Children's Home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 1 Registered provider: Roc Northwest Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is one of a number of homes operated by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people make very good progress living here.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have good relationships with staff. Generally, the young people get along with each other too.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff know the young people well. They work hard to understand their interests and encourage them to take part in activities that will help develop self-esteem, confidence and skills.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people feel happy and safe at the home and they say that they like living there.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people feel that staff listen to them. They are encouraged to share their wishes and feelings. An independent advocate also visits on a monthly basis.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people engage with education. Staff seek to ensure that they understand young people’s educational needs and that they access the correct educational provision for them.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have aspirations and they receive support to reach their potential.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff communicate well with the young people’s families. They support young people to have regular contact with their family and friends.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work very well with other agencies. Communication is effective. Agencies are positive about the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 Risk assessments and behaviour management plans do not always have a link with each other. Furthermore, the information is not always accurate and clear.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The assessment of health does not identify all presenting needs. Specialist training and services are not always accessed in a timely way.

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Key findings from this inspection

 When young people go missing, they do not always have an independent return home interview.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Case records do not always contain accurate and sufficient detail. Language used is sometimes ambiguous.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Prevention and de-escalation strategies are not always used to manage challenging behaviour. Restorative approaches are not embedded into practice. Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 3

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Inspection judgement

Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered manager should ensure 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. (Regulation 12 (2) (b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, all risk assessments and behaviour management plans should have a link with each other and the information in them should be accurate and clear. 22/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, the registered person should ensure that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1) (a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, young people’s health needs are assessed and recorded accurately. Furthermore, that specialist training and services are accessed in a timely way. 22/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject of a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Specifically, that records contain accurate, sufficient detail that is not ambiguous. Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 5  Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Recommendations

 The behaviour management strategy should be understood and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34) In particular, to use consistent preventative and de- escalation strategies and to employ restorative approaches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress here. They receive care and support that are individual to their needs. Staff have a good understanding of these needs. Young people benefit from clear routines and boundaries. They are encouraged to take part in pursuits that are of interest to them and to explore other activities that may be of interest. It is evident that young people have good relationships with staff. They say that they get on with each other too. Young people enjoy going on activities together. There are pictures in the home that show young people enjoying activities with one another. Young people are respectful of each other, the staff and their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people say that staff listen to them. An advocate also visits on a monthly basis. They have regular young people’s meetings that are meaningful. They are actively involved with these and develop the weekly menus and activities. The menus and activity planners are amended accordingly to meet young people’s needs. For example, pictorial planners are developed for young people who have difficulties with reading. Some young people display these in their rooms, which demonstrates that they find them useful as a point of reference and as a reminder of the weekly plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive support to access services that will assist them in meeting their identified needs. However, staff do not routinely explore all areas of support available. Subsequently, there is sometimes a delay in needs not being fully assessed and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff liaise with other agencies well and feedback from them is positive. Agencies report that communication is effective, which supports young people’s progress. Communication with parents is also good. Contact with families and friends is promoted. Young people receive the support they need in seeing their families regularly. Staff facilitate this well. Contact arrangements progress well. Young people benefit from the opportunity to have unsupervised contact once relationships with their families improve. Parents report that they are happy with the placement for their children and they get on Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 6 well with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is inviting and calm and reflects the young people that are living there. One parent said that the home has a ‘nice atmosphere and feels absolutely lovely’. Agencies also comment and say that the home is inviting and friendly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Culturally, the home meets young people’s needs. Staff encourage young people to learn about their heritage. However, staff are not always clear on young people origins. Nonetheless, they do strive to learn about this and they support young people to learn about other cultures and beliefs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Prior to coming to live at the home, young people accessed very limited education. Some young people had not attended education for a while. Once they arrive, young people access education and their attendance and attainment improve. When young people struggle to attend and engage in education they receive support, encouragement and incentives, which has a positive outcome. Young people are doing well in their education and engagement is good. One teacher said, ‘[Name of child] is in the best place he has been since year 7.’

