Children's home run by Dove Adolescent Services Limited in Wakefield

Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 1 SC064934 Registered provider: Dove Adolescent Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 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: 13 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people have strong, positive and trusting relationships with the staff.  The staff give high importance to partnership working. Communicating with Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 2 other professionals and parents ensures that the young people receive the best help to keep them safer and to make progress.  The young people access and engage with health professionals, which has supported improvement in their emotional well-being.  The staff receive good support and training to assist them in carrying out their work with the young people to a high standard.  Thorough monitoring systems quickly remedy the omissions and deficits detected to ensure that the young people receive good-quality care.

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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 staff should understand the requirements of the regulations in relation to recording of discipline measures. These records must include the full details of the lead up to the behaviour event.  The undertaking of direct work and/or conversation sessions should fully reflect the young person’s placement, support plan goals and risk assessments.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/08/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (1) and (3)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the lead up to the use of the measure must be accurate and record the details in full. 20/09/2017

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35–39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (Regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that direct work and conversation sessions are recorded and cover all the areas set out within placement plans, support plan goals and risk assessments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A young person said: ‘We are well cared for here, but like most people I do have my ups and downs’ and ‘I do get on with staff. They are sound.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people make good progress over time due to the consistent and nurturing care provided by a committed and stable staff team. Young people’s progress includes improved health and emotional well-being, education and safety. The young people Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 4 respond well to the routines and boundaries, along with the aspirations that the staff have for them to do well and succeed. Although care planning and the monitoring of the young people’s progress are frequent, there is a lack of detailed direct or conversation sessions recorded within case files to demonstrate that all areas of support are being discussed regularly with the young people in line with placement plans, support plans and risk assessments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people benefit greatly from the strong and trusting relationships that they have built with the staff. The development of trust in those who care for them enables the young people to be able to take on board the advice and guidance from staff. This helps them to make more positive choices and decisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people’s health improves as they access routine health checks and specialist services, including those for their emotional well-being. The young people receive advice, guidance and support on living a healthy lifestyle, with information on the dangers of smoking, substance misuse and other matters that affect their health. The staff and other agencies continue to work with the young people to have a positive impact to reduce and/or cease this behaviour. This ensures that the young people’s current and long-term health outcomes improve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work with purpose to ensure that the young people recognise the importance of attending education. The young people’s learning experience has begun to improve, with their participation and attendance in education starting to increase. This has brought about academic achievements. This provides the young people with enhanced opportunities now, and as young adults, to access further education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are at the start of their journey to gain the necessary skills to care for themselves as young adults. They engage well in learning independence skills. They take part in chores around the home that include cleaning their bedrooms, processing laundry, preparing snacks and meals and baking, and are at the start of learning to budget money.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people benefit from accessing a number of social and leisure activities, such as going to the cinema, going go-karting, spending time with friends and day trips out. The staff encourage young people to have hobbies and interests. A young person said: ‘We had a great time on holiday this year.’ This helps the young people to build good social skills, self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work tirelessly with the young people to rebuild and maintain relationships with those who are important to them. A young person said: ‘I go to see my family regularly.’ A social worker said: ‘Staff work well with mum. This is really positive.’ This provides the young people with stronger family connections and support networks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people benefit greatly from the staff listening and consulting with them on a regular basis. The young people are actively involved in young people’s meetings and have daily discussions about their care, activities and plans for their future. This demonstrates that the staff give importance to gathering the young people’s views and Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 5 opinions and that these are taken seriously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people enjoy and live in the comfort of a well-presented home. The personalisation of rooms enhances the home further, providing young people with a safe and positive environment in which to live.

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

The staff demonstrate a good understanding and have a wealth of knowledge of each young person’s vulnerabilities. Staff implement safeguarding strategies to assist in protecting the young people. There have been missing from home incidents. Appropriate action is taken in line with agreed protocols to search and find the young people and notify all relevant parties. Continued work with the young people on the dangers of going missing has seen the number of incidents start to reduce. This decreases the risk to individual young people and effectively helps to keep them safer.

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

The young people receive good support, advice and guidance to manage their anxieties and risk-taking behaviour. The staff support the young people to follow individualised behaviour plans, structured routines and boundaries. Purposeful incentives and the celebration of the young people’s achievements reinforce positive behaviour. The young people are rarely physical held. There has been one such event since the last inspection and this took place to keep the young person and others safe. Work continues with other agencies, such as Barnardo’s, drugs and alcohol support and the youth offending team, to protect and safeguard the young people. The young people are positively engaging. A professional said: ‘The staff have great relationships with X’ and ‘The staff are really receptive to my suggestions to support X. X has made progress and is much safer.’

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

A young person said: ‘There is no bullying here. We get on really well but do fall out sometimes.’ Young people know how to make a complaint and say that the staff do listen to them. The management and staff team take appropriate action to address concerns, and all relevant professionals are notified. Records clearly detail the action taken and the outcome of the complaints made. This demonstrates that complaints are taken very seriously and ensures that the concerns raised are appropriately dealt with and suitably addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager of this service has been in post since 2016. She has relevant experience to work with children and young people and is currently undertaking the level 5 diploma qualification in management. At the time of the inspection, an acting manager is in post to cover the registered manager’s planned absence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager and senior team have a clear understanding of the service’s strengths and weaknesses. The home operates in line with the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Strong collaborative and partnership working with all professionals is a real strength of Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 6 the staff team. A professional said: ‘The staff always keep me up to date and they respond quickly to any queries.’ This ensures that there are effective working relationships with a number of professionals and agencies to provide the best support possible to care for and protect the young people well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The whole staff team is child-centred. A real strong point is the staff members’ ability to engage and build trusting relationships with the young people. This is with the aim to nurture and support young people to have positive experiences and to make progress. A core number of staff members are experienced and hold the level 3 qualification in caring for children and young people. Currently, the new staff members are undertaking the qualification. In addition, the staff undertake mandatory training. This includes behaviour management, child protection, first aid and more specialist areas such as training around child sexual exploitation, self-harm and drugs awareness. The staff receive good support from the manager, senior team and their colleagues. Effective communication and support are further enhanced by the regular undertaking of staff meetings, training and formal supervision. This facilitates good morale and consistent

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

care being delivered to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has completed the one recommendation made at the last inspection. The young people have achieved the set educational goals to increase attendance and attainment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Thorough auditing systems, including internal monitoring by the manager and external monitoring by the provider, quickly detect shortfalls that are promptly addressed. This supports the continual improvement to the quality of care provided to the young people.

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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: SC064934 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Dove Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 170 Southgate, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF8 1QJ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Barbara Whittaker

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Inspector

Debbie Foster: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064934 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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