Children's Home run by PIC Children’s Services in St Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 1 SC022438 Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services 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 one of several owned and managed by a private company. The home is registered to care for one young person with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 September 2017

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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: 28 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 A positive and emotionally warm environment with consistent boundaries provides young people with the structure that they need to develop a strong sense of belonging and emotional security. Young people build trusting and meaningful relationships with staff.  Young people are confident enough to talk to staff about how they are feeling and to devise strategies with the support of staff to manage their feelings in a more productive manner.  Good safeguarding practice protects young people from harm. Young people feel safe and their worries are taken seriously by trusted adults. Well established and effective partnerships with local police and social workers ensure that when risks to young people are identified they are managed safely.  Staff are strong advocates for young people’s education. They strive to ensure that young people are engaged in education or training. They work closely with external agencies to help young people make positive decisions about their

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Key findings from this inspection

futures.  Staff work closely with the families of the young people. They work hard to develop positive relationships with them. This means that young people are able to keep in contact with their families and maintain close relationships with them.  Effective care planning and productive working relationships between the staff, families, social workers, schools and health workers mean that young people receive the best possible support to meet their needs.  Under the registered manager’s strong and effective leadership, the caring and well-supported staff provide a good quality of care for each young person. Staffing arrangements are well organised to provide young people with a continuity of care that meets their needs and provides opportunities for them to form positive attachments.

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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

 Ensure that the home’s development plan is used as an effective management tool. In particular, that the home’s development plan is bespoke to this home.  Ensure that there is an effective system to monitor and improve the quality of the records written about young people.  Ensure that there is an effective system to ensure that case records are maintained by the home for 75 years after the young people’s date of birth.  Further enhance the monitoring of the home by the independent person. Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/07/2016 Full Good 15/03/2016 Interim Not judged 05/01/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 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

Ensure the independent person produces a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether– children are effectively safeguarded and the conduct of the home promotes children’s wellbeing. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b)and(5)) 03/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child, which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; records are kept up to date: and are signed by the author of each entry. Case records must be kept– in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(b)) 03/11/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered manager makes best use of the independent and internal monitoring of the home to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) In particular, that the home’s development plan is bespoke to this home.  Ensure that the staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual young people in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about young people should always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to them now or in the future. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.4 and 14.5) In particular, this refers to the recording within the key work records and care

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Recommendations

plans. Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently no young people living at the home and the home is currently closed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

After the last inspection, one young person remained at the home for only a short period of time as they refused to stay. The placing authority agreed for the young person to return to the family home. A social work team leader said that the registered manager and staff had worked in partnership with them to support the young person. This was significant in supporting the successful transition of the young person back to the family home. For example, staff ensured that the young person took his medication each day and was eating well while at the family home. This aided a smooth transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The former young person left the home in August 2017 and has successfully moved into a leaving care placement. During his time at the home he developed a positive relationship with staff. The young person wrote that, ‘The staff in the home looked after me and cared for me.’ The young person chose to do activities with different members of staff, such as going to the gym or playing on the games console.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff’s perseverance and support help young people to understand that staff care about them, are interested in their welfare, want what is best for them and that they take their wishes and feelings seriously. For example, one young person asked that there were staff on duty that he knew when he returned home. As a result, the registered manager ensured that any new or relief staff were introduced to the young person. This helped the young person to feel safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s health and well-being have improved as a result of living here. Young people are much more aware of the dangers of smoking cigarettes and using cannabis. They have engaged with other professionals to consider smoking cessation, but chose to continue smoking. Young people’s emotional well-being improved. Young people wrote that the ‘staff make sure I feel safe and I can talk to them when I need to’. This is a massive achievement for some young people, as previously they had not felt secure enough to talk about how they were feeling. Consequently, staff were able to provide effective support to help young people through difficult periods in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are strong advocates for young people’s education. They endeavour to relay to young people the importance of having a good education. One young person wrote that they had ‘successfully completed school and were looking forward to gaining a college place’. Since moving on from the home, young people have successfully maintained their college placements and staff reported that they are ‘doing very well’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have the support that they need on a daily basis because of the effective care planning and strong working relationships between the staff, families and the placing authority. Everyone works well together to ensure that the relevant plans for Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 6 each young person’s care are reviewed on an ongoing basis, to take account of their progress and continue to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff keep social workers well informed of young people’s care and their progress. However, the most recent records for young people who have left the home are not on site. This is because they have been returned to the placing authority. This means that staff are not able to fully demonstrate how they have supported the young people in the last few months and they have not kept copies of this information to archive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Contact with families is managed very well. Staff build positive relationships with family members so that they know they are listened to and their views are taken into consideration. This means that young people are able to build and sustain relationships with those people who are important to them.

