Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 1 SC039683 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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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 is a local authority children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for six children who may 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 good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: Declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are well cared for by a highly motivated and competent staff team that benefits from a wide range of ongoing training opportunities, regular supervision and timely appraisals to ensure continued personal development.  The young people currently living at this home are very happy and relaxed and feel safe and settled. Consequently, previous significant self-injurious and other challenging behaviours have ceased.  Young people are treated and respected as individuals in their own right, which makes them feel loved and valued.  Children 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 they are in the children and young people’s 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.  Young people enjoy taking part in a good range of age-appropriate, stimulating and constructive activities. This helps 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.  Young people benefit from a nurturing environment with clear and consistent routines and boundaries in place, and they respond well to the emphasis on positive reinforcement of good behaviours and effort.  This staff team has the proven ability to effectively manage some extreme behaviours without the use of restraint and/or resorting to police assistance. The appropriate use of restorative justice effectively prevents young people from being unnecessarily criminalised.  Reports of independent monthly monitoring visits show a rigorous process, and

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Key findings from this inspection

their findings are consistently informed and enriched by the views of parents and relatives of the young people living in 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

 The main shortfall, culminating in one requirement and two recommendations, is the current internal monitoring processes in place. There are gaps in the home’s records that have gone unchecked by the manager. These include records of staff recruitment checks.  Timely key-worker sessions are not consistently undertaken following a significant incident; arrangements for checking visitors are not always strictly adhered to; and the views of staff working at the home are not detailed and Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 3 evaluated in the manager’s six-monthly review of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 29/04/2016 Full Good 09/12/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 10/07/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 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

45: Review of quality of care In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must ensure that there is an effective system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children. The system must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2) and (5) 31/10/2017

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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 are listened to and acted on. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  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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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The four young people currently living at this home have settled really quickly. They are thriving within this nurturing environment and benefiting from the highly individualised care provided. The staff have also ensured that specialist services have been involved from the outset to help meet the young people’s more complex needs. One young person said, ‘When I first came here I felt very nervous because I’ve never been in care before, and I didn’t know anyone. Now I’ve settled in, I’ve got to know everyone and I Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 5 feel happy.’ Another young person said, ‘Everything is fine. I would like to stay here because it is a better place for me. I get along with the staff who are nice and the other young people and we are all going on holiday together.’ Another commented, ‘I was really nervous at first, but I have come out of my shell a lot here as I have got to know

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

everyone and found that I like them all.’ This staff team is highly skilled at building and sustaining positive relationships with young people which continues, in some instances, for years after young people have left. This instils in them the knowledge that they are genuinely loved and valued. All the young people living at this home at the last inspection, in January 2017, have moved on to more specialist placements that meet their specific needs and are in line with their care plans. Staff have maintained contact with the young people and they are progressing well. There are good discharge processes in place. The last one for a young person with highly complex needs was conducted gradually and sensitively at her pace, and her wishes and feelings were ascertained and acted on from the outset. This was also in full collaboration with the new home. This means that the young person’s unique needs, personal preferences, vulnerabilities, risks and routines were well known before she

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

moved in. Consequently, she has settled well and is making good progress. Staff also helped those young people leaving the home to re-establish positive family relationships prior to discharge, to strengthen their support systems. Moreover, staff secured an apprenticeship course for one young person and mental health support for another. One young person was particularly pleased to move to a children’s home closer to his family, which was his choice. Two young people were glad and relieved to move away from the negative influences in the local community and were looking forward to a fresh start. One of these young people rang the home to say that he was still enjoying his solo placement and had been fishing with the equipment the staff had bought him as a leaving present. At this home, the young person had the opportunity to try fishing with staff and found that he liked the hobby and that it helped to calm him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s views and opinions are genuinely respected and acted on, if they are in the young people’s best interests. The young people have ample opportunities to contribute to their day-to-day care. This includes frequent key-worker sessions where highly relevant and sensitive issues are explored, and regular young people’s meetings. However, timely key-worker sessions are not consistently undertaken following a significant incident. This reduces the opportunity for young people to reflect on the episode with a trusted adult. Young people are currently involved in the development of a new and much wider consultation group organised by a local university, and which was set up to improve the lives of children looked after. Young people eagerly and regularly engage in a good range of constructive activities both inside the home and in the local community. Individual talents and interests are actively encouraged and supported, which increases

