Children's Home run by 3 Dimensions Care Limited in Devon

Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 1 SC407753 Registered provider: 3 Dimensions 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 medium- to long-term care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural and/or learning disabilities. The home is managed as two separate self-contained flats within one house.

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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: 1 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager, who has been registered with Ofsted since 2010, has a wealth of Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 2 relevant experience. She is tenacious and takes strong action to improve the experiences, opportunities and achievements of the young people.  The reason that this home is successful is because of the registered manager and her staff teams’ ability to provide high quality, individualised care that meets each young person’s unique and diverse needs. Collectively, the teams have the necessary skills, resilience and attitude. They recognise how past experiences may affect and influence the young people’s behaviour while still having high aspirations for them.  Young people make good progress from their starting points. Staff successfully support all of the young people’s social, emotional, health and educational needs. All young people attend school, even though some find this very difficult

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Key findings from this inspection

to manage.  Relationships between the staff and young people are genuinely sincere and positive; the registered manager and her staff teams know and understand them well. Young people say that they trust the staff who care for them, they feel safe, have fun and enjoy living in this home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/07/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 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 care planning standard is that children  receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, care plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessments are required to be clear, concise and relevant, to ensure all staff are provided with clear instructions on how to meet and respond to the young people’s current needs. In addition, children should be encouraged to read and add further information to these plans.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that systems to consult with children are reviewed for effectiveness and value to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11). Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

The registered manager and her staff teams successfully create a home that the young people feel safe and comfortable in, and call their home. All four young people benefit from and continue to enjoy stability from living here. Some young people have historically experienced multiple placement breakdowns, so this stability is having a positive impact on their emotional well-being and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

One-to-one staffing means that each young person is cared for by a dedicated team of staff. As a result, staff know the young people well and provide them with good continuity of care. Relationships are warm, respectful and positive. Staff are nurturing and respond to young people calmly. This approach in turn helps the young people to reduce their anxieties and worries. Young people are developing resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Young people make good emotional and social progress because relationships between the staff and young people are attentive, loving and fun. Positive attachments exist and boundaries and expectations are consistently applied. As a result, young people say that they feel safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

The young people have positive day-to-day experiences that help their well-being and maximise their opportunities to achieve in many aspects of their lives. All young people attend school regularly. The registered manager and her staff teams work closely with the school staff; communication between them is good and parents’ evenings are well attended. Staff successfully support the young people so that they achieve well and their educational experience is positive.

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

The registered manager and her staff teams work very hard to keep the young people safe. The ethos of the home is one that promotes positive behaviour and provides strategies, incentives and rewards to help the young people to behave well. This ethos is achieved in practice. The young people are encouraged to identify their own rewards and incentives.

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

Staff support young people particularly well when they experience difficult situations and emotional challenges. Following the previous inspection in February 2017, incidents for one young person did increase, and at times staff had to physically hold him. These holds were used for a minimal amount of time and only as a last resort. In response, the manager increased the staffing levels and reviewed the young person’s care and behaviour management plans. As a result, incidents have since reduced and the young person is now more settled.

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

The registered manager scrutinises physical interventions and significant incident reports frequently. She speaks to the staff and young people involved in significant incidents to learn from what happened and to identify alternative strategies to prevent Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 5 similar incidents from happening again.

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

The registered manager and her core staff teams know and manage risks well. I ndividualised risk assessments and behaviour management plans support this work. Most of these documents align with the local authorities’ care plans, with the exception of one that is out of date. The documents contain a lot of historical information about risks and events. While this information is useful in building a picture of the young person’s journey, some of the information is no longer relevant. This means that new and temporary staff are provided with information that does not specifically direct them on how to respond to the current needs of the young people. This weakness has the potential to cause confusion and error. In addition, young people have become resistant to contributing to the documents.

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

There have not been any missing from home incidents, complaints or sanctions since the last inspection. Behaviour management strategies are effective, the views of the young people are sought and protocols are in place if an incident happens where a young person goes missing.

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

The registered manager’s approach to recruiting new staff is, in the main, good. She includes the young people in the selection of new staff by supporting them to ask their own interview questions and to give their personal view on each candidate. However, one staff file showed a short gap in employment history. The registered manager had not identified or followed this omission up before the inspection. Immediate action was taken to remedy this deficiency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

The registered manager is a strong and effective leader. Her motivation and ability to improve the quality of care for young people is commendable. The staff are well supported by the registered manager. They said that they feel listened to and valued. They also said that she is approachable, accessible and always leads by example.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

The registered manager’s monitoring of the quality of care is good. She reviews and evaluates records, observes staff’s practice and provides helpful critique to develop her teams. For example, when reviewing one young person’s daily journal she noted that a young person was taken to play in an area of the garden that is dedicated to another young person. The registered manager met with the member of staff, highlighting the importance of seeking permission to use this area to minimise any potential ramifications for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

The care staff spoken to said training opportunities are good. They benefit from a combination of face-to-face and e-learning training that helps them to improve, develop and refresh their skills and knowledge. As a result, they demonstrate confidence and have the necessary abilities to respond to the changing needs of the young people. All staff spoken to confidently knew what actions to take if they had any safeguarding concerns. Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 6 Team meetings are well attended. The staff focus on young people’s progress, achievements and behavioural incidents, as well as considering requests made by the young people during their house meetings. However, records do not show how the staff teams use these meetings to learn from each other and reflect on their practice. Neither do the teams explore how to develop the services for young people that will broaden their experiences and maximise their potential.

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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 differences 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: SC407753 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: 3 Dimensions Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Chardleigh House, Chardleigh Green, Wadeford, Chard, Somerset TA20 3AJ

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Inspector:

Sharron Escott, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC407753 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.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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