manager and staff work closely as a team and continually look for new and

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Outstanding

innovative ways to make life better for children and young people. Staff feel well supported through training, supervision and team meetings. They feel that there is plenty of opportunity to gain new skills. The manager ensures that research informs practice and that staff training has relevance to the lives of the young people and the world they live in. This includes topics such as restorative practice, prejudice and substance misuse. Partnership working with parents and professionals is strong. This enables the home to deliver services to young people that are of consistently high quality. In this way, the home more than fulfils the objectives in its statement of purpose to provide a high quality care for young people.

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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, 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 Text phone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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