Children's Home run by New Foundations Care Homes Limited in St Helens

Inspection report children's home: SC406636 1 SC406636 Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes 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 children’s home is operated by a private company. It is registered to accommodate up to five young people who have emotional and 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 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: 27 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children's home: SC406636 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have positive experiences living in this friendly and supportive family home. The very high standard of individualised care consistently meets their needs and is improving young people’s lives. They are happier, healthier, taking part in education and enjoy the same social experiences and opportunities as other young people.  Good safeguarding practice is protecting young people from harm. Young people feel safe and their worries are taken seriously by trusted adults. Well- established and highly effective partnerships with the local police, social workers, schools and health professionals ensure that when risks to young people are identified they are managed exceedingly well. This is making a difference to young people’s lives, because they are considerably safer from the risks of neglect, abuse and exploitation.  A positive and emotionally warm environment with consistent boundaries is

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Key findings from this inspection

providing young people with the structure they need to develop a strong sense of belonging and emotional security. Young people are building trusting and meaningful relationships with staff. The registered manager and staff are developing suitable research-based practice, which is providing them with a better understanding of children’s experiences and tools to help them to help young people to manage their feelings constructively and make sense of their experiences.  Effective care planning and productive working relationships between the staff, families, social workers, schools and health workers mean that young people receive the best possible support in meeting all their needs. The registered manager and staff fight for young people to be safe from harm and receive the support they need to achieve better outcomes.  Under the registered manager’s strong and effective leadership, caring, experienced, skilled, qualified and well-supported staff provide a high quality of

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Key findings from this inspection

care for each young person. The staffing arrangements are efficiently organised to provide young people with a continuity of care that meets their needs and provides opportunities for them to form positive attachments.  The registered manager has a clear and accurate understanding of young people’s progress and the key priorities for each young person. Her effective monitoring of the quality of care and support means that she has a realistic understanding of how well the staff are promoting and safeguarding young people’s welfare and the priorities for making further improvements. Inspection report children's home: SC406636 3 The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Improve the decoration and cleanliness of the bathrooms to provide young people with a pleasant place to carry out their personal care, and replace worn and dirty carpets.  Improve the monitoring of the home by making sure the independent person explicitly states in his report whether the home’s arrangements effectively safeguard and promote young people’s welfare.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/08/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/01/2016 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC406636 4

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Statutory requirement

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

The independent person must produce a report about the visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a) and (b)) 31/08/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person must continue to improve the quality of the physical environment, in particular the bathrooms, to as far as possible maintain a domestic rather than institutional impression, and provide children with a pleasant and welcoming place to carry out their personal care. Also, the registered person must make sure that old and worn carpets on the stairs and first floor and in the office are replaced. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy positive experiences living in this safe, friendly and supportive family home. They receive a very high quality of individualised care that consistently meets their needs, brings stability to their lives and helps them to make pleasing progress. Young people are increasingly happier, safer, taking part in education, healthier, more able to accept help and building confidence in their talents and abilities. The registered manager and staff have a good understanding of young people’s characters, needs, interests and family circumstances and find out what works for individual young people. Their communication and interpersonal skills help them to build positive and trusting relationships with young people, regardless of the complexity of young people’s needs and circumstances. The staff’s perseverance and unconditional support help young people understand that staff care about them, are interested in their

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

welfare, want what is best for them, encourage and support their talents and always take their wishes and feelings seriously. Staff engage naturally with young people and Inspection report children's home: SC406636 5 provide them with a high quality of personalised support tailored to their assessed needs. They are enthusiastically supporting a young person to build an interest in her background and cultural identity. They recognised that this was an important issue and are working with her to understand her culture, language, food and customs. The registered manager and staff enable young people to express themselves as individuals alongside suitable freedom and choice in relation to the day-to-day arrangements for their care. They make decisions about things such as their clothes, the food they eat and how they spend their spare time. Young people routinely meet with staff to plan their day, including activities, appointments, jobs around the house, and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

seeing their friends and families, as well as which member of staff will be supporting them. Young people have a real say in what is going to happen in the home and they learn how to negotiate with each other and staff. This helps them to feel valued and that their wishes are important. Staff balance young people’s preferences against what they judge to be in the young person’s best interests and work out the best way forward. Young people are also fully involved in decisions about their lives, including choices around seeing their family, education, training and plans for their future. Staff encourage and support young people to go to their review meetings and talk about their wishes. Young people know how to complain when they are unhappy and their concerns are taken seriously. Effective care planning and strong working relationships between the staff, families, placing authorities and other people involved in young people’s lives mean that they get

