Children's home run by Aspris Care North West Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home may provide care and accommodation for single gender occupancy only.

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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: The home was registered in September 2017. This is its first inspection since registration.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people form strong relationships with staff. They report that they can share any worries or fears they may have with a trusted staff member, which contributes to feelings of safety and security for them.  Young people who previously had limited social opportunities are supported to participate in community activities. This enables them to try new things and to develop their social skills while staff are on hand to keep them safe. Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 2  Staff understand young people’s complexity and individuality. They tailor their care and support, which ensures that young people get cared for in line with their specific needs.  The manager has a strong ethos of not giving up on young people, although he is able to recognise and take action when it becomes apparent that the home is not best suited to meet a young person’s needs.  Risks for young people are well managed in line with their plans. The home

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Key findings from this inspection

works in partnership with placing authorities and youth offending services when consideration is being given to lifting restrictions and controls that are in place to protect young people to allow them to progress.  When young people’s risks escalate, staff recognise when they need additional support, for example from the police. They make every effort to manage young people’s risk-taking behaviours and de-escalate them, before contacting external agencies for support. The home prevents young people from becoming unnecessarily criminalised.  A consistent response to young people’s behaviour ensures that they understand the rules and boundaries and know that they will be applied by all staff. Young people believe that the rules are fair and understand the reason for any sanctions or consequences implemented.  The staff team has remained stable from the opening of the home. This stability allows young people to form meaningful relationships and to invest in the

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Key findings from this inspection

placement because they believe staff care about them.

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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

 Records in the home do not evidence that staff give rewards for positive behaviour. Recognising positive behaviour is key to effecting positive behavioural changes and also to evidence the progress young people make in regards to their behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 3

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Recommendation

 Staff should understand the system for rewarding and celebrating positive behaviour and recognising where children have managed situations well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.39)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people have made good progress since the home became operational in October 2017. One young person has started to access more activities in the community and joined a local football team, which addresses his social needs and prevents him from being socially isolated. He has matured and developed and is therefore able to better manage his emotions. This has resulted in significant progress in respect of family contact despite him being placed outside his home area. His family reports: ‘His behaviour is calmer. I can have conversations with him with no anger or shouting. He is a pleasure now.’ Staff are proactive in respect of developing highly positive relationships with young people’s families. Parents and carers report that staff and managers at the home are a good source of support for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person did not make good progress at the home and staff found his behaviour difficult to manage. Although staff made every effort to keep him safe and enable him to have a positive experience, his needs were not met. The home’s manager recognised at an early stage that the home was not a good match for his care needs and requested a placement move. During the time it took for an alternative placement to be identified, the young person put himself and staff at significant risk of harm and caused extensive damage to the home. It was identified that this young person needed a mental health assessment, and the home tried to engage him with the forensic child and adult mental health professionals to achieve this, although the young person did not wish to engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home itself is well presented and nicely decorated. The large amount of damage caused by a young person is in the process of being repaired, with the affected rooms being closed off so that they do not have an impact on the home’s presentation for the young person currently placed there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has developed positive partnership arrangements with a number of external agencies, including the youth offending service and children-looked-after nurse. This results in good multi-agency planning and helps ensure that young people’s needs are met in all areas. Staff react very quickly to young people’s needs. For example, a young person who became unwell at school was immediately collected and a doctor’s appointment was made which ensured that his health needs were met promptly. Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 4 Staff excel in developing positive relationships with young people. They understand that each young person is both complex and unique and therefore tailor care around their individual needs. Parents, professionals and young people all reported on the strength of the relationship between one young person and their key worker. A young person said he was able to speak to his key worker if he had any worries or concerns, and felt he

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have opportunities to express their views, wishes and feelings in a variety of forums. They speak on a regular basis to staff about day-to-day issues. They have key-worker sessions and young people’s meetings to address wider issues. A social worker reported that staff were strong advocates for a young person at their child- looked-after review. The home’s therapist offers young people weekly sessions, working with them in a child-centred way to ensure that they get the most out of the therapeutic care offered. The therapist also provides training for staff to enable them to offer therapeutic support and responses to young people. This training is supported by research but delivered in a way that give practical examples of how best to support a young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have implemented culture nights to improve young people’s understanding of equality, culture and diversity. Nights are themed to different countries around the world, and staff prepare ‘top facts sheets’ and quizzes to educate young people about different countries and cultures.

