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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 1 SC411825 Registered provider: Inspire Children‟s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children‟s home, registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Inspection dates: 6 to 7 June 2017

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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 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: Improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Admissions to this home are sensitively managed. It is a gradual process, at the child‟s pace. This means that they settle quickly and immediately start to build trusting relationships with the staff. Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 2  The child currently living at this home is very happy and relaxed, and feels safe and settled. Consequently, previous significant self-injurious and other challenging behaviours have ceased.  Children and young people are treated and respected as individuals in their own right, which makes them feel loved and valued.  Children‟s and young people‟s wishes and feelings are central to the day-to-day running of the home. All reasonable requests are positively responded to, if this is in their best interests.  Good staffing ratios ensure that children and young people benefit from highly individualised care. Staff show a genuine interest in their daily lives, and children

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Key findings from this inspection

and young people clearly enjoy spending individual quality time with them.  The child in placement particularly benefits from being well cared for by a carefully selected staff team with a diverse range of relevant skills and experiences, and who have a particularly good knowledge of, and can meet, his individual needs and personal preferences.  Children and young people enjoy taking part in a wide range of age-appropriate, stimulating and constructive activities. This helps to strengthen their sense of belonging. Individual interests and talents are actively encouraged and supported, which increases their self-esteem and effectively develops their competencies and confidences.  Children and young people particularly benefit from the clear and consistent routines and boundaries in place at this home, and respond well to the emphasis on positive reinforcement of good behaviours and effort.

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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

 There are no regulatory shortfalls arising from this inspection.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Four recommendations have been made, to continue to: promote and develop children‟s religious beliefs; ensure that all children‟s records are maintained at a good standard; further strengthen the monitoring systems in place; to improve the living environment.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/11/2016 Full Requires improvement 16/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/08/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 3

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Recommendations

 Demonstrate that children are enabled to develop religious beliefs through participation and instruction. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 17, paragraph 3.22)

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Recommendations

 The design of the home should, where appropriate, enable children to develop independence skills within the supportive environment of the home, and in particular, by upgrading the bathroom. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 17, paragraph 3.25)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that all staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement and in particular; demonstrate that any issues raised by stakeholders are listened to and acted upon; and, the effectiveness of individual sessions with children are evaluated. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The one young person currently living at this home is very happy and settled, and enjoys excellent relationships with all the staff. He eagerly engages in the wide range of positive experiences on offer and is making good progress, to the extent that he no longer requires individual therapy sessions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

He does not have any face-to-face family contact, but has been supported by the staff to write to his brothers and sisters, and he was thrilled to receive a letter back. He also enjoys quality time with his last foster carer, who lives locally, and he refers to her as „Mum.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The admission process to this home and to a new school was conducted gradually and sensitively at the child‟s pace, and his wishes and feelings were ascertained and acted upon from the outset. This was also in full collaboration with the last home and placing authority. This means that his unique and complex needs, personal preferences, vulnerabilities, risks and routines were well known before he moved in, and staff were Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 4 selected and trained accordingly. Consequently, he benefits from highly individualised care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

He has ample opportunities to contribute to his day-to-day care, including in frequent key-worker sessions at which highly relevant and sensitive issues are explored. He is also involved in the continued development of the wider organisation through participation in the children‟s care council. He said, „I chose the colours and mural for my new games room, and it is amazing.‟ Moreover, he has gained the confidence to participate in his statutory reviews. Consequently, he recently told a room full of professionals, „I like living at this home. It‟s awesome, the best thing that has happened to me. I am in a football team now. I‟m a striker. People tell me that I am a nice person. I am proud of being a good friend. I have very good behaviour, because I love school and the teachers. I like the rewards I get for being so good. I enjoy reading, and when I am older I want to be a policeman.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of this home is the wide range and frequency of the constructive activities that children and young people can take part in, both inside the home and in the local community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child in placement is very keen to take part in all activities on offer, including golf and fishing, and has found that he loves crabbing, so he went twice in the recent half- term holidays. During the Easter holidays, he went camping and had a wonderful time learning to erect the tent, visiting an animal farm and a castle, and going horse riding. His love of animals is incorporated into many of his activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Talents and interests are actively supported, which increases self-esteem and competencies. Consequently, he has recently joined a local dance group in addition to a football team, which is good exercise, strengthening his sense of belonging and developing his social skills. Furthermore, he is now positively contributing to the community by, for example, taking part in a charity dance-a-thon.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On admission, he expressed a wish to develop his faith. However, there is limited evidence that this has been actively promoted, so a recommendation has been made to ensure that this is regularly explored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are good systems in place to ensure children‟s and young people‟s continued good health, including timely health checks and immunisations. Consequently, the child living at the home is fit and healthy, and benefits from regular physical exercise. He loves food and is provided with varied, homemade, nutritious meals. He still has to be closely supervised about snacking, but is noticeably already making wiser choices in this regard. He said, „I enjoy lots of different fruit and vegetables. They are my favourite foods.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has established good collaborative working with his school, and this ensures a consistent approach to meeting his educational and behavioural needs. All professionals who attended his recent educational review concluded, „This placement is absolutely appropriate and we are confident that he will make excellent progress there.‟ Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 5 He loves his new specialist school and has maintained 100% school attendance. Four months on, he is now tolerating small classroom settings and is continually increasing his concentration levels, which is all good progress from his starting point. In response, the staff have ascertained his specific targets and are actively supporting him to achieve them. He now loves reading to staff every night before going to sleep, which has markedly improved his reading abilities. This extract from a recent school report demonstrates his progress since moving to this home and school: „He coped well with