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the young people’s competencies and boosts self-esteem. Examples of these activities include drawing and painting, army cadets, photography, snooker and horse riding. They equally enjoy group activities and are looking forward to their chosen caravan holiday together. The young people are also contributing in a positive way to the local Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 6 community; for example, they recently took part in a charity run. All these positive opportunities strengthen the young people’s sense of belonging. All the young people are physically fit and healthy. They are all benefiting from regular physical exercise and are enjoying the varied, homemade nutritious meals provided. Realistically, the young people still have to be closely supervised about snacking, but are noticeably already making wiser choices in this regard. Comments from young people include, ‘I was amazed at how much sugar there is in fizzy drinks, so I now drink more

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

water,’ ‘I go to the gym, swim and play football to lose weight and my favourite food is salad,’ and, ‘We get nice healthy food and I go to the gym at least once a week, horse riding and to army cadets, where we do a lot of marching.’ To their credit, none of the current young people smoke, take drugs or consume alcohol. Self-injurious behaviours have ceased, physical symptoms of anxiety are infrequent, and personal hygiene has demonstrably improved. In turn, confidence has increased. This is all excellent progress from their starting points. One social worker said, ‘I am very impressed with how my young person has settled. She told me how much she likes it at this home and has a good rapport with the staff. She is a totally different child and looks so healthy. Even her skin looks better. Prior to moving here, she was low in mood and self-harmed. It is a very positive placement. It is ideal for her.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people are benefiting from education that best meets their emotional, behavioural and learning needs and, as a consequence, are making good progress. One young person said, ‘I had not gone to school for ten months before I came here. Staff sorted it for me to go back to the same school where I’ve got lots of friends, and I’ve gone every day since.’ One young person has improved their school attendance from 30% to 100% since moving to this home and has made and sustained some positive friendships. Another young person is receiving home tuition and is engaging well. Plans are already in place for a re-integration into mainstream school, and her tutor is confident that she has the ability to catch up academically with her peers and gain good GCSE grades. Staff ensure that young people have frequent opportunities to develop age and ability appropriate skills needed for future independent living. The young people all help with

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

daily household chores, often without being asked, and particularly enjoy cooking and baking. They have also shown a genuine interest in developing a wildlife project in the garden and in planting vegetables and flowers. One young person said, ‘The staff are supporting me to do well in education and are helping me to learn skills I’ll need when I’m older, like cooking and cleaning. They want me to do better in my life, and I will.’ Young people’s relatives are highly satisfied with the quality of care provided at this home and the consequent good progress made. One relative said, ‘The staff here have been fantastic and contact me regularly. I am overwhelmed by the effort they have put in. He has made massive improvements at this home with his language and behaviours and he is always clean and tidy. He used to smoke and he doesn’t there. I visited the home and he proudly showed me round. It’s lovely and he really likes his bedroom.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another commented, ‘I have visited a few times and I think it’s great. My daughter is Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 7 happy and settled here. The staff are very nice and there is good communication.’ The young people are actively engaged in designing their own memory books which are theirs to keep when they move on. These will provide a permanent reminder of positive experiences shared at this home.

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

From the outset, the staff have re-established consistent routines and boundaries for all young people who had previously experienced chaotic lifestyles. One young person, for example, is particularly enjoying reading with staff as part of her bedtime routines, and this helps her to sleep. One of the house rules the current young people set was that everyone should eat together in the dining room. This is now well established and they are relaxed, social occasions. These simple changes all help to make young people feel very safe and secure. As a consequence, self-injurious behaviours have ceased, and there have been no incidents of young people going missing, committing offences or needing to be restrained. Moreover, young people are starting to open up about their traumatic pasts, often choosing to express their feelings to staff in letters, which staff then reply to. The constant positive reinforcement of good behaviours and effort has the desired effect

