Children's home run by Supporting Futures Limited in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 1 SC381667 Registered provider: Supporting Futures 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 a privately owned children’s home. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered since September 2015.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/10/2017 Full Good 30/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 17/05/2016 Full Good 18/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 provide personal care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plan, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(iv)

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Requirement Due date

This relates to making sure that children’s placement plans include the day-to-day arrangements for meeting each child’s personal needs and the measures to support children who may experience discrimination, stigmatisation or bullying relating to their gender, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual identity or mental health and disability. 08/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. 08/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 4 (Regulation 6 (1(a)(b)(2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to making sure that the communal areas and all of the children’s bedrooms are decorated and furnished to a good standard.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children’s views about the quality of care provided and their plans are recorded in their case records and in the review of the quality of care, to inform and support continued improvement in the standard of care and outcomes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  Ensure that group impact assessments fully consider the impact of children’s gender, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual identity, mental health and disability. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  Ensure that records of direct work with children are detailed, analytical and reflective, and that they represent a significant contribution to understanding children’s needs, experiences and outcomes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) In

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Recommendations

particular, ensure that each record shows clearly the outcome that the work is trying to achieve: how it fits in with the child’s plan; the child’s views, wishes and feelings; an evaluation of the effectiveness of the work; and set out what needs to happen next to support the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a stable, friendly and supportive home. The manager and the staff make it possible for young people to feel accepted and safe to be themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have strong and trusting relationships with staff. They feel that staff listen to their wishes and feelings and understand their needs. Young people know that their staff team sticks by them and helps them to deal with problems.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a detailed understanding of young people’s needs, interests and aspirations. They make sure that young people get a high standard of personalised care that supports their health and emotional well-being and improves their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that young people get the help that they need to support their education and achieve their potential. Staff understand young people’s learning needs and abilities and know how well young people are doing at school. Staff work effectively Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 5 with teachers and the virtual school to deal with any barriers to young people’s learning. They made sure that a young person received extra support to help her to revise for her GCSEs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff raise concerns when they think that young people are not making progress or are unhappy in school. Staff challenged decisions to exclude a young person when they felt that it was not an appropriate or effective response to the young person’s difficulties in school. Staff have worked effectively with the young person and his teachers to improve his attendance and behaviour in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that young people have plenty of things to do in their spare time and to have fun. A young person really enjoys ice skating. He is growing in confidence and making friends. Staff make sure that young people have the chance to achieve their ambitions. For example, they are taking a young person on holiday to Miami on a 747 aeroplane.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to have the practical skills and emotional resilience that they need to prepare for adult life. Staff have a clear understanding of the young people’s needs and the support that they will need when they move on. They work hard with young people to support their employment and training and to find the right place to live. They encourage young people to make the best use of the support that is available to them, including managing money and driving lessons.

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

Young people live in a safe home. Staff provide them with a reliable home environment and positive and warm relationships that help them feel safe. Clear safeguarding arrangements protect young people from harm and meet the legal requirements.

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

When staff have concerns about young people’s welfare, they take immediate and appropriate action to keep them safe. They know what to do if young people are missing or absent from the home. Staff make sure that young people can recognise risk and understand how to get help to protect themselves and other young people.

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

Staff have a good understanding of young people’s needs and any current concerns about their welfare. They use up-to-date and individualised risk assessments and plans that support young people’s safety. Staff can identify signs that young people may be at risk of harm and they manage risk well. They have worked effectively with social workers, the police and the youth offending service to reduce the risks to a young person from involvement in violence and criminal activity.

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

Staff work positively with young people to find the best possible ways to help them when they are having a difficult time. They know young people very well and the best ways to speak to them to find out what is wrong and deal with the problem. Staff find out from young people what helps when they are upset or angry, for example listening to music or going out for a drive in the car, and staff use their ideas effectively to calm things down. Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 6 Young people are more able to deal with difficulties and manage their emotions safely. They are no longer showing their anger and frustration through aggression and by breaking things. Young people are less impulsive and able to stop and think before acting. Staff help young people to see the benefits of positive behaviour and guide them to make good choices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides clear and effective leadership. He leads a team of caring, enthusiastic and resilient staff who provide young people with a positive and settled home environment. They work hard to make sure that young people get the opportunities to have good experiences and better outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff actively and confidently take part in the wider support system to make sure that each young person’s needs are met. They challenge other services assertively to make sure that young people receive the right assessments and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Well-planned staffing arrangements make sure that there are always enough suitable, experienced and qualified staff available to meet the young people’s needs. Young people are consistently looked after by people whom they get to know well. This has helped young people to build secure and stable relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Each member of staff receives good support and guidance from the manager through regular practice-related supervision, appraisals and team meetings. Staff develop their knowledge and skills through training relevant to the needs of young people, including understanding the risks of criminal exploitation, attachment and resilience, self-harm and managing difficult behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Clear monitoring systems, including detailed scrutiny from an independent person each month, enable the manager to have a realistic understanding of the quality of care and its effectiveness in meeting young people’s needs. The manager has used this information to make improvements, such as making sure that staff carry out frequent direct work with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, young people’s views about the quality of their care and their plans are not recorded in their case records to inform and support continued improvement in the standard of care they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people’s placement plans do not include the day-to-day arrangements for supporting young people who may experience discrimination, stigmatisation or bullying. Also, the group impact assessment does not fully consider the impact of young people’s gender, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual identity, mental health and disability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records of direct work with young people do not always provide enough detail and analysis to contribute to understanding a young person’s life. They do not clearly show what is going well, what staff and the young person are worried about, the young Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 7 person’s views and understanding of the issues, and what needs to happen next to help the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some of the walls around the house are showing wear and tear and need to be redecorated. Also, the bedroom on the second floor needs to be refurbished before another young person moves in.

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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: SC381667 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Supporting Futures Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 300 St Marys Road, Garston, Liverpool L19 0NQ

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC381667 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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