Children's Home run by One To One Crisis Intervention Ltd in Devon

Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 1 Registered provider: One To One Crisis Intervention 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

This privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child or young person who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or a learning disability. It is one of a cluster of single placement children’s homes owned by the company that operates within the same region.

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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

Date of last inspection: 4 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager is an effective and dynamic leader. She is highly committed to providing the young person in her care with the best care and Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 2 support she can. The manager leads a small staff team that is equally motivated to help the young person to achieve good outcomes. Together, they work effectively with a range of external professionals to ensure that the diverse and changing needs of the young person are being met.  As a result of living in this home, the young person has made very good progress in many areas of her life. For example, the opinion of several professionals and her family is that she is considerably safer and has exceeded expectations in her educational achievements. Since arriving at this home, the young person is now in a significantly better place. She describes the home as having ‘saved my life’. She is receiving excellent support for significant changes

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Key findings from this inspection

ahead as she prepares to leave the children’s home in the coming months.  The physical environment is warm and homely. The young person has been central to its decoration. She has several pets, which have reinforced her sense of belonging and permanence.

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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

 The manager and staff need to develop a better understanding of serious incidents that must be notified to Ofsted. While some notifications are sent to Ofsted, not all serious incidents are notified. Information is shared with other relevant professionals, such as the young person’s social worker.  The manager has recently returned from a period of extended leave. As a consequence of this absence, deadlines for some refresher training have been missed.  Other areas for development identified during this inspection include the manager’s review of quality so that it is more reflective, the use of language in some documents, which may be misleading, and the inclusion of young people’s views in staff appraisals.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/11/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/04/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 3

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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

29: Continuing professional development: registered person and responsible individual The registered manager must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the registered manager has the skills needed for managing the home. (Regulation 29(4)) In particular, this refers to the manager receiving timely refresher training following her return from extended leave. 31/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

40: Notification of a serious event The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is an incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 07/07/2017

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11) In particular, this refers to children and young people being given the opportunity to contribute to the annual appraisal of staff who care and support them.  The registered person should undertake a review (Regulation 45) that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there, and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions

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Recommendations

required for the next six months of delivery in the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvements in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 4 homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 64 and 65, paragraphs 4.11 and 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Living in this children’s home during the past 17 months has had a very positive impact on the young person. She has enjoyed trusted and secure relationships with the adults who care for her and they provide good individualised care and support. This has helped the young person to develop her emotional resilience and feel more positive about her future. The young person’s mother told the inspector, ‘I cannot praise them enough. I will be forever grateful for what they have done for her.’ The manager and staff are very aspirational for the young person. They have worked hard to improve her self-esteem by providing a range of positive experiences and celebrating her achievements. They demonstrate a sensitive insight into the young person’s past experiences and how this continues to affect her emotional responses and behaviour. The young person enjoys living in this home and feels proud of her achievements. She

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

communicates openly with staff and feels confident that they will help and support her in the best way they can. When difficulties have arisen, staff have responded in a caring and nurturing way, as any good parent would. Good attention has been given to improving the young person’s health and well-being. Staff work effectively in partnership with a range of professionals to ensure that the young person’s holistic needs are met. Staff are responsive to the young person maturing into a young adult and make flexible and age-appropriate decisions that support her independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has excelled in her education during the past year and has exceeded expectations. Staff have worked effectively with her college and are proud of her achievements. The young person’s mother also recognises her daughter’s success, saying, ‘ She has done so well at college, which is incredible as she had not properly been in education for years.’ Staff regularly consult the young person and she feels listened to. During this inspection, it was identified that a way of enhancing the young person’s voice would be to seek her views to contribute to staff appraisals, which are completed annually.

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

The manager and staff are effective in helping and protecting the young person in their care. The young person’s social worker told the inspector that ‘she is dramatically safer than she used to be as a result of living in this children’s home’. The manager and staff have a clear understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. They are open and honest with the young person about the action they take, and this Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 5 has helped her to have a clearer understanding of her own risk-taking behaviour. As a result, the young person has taken more responsibility for her own safety and well-being and made more considered decisions. Staff receive a good range of training that supports their knowledge and skills to help and protect young people. In recent months, staff have had training in child protection, neglect, self-harm, bullying and caring for young people in a digital age.

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

In this home, behaviour is managed positively and effectively. There have been no physical restraints in this home since it opened. The staff team provide clear boundaries and expectations. They work with young people in a flexible and considered way, slowly reducing ‘rules’ while maintaining high expectations. In this way, young people learn to respect staff and realise why such rules are in place. In the young person’s own words, ‘When I first moved here and they told me all the rules, I hated it, but I realised the rules was only there to help me. If it wasn’t for the staff and all the rules, I don’t know where I’d be now.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been managing this home since it opened in February 2016. She is suitably experienced and qualified and demonstrates a clear commitment to providing a high standard of care and support. The manager works as part of a team of three, completing 24-hour shifts, working directly with the young person as well as having dedicated management time. She values her team and they, in turn, respect her and work effectively together. The manager has recently returned from a period of extended leave. During this time, suitable management arrangements were put in place and the home continued to run smoothly and safely. The manager needs to have some refresher training provided, as timescales were exceeded in some areas during her absence. Within the past year, the company has commissioned a local training provider to train staff in each of its homes. Staff are complimentary about the quality and range of this

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

training and feel it is helping them to improve their knowledge and practice. Staff also receive regular clinical supervision from a qualified therapist and practice-based supervision from their manager. During this inspection, it was identified that the qualifications that a member of staff has would need to be verified by the company, in order to be clear that she does not need to also undertake a level 3 diploma in residential childcare. Records maintained in the home are of a good standard. Information about the young person is comprehensive and up to date. The young person has clear targets with timescales, which are regularly reviewed. She has her own copy of an independence plan, which she has contributed to, and is working diligently towards achieving her goals. In a couple of records, the inspector identified that the use of language has not been reviewed, as at it could be misconstrued and lead to unintended poor practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recently, a young person’s forum has been established within the company. Young people are currently working on improving the children’s guide and have identified a Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 6 charity they intend to raise money for. During this inspection, the inspector clarified with the manager the range of serious incidents that should be reported to Ofsted. A discussion also took place about how to improve the impact and effectiveness of the manager’s review of quality. This is because it is important that this review is less of an audit and more of a demonstration of a reflective management approach that strives to learn lessons and continually improve the quality of the service to benefit young people.

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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 who 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: 1231066 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: One To One Crisis Intervention Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: One To One Crisis Intervention, 5 Newton Road, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 3AL

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Inspector

Norma Welsby, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1231066 8 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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