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the support they need on a daily basis. Everyone works extremely well together to ensure that the relevant plans for each young person’s care are reviewed on an ongoing basis to reflect their progress and continue to meet their needs and circumstances. Individual work with young people is focused on specific issues identified in their plans and emerging issues, including relationships with their families, education, personal safety and worries about the future. Before the registered manager agrees that a young person should move in, she makes every effort to get all the available information about young people’s needs. She completes thorough assessments of the young person’s assessed needs, staff’s ability to meet them, and their compatibility with the other young people already living in the home. She has challenged placing authorities when they have failed to share all the relevant information about a young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff work hard to ensure that young people get the right support and guidance to help them develop their life skills and prepare for moving into their own accommodation. Young people are fully involved in planning their futures. Staff ensure that young people: have every opportunity to develop practical life skills, including shopping, cooking, managing money and setting up a new home; know where they can get support when they need it; and understand their rights and entitlements as care leavers. The staff have recently helped a young person to move into his own accommodation, where he wanted to live, and get a full-time job. He wrote to staff that ‘I’m sad to leave but you have helped me loads to grow up and get my own place.’ Carefully planned arrangements help young people to spend time with their parents, brothers and sisters, friends and other people important to them. Staff work actively and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

positively to help young people maintain and build meaningful relationships, understand Inspection report children's home: SC406636 6 their identity, feel part of their family and improve their self-esteem. They work sensitively with young people and their parents, brothers and sisters to try to overcome any difficulties and rebuild relationships. They always make sure that seeing family and friends is a safe and positive experience for the young people. The registered manager and staff provide structure, stability, encouragement and opportunities for young people to take part in education and to learn and develop their knowledge, skills and talents. They work well with schools, colleges and the virtual school head teachers to support and improve young people’s education opportunities. Two young people have just completed their GCSEs and are planning to go to college to study catering and sports leadership. Like any good parent, staff encourage and support

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young people’s ambitions. For example, a young person who wants to be a chef has every opportunity to cook meals at home. Staff have helped another young person to get a part-time job at a local supermarket. Some young people are attending a skills programme over the summer to build up their confidence and academic and social skills before starting college. The registered manager and staff make sure that young people have lots of opportunities to enjoy leisure time and develop their talents and interests, including playing football, swimming, going to the gym and cinema, camping in the Lake District, and going to watch rugby league matches and to see their favourite singers and comedians. They also enjoy a wide range of activities over summer holidays. Staff do their utmost to ensure that young people have every opportunity to take part in activities that they are interested in. This helps young people to gain confidence in their abilities,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

have fun, acquire new skills and improve their social and emotional skills. Staff make sure that young people live in a healthy environment. Young people’s physical health and emotional well-being continue to improve. They have a healthy diet and get plenty of physical exercise. The registered manager’s evaluation of a rewards- based fitness programme for young people shows the positive impact of increased physical exercise on young people’s health and emotional well-being. Young people who were not previously physically active were now taking more exercise. Overall, young people were taking part in more organised activities; their sleeping patterns and diets improved and they became more interested in healthy eating; and their use of tobacco, cannabis and alcohol reduced. The manager also noted that young people’s relationships with staff were stronger and the severity of aggressive behaviour reduced. The staff