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improvement to be good

Young people who live in this home are safe. Staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities. The home is well maintained. However, there are sometimes delays in repairing broken items. Some items that needed attention were resolved during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Young people say that they know how to complain and will speak with staff about any issues they have. They are aware of the wider network of help and guidance and have regular visits from an independent visitor.

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improvement to be good

The home has good links with other agencies. These links support young people to achieve good outcomes. Staff do, overall, seek support for young people from specialist agencies, when required.

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improvement to be good

The rate of missing from home incidents is low. Procedures to manage young people going missing from home are effective. Staff are proactive in locating the young person and ensuring that they are safe and well on their return. Furthermore, chronologies and records are clear. However, return home interviews are not routinely conducted. As a result, young people do not have the opportunity to discuss, with an independent person, why they have gone missing. Consequently, the reasons are not always known and this information cannot be used to reduce the risk of any further episodes of going missing.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always link risk assessments and behaviour management plans appropriately. Records are not always accurate. Furthermore, they are not updated Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 7 regularly to ensure they are an accurate record of risks apparent to young people The language used is, at times, ambiguous. Therefore, information is sometimes misunderstood and misinterpreted. However, staff are aware of the main presenting risks and they work together to understand and manage these. In addition, the organisation has recently commissioned extra support from an external therapeutic service that works with staff to explore young people’s risk-taking behaviours and strategies to use to manage these more effectively.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to assess their own risk-taking behaviour and this information is used to inform behaviour management plans. However, the management of young people’s behaviour is not consistent. Staff do not always use the same strategies as their colleagues. The use of physical intervention is high. Staff do not routinely use preventative and de-escalation strategies to manage behaviour. With the support of an external therapeutic service, staff are beginning to use alternative strategies and monitor the outcome of these. When this happens, it is effective and physical interventions reduce. Staff are making progress to develop practice that is more preventative in nature.

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improvement to be good

Staff are vigilant and take appropriate steps to verify visitors’ identities to protect young people. Health and safety checks are conducted, and this ensures a safe living environment. The local area safer risk assessment clearly identifies the risks and the safety measures in place to keep young people safe in their local community. This does not, however, take into account the recent external developments on the site.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leadership and management are effective. The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. There is a newly appointed deputy manager in post. She is also suitably qualified and experienced. Together, they run the home effectively in line with the aims and ethos of the statement of purpose. The recruitment and selection of staff are good. The home is adequately resourced. Staff are suitably qualified or working towards this. Staff members make up a newly formed team. Managers are working together to develop the staff team Staff say that they feel supported. Members of staff receive regular supervision and the training available reflects the young people’s needs. Training gaps are identified and arrangements are made for appropriate training to take place. Team meetings are focused and interactive. The agenda is clear, as are the short and long-term aims and objectives of the home. Staff are encouraged to develop their skills

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

and abilities and work with each other to recognise strengths and weaknesses. There is a commitment to share experiences and enhance practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of the young people and seek to support them to reach their full potential. There are good and respectful relationships between young people and staff. Managers are clear on the expectations that they have of staff. Team morale is good and there are incentives and activities in place to support this. Young people and staff are encouraged to share their views, wishes and feelings and this information is used to support the development of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 8 The external monitoring of the home is good. The manager uses this information to support the continuous improvements within the home. Systems and process are under review and the changes made thus far are proving effective. Management oversight is in place and this enables practice to be reviewed and challenged where required. The development plan highlights the strengths of the home and areas that need further

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

improvement. Furthermore, it is young person and outcome focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Liaison with other agencies is effective. Communication and partnership working are good. Professionals speak positively about the home. They are readily kept up to date with the progress of young people and any incidents are reported in a timely way. It is evident that the managers and staff are working together with young people, their families and partner agencies to effect positive change for young people in their care.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Roc Northwest Ltd, 41 Silverdale Road, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 0AL

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Inspector

Lisa Gregoire-Parker, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1244287 10 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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