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

on young people’s behaviours. In fact, one social worker said, ‘I was impressed seeing her [the young person]. She previously spoke with her head down and wore long sleeves to hide her arms. She is clearly relaxed here.’ An independent reviewing officer said, ‘I have never seen her look so well or so happy since moving here and she is getting the nurturing she needs.’ One young person said, ‘I am so glad to get away and to feel safe. I am happy and settled and, because I trust everyone since I came here, I have not tried to hurt myself.’ Another said, ‘I have not gone missing or been restrained since I came here. I feel safe here all of the time. The staff are always there for me and spend time with me. They look after me well. They talk to me, help me through things and always make me laugh.’ Another young person said, ‘I get on well with everyone, even young people on the estate. I can talk to the staff about anything and the manager is like a mum to me. I feel

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

like I’m home.’ The few sanctions imposed are fair, relevant and proportionate to the particular misdemeanour. One young person said, ‘The staff here are caring and kind and have a sense of humour. They are firm but fair and I get rewarded when I am good.’ The staff are clearly enjoying a very relaxed, settled period with the current young people, who are all happy to be there and, therefore, are positively investing in their placement. None of the young people are embroiled in the negative influences in the local community. In fact, they have positive friendships. This is in sharp contrast to the previous group of young people, for whom the staff demonstrated tremendous resilience and dedication, despite significant challenges. Staff cared for these young people for a much longer period than initially planned until they were satisfied that the best placement was found. Staff then ensured a smooth transition

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 8 process. In order for staff to manage a particularly difficult three months, although this home is registered to care for six young people, there were purposely no admissions when two young people lived here. This was in recognition of their unique and highly complex needs. Furthermore, senior managers have agreed that this home will now remain at a maximum of four young people for a period of time to ensure sustained stability. Staff value this management support. A key strength of this home is the staff’s proven ability to effectively manage some extreme behaviours so that they rarely need to request police assistance. In fact, on the last occasion that this was deemed necessary, it took three officers to calm the individual, which indicates the seriousness of the incident. Nevertheless, the appropriate use of restorative justice effectively prevented the young person from being charged and

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

further criminalised. Despite significant and sustained challenging behaviours from young people previously placed, the use of restraint at this home has always been relatively rare and, when deemed necessary, the least restrictive hold for the shortest duration is used. Prior to discharge, one young person had developed more effective strategies to regulate her own emotions. Consequently, incidents were shorter, there was a significant reduction in criminal damage and markedly fewer restraints. In fact, they were all friendly holds of a few seconds’ duration, guiding the young person away from potentially unsafe situations. Furthermore, the young person gained the resilience to not get embroiled in the negative behaviours of her peers. This is all significant progress from her starting point, which has enabled her to settle quickly in a new children’s home with education on the premises. This placement was specifically chosen in recognition of

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

the fact that the young person always wanted to go to a school setting. At a statutory review in October 2016, the home did not feel that it could continue to keep one young person safe and it was proactive in securing an alternative placement away from the negative pulls in the local community. However, other professionals involved in this young person’s care thwarted these plans. Although they agreed that his behaviours were extremely challenging, these professionals stressed that the staff at this home were doing a very good job in building positive attachments and wanted him to stay. However, drug misuse and missing episodes increased to the extent that another suitable placement could not be found due to the young person’s risks. Since then, it is recognised that the provider organisation has restructured and improved its systems for securing more timely external placements for children or young people who are harder

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

to place. 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 also clear evidence of an ongoing programme of redecoration and refurbishment to ensure that the home is maintained at a consistently good standard. For example, in recent months, the lounge and dining room have been redecorated and a new dining suite and garden furniture purchased. Although the main recruitment files are held centrally, the arrangement is that the Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 9 information required by the regulations is held in the home to demonstrate a safe and competent workforce. However, some files are incomplete. This suggests a lack of stringent monitoring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager is child focused and provides clear direction to her team, leading by example. She is suitably qualified and highly experienced and benefits from the support of her two competent deputies, and they have all worked well together for many years. 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. Five out of the six requirements and the one recommendation made at the last inspection have been satisfactorily addressed. Consequently, there is now documentary evidence that the views of young people are ascertained following sanctions and restraints. As an example, one young person was not given any lifts in the home’s car for two days due to inappropriate behaviour in the car. On reflection, the young person said, ‘It’s fair and it might stop me being silly in the car again.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home can also now demonstrate the active promotion of healthy lifestyles. This has directly resulted, for example, in improved personal hygiene and appropriate weight loss. In turn, this demonstrably boosts young people’s self-esteem. All young people’s bedrooms have recently been redecorated to their own personal tastes. They chose the colour scheme and one feature wall. One young person said, ‘I chose space as my theme. The wallpaper caught my eye because it was interesting.’ Since the last inspection, significant and sustained challenge has taken place to effectively ensure that timely and good-quality independent interviews are undertaken when young people return from going missing. Moreover, this is now being closely monitored at a senior level within the wider organisation. These reports confirm that the young people were not unhappy in this placement, but just wanted to be with friends. Prior to the new group of young people moving in, the staff group held development

