Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 1 SC410537 Registered provider: Positive Pathways 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 provides care and accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. A private provider owns and operates this home.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are safe and feel safe in the home. They enjoy good relationships with staff and with each other.  Staff have a thorough understanding of young people’s complex needs and behaviours. This knowledge means that young people receive personalised care Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 2 and support.  Staff deliver good quality one-to-one sessions that help young people to take responsibility for their actions and reflect on their behaviours.  Internal care planning processes are thorough and consistently include young people’s views, wishes, thoughts and feelings.  The provision of consultant psychological services means that young people do not experience a delay in accessing the specialist emotional support that they may need.

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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 registered manager does not ensure that staff receive regular formal supervision to adequately monitor their practice and performance.  The registered manager failed to appropriately revise the fire risk assessment.  The registered manager does not challenge effectively other agencies or professionals to ensure that young people have access to all the services or support that they need.  Staff do not always complete mandatory training in a timely manner.  The registered manager does not review the need for an internal door alarm system, used at night.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/10/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 04/06/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 04/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children. (Regulation 24(1)(a)) 04/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire. (Regulation 25(1)(b)) 04/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)) 04/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good personal progress as a result of living in this home. Staff understand young people’s backgrounds and recognise how these may influence their behaviours. They use one-to-one sessions to support and encourage young people to think about their future. Staff use this information to devise bespoke care plans that reflect the aims and objectives of the placing authorities. Furthermore, staff regularly review these plans to ensure that they reflect young people’s progress and changing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between young people and staff are positive. Staff continually use verbal praise to celebrate young people’s achievements, however small. Young people say that this lifts their self-esteem and gives them confidence in their abilities and skills. Staff include young people’s views, wishes and feelings through internal care planning processes. They discuss with young people any changes made to their support plans, and the reasons for these changes. This approach helps young people to make meaningful and achievable plans for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to continue with their education. For some young people, this means that they attend school full time and are making good progress. However, at this time, not all young people have suitable school placements. In these circumstances, the registered manager does not challenge effectively other agencies to ensure that young people have access to services that reflect their needs. This is detrimental to young people’s progress and development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live generally healthy and active lifestyles and staff encourage them to eat a healthy diet and to take regular exercise. On admission, staff support the full assessment of young people’s, physical, emotional and psychological health needs in conjunction with the organisation’s consultant psychologist. Subsequently, and when required, managers arrange for the host authority, placing authority or external health professionals to support young people’s often-complex health needs. This comprehensive approach to identifying and addressing young people’s health needs means that they do not experience delays in accessing relevant services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage young people to complete general domestic tasks, such as cooking and washing up. Young people say that they see this as ‘just part of living together’ and learning to be more independent. Staff work with young people to identify what levels of practical and emotional support they need as they move towards adulthood. This is based on young people’s skills and resilience rather than chronological age. Subsequently, independence plans reflect young people’s individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people say that they see the home as a ‘family home’. They are encouraged to welcome in their friends and families. One young person said, ‘Living here is just like normal, like living at home but with lots more people. It nothing like I thought a kids’ home would be. It’s just really nice.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 5

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

Young people are safe in the home and say that they feel safe. There have been no incidents of bullying since the last inspection although staff remain alert to signs of bullying and intimidation.

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

Managers and staff, in partnership with the consultant psychologist, are competent in identifying young people’s complex and risky behaviours. These behaviours may include self-harm, increased risk of sexual exploitation or radicalisation, and young people going missing. Staff produce detailed risk assessments in consultation with young people. These assessments record strategies and actions for staff to follow to reduce risks and to protect young people from harm. Nevertheless, these risk assessments do not include the reasons for the use of bedroom-door alarms. The registered manager and staff say that these are in place to monitor young people’s movements at night. Current risk assessments do not highlight what risks, if any, young people may face in the absence of this surveillance. The use of these alarms is now custom and practice in the home and not necessarily for the purpose of safeguarding young people.

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

Staff undertake regular fire checks and health and safety checks. However, since the last review of the fire risk assessment, the registered manager authorised the removal of a ‘thumb turn’ lock on a designated fire exit. The replacement lock provided ‘key only’ access. Subsequently, young people and visitors to the home are unable to exit the home in the event of a fire without the assistance of staff. Although the responsible individual took immediate steps to rectify this shortfall, this oversight potentially compromised young people’s safety.

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

Young people receive a combination of consistent verbal praise, small incentives and larger rewards to encourage them to manage their own behaviours. Staff shape their responses to reflect young people’s individual needs and motivations. As a result of this successful approach, the use of physical restraint and sanctions is extremely rare.

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

Internal safeguarding and child protection procedures reflect statutory guidance. The management of allegations of abuse or harm is appropriate and thorough. Staff understand their own role and responsibility for promoting this areas of practice. These effective partnership working arrangements with other agencies helps to keep young people safe.

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

The registered manager follows internal staff recruitment policies and procedures. All staff are subject to employment checks and vetting processes before they work directly with young people in the home. This ensures that staff are suitable to help and support young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has experience of managing residential services for young people. However, she has not completed the necessary qualification for this role but continues to work towards this. Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 6 Young people make good progress because the registered manager prioritises their needs. She makes sure that meeting these needs is the focus of the home. The registered manager retains an overview of young people’s behaviours and risks. She works with staff to review these against their individual achievements and the content of their care plans. This approach means that young people are able to recognise the progress that they make. Furthermore, the registered manager uses a varied range of monitoring systems, including consultation with young people to review the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The statement of purpose outlines the aims and objectives of the home. This means that social workers, young people and their families have a good understanding of what to expect from the service. However, the registered manager does not challenge other professionals effectively when their actions or inactions prevent young people making progress in some areas of their development. For example, one young person does not have a suitable school placement. The registered manager has failed to hold other agencies to account for this shortfall, allowing this situation to continue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff hold suitable formal qualifications relevant to children’s residential care or are currently working towards these. However, opportunities for staff to expand their knowledge base or to gain additional qualifications and skills are minimal. Furthermore, staff do not consistently refresh mandatory training courses within suitable timescales. For example, staff have yet to complete any training relating to radicalisation despite this course being available. The registered manager is aware of this but has not taken sufficient action to address this. Subsequently, she is unable to verify that staff have the skills they need to consistently support young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff do not receive regular or practice-related supervision. The irregular frequency of these sessions means that the registered manager does not appropriately monitor staff performance. This means that staff may not receive the support that they need to appropriately support 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 Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 7 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: SC410537 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1556 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B28 9HA

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Inspector

Jo Stephenson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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