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the transition to his new school, has settled well and made a good friend. He engages well in lessons and is making good progress. He has good manners, can communicate his needs and has a creative imagination. He is a confident reader and it is very clear that he is enjoying school. He is a very caring boy who is able to empathise with others. He is always cheerful and happy. He is often voted “star of the week”, which is very important to him.‟ The school certificates are prominently displayed in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that he has frequent opportunities to develop age- and ability-appropriate skills needed for future independent living. Consequently, his personal hygiene has much improved. He said, „I am very good at looking after myself now and I brush my teeth twice a day here.‟ This, in turn, demonstrably increases his self-esteem. He also helps with daily household chores, often without being asked, and particularly enjoys cooking and baking. He has also shown a genuine interest in developing the home‟s extensive back garden. To date, he has planted potatoes and flowers.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The child currently living at this home feels very safe and secure in this quieter environment, having moved from a 10-bedded home. In fact, he has built up such strong, positive attachments with this consistent team of staff that they have now been asked to do therapeutic life-story work with him. Consequently, self-injurious behaviours have ceased, there have been no incidents of him going missing and the need to physically intervene to manage his behaviours is rare.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Restraint records and other relevant documentation are in good order. They clearly show that the least restrictive and recognised hold is used for the shortest period of time needed for the child to calm, and no injuries have been sustained. Sanction records show that the few that are imposed are relevant and proportionate to the particular misdemeanour. Moreover, the child is now accepting them and is taking more responsibility for his actions. This is all significant progress.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The constant positive reinforcement of good behaviours and effort has the desired effect on his behaviours. In fact, his independent reviewing officer said, „Compared to when he was in his last placement, he is a different child. He has settled really well here and has warmed to the staff, who know him well. They are proactive in organising lots of new trips and activities, and there is good communication between this home and his new school.‟

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff at this home benefit from group sessions with a therapist to explore ways of meeting the child‟s complex needs. Strategies put into practice have already had a Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 6 marked positive effect. For example, he can now bathe independently and safely, and he follows his morning routines with few prompts. Issues relating to food are also decreasing noticeably. For example, on the last occasion when he was refused a snack because he had only just had his meal, he ate a nectarine without making any challenges.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Members of staff are also noticing other positive changes, for example „It is easier to get him away from the television‟, „He no longer goes on his scooter before getting into the car for school. Now he just gets in the car‟ and „This morning he was in a really good mood. I could tell that he had benefited from a good night‟s sleep.‟ In turn, such successes have instilled confidence in the team to effectively and safely manage a diverse range of challenging behaviours. Comments from staff include: „These sessions help us to look at alternative reasons for his behaviours, for example food issues and bathroom habits. I would also like to think that in 12 months‟ time we will have got his bedtime routines fully in place‟ and „I appreciate getting reassurance that we are doing some things right.‟

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The therapist said: „This placement is a positive one for this young person, and he likes living here. The staff are well led and are extremely focused on meeting his needs. It would not be appropriate for another young person to move in for the foreseeable future.‟

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The current challenge then, is to ensure that the child has opportunities to develop appropriate social skills. To this end, they are inviting his new friends to his imminent birthday party.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Despite the known vulnerabilities of this child, this competent team has the confidence not to be risk adverse, for example allowing him to join local clubs. Alongside this promotion of independence, it is currently focusing on „stranger danger‟ with him, as he will approach and talk to anyone, especially if they have a dog. To aid his understanding of the associated risks, he has already received regular specialist advice about safely approaching and caring for animals, which he was really interested in. Moreover, he is now putting this learning into practice and loves it when staff bring their dogs to work and they go for walks.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

