Children's home run by Ingleside Children’s Home Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 1 SC025799 Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home 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 privately owned. It is registered to provide accommodation and care for up to seven children and young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is good because:  Most young people benefit from warm and positive relationships with staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 2  Staff are highly effective at encouraging and maintaining good school attendance.  Young people’s views are listened to, and they are involved in influencing key aspects of their daily life.  There are well-structured routines in this home which give young people a sense of stability and security.  Young people are effectively prepared for individualised semi-independence programmes.  Young people generally become safer while living in this home.  Leaders and managers are very effective at implementing change in this home.

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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

 Behaviour management in heated situations can, on occasion, become punitive.  There is no agreement with the local police on when they are called to the home.  Consideration of possible new placements is insufficiently shared with other key staff.  Regulation 44 reports do not contain an explicit assessment of whether safeguarding is effective, and whether young people’s welfare is promoted sufficiently.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/06/2016 Full Good 11/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 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, the 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 that staff help each child to develop socially aware behaviour. Specifically, staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(ii)) 12/03/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that an agreement is forged with the local police force detailing the procedures and guidance on police involvement with the home to reduce unnecessary police involvement in managing behaviour and criminalisation of behaviours. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40)  Ensure that an effective system is in place to assess possible placements. This process will double-check that the home can respond appropriately to the child’s needs and further consider the impact of the placement on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  Ensure that the independent person explicitly assesses the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Recommendations

65, paragraph 15.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people in this home have a range of complex needs. Each young person has a set of personalised plans, assessments and activities. However, they all follow very similar routines in terms of their daily habits of getting up, going to bed, hygiene practices and meal times. Young people who have lived in the home for some time clearly benefit from this stable base.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Generally, young people have warm and positive relationships with staff. They enjoy spending time together, and displays of affection are not uncommon. Staff know young people well, and speak positively about their achievements and the progress that they have made. Young people are well-presented. They have an appropriate range of clothing for their age, and choose their preferred haircuts. This helps them to easily fit in with their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s views are listened to. For example, they contribute their thoughts on who should be employee of the month and express their views on home furnishings. On an individual level, young people ask for their favourite snacks after school and these are available for them. Staff will also shop for additional food items as required, and young people are confident that they will receive these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a detailed and colourful children’s guide available which all young people can access. This clearly states not only the home’s expectations, but also what young people are entitled to. Young people are also encouraged to do their favourite activity. For some, it takes some time to find the right one but staff are persistent in finding one they enjoy. This helps develop young people’s skills and their self-confidence, and as such results in increased emotional well- being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A local authority professional commented positively on how well the home keeps them informed, and also how responsive the staff are. Other professionals also commented on the progress that most young people make. One said, ‘He is so much more settled and stable and now he attends school regularly, which he wasn’t before.’ Enabling school attendance is a particular strength of this home. All young people who have been in placement for some time have very good school attendance ranging between 80% and 100%. Staff have good links with young people’s schools, and there is strong monitoring of attendance. Some of the young people were not attending school at all prior to living in the home, so this represents a significant achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in advocating for young people’s needs to be met. They are happy to challenge mental health providers and the local authority. They willingly accommodate the contact needs of young people who have come from distant authorities to live in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another strength of this home is its preparation for young people to begin semi-independent living. Young people complete a structured workbook, and this determines the individualised focus of the work. Most young people will do some basic cooking, and some will learn how to use money and how to speak to people in shops. Some young people will assist with the Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 5 home’s fire and vehicle checks. This not only increases their skills and confidence, but also helps them to feel an important part of the home.

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

Risk assessments are sound. They are individualised and cover the relevant risks for that particular young person. They are appropriately updated to reflect new concerns, and are routinely audited by managers. In practice, generally, young people are less at risk from a range of concerns than they were on their admission to the home. For example, behavioural improvements mean that some are no longer at risk of exclusion from school, and for others their improvements mean that their risk of criminalisation has decreased. Some young people are less at risk from the possible negative impact of going missing from the home. This means that they can now travel safely back from school unaccompanied by a staff member. Other young people are also showing early signs of an improvement in their particular use of risky behaviours. These patterns demonstrate the strong practice in this home, which means that, generally, young people become increasingly safe when living there.

