Children's Home run by Hopscotch Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 1 SC432741 Registered provider: Hopscotch Care 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties (EBD). The home is privately owned. It operates within a main site and also has an annexe which can accommodate one young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are making outstanding progress as a result of the highly individualised, well-planned care they receive.  Young people enjoy trusting and secure relationships with staff. Staff listen to young people and take action to address the things that are important to them.  Young people live in a nurturing environment where their emotional well-being is closely supported.  Young people engage positively in their education. Their ambitions are recognised and encouraged.  Young people receive a good level of support to maintain important relationships.  Young people are supported to engage in a wide variety of activities. This helps them to enjoy, achieve, and grow in confidence and independence.  Young people receive safe, effective care and are protected from harm.  Effective joint working with external agencies helps to protect young people’s safety and well-being and helps to ensure that their individual needs are met.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff support young people to develop safe and appropriate behaviours.  The registered manager has developed a positive, safe and supportive culture.  Young people receive their care from well-trained and well-supported staff.  The registered manager uses quality assurance processes in an effective way to support the continuous development of the service.

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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

 Young people’s risk assessments should contain a consistently good level of information to ensure that staff have the necessary information to promote their safety on a day-to-day basis.  Young people’s missing from home protocols should contain an improved level of information to assist staff in safeguarding them if they are missing from home.  The registered manager should develop systems to actively seek feedback from young people, staff and external stakeholders about the quality of the service, on a periodic basis. Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/12/2016 Full Good 29/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Their placement plan 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)  Specifically in relation to missing from home protocols, the registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission, and how staff should support the child on return to the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  Specifically in relation to missing from home protocols, the home’s procedures must take into account the views of appropriate local services and the child’s

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Recommendations

placing authority and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing person’s incidents in the area where the home is located. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.29)  Specifically in relation to collecting formal feedback; the registered person should oversee the welfare of the children in their care through observation and engagement with: each child; the home’s staff; each child’s family/carers where appropriate; and professionals involved in the care or protection of each child including their social worker, Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO), teachers, clinicians and other health professionals, etc. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people who have lived at this home on a long-term basis are making outstanding progress in many areas of their lives. Two young people who were recently admitted to the home have settled well and are positively engaging with staff and each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home provides a nurturing environment where young people’s emotional well-being is closely supported. Staff are skilled in developing positive relationships with young people. Staff take time to understand young people’s needs and the things that are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people speak extremely highly of staff and describe secure and trusted Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 5 relationships. Young people’s comments included, ‘They are always there for me if I need them,’ and, ‘I sometimes get really upset but the staff are always there to comfort me.’ Young people and staff were observed to interact in a warm and comfortable manner, further demonstrating their positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage young people to talk about their feelings and express their views about the things that matter to them. Records of individual work and group meetings demonstrate that young people’s opinions are valued and acted upon. For example, in a recent meeting, the young people had requested a number of activities for the summer holidays and these had either taken place or were planned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The ability to work positively with parents and other family members is a particular strength of this service. This includes those harder to reach parents who have not been initially supportive of their young person’s placement at the home. The registered manager is able to provide a number of examples of positive work with parents, which has resulted in their increased engagement. This has led to young people feeling more able to invest in their placements and engage with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