All the required health and safety certificates are in place, and internal checks are undertaken at the required frequencies to ensure a safe environment. There is clear evidence of an ongoing programme of redecoration to maintain the home at a satisfactory standard. Consequently, the young person‟s bedroom was redecorated and coordinated in his chosen colours prior to admission. Following this, the games room was redecorated. He said, „I chose the colours and mural for my games room, and it is amazing.‟ He is now actively involved in improving the garden. However, the bathroom, in particular, requires updating.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is child focused and provides clear direction to her team, leading Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 7 by example. She is suitably experienced and aims to complete the required level 5 management qualification by the end of this year. In turn, she benefits from a stable staff team and the support of a strong deputy who takes responsibility for evaluating patterns and trends every month. These demonstrate what strategies have worked, for example incentive charts, and what needs revising. However, although there are frequent individual sessions with the child, the quality of these records is variable and the sessions have not been evaluated for their effectiveness. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is regularly reviewed and revised as necessary to ensure that it always accurately reflects the current aims, policies, practices and staffing of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home is always well staffed and the team was specifically constituted to meet the current child‟s needs. There have been no changes since his admission. For example, one member of staff said, „I chose to move to this home as I felt that his interests in the outdoors perfectly matched my skills.‟ There is also a good gender balance and age range within the team. This careful selection means that the child benefits from clear and consistent care by a stable, passionate and child-focused team of staff who have developed an excellent knowledge of his individual needs and personal preferences. They are also developing a good understanding of relevant research, and adapt their practice accordingly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are robust systems in place to ensure that all staff benefit from regular supervision, timely annual appraisals and a wide range of good-quality relevant training courses to continually develop their skills and knowledge. Comments from staff include „I like this team, because we can all offer ideas‟ and „We have open discussions in team meetings‟. These are all strong motivators which increase staff‟s competencies and morale.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Consequently, without exception, all the staff are happy and building up confidence in their respective roles. Other comments include „I am thoroughly enjoying my role‟ and „The move to this home is a really positive one. The support is good.‟ The manager said: „I have no vacancies and no sickness. Everyone loves coming to work. It‟s a very motivated team and he is such a lovely child to work with.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The strengthening of the monitoring systems since the last inspection means that the leadership team has an accurate assessment of the strengths of the home and areas for continued development. Independent, unannounced monitoring visits are undertaken monthly and the reports consistently demonstrate consultations with young people, staff and relevant stakeholders to inform and enrich the findings. Any actions raised are efficiently addressed. Consequently, there are no regulatory shortfalls arising from this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager‟s report on the quality of care provided in the home is comprehensive and evaluative. The manager realistically concluded: „The team has bonded well, which has an extremely positive impact on the child, to the extent that he no longer requires one- Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 8 to-one trauma-based psychotherapy. The basics are now in place, and he is happy and settled at the home and at school, so now it‟s about progression rather than constantly fire-fighting. For example, he is very behind educationally and we need to work on his social skills. He will make mistakes, but we keep assuring him that we will be here for him. It is not envisaged that another young person will be placed for a significant period.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All professionals involved acknowledge that this home is providing good-quality care and that his health and well-being needs are well met. Also, he is now safe, happy and settled, therefore it is an opportune time to undertake a full assessment. This is to specifically ascertain if he has any underlying needs and/or disabilities that may affect his continued progression without highly specialist input.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are effective systems in place to frequently ascertain the views of stakeholders about the quality of care provided in the home, and the vast majority of responses are very positive. However, there is no documentary evidence to show that any issues raised are responded to and satisfactorily addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child‟s social worker said: „This placement is working extremely well. The staff work well together. They are fantastic with my young person and meet all his needs. They have lots of enthusiasm and ideas, and clearly have his best interests at heart. The communication is excellent and this placement provides me with monthly progress reports. The home could do with updating, in some areas. However, his bedroom is nicely decorated.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An emotional and behavioural specialist wrote: „This home is proving to be a very good placement for this young person, and the staff meet his needs very well. They have put a lot of thought into their interactions with him, and they are respectful and reflective.‟

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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: SC411825 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children‟s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 121 Church Street, St Helens WA10 1AJ

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Inspector

Lynn O‟Driscoll, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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