Children's Home run by Island Choices Ltd in Isle of Wight

Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 1 SC399866 Registered provider: Island Choices Ltd

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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 one of two operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people. The home was last inspected in October 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 4 August 2009.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 October to 1 November 2018

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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: SC399866 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/10/2017 Full Good 02/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 18/12/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 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 order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— (a) the quality of care provided for children; (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and (c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 31/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which— (a) is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and (b) sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, update the home’s safeguarding and recruitment policies to reflect recent changes in legislation. 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. In particular, the procedures must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. (Regulation 39 (1)(2))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the home’s complaints procedures having sufficient clarity in how complaints are managed if they are about the registered manager or responsible individual. 31/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 4

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Recommendations

 Staff must help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations and quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27) In particular, the registered person should consider fully implementing their plan to develop and introduce a written in-house independence programme to support the current practices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people receive a good quality of individualised care provided by an able staff team. The staff achieve a nurturing and caring atmosphere in which young people feel safe and comfortable with the adults who care for them. Young people gain life skills for independence and are given opportunities to learn to manage their emotions appropriately. This results in a decrease in their risk-taking behaviours and a good preparation for adult life. Overall, young people are making good progress in these areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people build strong and trusting relationships with the staff, who get to know them quickly. The staff team has a very good level of knowledge about each young person. Staff understand the impact that the previous life experiences of the young people have had, the reasons for patterns of behaviours and the effect on each young person’s ability to maintain healthy relationships. Staff know young people’s vulnerabilities and risks and can identify triggers, so that strategies can be put in place to minimise untoward incidents. The location of the home has proved beneficial for some young people as they have limited locations to run away to. Good multi-agency working enables young people to be found and returned quickly to the home should they go missing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are making good progress across all areas of their lives. For some this has happened quickly, and for others it has happened at a slower rate. Care plans capture the young people’s progress very well. They are updated monthly with young people’s input. Individual monthly development plans allow each young person to know what issues and skills will be promoted in the coming month. The manager and her staff team work with a range of professionals to ensure that young people make good progress in their education. This is an area that has improved significantly. Working with local colleges, businesses and the virtual school has seen engagement and attendance improve considerably. High levels of support are given so that young people can Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 5 successfully engage in education, especially those who have been out of education for a significant period.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people have a voice in the running of the home and decisions made about them. They are confident about making their voices heard. The young people are supported to voice their wishes and feelings about all areas of their lives, including the next steps as they get older. They are supported to be as independent as their age and ability allow. Young people are supported by the staff to learn a range of independence skills. In the absence of an in-house independence programme, the staff use guidance supplied by the local authority.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team facilitates contact arrangements so that young people can maintain healthy relationships with family and friends. Restrictions of contact are adhered to.

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

Young people say they feel safe and well cared for at the home. The staff work hard to understand young people’s individual risks and how they can minimise these. By developing trusting and nurturing relationships, staff can identify new risks and manage potential and actual risks in a timely way. The close working relationships the staff have with external agencies, such as the police and drug and alcohol teams, also add to the effective management of risks. Risks, such as going missing and drug misuse, have decreased in frequency. Effective planning, and joint decision-making with social workers regarding agreements of return times, have resulted in a decrease in the number of incidents of going missing. Staff actively search for young people, while liaising with the police when young people stay out after agreed times.

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

Young people feel comfortable about speaking with staff if they feel worried or upset. The staff spend time listening to the young people and take every opportunity to engage with them. As a result, young people happily join in activities such as cooking, shopping with the staff and planning their day.

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

The home’s policies support practice. However, the safeguarding and child protection policy and recruitment policy are out of date and need updating due to recent changes in legislation. In addition, the complaints policy does not provide sufficient clarity for the management if a complaint is raised against the provider or registered manager.

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

The staff are confident in their roles in reporting safeguarding or child protection concerns. Practice ensures that any cause for concern or allegation is managed well. The manager is suitably trained and qualified to oversee all aspects of safeguarding. Concerns identified by the staff are acted on. These include actual or potential exploitation. Young people are helped to understand the risks and how to stay safe. Staff are very aware of the need to allow the young people to be independent and to take appropriate risks while keeping themselves safe. Staff manage this balance well. Key-worker sessions allow staff to guide young people to stay safe. The staff are very aware of the risks to young people in the local and wider area. Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 6 The staff were observed to be providing common-sense advice to the young people. They follow clear strategies and apply clear boundaries. As a result, there have been no

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

restraints and the number of incidents of going missing has decreased.

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

The young people are protected by careful recruitment procedures. Regular health and safety checks ensure that the physical environment of the home is safe and protects young people from harm, or the risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. She is the registered manager for two homes, located close to each other. She is supported by a strong team of senior staff. The registered manager has good oversight of the home and continues to develop systems which enable her to monitor, review and analyse the practices in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides strong leadership and management that both the young people and staff team respond well to. She provides good support to the staff and knows the young people well. This means the staff can focus on achieving the best outcomes for young people. All staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. The staff undertake a range of training to support their role. The staff enjoy their work and the time they spend with the young people. They fully invest in the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some changes to the staff team in the last year, and the home is fully staffed. There is a gender mix imbalance, with mainly female staff employed. The registered manager is aware of this, but despite actively addressing this at recruitment has failed to provide more male role models for the young people. The manager’s and staff’s commitment to the young people and their willingness to support each other have resulted in a strong team supporting young people effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager monitors the quality of the service effectively through monthly checks on young people’s progress and six-monthly evaluations of the home and care practices. These reviews do not, however, include the views of the young people. In addition, the registered manager uses the detailed monthly reports from the independent visitor to improve the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All young people are treated as individuals in a fair and non-discriminatory manner that embraces the objectives of the home’s statement of purpose.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 7 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: SC399866 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 67 Argyll Street, Ryde PO33 3BY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: William Stanbridge

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Inspector

Liz Driver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC399866 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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