An outstanding level of support is provided to enable young people to maintain, and in some cases, rebuild relationships with loved ones. For example, the home’s therapist has made arrangements to work with professionals involved in the support of a parent, to help them reconnect with their young person through joint therapy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Contact is strongly supported and considerable planning is afforded to assist young people to maintain important relationships. For instance, arrangements have been made for staff to travel a significant distance and stay in a nearby hotel, while a young person has contact with family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s care plans are centred on their emotional well-being. There is a clear therapeutic approach, which is overseen by an in-house clinician who works directly with young people and staff. Ongoing assessments of young people’s well-being evidence their sure and steady progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home’s therapist also works positively with external professionals to ensure that young people’s needs are met. One young person recently had some specialist input, which has now ended. Prior to the input ending, the therapist met with the specialist team to develop an ongoing plan to support the young person within the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s good health is promoted. There are clear plans in place to ensure that young people benefit from routine healthcare arrangements. One young person is currently undergoing orthodontist treatment and staff were observed discussing how they could support him at home with this. Young people’s specific health conditions are identified, as are any associated risks. Any additional support required to maintain young people’s health and well-being is clearly identified in their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The registered manager and staff demonstrate their aspiration for young people in their care and strongly encourage young people to achieve. In recent weeks, three young Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 6 people have taken their GCSEs. Staff recognised that this was a potentially stressful period for them and the registered manager arranged for staff to attend a course on ‘exam stress’ to help equip them to support the young people. The young people spoke positively of the support they received from staff and each other throughout this time. They are looking forward to a planned celebration on results day. One young person commented that no matter what the results, it would be a celebration because they had all worked so hard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The registered manager arranged some additional education input for the young people to assist with their exam preparation. The young people benefited from home tutoring to complement their schooling in the lead-up to their exams. The registered manager worked closely with one young person’s school in particular, to ensure that there were no disruptions to her schooling during the exam period. The two young people recently admitted to the home have engaged in education for the first time in several years. Both have engaged so well that full-time placements are being arranged for them to start in the next academic year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people have positive plans for their future and have been supported by staff to pursue these. College placements have been identified for two young people, both in line with their future career ambitions. The registered manager has worked positively with the identified college of one young person, who has some complex needs, to ensure that he receives ongoing individualised support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person has achieved his long-term ambition to join the armed forces and has been selected to attend residential training college in the autumn. The registered manager has held discussions with this young person’s placing authority to ensure that the home can continue to support him throughout his college placement. As a result, a positive plan has been agreed, which means that the young person will be able to return to the home when he has leave. The young person said he thought this was ‘awesome’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff ensure that young people are provided with regular opportunities to enjoy and achieve. Their interests and hobbies are encouraged; for example, one young person regularly attends singing lessons. Young people enjoy a good variety of activities in line with their interests and hobbies. The young people and staff recently enjoyed an activity holiday in Wales, where they engaged in lots of sports and outdoor pursuits. The young people who have recently taken their GCSEs also attended their proms, which was a time of much excitement for them. One young person was making final preparations to attend a music festival with staff, to see her favourite pop star. She was extremely excited about this and said that the registered manager had arranged it for her as a reward for working hard at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage young people to engage in their local community and take part in rewarding activities for the benefit of good causes. One young person has recently completed a ‘moonlight walk’ with staff and has raised money for a local hospice. She has framed her T-shirt from the event and put it on her wall, showing how proud she is of her achievement. Another young person is looking forward to starting voluntary work with a local animal sanctuary. Supporting young people to engage in these sorts of Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 7 activities helps them to achieve and gives them a sense of pride and belonging in their community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The registered manager has recently implemented an independence pack. This is a workbook designed for young people to work through with support, which will help them to prepare for independence. Areas covered include budgeting, household skills and independent travel. Those young people nearing the age of independence have now started to work on these skills. Ensuring that young people are well prepared for independence increases their skills and confidence to succeed as young adults.

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

The young people who live in this home feel safe and are safer as a result of the support they receive. They express confidence in staff and report that they are able to talk to staff about things that are worrying them. Staff take time to listen to young people’s concerns and take action to deal with them.

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

A range of individualised risk assessments are in place for each young person. These identify any potential areas of concern and include guidance for staff about how to maintain young people’s safety. There are some good examples of risk assessments that provide clear, up-to-date information. However, some risk assessments would benefit from more detailed guidance. This would help ensure that staff have all the information they require to support young people in a safe manner. A recommendation has been made in relation to this matter.

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

Although mindful of the need to maintain young people’s safety, managers and staff also have good insight into the importance of positive risk-taking and are not risk-averse. This is particularly the case for young people nearing the age of independence. A number of examples of young people being supported to take positive risks as an aid to their growth and confidence are evident.

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

Some positive work has taken place with outside agencies to help promote young people’s safety and well-being. For example, the registered manager has made arrangements for an external professional to carry out some educational work with a young person who is at high risk of exploitation. The young person is engaging well with this work, which is helping her to learn about safe relationships.

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

Staff are provided with safeguarding training at the start of their employment, which is regularly updated. Staff demonstrate a clear understanding of their role and responsibility to keep young people safe from harm. As a result, safeguarding concerns are identified and responded to in a prompt and robust manner.

