Children's home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in Mid Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 1 SC426530 Registered provider: My Choice Children’s Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The service can accommodate three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Young people can access the on-site school. The home is one of nine children’s homes operated by a private company.

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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 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people benefit from the home having a manager who has developed Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 2 into a strong leader.  Effective liaison and working with a wide range of professionals ensure that the young people receive good levels of care and protection.  Staff have a thorough understanding of the potential for young people to be sexually exploited. They implement strategies to reduce the level of risk.  Access to education improves for those young people who previously had poor attendance levels.  The staff team is qualified, experienced and able to meet the challenging and changing needs of the young people.  Established behaviour management strategies are implemented in practice. There is a consistent approach to promoting positive behaviour and a considered response to challenging negative behaviour.  There is a high standard of recording by staff.  The management and staff team are well informed of local risks and have

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Key findings from this inspection

measures in place to lessen their impact. The manager has developed a location risk assessment that enables staff to manage any identified risks in the local areas effectively.  Improved impact risk assessments allow for better assessment of potential placements.

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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

 There is no formal analysis of referrals and admissions or the impact that these have on placement stability.  On occasion, the movement of staff between individual homes within the organisation does not allow for maximum consistency of care.  Young people are not fully involved in drawing up their care plans and risk assessments.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2016 Full Good 07/09/2016 Full Inadequate 27/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 11/06/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to- Ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care for each child Ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(2)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure there is decreasing movement of staff between this and other of the organisation’s homes. 31/01/2018

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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: and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to- Ensure that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, develop young people’s involvement in contributing to their care plans, target setting, and risk assessment. 31/01/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 4 conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6

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Recommendations

months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

Specifically, ensure that there is a formal analysis of the home’s referrals and admissions over a set period of time to see the impact that decision-making has on the stability of placements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a home where the staff deliver individualised care within a nurturing environment. Young people are supported to develop, and are given the opportunities to learn to manage their emotions appropriately and decrease their risk-taking behaviours. Overall, they are making good progress, despite times when they put themselves at risk. In particular, young people make progress in areas such as education attendance and decreasing their risk-taking behaviours, including sexual exploitation and going missing. The staff respond quickly and effectively to individual risk-taking behaviours and are often able to avert young people’s poor decision-making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make progress as a result of developing an increased sense of security, and they become more willing to discuss sensitive issues with staff. This includes their experiences of sexual exploitation. Staff respond sensitively, offering support and guidance while meeting their responsibilities to report information relating to child protection concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff show an interest in and care for the young people, sharing positive interactions and experiences. This supports the young people to recognise their own strengths and abilities and raises their self-esteem and self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is strongly valued by the staff. Managers and staff actively promote young people’s educational progress. They work closely with school and college staff to ensure that all young people have positive educational opportunities. The staff team also provides information and updates to school staff about matters which may affect the young person’s behaviour. The staff share behaviour management strategies, and this has led to consistency of care and positive outcomes for the young people. Attendance levels are monitored and any dips are identified, and strategies are reviewed to re- engage young people with achieving good attendance levels. Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 5 The young people have a strong voice at the home. They confidently express their views, knowing that the staff will listen and value their opinions. Individual key-working sessions help young people to focus on their behaviours and express their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite this, young people are not fully involved in forming their care plans, target setting or risk assessments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Close monitoring of the young people’s physical and emotional health ensures that the staff identify specific needs and are clear about what young people need in order to be healthier and happier. The close contacts that the staff have with external health professionals, such as the sexual health service and child sexual exploitation professionals, provide a high level of expert intervention. Medication administration is safe and well managed. Young people have a healthy diet and the opportunity to experience different foods.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people receive valuable support to maintain and improve the time that they spend with families, friends and other important people. Contact arrangements are confirmed when young people move into the home to ensure that any restrictions are known and planned for.

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

Policies, procedures and training provide the staff with knowledge of safe practice and guidance. Young people live in a safe environment and are provided with support from a range of professionals to begin to understand the negative impact of their previous unsafe behaviours and lifestyles. Recently improved safeguarding practice now allows the registered manager to refer directly to safeguarding agencies, rather than wait for senior management direction. Working collaboratively with professionals regarding individual young people is a strength of the home.

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

The staff are very aware of the vulnerabilities and risks of sexual exploitation. In particular, they are knowledgeable about the negative impact of ‘missing’ incidents and their relationship to child exploitation. The staff follow agreed protocols if young people go missing, including following and encouraging them to return. Staff work very closely with a wide range of professionals if a young person is missing, including a local missing person’s intervention police officer who also visits the home to talk to the young people and staff. Individual risk assessments provide guidance and strategies for staff to use to lessen the risks. Some young people with a previous history of going missing have significantly decreased their ‘missing’ episodes or stopped them altogether. Other young people who continue to go missing are closely monitored and responded to in a consistent manner by all agencies. The staff also teach the young people about

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

appropriate relationships, including those with adults, and how to recognise when they are being exploited.

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

The staff receive child protection training, which includes training on the risks of child exploitation and e-safety. The staff have a good level of knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and are confident about what action to take if they have a concern. Correct referrals are made to the safeguarding agencies. Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 6 Behaviour management systems ensure that young people are safely supported. Physical interventions are very rare and take place in line with legislation and guidance. In the vast majority of cases, physical intervention is avoided as a result of staff being able to identify deteriorating behaviours and therefore defuse evolving situations. Restorative justice practices are increasingly used in response to negative behaviours. The registered manager is closely monitoring the delivery, consistency and effectiveness of this approach. To date, positive outcomes can be seen.

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

The young people experience an environment that is free from discrimination and promotes equality and individuality. The staff team will challenge attitudes, if necessary, while helping young people to explore their personal beliefs.

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

All health and safety checks take place. This ensures that the home is a safe environment. Fire evacuation drills teach young people and staff what action to take in the event of a fire.

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

Staff recruitment procedures are through, and all appropriate measures are taken to ensure that the adults who are employed at the home are suitable to work with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is an experienced practitioner and holds the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. He keeps himself up to date by attending the internal training that is offered by the organisation. He is currently undertaking a therapeutic practitioner’s award.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable and committed staff team at the home. Staff are qualified to undertake the roles to which they are assigned and to meet the current needs of the young people. The staff work well together. The manager gives appropriate direction to the staff team and ensures that it remains child focused in all aspects of its work. There is an obvious respect for the manager, including from the young people whom he has built up strong relationships with. The manager directs staff well and will deal with problems as they happen, and will challenge staff if he feels that they are not working to the standards that he expects. He is skilled at managing challenging situations calmly and effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On occasion, the consistency of staffing can be affected by senior leaders asking staff to work at another of the organisation’s homes, or staff from other homes coming to work at this home. This does not provide consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recent improvements to the organisation’s referral and admission procedures have resulted in improved impact risk assessments and less hectic decision-making. However, the stability of placements is not analysed so the impact of decision-making relating to referrals cannot be understood or the identified changes implemented.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive training to support the needs of the young people. They receive regular, good-quality supervision, during which they discuss the progress of the young people, Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 7 the young people’s safety and their own training needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and auditing systems are well established. The registered manager has developed systems to ensure that he understands the home’s strengths and areas for improvement. He has a clear focus on the areas to develop over the next six months. A newly introduced electronic recording system is working well at this home. It enables the manager to view data and assess trends and patterns. However, some aspects of the new system still need to be embedded to allow it to be fully effective.

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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: SC426530 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: My Choice Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3a, Mill Green Business Estate, Mill Green Road, Haywards Heath RH16 1XQ

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Inspector

Liz Driver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC426530 9 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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