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

Staff have had adequate training on a range of risks such as radicalisation and self-harm, and this has given them a sound ability to understand and respond to these risks. This is coupled with their strong commitment to doing their best for each young person in the home, and it is this combination that helps to keep young people safer than they were.

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

Young people benefit from a well-kept pleasant environment which is both safe and clean. They each identified at least one trusted adult that they could confide worries to, and staff are knowledgeable about how to react if this happens. As one young person said, ‘I am not sure about living here yet, but I know that I am safe and will be looked after.’

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

Health and safety checks are routinely carried out on a regular basis and fire drills, including evacuations, successfully involve young people. Some young people are taking prescribed, controlled medication. Systems for managing this are robust and usefully include the reporting of errors.

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

Currently, the home does not have any issues with young people routinely going missing. However, appropriate systems are in place to respond to this. Each young person does have an individual ‘missing from home risk assessment’. This details how any such incidents will be responded to, according to that young person’s assessed vulnerabilities. The home has a good process for individually responding to missing-from-home behaviour and this rightly includes staff keeping in touch with young people, and following them wherever possible.

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

Everyday behaviour management is generally good in this home. Boundaries are clear, and often reiterated firmly but with humour, and young people respond well to this. However, on a small number of occasions, staff have acted inappropriately in trying to defuse heated situations. On these occasions, the approach has been more punitive than restorative, and may have contributed to the escalation of behaviour. On one of these occasions, the young man concerned was restrained, and on the other, the escalation of behaviour was such that the police were called and the young person is now charged with a criminal offence. Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 6 The manager has expressed her unhappiness with the handling of one of those incidents, but there remains a concern over staff responses in crisis, and the timing and type of interventions that are used. In addition, although there is an internal process to follow prior to calling the

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

police to the home, there is not yet a mutual understanding with the police about when this is acceptable.

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

Restraint incidents are appropriately recorded and reviewed. Such events are kept to a minimum and the duration of each event is short. There is good attention paid to getting the young person’s view. Allegations are promptly responded to and the designated officer and the local authority are appropriately involved. The recruitment of staff is carefully undertaken. All necessary steps, such as verifying references, are taken to minimise the possibility of harm to young people in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home is well-managed by an effective, permanent and very experienced registered manager who is currently looking at further qualification options. The registered manager is well-supported by a long-standing senior worker and they have successfully led some fundamental changes to the functioning of this home. The responsible individual has also been positively involved in this process, and has demonstrated his commitment to running a good- quality home by attending relevant professional training. This demonstrates that a particular strength of the home is the effective leadership and management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is very committed to improving the experience and care of young people living in the home. She demonstrates this through regular file audits, and by her monitoring of key areas such as restraint records. The registered manager chooses to do some shifts in the home, so that she can see for herself the quality of care delivered. This routine scrutiny has resulted in staff coaching, and on occasion staff being performance managed. This means that young people now usually benefit from a competent and skilled staff team. Four of the five recommendations made at the last inspection have been fully met, and the final one partially met. This again demonstrates that effective leadership and management are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a change to the external scrutiny of the home. There are positive improvements to the clarity and detail now contained in these reports, but they do not yet contain an explicit statement about how well the home safeguards and promotes young people’s welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a regularly updated statement of purpose, and is achieving its stated aims and objectives. Admissions to the home are generally appropriately managed, with attention paid to relevant plans and the possible impact on existing young people. However, there have been a number of unplanned endings since the last inspection. Currently, the admission decision is made solely by the registered manager and wider scrutiny of these decisions may be helpful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is appropriately staffed, mainly with a staff team that is new to the home. Staff’s supervision is particularly important in ensuring that they care for young people in a way that reflects the child-centred approach of the home. This is acknowledged by managers, and supervision is frequent, recorded and thorough in addressing development needs. Staff report Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 7 that their supervision sessions are helpful, and that they contain a good mix of support and challenge. There is appropriate staff training available. This is mainly online. The leadership team has recently initiated a psychologist attending team meetings. This will be a useful supplement to the development of staff knowledge and understanding about the impact of young people’s experiences.

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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: SC025799 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2LD

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Inspector(s)

Bridget Goddard, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 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 children looked after, 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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