Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 1 SC463852 Registered provider: Horizon Care And Education Group Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home forms part of a large social care company.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is happy and settled.  The young person knows and likes the small group of staff that work with her. Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 2  The young person is not running away and her behaviour has improved.  The young person feels secure.  The young person is spending more time with family members and friends. She has better relationships with family and friends than before.  Staff are well organised. Staff make sure that the young person gets good care and many enjoyable experiences.  The young person is doing better at school.  The young person’s original plan for living in a foster home is now realistic again.  Staff have agreed to work together and they feel very well supported by the manager.  Staff get good advice from the manager and the organisation’s clinician about how to work with young people.  The manager has made sure that staff feel valued and can provide better

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Staff do not always show enough skill in helping the young person to learn new skills and make progress.  Staff do not always respond to the young person’s negative behaviour using agreed plans.  Staff do not regularly help the young person to collect memorabilia of her time here.  Staff and managers are not yet planning work that will make the young person ready for moving on.  Staff and managers have not made clear plans for admitting new young people to the home.  Staff who raise issues in supervision do not get clear advice and support from their supervisor.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2017 Full Inadequate 22/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 11/05/2016 Full Good 02/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 3

p.2

Recommendations

 Ensure that supervision records provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3) This is with particular reference to recording the supervisor’s responses, advice and planned actions as well as the supervisee’s agenda and comments.

p.3

Recommendations

 Extend the advice, support and guidance given to children on health and well- being, to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change, negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person supports staff to be ambitious for every child in the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5) This is with particular reference to gaining skills in therapeutic care practice and skills to promote children’s learning.

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that the behaviour management strategy is understood and applied at all times by staff. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that staff keep, and encourage children to keep, appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 14.5)

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and that the principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person works with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9) This is with particular reference to identifying the help that young people need, and providing this in a timely and Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 4 effective way, so that they can successfully move into foster care.

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that there are procedures in place for welcoming and introducing each child to the home, and that they are sensitive to the needs of the child at the time of arrival. A warm welcome and introduction to the home is an entitlement for all children whether they are admitted in a planned way or in an emergency. Where possible other children and young people should be supported to contribute to the design of the welcome and introduction and where appropriate the welcome itself. The home has a key role in helping children to understand why they are living there and the plans for their future. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.7)

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person remains in the home since the full inspection in May 2017. She is happy and settled. She has been placed here for about two years. Her social worker told the inspector, ‘I think she is making really good progress. It is a good placement and I still want to move her to foster care.’ The progress that the young person has recently made means that the local authority has returned to its plan for her to move on to foster care. Staff have provided better quality individual care and support to her. This has improved her life and enabled her to settle and progress.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person knows and likes the small group of staff that work with her. She enjoys regular trips out in the school holidays and has been on a short holiday with one member of staff. Staff help her to spend time with her school friends. Staff advise her about how to make and sustain happy friendships. Staff also give her good support to spend more and better quality time with members of her family. However, it is many months since staff encouraged or helped the young person to collect memorabilia of her time there. Staff have stopped doing this because she has not wanted to have her photograph taken. The young person presently has no material evidence showing her progress and experiences this year.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the young person is making good progress in relation to her health, emotional well-being and education. She is more confident talking to others. She is taking more pride in her personal hygiene, her clothes and belongings. She received a good school report. However, she is still sometimes reluctant to go out with staff and to help around the house. She has not yet gained skills such as concentration, or the motivation to be truthful, well organised, clean, tidy and cooperative. Staff do not always tackle these areas of difficulty with patience, sensitivity and a good sense of proportion. Some of the staff’s planned sessions and conversations are sensitive and reassuring. However, some sessions and conversations are too boring and critical. Staff do not always use the therapeutic approaches that the organisation expects them to. Consequently, the manager and staff have not yet identified or provided all the help that the young person

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

still needs in order to make the final steps that will enable her to move to foster care. Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 5

p.4

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

The young person feels safe. She has not recently been exposed to any adverse influences from other young people. She is not running away and her behaviour has improved. She feels secure with staff when she is inside and outside the home. She knows that staff hold her in mind when they are not at work and that they want to help her mature and become more self-aware. Staff are encouraging her to write down her feelings and her questions, if this makes it easier for her to communicate with staff.

p.5

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

Staff have used some of the time while the young person has been alone in placement to advise her about staying safe. This includes kindness, bullying and risks of child sexual exploitation. The young person says that she would not let anyone older than her talk to her or try to meet her, no matter what he says. However, staff do not always give advice and help in a way that secures actual understanding. Consequently, the young person remains vulnerable. For example, one member of staff told the inspector, ‘[Young person] continues to require support understanding boundaries and her friendships… she is still adamant that child sexual exploitation could or would never happen to her.’

p.5

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

Staff and the clinician have met regularly during the last few months to discuss ways of best managing the young person’s behaviour. The manager and clinician have rewritten behaviour management plans. The plans say that staff should take the young person seriously and respond to her with empathy and interest that is proportionate to the situation. Staff manage situations and behaviour more consistently now, and seldom resort to punitive sanctions or saying that they will call the police. If the young person is angry, uncooperative or violent, staff are much more likely to try to understand and connect with what she is feeling, rather than just correct her.

p.5

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

Staff usually ask managers for advice if they are struggling to manage situations. However, staff still occasionally use the same unhelpful measures to control the young person that they have used in the past. For example, they pick the young person up on every use of bad language and they sometimes unplug the television or games console to force the young person to do something else. Staff do not always record the advice of managers or the sanctions that they use. This means that managers and staff lose some opportunities to review what works for the young person and what does not.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new registered manager has been working in the home for over three months. Staff and the young person like him and find him supportive. He ensures that all staff prioritise the young person and work together openly, respectfully and consistently. This is working well overall because staff now meet regularly and have regular supervision. However, some staff still say that they have difficulties with other staff. Their supervisors do not always give advice and planned actions. This allows issues between some staff to persist, creating the potential to reduce the quality of help that the young person receives.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the staff’s individual strengths and weaknesses. He has Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 6 helped them become much more thoughtful about the young person’s needs. For example, he suggested that she might feel abandoned by staff when their two-day shift ends. Staff are trying to see if winding down gradually from the intensity of one-to-one time helps the young person to manage better. However, staff have not explained to the young person why they are using this strategy. The manager knows that staff all require more skills in therapeutic care practice and has ensured that they are all booked onto this training in the near future.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has amended the home’s location review and statement of purpose. These documents now make it clear that the proximity of the home to the railway station and town centre make it a more risky location for young people who are at known risk of sexual exploitation and/or going missing. The manager has decided not to admit a young person who is known to be at risk in these ways. The manager has also made a checklist for staff of actions to take each time that a new young person is admitted. However, staff are not helping the existing young person prepare for new young people moving in.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is currently away. The arrangements to cover his absence are well planned.

p.6

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.

p.6

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: SC463852 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care And Education Group Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

p.7

Inspector

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC463852 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8