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

days to explore lessons learned following a particularly difficult few months, seeking to constantly improve its practice. There is now an effective system in place to ensure that all staff receive practice-based supervision at the frequencies prescribed by their own policies, and for them to have their performance appraised at least once a year. Reports of independent monthly monitoring visits show a rigorous process, and their findings are now consistently informed and enriched by the views of parents and relatives of the young people living in the home. The main shortfall is internal monitoring. In particular, issues and actions raised in these independent reports are not always addressed by the next monitoring visit. Also, the arrangements for checking visitors before they are welcomed into the home are not Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 10 always strictly adhered to. Notifications of significant events are forwarded to Ofsted in a timely manner. These

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

demonstrate that appropriate action is always taken in full collaboration with relevant agencies to safeguard and protect young people. They also identify appropriate actions taken to try to prevent a reoccurrence. However, timely individual sessions are not always taking place following a significant incident. Again, this suggests a lack of stringent monitoring. The last manager’s report, following a six-monthly review of the quality of care provided in the home, is detailed, evaluative and informed by the views of young people, their parents and social workers. It is an honest reflection of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and clearly details challenging, yet realistic, future aims for the home and for individual young people. However, this requirement is repeated because it still does not include the views of staff working at the home. Since then, the managers have held a consultation day with staff, which is being reviewed again in this review period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Therefore, assurances were given that the next report will include these findings and reflections. A number of minor shortfalls were found in the paperwork. This shows a lack of attention to detail in the monitoring of legal documentation. Examples include dates missing and third party information. Managers are also currently working with new staff on the importance of detailed and relevant recordings to ensure that they have the evidence required to escalate any concerns. The team members are strong advocates for young people and will challenge other stakeholders if they believe agreed plans are not being adhered to and/or decisions are not in the best interests of young people. Examples include increasing family contact, and making a formal complaint against a school that had not legally excluded a young person, but was refusing to have the young person on the premises. Staff also make sure that young people’s expressed wishes about future foster placements are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Examples include the young person wanting to be the only child and being close to their current school. Young people are well cared for by a highly motivated and competent staff team that benefits from a wide range of ongoing training opportunities. In addition to the mandatory courses, staff also receive timely and good-quality training to meet the specific needs of the young people in their care. Recent examples of training include mental health, drug awareness, epilepsy, autistic spectrum disorders, nutrition and health. A recent recruitment drive has ensured that there are no staff vacancies in the team. The diversity of relevant experiences, backgrounds and new ideas has served to re- energise the existing highly experienced and committed staff, who had taken on additional shifts to maintain high staffing ratios for nearly 12 months. The team members have also been assigned ‘champion’ roles to promote key areas of

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

work, including safeguarding, health and well-being, participation and education. Furthermore, staff are also utilising their personal skills and interests at work, which is a strong motivator. Examples of this include promoting faith, developing the garden and Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 11 creating a homely ambiance inside the home. Consequently, the staff are all happy in their respective roles and working well together to continually improve their practice and the quality of care provided. One staff commented, ‘I have been here since last September and I have found all the team to be child centred. The management is good and it values our opinions. We have monthly team meetings and I receive regular supervision. I have just completed a course on autistic spectrum disorder and have now enrolled on a nutrition course.’ Another said, ‘I have worked at this home since June 2005 and I still love my job. I feel

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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: SC039683 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lancashire County Council, P O Box 78, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector

Lynn O’Driscoll, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC039683 13 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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