Children's Home run by Warrington Borough Council in Warrington

Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 1 SC442779 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

These local authority children’s home provides care and accommodation for two children 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people live in a stable home environment where their needs are met to a high standard by a child-focused and stable staff team. As a result, the young people are very settled in their placements and make good progress.  Positive relationships between staff and young people are a key strength, and are used to positively influence young people’s behaviour.  Staff place high priority on young people’s safety and ensure that young people are kept safe by following safeguarding procedures.  The staff team is very experienced. All staff are trained in attachment theory and the cycle of trauma, which they use as basis for their work with young people.  Staff are proactive in sourcing activities in the local community for young people and, as a result, young people are engaged in a range of activities that are based on their individual interests.  Professionals’ feedback is consistently positive about how staff work and

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Key findings from this inspection

communicate with them to ensure positive outcomes for young people.

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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

 Independent monitoring reports lack evaluation and do not set out the independent person’s view on whether young people are effectively safeguarded and whether the conduct of the children’s home promotes children’s well-being.  Individual risk assessments are not subject to regular review. They do not always clearly set out individual risks and the actions for staff to take to reduce known risks, such as self-harm.  Actions contained in risk assessments to manage risk, for example room searches, are not always reviewed, which means there is a discrepancy between the risk assessment and staff practice.  Monitoring and evaluation of missing from home incidents and behaviour management are not robust.  The shortfalls identified have not affected the well-being of the young people placed at the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/03/2017 Full Outstanding 17/10/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/09/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 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

The registered person must ensure that the independent person’s report sets out the independent person’s opinions as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b)) 20/09/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. With particular reference to missing from home recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  When there are safeguarding concerns for child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record or retain evidence of what worked well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)  The behaviour management strategy should be understood and applied at all

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Recommendations

times by staff and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. This is with particular regard to reviewing sanctions used and the effectiveness of these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34) Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a warm, homely and well-decorated home environment where staff have managed to emulate a positive family home experience for the young people who live there. Young people like living at the home. They feel safe and feel that staff have helped them with areas such as their behaviour. One young person graded living in the home as ’53 out of 10’ and said that it was: ‘Better than the best. I like the staff and everything.’ Another young person described the home as ‘awesome’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A strength of the home is the very strong relationships between young people and staff. Young people were seen hugging staff during the inspection, and they are keen to share their news with them when they return to the home. Attachment theory is embedded in staff practice and, as a result, young people have formed very positive, nurturing relationships with staff. This contributes to young people feeling valued and provides them with a stable and secure base from which they can make progress in all areas of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from high-quality care from a stable and experienced staff team. Staff have an exceptionally good understanding of the young people’s individual needs. They know the young people well and ensure that young people receive well-planned care, which has resulted in young people making good progress from their individual starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have excellent attendance at school and are making good progress academically. In the minutes of one young person’s personal education meeting, it is stated: ‘(Name of young person) has 100% attendance and his social skills have improved. (Name of young person) seems calmer and more settled, and staff have a proactive approach to his education.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with education professionals to ensure that young people have access to the right educational provision. They will challenge professionals if young people are not offered appropriate educational provision. Staff ensure that educational transitions are well managed by attending meetings, introductory visits and, for one young person, advocating for a longer transition period. This has resulted in the young person settling quickly into a new school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place high priority on ensuring that young people’s health needs are met. They encourage young people to have a healthy lifestyle by involving them in physical exercise, such as basketball and swimming, which is beneficial to their physical health. Staff have done some good preparatory work with young people on puberty to support them through this stage of their childhood. When young people make poor health choices such as smoking, staff complete direct work with them to try to discourage this behaviour and educate them on the associated health risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work effectively with health professionals such as the specialist nurse for children in Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 6 care and the young person to ensure that their health needs are met. They have been proactive in advocating for extra anger management sessions for one young person. A specialist nurse for children in care commented: ‘I have always found the staff to be very helpful and forthcoming when I have required information or need to arrange to visit. They are knowledgeable about the children in their care and genuinely seem to care about them. When I have made recommendations around health, staff have taken this on board and have fed back to me if they feel they have any update for the children’s health.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people participate in a wide range of activities in the community based on their individual interests, such as Lego club or local youth groups. Staff encourage young people to develop individual interests by listening to young people, sourcing local activities and supporting young people to attend activities and groups in the local area. As a result, young people develop individual interests which enable them to develop new skills and increase their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote young people’s friendships. They encourage young people to develop friendships by playing out in the local area and inviting friends home for tea. This encourages young people to make positive social relationships which will have a positive impact on their self-esteem and resilience. Staff support young people to develop independence skills. For example, they have supported both young people to open bank accounts and they have undertaken much work supporting young people to develop skills on safe relationships. This equips young people with the skills that they will need as adults and will increase young people’s resilience as adults. Staff ensure that young people maintain links with their family when it is safe to do so and in line with their care plans. Young people have clear contact plans on file, which staff follow. Staff support contact by following these plans and supervising contact. This

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

helps young people to sustain positive and safe relationships with family members, which promotes their sense of identity.

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

Staff understand each young person’s individual risks and vulnerabilities well. This, along with careful planning and a high level of supervision, ensures that young people are safe. Staff work effectively with professionals such as the local authority designated officer, police and social workers to ensure that young people are safe. One police officer reported that the home is ‘Brilliant, it’s the same staff that I come and speak to, it’s good we have that relationship, it’s a nice environment to come into from a police point of view.’