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

ensure that young people get good support from health services to meet their needs and help them to understand about healthy lifestyles. Staff have an excellent understanding of young people’s specific health needs and manage their health with sensitivity and confidence. They closely monitor young people to make sure that they are healthy and ensure that young people always get suitable medical advice and treatment when they are feeling unwell or when they are concerned about their health. The home is located in an area that supports children’s safety and well-being. It is a large house that is decorated and furnished to provide young people with a welcoming and comfortable home. Young people have their own personal space and enough room for their belongings. However, the bathrooms are decorated in white, giving an institutional impression, and do not provide children with a clean and pleasant place to

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

carry out their personal care. Also, carpets on the stairs and first floor and in the office are worn and need to be replaced. Inspection report children's home: SC406636 7

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

Young people feel safe and are protected from harm. They say that they feel able to talk to staff and know that they are listened to and that their worries are always taken seriously. Safeguarding arrangements at the home protect young people, promote their welfare, manage risk safely and meet all the statutory requirements, including protecting young people from the risk of sexual exploitation. Thus, young people are becoming increasingly safer from the risks of abuse, neglect, bullying, self-harm and exploitation. The registered manager and staff are vigilant and take prompt and decisive action to deal with any concerns about the young people’s safety. They have effective relationships with the local police, social workers, the local authority, schools and health professionals. This well-established professional network works together successfully to identify the risks facing young people and takes appropriate action that protects them.

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

For example, it works with the police, local people and businesses to reduce the risk of young people going missing from home and using alcohol. Staff actively assess and understand the risks to each young person. Young people are protected by the arrangements to care for them. Staff balance the protection of young people and enabling them to take appropriate and reasonable risks to promote their personal growth, including spending time with friends in the community. Staff take reasonable precautions to promote young people’s confidence and independence in the community and to promote their understanding of how to use social media safely. They help young people to understand risk and to develop the skills they need to keep themselves and others safe. For example, staff identified that a young person had a lack of insight into risk that made him vulnerable to exploitation. They are therefore working

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

closely with a specialist service to make sure that he receives the right support and guidance to help him understand and manage his online safety, develop healthy relationships, and understand about sexual health, consent, and appropriate personal boundaries. The number of times that young people have gone missing from the home is reducing. Staff help young people to understand the risks and dangers involved if they go missing and make sure that they know how to get help. When young people have gone missing, staff always act quickly to try to find them by actively looking for them. They make contact with their family and friends, keeping the police and social workers informed. When children return home from being missing, they always have the opportunity to see an independent person to talk about what happened and the reasons for them not wanting to come home. When there are concerns that a young person is going missing

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

more often or may be at risk of exploitation, the registered manager has appropriately called a multi-agency risk management meeting to assess and manage the risks for the child. The registered manager takes action when she has concerns that the risks for certain young people are too high for them to continue living in the home safely. The registered manager and staff promote positive behaviour through the development of warm and constructive relationships with young people. They see beyond young people’s presenting behaviour and clearly understand how young people’s experiences may leave them feeling rejected, anxious and angry, so that they struggle to trust Inspection report children's home: SC406636 8 adults. They work hard to develop safe, reliable and stable relationships that help young people build secure attachments and a strong sense of belonging and emotional well- being. They provide young people with structure and clear boundaries. Staff encourage

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

positive relationships and behaviour through praise and rewards with promising results, for example a reduction in swearing and aggressive behaviour. Staff help young people when they struggle to manage their feelings and control their behaviour safely. They take appropriate action to help young people feel calm and safe, and avoid the need to use restraint. Staff use restraint rarely and appropriately, and only when young people are at serious risk of harm. The registered manager thoroughly evaluates the effects of the behaviour management strategies and has introduced new ways of working. A greater use of restorative approaches is helping young people understand that their behaviour is not acceptable and the impact of their actions on other people. Staff and young people talk about what happened and think about ways to put things right. When appropriate, young people write letters of apology to the harmed person, or help to clear up the mess they have