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

The young people who have lived at this home on a long-term basis do not go missing and do not engage in any concerning behaviours outside of the home. There has been a significant decrease in episodes of being missing and other risk-taking behaviours in the two young people recently admitted to the home. A social worker commented, ‘[X] was presenting a range of behavioural difficulties and risk-taking before she came into Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 8 placement. This has now reduced dramatically.’ This demonstrates that the care and support provided helps to keep young people safe.

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

Missing from home risk assessments and individualised protocols are in place for all the young people. However, in some cases, these lack detail. In addition, the home does not routinely obtain the missing from home protocols of all young people’s placing authorities. A recommendation has been made that young people’s individual protocols are improved, which will further help staff to safeguard them if they are missing.

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

Staff are skilled in understanding young people’s emotional responses and help young people to learn how to manage their feelings in a safe way. There is a clear focus on rewarding positive behaviour. Sanctions are minimal and the registered manager ensures that any sanctions issued by staff are proportionate and relevant to the matter in question, so as to assist the young person’s learning.

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

Crisis situations where staff are required to intervene physically or restrain a young person are very rare in this home. This demonstrates that staff are skilled in de- escalating potentially volatile situations before they reach crisis point. There has been one such incident since the last inspection of the home. This was appropriately recorded and reviewed by the registered manager so that any potential learning or action required to reduce a similar incident from happening in the future could be identified.

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

Careful recruitment procedures mean that all prospective employees are required to undergo a range of background checks prior to being offered a post, including a full employment history and police record checks. This minimises the risk of young people being exposed to adults of unsuitable character and therefore helps to safeguard them. However, in one example, some minor shortfalls were identified in relation to the recording of employment history checks. The registered manager is advised to ensure that a clear audit trail is in place to demonstrate these additional checks.

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

The registered manager ensures that young people are provided with safe and comfortable accommodation. Records show that the registered manager regularly conducts environmental audits and periodic health and safety checks to enable him to identify any potential safety issues and address them quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from strong leadership. The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He demonstrates strong person-centred values and has high expectations of care standards within the home. Young people, parents, the staff team and external professionals speak highly of the registered manager and provide consistently positive feedback about the management of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager confirmed that he is provided with adequate resources to run the home effectively. There are a number of examples of additional resources being made available to benefit the young people. For example, additional staff hours have been made available to ensure that a young person with some complex needs receives Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 9 staff support to attend college.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager works positively with external professionals to ensure that young people’s needs are met. However, he also demonstrates the ability to challenge outside agencies on behalf of the young people. A recent example of this involved the registered manager advocating strongly for a young person at risk of losing their education placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some recent changes to the management team with a view to providing more consistent management support across the main home and the separate annexe. These changes have been well received by staff, who feel they are working well. The deputy managers and team leaders at the home are due to commence their leadership and management awards, which will further enhance the skills of the management team as a whole.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff consistently report a positive culture within which they feel well supported by both the registered manager and by senior managers from the organisation. They confirm they are able to express their views and share their concerns. Records demonstrate that all staff benefit from regular supervision as well as regular team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well motivated and demonstrate pride in the care and support provided to young people. This home benefits from an extremely low turnover of staff. This results in a stable environment for young people as they receive their care from a consistent staff team that knows them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a mandatory training programme in place, which all staff are expected to complete. This includes learning in areas such as safeguarding, first aid and recognised behaviour management techniques. Training in additional areas identified as being in line with young people’s needs is also provided. For example, the in-house therapist recently provided a course for staff that was developed to assist them in supporting a young person’s complex needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are systems in place to enable the registered manager to monitor safety and quality across the service. These include regular audits and a monthly inspection by an independent professional. The registered manager demonstrates a positive view of these processes and is able to provide a number of examples of action taken as a result of areas for development being identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager demonstrates that he is open to feedback from young people, staff and external stakeholders on a day-to-day basis. However, the processes to gather such feedback are not formalised. It is recommended that this be addressed so that regular feedback is actively sought. This would further support the home’s continuous development and improvement. Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 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 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 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, 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: SC432741 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 19 Lancaster Road, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9LD

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Inspector

Marie Cordingley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC432741 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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