Children's home run by Searchlight Care Services Ltd in Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 1 SC008325 Registered provider: Searchlight Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private organisation owns and operates the home.

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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: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person makes progress as staff provide personalised care to meet her needs.  Staff support the young person to manage her emotions better. Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 2  Staff work closely with partner agencies to coordinate the support that the young person needs to stay safe.  Staff understand the young person’s views and wishes, and they advocate for her as a good parent would.  Staff implement clear and consistent boundaries. These provide the young person with a sense of stability and security.  The young person feels happy and safe, as she knows that staff are kind and care about her.

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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

 The registered provider does not use the quality of care review to inform the development plan on how to maintain and improve the standard of care provided to the young person.  The quality of case records is variable.  Staff do not support the young person to develop the skills that she needs to stay safe online and in the community.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/11/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 3

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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 complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review. (Regulation 45(1)(2)(a)(c)(3)) 30/09/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety both inside and outside the home to the extent that any good parent would. Staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves, feel protected and be protected from significant harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that young people develop the skills to recognise and respond to the risks associated with child sexual exploitation and online bullying.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Case records must be kept up to date. Information about the child should always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that risk assessments and placement plans contain sufficient information to reflect the young person’s individual needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have a positive experience of moving into the home. For example, staff visited the young person several times before her admission. They took the young person on a shopping trip to Ikea and the young person visited the home before she moved in. As a result, she got to know the staff and saw where she was going to live. The staff successfully managed the young person’s expectations and anxieties around her move to the home. As a result, they have helped the young person to settle quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have worked hard to come to know the young person. This makes her feel cared for and provides her with a sense of belonging. The young person told the inspector, ‘The staff are lovely, kind and caring.’ The young person enjoys positive relationships with staff. This helps her to improve her feeling of self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with the child and adolescent mental health service in order to understand the young person’s emotional health needs. Staff have researched creative ways in which to help the young person to reduce her self-harming behaviour. For example, they have suggested using ice cubes and elastic bands as a safer sensory stimulus. Staff make sure that they are always available when the young person needs to talk through her anxieties. The young person told the inspector, ‘When I am struggling and I have lots of things on my mind, they just listen to me. I go to them.’ The young person feels listened to and is able to identify adults whom she feels she can trust and confide in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise that an effective way of managing the young person’s emotional health is to surround her with positivity and playfulness. They help the young person to focus on what is good in her life. A planned holiday is providing a short-term focus for the young person. The young person told the inspector that it is fun living at the home, because ‘I go for walks, sometimes we go out for lunch, we bake cakes and watch DVDs.’ Staff are supporting the young person to break a harmful cycle of behaviour and to enjoy her life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person enjoys regular contact with her family. Staff have liaised with the placing authority to review the young person’s contact arrangements and make sure that they are appropriate. Consequently, the young person is able to maintain safe and positive links with people who are who are important to her.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the young person to take responsibility for her own self-care skills and to help around the house with basic chores. Staff have recently supported the young person to visit local employers to enquire if they have any part-time seasonal jobs. Although this proved to be unsuccessful, this exercise had a positive impact on the young person’s self-esteem and confidence. She is beginning to realise the different opportunities that may be available to her.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has a positive attitude towards her education. The progress that the Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 5 young person has made in managing her emotions is having a positive impact on her learning. Staff work closely with the school and local authority virtual headteacher. This enables the staff and education professionals to plan how to meet the young person’s educational needs. Staff have a good understanding of the potential barriers to the young person being able to access full-time education. They are taking the necessary steps to help her to overcome these.

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

The young person benefits from consistent and clear rules and boundaries. She understands what is expected of her and this helps her to manage her behaviour. Staff have seized upon the young person’s fascination with Harry Potter. They use this as a tool to develop relationships with her and to acknowledge the positive choices that she is making. For example, staff recently rewarded the young person with a Harry Potter bracelet and she is now working towards a trip to a Harry Potter theme park.

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

On the occasions when the young person displays challenging behaviours, staff take steps to avoid the need for physical intervention. They use their positive relationships with the young person to de-escalate situations. Staff use key-work sessions and, where appropriate, input from the police to support the young person to reflect on her actions. The young person is learning that it is safe to make mistakes, to take responsibility for her actions and to make positive choices.

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

The young person has not gone missing from home since she has lived at the home. Staff recognise the young person’s vulnerability and are aware that she may go missing. They have plans in place and know what to do should such an event occur. Furthermore, staff supervise the young person well, and this means that the young person is less likely to go missing.

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

The young person does not have access to a mobile phone or the internet. At this stage, these measures are supporting the young person to stay safe. However, staff have not yet considered how they will reduce these restrictions and help the young person to develop the skills that she needs to manage her vulnerability to online bullying or child sexual exploitation.

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

Regular health and safety checks ensure that the home is safe for the young person, staff and visitors. Staff are trained in fire safety procedures and they ensure that the young person takes part in fire evacuation drills. As a result, staff and young people know how to leave the home safely in such an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, there has been a change of manager. The new manager is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted. She is completing her level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. A deputy manager who is enthusiastic, keen and child focussed supports the manager with the day-to-day running of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 6 A redistribution of staff by the provider means that all the staff are new to the home since the last inspection. Because all the staff were working in the home when the young person arrived, this change in staffing has not had any impact on her. However, two staff, including the young person’s key worker, have recently left. To minimise the impact, staff took the young person out for a meal and sensitively explained the reasons for their departure. As a result, the young person’s anxieties around this change were

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

low, and she wrote a letter to the staff involved to thank them for helping her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Suitably trained staff have the experience and knowledge to provide care in line with the home’s statement of the purpose. Staff receive supervision and attend team meetings regularly to understand how best to meet the young person’s needs. Because of good standards of care, the young person is making progress in different aspects of her development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff liaise effectively with partner agencies, including the police, school, child and adolescent mental health team and local authority. A professional told the inspector, ‘They are doing a really good job; they are working with everyone to support (the young person).’ This ensures that the young person benefits from well-coordinated and personalised support to meet her needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home. However, she does not use this understanding to inform the development plan. The home’s development plan is generic, and does not outline how the manager intends to maintain and improve the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of case recording is variable. For example, placement plans and risk assessments do not always reflect the personalised care provided to the young person. A recommendation is raised to bring about improvement.

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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: SC008325 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Searchlight Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Marcus House Estates, Marcus House, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 5XA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Denver Underwood

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Inspector(s)

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC008325 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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