Children's home run by Quality Protects Children Ltd in Liverpool

Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 1 SC062248 Registered provider: Quality Protects Children Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The children‟s home provides care and support for up to four young people who are no longer able to live at home. The registered manager has been in post since September 2017.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2017

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2017 Full Good 23/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good 07/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 2

p.1

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.

p.2

Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

p.2

Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to—

p.2

Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i))

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that each young person has a current healthcare plan and that risk assessments and protocols are in place regarding the action to take should a young person appear to be under the influence of a substance. 07/09/2018

p.2

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—

p.2

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.2

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h))

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the staff receive training in relation to addiction, radicalisation, gangs and record-keeping. 07/09/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 3 The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

p.2

Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 07/09/2018

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that the staff are familiar with the home‟s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual young people in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about young people must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to them now or in the future. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Ensure that enough time is allocated for the supervision of staff practice to allow staff to reflect critically on their practice and their development needs and the needs, experiences and progress of children. It is good practice to record the agreed actions from supervision sessions to clearly show the specific tasks and the timescales for completing them. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations

p.3

Recommendations

including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraphs 13.2 and 13.4)

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy positive relationships with the staff team. They live in a friendly, supportive home. Staff are patient and understanding. The staff provide effective support to enable young people to overcome and recover from previous experiences of neglect and trauma. One young person excitedly said that they were looking forward to going back home to their family. The young person is proud of their achievements, especially that they are now attending a mainstream school. Their family said that they are delighted with her progress and could not thank the staff enough for their support. Another young person wrote in the home‟s questionnaire: „The staff are lovely and respectful and the care home is treated like an ordinary home. This has a very positive influence upon me and my attitude towards life.‟ The staff have a good understanding of the young people‟s assessed needs. They consult well with the young people, their families and placing authorities to ensure that

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

their day-to-day needs are met. Staff work well with social workers and other professionals to check on the young people‟s progress and to ensure that young people continue to receive the right support. Staff work tirelessly to ensure that the young people keep in contact with those people Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 4 who are important to them. This is vital, especially for those young people who live a long way from home. Parents said that the communication between them and the staff was „brilliant‟ and that they felt fully involved in their child‟s care. A young person said that because she could now see her boyfriend, she had not been missing from the home. Young people are doing well in education. Most young people attend the company‟s school. A new school building has just been built in the grounds of the home. This facility will enhance the opportunities for young people‟s education as they will now be

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

taught in separate key stage groups. Young people‟s participation in education continues to improve. One young person has applied to the local college and is awaiting the outcome of their interview. Young people‟s independence skills in preparation for adulthood are developing well. Staff make effective use of the annexe to support young people‟s transition into the next stage of their lives. A young person said that they love having „their own gaffe‟. They are at the beginning of their independence journey and are not afraid to ask staff for advice and support. Staff use everyday activities to enhance young people‟s skills, for example showing them how to hang a light shade and to budget for household items. As a result, young people are making steady progress in this area of their development.

p.4

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

The registered manager and staff work together to provide an open, transparent environment where young people can talk freely about any concerns or worries. A young person said, „The staff are caring and understanding. The house is warm and cosy. It does not feel like a care home, it feels like a family home. I feel better because the staff are supportive and help fix my problems.‟ A social worker said that the staff are working in partnership with them to reduce the risks associated with their young person. They said that the staff know that this will be a „rocky path‟ for the young person, and that the staff are working hard to rebuild the young person‟s confidence and self-esteem. Incidents of young people going missing from the home are decreasing. One young person has not gone missing for almost three months. This is a significant achievement for her, which has been praised and acknowledged by the staff, the young person‟s

p.4

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

social worker and other professionals. The young person said that they no longer felt the need to run away. Young people are much more able to manage their emotions and to talk about how they are feeling. As a result, the number of incidents in the home is reducing. Staff are positive role models and sensitively support young people through difficult periods in their lives. Physical intervention is rarely used. Records of events that do involve intervention are detailed and demonstrate the action staff took to diffuse each situation prior to them intervening. Staff encourage positive behaviour through clear and consistent boundaries. They involve young people in restorative approaches that help the young people to understand acceptable behaviour and to develop empathy towards other people. Social workers comment that the staff‟s philosophy that every day is a new day works well and helps young people to draw a line under specific behaviours. Consequently, young

p.4

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

people show increasing maturity. One young person said, „I am not going to allow myself Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 5 to become involved in any further offending behaviours in or out of the home.‟ Staff use individual work creatively to help young people to recognise the signs and dangers of damaging relationships, drug-taking and criminal exploitation. Young people are more able to talk about past events and how they are trying to keep themselves safe. A young person explained that they wanted to change, but also understood the difficulties that they face in making the positive choices going forward. The recruitment and vetting process is sound. The manager has improved the vetting of new staff and he now personally verifies their references. This means that he has clear oversight of the decision-making process. Ultimately, young people are cared for by suitable people and are protected from harm.

p.4

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

An experienced, qualified registered manager leads and manages the home. He is supported well by the deputy manager. There have been several new staff appointments in recent months. However, there are gaps in some staff‟s knowledge and understanding of issues relevant to young people, such as addiction to substances and the approach to take when managing incidents when a young person may appear to be under the influence of a substance. In addition, some staff need to build their awareness and knowledge so that they can identify when young people may be involved in gang culture, or who may be at risk of radicalisation. These shortfalls in some staff‟s knowledge and level of understanding may leave young people at risk of harm. Steps were taken by the registered manager during the inspection to source additional training to support staff‟s knowledge and understanding in relation to rescue medication.

p.5

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

Staff are keen and enthusiastic. They welcome the opportunities to learn new things. The staff spend time talking to young people and building positive relationships with them. Social workers and parents commend the staff, who they said go above and beyond for the young people. The registered manager has a secure understanding of the home‟s strengths and areas for development. Each member of staff receives professional supervision. However, the home‟s statement of purpose and development plan are not explicit about the timescales or frequency of the supervision of staff. Records of supervision are unclear, as they do not record when informal supervision takes place for staff who are new to the home. The time allowed for staff supervision sessions does not provide sufficient time for staff to critically reflect upon their practice, their learning needs and the needs, experiences and progress of the young people. The

p.5

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

registered manager is aware of this and is taking steps to address this. Record-keeping, for the most part, has improved. Staff are now recording information in a way that will be helpful to children when they access their records now or in the future. This will help them to understand their life history. However, for some staff this remains an area for development. Consequently, some young people‟s healthcare plans, risk assessments and care plans were not current and not all risks associated with the young people were identified within their records. Important information about young people‟s cultural needs was not documented. The independent person identified this shortfall at their last visit, and the registered manager said that this would be addressed. Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 6 However, a lack of management oversight resulted in these records not being updated. Monitoring by the independent person is improving and, except for the last report, all

p.5

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

actions raised have been completed. The registered manager‟s monitoring is usually sound, and he uses his monitoring reports to feed into the home‟s development plan to support the ongoing development of the service. This includes beginning the consultation process for the introduction of the SPARCS therapeutic programme.

p.6

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.

p.6

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: SC062248 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Quality Protects Children Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Quality Protects Children Ltd, Hill House, Archway Road, Huyton, Liverpool L36 9XB

p.7

Inspector

Chris Scully, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC062248 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8