Children's home run by Restorative Social Care Services Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 1 Registered provider: Inspire Social Care Services

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people who experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person has made progress in all aspects of her life and is safer through living at the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 2  In meeting the needs of the young person, staff are reflective and considered in their methods and approaches.  Decision-making within the home involves the young person as much as possible, and her views are fully considered. She feels listened to and valued.  Staff use a restorative and educative approach to managing any risks that the young person’s behaviour might present. Through working with the young person in this way, restrictive measures to protect her welfare are minimised.  The young person regards this as her home and considers that staff genuinely care about her.

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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

 A broader approach is needed in the commissioning of training for staff that includes issues specific to young people’s presenting behaviours.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) In particular, ensure that staff receive training in issues regarding self- harming behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has made immediate progress in all areas of her life. Careful consideration by the management team has ensured that her needs are paramount when considering any future placements at the home. As a result, she benefits from being in a solo placement. Through the consistent and thoughtful care that she receives from staff, the young person has been encouraged and supported to build upon her strengths and interests. As a result, she enjoys her education and attends school regularly. These interests are further encouraged in her home life through being supported to keep her own pets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has established secure and trusting relationships with staff. This enables her to talk about things that are difficult in her life. As a result, the young person is beginning to alert staff to how she feels and, in turn, avoid behaviours that are harmful to her welfare. Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 3 The young person feels listened to and that her views matter to the running of the home. She commented: ‘They ask me about everything in the house. I get a choice in most things. Always, when I ask for something they get it sorted, and if they can’t, they tell me why.’ A family member, commenting on the progress that the young person has made, said: ‘I have nothing but praise. This is the best I’ve ever seen [child’s name], and I put this down to the environment she is in and the people who care for her. She doesn’t feel judged, and they actually, genuinely do care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff dedicate time to the young person to ensure that she has an opportunity to talk about her day. Staff actively reflect on any behaviour or emotional changes that the young person might present and seek to understand the underlying causes of these. In turn, this ensures that the young person receives individualised and responsive care. A social worker commented: ‘For her to go to the home has been the most positive thing for her in her whole time in care. She has never had this level of stability before. They have turned her life around.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has opportunities to experience fun and educative activities. As a result, and at her request, the young person will, for the first time, experience a music festival. The young person benefits from activities that promote a healthy lifestyle. Staff are creative in the manner in which they promote this and utilise the young person’s interest in animals to encourage her participation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the young person to have regular and safe contact with family, and this contributes to her identity needs and sense of belonging. Her family and friends are welcomed to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The planning for the young person to live at the home was thorough and detailed. This ensured that staff had a good understanding of the young person’s needs and that additional services were agreed and in place prior to her arrival.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person benefits from living in a well-maintained and homely environment. The sense of ownership and belonging that the young person has developed is evident in the pictures on the walls, her regular involvement in food shopping, the personalisation of her bedroom and the small pets that she keeps.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the risks that result from the young person’s behaviour, and they are active in seeking to reduce those risks. Staff liaise well with other professionals, seek advice and support, and implement the specialist advice that is given.

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

Staff carefully consider decisions made regarding risk and actively share these with other professionals. They seek a careful balance between possible risks and the young person’s age and growing sense of independence. Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 4 Through living at the home, the young person’s exposure to people who may wish to harm her has significantly reduced. Since coming to live at the home, the young person no longer goes missing and, as a result, the risks to her welfare from child sexual exploitation have reduced.

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

Underpinning this progress are the relationships that staff have established with the young person. These relationships are based on trust, consistent messages from staff, active safeguarding actions when necessary, and open communication. Staff offer an educative approach to addressing risk with the young person while maintaining safe boundaries. Professionals, commenting upon this approach, said: ‘To manage that [risk] through communication is brilliant, without [child’s name] having to have been secured. They are excellent. They have engaged her in developing trust and responsibility,’ and, ‘They are parenting her through trust and give consistent messages and responses.’

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

The young person benefits from a restorative approach that staff use to address any misunderstandings or incidents that can lead to conflict. This provides the young person with opportunities to develop skills to manage relationships and to positively resolve situations.

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

Staff are active in monitoring the emotional presentation of the young person, and they work well with specialist professionals. As a result of the attentive care that is given, incidents of self-harm have significantly reduced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been registered to manage the home since February 2017. He is suitably qualified and has extensive experience of providing care and accommodation to children and young people. His presence is very much felt within the home. He leads with confidence and commitment in providing meaningful and individualised care to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands well the plans for the young person and is active in reviewing and amending aspects of care to maintain progress. The running of the home focuses around the needs of the young person and ensures that staff are fully attuned to those needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Alongside formal monitoring systems of the quality of care, the manager seeks direct feedback from the young person. Learning from this feedback has led to appropriate adjustments, and the manager is active in continuously improving the care offered to the young person. Current improvement plans include enhanced training for staff, improvements in recording systems and improvements to the use of the garden area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are committed to the ethos and principles of care, as laid out in the statement of purpose. There is active reflection by the staff on the progress that the young person is making and an ambition to improvement her life chances and overall outcomes. Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 5 The manager and staff work well with other professionals and appropriately challenge agencies if there are shortfalls in services. For example, the manager successfully challenged and advocated for a change in the educational provision for the young person. As a result, her interests and strengths have been maximised and she now attends school regularly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager offers support to staff on an informal and formal basis, and supervision takes place on a regular basis. There is a broad range of training that staff access, and this enhances and maintains their essential skills. However, although staff effectively utilise the advice and support offered by the clinical psychologist regarding managing self-harm incidents, this resource is specific to the young person. Staff do not currently have access to training on harmful behaviours independent of the psychologist.

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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 differences 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: 1252095 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Social Care Services

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector(s)

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1252095 7 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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