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

Young people’s risks are understood by staff. Risks are recorded within risk assessments and behaviour-management plans, and there are strategies in place to minimise risks. One young person’s risks mean that he has to have close supervision at all times. Staff work hard to ensure that he does not miss out on social opportunities due to his supervision needs, and support him to integrate as much as possible. A multi-agency approach to planning has kept the young person safe while he has been at the home. Staff ensure that he attends all of his youth offending appointments and plan pro- actively with agencies to allow him to progress and address his risks, for example by working towards accessing the internet unsupervised on a smartphone. Young people are beginning to take the opportunity of regular therapy sessions to explore their past behaviour and risks, which evidences that they are developing trusting relationships.

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

Where necessary, young people are prevented from having unsupervised access to the internet, which prevents them from being a risk to themselves and posing a risk to others.

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

Restrictive physical intervention is used only as a last resort when all other efforts have been exhausted. Records document that techniques for de-escalating young people are used prior to any hold. Records of physical intervention are clear, and young people always have an opportunity to speak about the incident afterwards. Managers comment on the effectiveness of interventions and, when the manager is involved in physical interventions, service managers evaluate the incident records. Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 5 When young people have gone missing from the home, the incident has been short lived. Police are informed when young people go missing, and independent return interviews are always offered.

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

Young people report that rules and boundaries are fair and that they understand why sanctions or consequences are implemented. Staff are keen to be consistent, and there is ample evidence that they discuss the implementation of rules and boundaries to ensure that they are applied consistently. The manager monitors consequences for effectiveness and, where a pattern emerges or a consequence is not effective, action is taken to address this.

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

Young people have targets to work towards, which helps them to show positive behaviours. For example, one young person has a target of getting a mobile phone, which is linked to behaviour and attendance at education, which he is very keen to achieve. Rewards for positive behaviour are not routinely recorded and therefore it is difficult to measure progress and impact in this area. A recommendation is made for the home to develop this area of practice.

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

Although the police have had to be called to the home on numerous occasions leading up to one young person’s placement breakdown, staff do not criminalise young people unnecessarily and do not press charges when the home has been damaged or when they have been assaulted by young people. This prevents them from becoming criminalised, which could have an impact on their future.

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

Managers understand and take action when young people’s risks are so great that they cannot be managed by staff at the home. They liaise with other agencies, particularly with young people’s social workers, and escalate to managers where they do not get a satisfactory response. Managers request multi-agency planning meetings and disruption meetings when necessary, to arrange for young people to move on in a planned and positive way. Where this is not possible, managers expedite the placement ending and bring in additional staff to keep young people safe until they are moved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager is new to the role and has experienced some significant challenges since the home became operational. He has maintained a strong and supportive presence in the home, providing help and guidance to staff outside his working hours and during the night. He is a positive role model for staff, who report that they are well supported and managed. The manager understands the challenges staff have faced and has reflected that the team has been strengthened by its experience of managing threats and risks. The manager has now completed his level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good organisational skills and maintains the home’s records in good order. He monitors a wide range of records and tasks on a weekly and monthly basis and therefore has good oversight of the home and can recognise the home’s strengths and weaknesses. He also utilises feedback from young people, parents and professionals as well as the independent visitor to continue to develop the home. Where young people Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 6 are not progressing, the manager takes decisive action to address this with the placing authority so that a more suitable placement can be identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s staff have remained stable, with no staff leaving since the home opened. Staff benefited from a two-week induction and training period prior to the home opening, which they report prepared them well to work in the home. Additional training has been offered specific to young people’s needs, such as training on autism and on addressing sexually harmful behaviour, which equips staff to manage the complex needs of young people placed. Staff themselves report that they are part of a strong and positive team. They all worked additional shifts when this was necessary due to staff sickness and holidays to ensure consistency for young people. There are opportunities for staff to progress through taking lead roles (for example for therapeutic liaison) and staff in senior positions are encouraged to undertake the level 5 qualification to support their career progression.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A key strength of the home is its focus on developing positive relationships with young people’s families. Feedback from parents is highly positive, and they report feeling included, consulted and kept up to date regarding their children. The home has also developed positive relationships with the other agencies they work with, and they promote a multi-agency approach to meeting young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although the home is registered for four young people, the manager reports that they will only admit two at present to keep staffing levels, and support to young people, high. There is only one young person currently resident while the home is repaired from damage caused by a young person who is now discharged. The manager reports that he is under no pressure to fill the vacancy and is very keen to ensure a positive match by having all available information about a young person prior to placement. The manager has reflected on the one placement breakdown and feels that the young person’s levels of violence and aggression could not have been pre-empted and the staff could not have done anything more to support him or for the placement to succeed. The pre-placement information supplied to the home was reviewed at this inspection and, based on the information provided, there was nothing to suggest that the placement match was not

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

appropriate. The company has a positive matching ethos, and senior managers are keen to ensure that young people are well matched to promote the best chances of young people having a positive experience of their placement.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: 1262657 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sandcastle Care Ltd, 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1262657 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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