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

There are some good risk assessments in place which identify each young person’s individual risks and vulnerabilities and actions to take to reduce these. Risk assessments are shared with relevant professionals to ensure that there is a multi-agency approach to reducing risk and keeping young people safe. Shortfalls were identified in individual risks not always being recorded in each young person’s risk assessments, for example self- Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 7 harm. Risk assessments are not kept updated with changes to actions to minimise risk, for example room searches had been reduced for one young person despite it stating in her plan that these should be carried out daily by staff. As a result, assessments lack clarity about the actions that staff are taking to reduce risk in some areas.

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

Staff are proactive when young people go missing. They work well with the police and search for young people to try to locate them as soon as possible. It is not always explicit from the records what actions staff have taken when young people are missing from care and, as such, it is not always clear that staff have followed young people’s missing from home risk assessments. Missing from home risk assessments lack clarity on when staff should report young people missing, which can potentially lead to a delay in young people being reported missing to the police and located. To date, there is no evidence that this has negatively impacted on young people’s safety.

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

Staff understand the risks for young people when they go missing, and undertake direct work with young people to help them understand these risks and make better choices to keep themselves safe. They are proactive in reminding the local authority of their duty to carry out return interviews once a young person has returned to the home after being missing. The manager does not consistently evaluate ‘missing’ episodes to establish trends and patterns to this behaviour understand the reasons for any increase and take steps to minimise future risk.

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

There is a very low level of restraint used in the home, reflecting staff’s skill in de- escalating situations and managing behaviour. All staff are trained in ‘team teach’, which is the model that staff are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. When restraint is used, it is used in accordance with the legislative framework, which ensures that young people are kept safe.

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

Staff are committed to overcoming challenging behaviour. They benefit from the input of the child and adolescent mental health service in team meetings where they discuss individual young people and strategies to manage any areas of difficulty or behaviour. There have been two incidents where the police have been called to the home due to behavioural incidents. Staff have worked well with the police following these to ensure that young people are not criminalised. This work ensures that young people understand the implications of their behaviour and increases their sense of personal responsibility for their behaviour.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour by using a reward system, which is set out in individual reward charts. Young people understand this approach and know what behaviour is expected of them to earn rewards. This system is not reviewed for effectiveness, meaning that staff use monetary rewards, for example, but there is no evaluation of whether this results in a reduction in negative behaviour by young people. The manager does not always review the sanctions which have been used. This has led to the manager not identifying when some of these are not proportionate to the behaviour displayed. Consequently, there is a lack of consistency in how staff are using sanctions, which does not ensure that young people experience an effective and consistent approach to their behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 8 All staff are trained in safeguarding. Consequently, staff have a good understanding of

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

safeguarding issues and procedures, which means that they respond appropriately when, for example, young people make allegations by referring to the local authority designated officer and notifying Ofsted. This ensures the safety of young people and protects staff who care for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a new manager in post who has submitted an application to Ofsted within the required timescales. She is child centered, enthusiastic and committed to the ongoing development of the home. She has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development and, despite the short period of time that she has been at the home, she has a very good understanding of the needs of the young people. A very experienced deputy manager and a very stable and committed staff team support her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff love working at the home and feel well supported in their roles by the management team. One staff member reported: ‘I love it and love the staff group and the kids. I can honestly say all staff have got the children’s best interests at heart.’ Staff receive regular and effective supervision from managers, which supports them in their role. The manager has recently organised a team day which included team building and sessions on the culture and ethos of the home, which has ensured that all staff understand this and provide care in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to the professional development of staff. Staff undertake regular training on relevant issues such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation, which ensures that they are up to date with current practice. Staff feel that they can request training in specific areas of interest. For example, one staff member has just completed her award in education. As a result, staff develop new knowledge and skills and remain motivated in their work. One staff member stated: ‘I can go in and say I want this training, I feel invested in and appreciated. It’s a difficult house but the saving grace is the team.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff ensure that young people’s views are central to the running of the home. Staff hold regular children’s meetings where young people are consulted on areas such as menu planning and activity choices. Young people have been involved in choosing wallpaper in the home and are asked about any other changes that they feel will improve the home. As a result, young people feel listened to by staff and are empowered to make choices. Staff advocate effectively on behalf of the young people and will challenge other agencies if they feel that young people’s interests are not being met. This has been effective in areas such as education and ensuring that a young person has further therapeutic input.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals are consistently positive about the level of collaboration and communication from staff. A child in care specialist nurse commented, ‘I visit many residential placements as part of my role and I find the home to be one of the most welcoming and also the most collaborative.’ An independent reviewing officer commented that staff communicate with her ‘really well’ and that ‘staff are absolutely Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 9 excellent’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Shortfalls were identified in external and internal monitoring systems. The manager’s monitoring of practice is not consistently robust. There are shortfalls in the manager’s evaluation of some areas of staff practice, such as missing from home incidents and the use of sanctions. The manager acknowledged this shortfall and is taking action to rectify it, identifying that she will be introducing internal monitoring such as monthly audits. Independent monitoring reports are received in a timelier manner. However, despite training, external scrutiny by the independent visitor is still not vigorous. Reports lack evaluation and the independent visitor does not give a view on whether young people are safeguarded and their well-being is promoted. This means that the effectiveness of these visits in improving the service is limited. Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 10

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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, 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: SC442779 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Children’s Services Directorate, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, Cheshire WA1 2NJ

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC442779 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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