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

Staff are trained in child protection and safeguarding. They are clear on the action to take should they have a concern about the young person, or if an allegation is made against a member of staff or the registered manager. This helps to keep young people safe.

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

Young people do go missing. However the length of time that young people are missing has reduced. Police missing from care coordinators said that the staff had a big challenge with one young person. They said that the staff were not at fault as the young person was prolific at going missing from care and had been for a number years. In fact, they reported that the staff could not have done any more to support the young person. They arranged to pick him up at night so that he returned home safely and put into place incentives so that he spent more time in the home. This worked for short periods of time. As a result, staff were able to monitor the young person’s whereabouts and to do some work with them on keeping safe.

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

The registered manager and staff are vigilant. They take prompt and decisive action to deal with any worries about young people’s safety. Well-established professional networking means that staff are successful in identifying the risks that young people face. This means that they are able to take appropriate action to protect them.

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

Staff balance effectively protecting young people and enabling them to take appropriate and reasonable risks to promote their personal growth. Staff encourage young people to spend time with their friends in the community. Staff take reasonable precautions to make sure that young people are safe, and let them enjoy the same independence as other young people. This includes getting to know their friends and offering to take young people to and collect them from events.

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

The registered manager and staff promote positive behaviour through their warm and constructive relationships with young people. They work hard to develop positive relationships that help young people to build secure attachments and to have a strong sense of belonging. Clear, consistent boundaries mean that young people are aware of Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 7 the house rules, such as keeping in contact with staff when they are away from the home. Incentives to encourage young people to come home each night are effective as they are meaningful to young people.

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

Young people live in a warm, welcoming and homely environment. The home is well maintained and is arranged to reflect the needs of the young people. Improved safer recruitment checks keep young people safe. This is because they prevent unsuitable people from working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced registered manager provides consistently effective leadership, with a strong focus on making a meaningful difference to young people’s lives. She ensures that young people live in a friendly, supportive and safe home and receive a good standard of individualised care. The staffing arrangements ensure that there are sufficient knowledgeable and experienced staff available to meet the young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular opportunities through practice-related supervision and team meetings to reflect on young people’s progress and their own performance. The manager supports and encourages staff to develop expertise through training relevant to the needs of the young people, such as safeguarding, the risks of child sexual exploitation and behaviour management. Leaders and the registered manager encourage and support staff to develop professionally, including obtaining formal qualifications relevant to their role, such as the level 3 diploma in residential childcare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal monitoring of the home has improved. The registered manager regularly challenges staff about omissions in record keeping. As a result, most records are comprehensive and tell the story of the young people’s time in the home. However, this is not always the case within some key-work records and care plans. The registered manager is not using the home’s development plan as an effective management tool to show that improvements are being made and to understand the impact of the changes on young people’s lives. The development plan is not an organic document that shows the progress being made to deliver any actions identified in the review of the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring by the independent person is improving. A new independent person has been appointed and is working through the backlog of reports. Their reports are more evaluative, but do not make clear their opinion about how young people are safeguarded effectively and whether the conduct of the home promotes young people’s well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is current and reflects the care and support provided to all young people. This is shared effectively with the placing authorities and carers so that they have realistic expectations of what the home can do. The children’s guide is informative and is provided to young people when they arrive Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 8

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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: SC022438 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 North Street, Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside WA11 0TW

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Inspector

Chris Scully, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC022438 10 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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