Children's Home run by Footsteps a Path to Change Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 1 SC446261 Registered provider: Footsteps A Path To Change 08 Limited

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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 privately owned children’s home for up to three young people who 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 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: 9 December 2016

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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: SC446261 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have excellent relationships with staff.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff encourage young people to participate in a wide range of activities. This helps young people to develop confidence and self-esteem.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people’s behaviour is mostly good. When young people experience difficulties staff de-escalate situations well.

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Key findings from this inspection

 When young people go missing from home, staff diligently search for them and work hard to ensure that they return safely.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work well with the placing authority to progress young people’s care plans.

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Key findings from this inspection

 All young people attend school regularly. This supports young people’s learning and they become more confident in their academic abilities.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Professionals report that the staff understand and meet young people’s individual needs well.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers support staff through regular supervision and appraisals.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff access training, which helps them to keep up to date with the skills and knowledge they need to care for children.

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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

 Information regarding complaints is not always available to young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 One missing record does not include all relevant details, including follow-up action taken by staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 10/08/2016 Full Good 14/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 17/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. Children must be able to take up issues or make a complaint with support and without any fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Regulation 39 sets out the requirements on the registered person to have a complaints procedure. Children must be aware of this procedure and be reminded of it as necessary. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)

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Recommendations

 Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14))). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child’s parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31) Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy being at the home. Young people make good progress because of the support they receive from staff. One young person said, ‘I’d give it a billion zillion out of 10 because they are my family and everything that I need.’ The inspector observed consistently positive relationships between young people and staff. Staff understand and respond to young people’s personalities and needs well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy a wide range of activities, including Girl Guides, guitar lessons and involvement in community projects. Staff know what interests young people and they encourage them to try new challenges. This helps to develop young people’s self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, it enables them to have different experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy regular family contact, where this is appropriate and part of their care plan. Staff support young people well and this helps them to stay in touch with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff progress young people’s care plans well and carry out the expectations of the placing authority. Young people contribute to their plans; they attend their reviews and staff support them to put their views across. Because young people contribute to their own plans, they are aware of their progress and achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to be healthy. Health plans show that young people attend routine appointments. The organisation’s therapist visits the home regularly, supporting both young people and staff. This helps young people and staff to develop emotional resilience. Staff manage young people’s medication requirements safely and this contributes to young people’s health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people attend education regularly. Staff encourage young people’s learning and this helps young people to make progress. Positive working relationships between teachers and staff support young people’s attendance and involvement in school activities. One school pastoral worker said, ‘They have [name of young person] at the forefront of everything that they do, they obviously think the world of her.”

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a pleasant and comfortable environment for young people to live in. Young people personalise their rooms to reflect their interests and personalities. Photos on display around the home show the activities young people do and the good times that they have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff listen to young people and act on what they say. Managers and staff have introduced a feedback section within young people’s monthly meetings so that they can talk about their experiences. Key-work sessions provide further opportunities to consult with young people. Young people say that they are happy to talk to the staff if they have concerns about their care. No complaints have been made since the last inspection. However, there is a lack of written information for young people about how to make a Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 6 complaint either within the home or to someone independent. This could stop young people from raising concerns and a recommendation is raised to address this shortfall.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good transition arrangements help young people to move into and on from the home successfully. Staff support young people to visit their new home before they move. They keep in touch with young people and offer them additional support. Staff work hard to welcome young people and help them to settle in. A young person who has recently moved in told the inspector, ‘The staff went through the rules and stuff, so I knew what I was coming into.’

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

Staff have a thorough awareness of how to respond to safeguarding issues. Staff follow procedures and good systems keep young people safe.

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

The manager responds well to safeguarding concerns, working closely with placing authorities and the local area safeguarding team. She has shared information swiftly and challenged professionals, when necessary, to ensure that young people are as safe as possible. Staff have not fully completed one safeguarding record relating to a young person who had been missing from home. As a result, the outcome was not clearly recorded. This did not directly affect the young person’s safety and care.

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

When young people have gone missing from home, the staff react well. They diligently search for young people and help to ensure that they return safely. Young people receive return interviews. This gives young people the chance to talk about why they went missing and what happened when they were away from the home. Managers review incidents to try to prevent situations where young people put themselves at risk.

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

Staff carry out routine health and safety checks. This helps staff to maintain a safe environment for young people. Managers ensure that the home’s risk assessment is regularly updated, as are risk assessments relating to individual young people. Thorough risk assessments provide staff with good guidance. This means that staff know what to do when concerns arise.

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

Staff manage young people’s behaviour effectively. Staff promote positive behaviour through reward charts and praise. Young people are fully aware of their targets and talk to staff about how they can achieve them. Staff complete restraint training annually. However, because staff use good behaviour management techniques, no physical interventions have been necessary since September 2015. Staff rarely use sanctions. When they do, they use a restorative approach. This enables young people to realise the affect that their behaviour has on themselves and others. The staff team is aware of how to respond to issues relating to bullying and self-harm. There have been no concerns relating to these since the last inspection.

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

Effective recruitment systems keep young people safe. Managers make sure that all necessary checks are completed. This prevents unsuitable people from working in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager is now registered with Ofsted. This was the only requirement raised at the last inspection and has been met. The manager is completing the level 5 diploma in care and management, and she expects to finish this by the end of September 2017.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective monitoring helps the manager to understand the quality of care provided by staff to young people. The independent visitor gives the manager a good overview of the way the home is working. The visitor consults with young people to hear from them about how they are progressing. This informs their assessment and recommendations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager understands the strengths and needs of the home. Quality of care review reports include areas for development. This shows a commitment to continuously developing the service to maintain and improve standards for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals are consistently positive about the care young people receive and the progress that they make. One said that their young person was ‘more relaxed and open than I have ever seen him’. A young person’s advocate reported, ‘Staff are knowledgeable and always able to talk in depth about the work that is being completed with the young people.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff work in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Assessments completed prior to young people coming to live in the home ensure that staff can meet their needs. Good matching helps young people to enjoy stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers support staff through regular supervision and appraisal. This enables staff to talk about the young people, reflect on their working practice and discuss their own development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An up-to-date workforce development plan provides the manager with a good overview of staff training. All staff complete a range of basic training courses. As a result, they keep up to date with the skills and knowledge they need to care for young people. The staff team is in the process of learning about a new assessment tool. This will enable them to develop a greater awareness of how they meet young people’s emotional needs and support young people’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is staffed by a qualified and experienced team. Staff conduct thorough handovers and attend monthly staff meetings. This enables them to keep up to date, share practice and be consistent with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager notifies relevant professionals following a significant event. She writes detailed reports, including the action taken to reduce risk and prevent reoccurrence. This keeps all those involved up to date and contributes to keeping young people safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 8

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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: SC446261 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Footsteps A Path To Change 08 Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 8 Alderley Close, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire SK7 6BS

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Charlotte Hearne

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Inspector

Andrew Hewston, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC446261 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for 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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