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

caused around the house. This constructive approach helps to avoid young people reinforcing negative feelings about themselves or feeling rejected. Instead they see that staff are trying to help them sort out a problem. The senior managers and registered manager ensure that members of staff go through a thorough and careful recruitment and selection process. This prevents unsuitable people from working at the home. They make sure that staff have the right personal qualities, enthusiasm, experience, skills and values to work with vulnerable young people. They collect all the available information about candidates to make the right decisions about a person’s suitability. This includes verifying by telephone information about a person’s practice, experiences and abilities, and their reasons for leaving their last job, from their previous employers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides consistently effective leadership with a strong focus on making a meaningful difference to young people’s lives. She ensures that young people live in a friendly, supportive and safe family home where they receive a high standard of individualised care. She is an experienced manager and working towards completing the appropriate leadership and management qualification. The registered manager’s thorough and continuous analysis of the quality of care gives her a detailed understanding of young people’s experiences and how well they are being supported to meet their assessed needs. She carefully listens to young people’s views about their experiences and works hard to include their views in the development of the home. The findings inform the registered manager’s dynamic and specific development plan, which she uses effectively to develop staff’s understanding of children’s

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

experiences and to find new ways of working that are improving the standard of support that young people receive. The development of a model of practice based on attachment theory, supported by a clinical psychologist, is enabling staff to understand the impact of young people’s life experiences on behaviour. Based on this insight, staff are developing Inspection report children's home: SC406636 9 clear and consistent strategies for helping young people to manage their feelings and control their behaviour constructively. The quality of the registered manager’s monitoring means that she has a detailed understanding of the progress each young person is making and the priorities for their care. The registered manager and staff ensure that young people are cared for in line with their agreed plans. They are also quick to identify when young people are struggling and take the necessary action to make sure that they get the best possible

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

help, for example by using new incentives with a young person to improve their school attendance. When the registered manager saw that a young person was at serious risk of child sexual exploitation, she made sure that a meeting took place with the social worker and safeguarding services to work out how to protect the young person. The registered manager and the staff have productive and collaborative working relationships with social workers, teachers, health workers and the police. They work together effectively to secure positive outcomes for young people. The registered manager assertively and successfully challenges placing authorities when she sees that young people are not receiving the support they need to meet their assessed needs. This has included working with a virtual school head to ensure that a young person received an appropriate education. She has escalated concerns that another young person did not

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

have an allocated social worker and that the placing authority was failing to meet its statutory requirements to visit him and check on his welfare. The leaders and registered manager have created the right environment for staff to provide young people with a high standard of care and consistency. The staffing arrangements ensure that there are sufficient knowledgeable, experienced and skilful staff available to meet all the young people’s assessed needs. The highly motivated and competent members of staff clearly enjoy spending time with young people and are keen to make a positive difference to young people’s lives. Young people are looked after by people they get to know well. They receive the continuity of care that helps them form positive attachments and relationships with the people caring for them each day. The introduction of experienced team leaders is a positive measure that means that the day-to-day care of young people is well planned and focused on meeting their

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

needs. The registered manager provides each member of staff with excellent support, guidance and encouragement. Staff have regular opportunities through practice-related supervision and team meetings to reflect on young people’s progress and their own performance, share skills and develop their skills and knowledge. The registered manager supports and encourages staff to develop expertise through good quality training relevant to the needs of the young people, including on attachment theory, child sexual exploitation, behaviour management, self-harming behaviour, first aid and online safety. Regular staff development days and meetings with a clinical psychologist are providing additional opportunities for staff to develop their skills and confidence working with young people. New staff complete well-designed and thorough induction programmes that equip them well to carrying out their roles. Leaders and the registered

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

manager encourage and support staff to develop professionally, including completing the relevant child care level 3 diploma. Visits by an independent person provide detailed and impartial scrutiny of the running of the home. The independent person’s reports show that young people’s progress and Inspection report children's home: SC406636 10 experiences include the views of young people about living in the home. However, these reports do not explicitly show the independent person’s opinion about whether the home’s arrangements effectively safeguard and boost young people’s welfare.

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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. Whenever 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 and 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 and 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: SC406636 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mill Farm, Bull Bridge Lane, Liverpool L10 6LZ

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC406636 12 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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