Children's home run by Good Foundations Limited

Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 1 SC063318 Registered provider: Good Foundations 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

This private children’s home provides care and accommodation for four children or young people who have social and emotional difficulties, and who may have special educational needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered since April 2011.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 December 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

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 2 15/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 17/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii)(x)) 31/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables and leads a culture in the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and 31/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 4 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;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered person making sure that: staff have training to develop their understanding, knowledge and skills in supporting children who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect and attachment difficulties, and the risk of harmful sexual behaviour; supervision meetings provide staff with the chance to reflect critically on their practice and the needs and progress of children as a means of identifying effective professional practice and its impact on children’s experiences and developing their skills; and the independent person’s reports identify areas of weakness and include recommendations for action to improve children’s experiences and outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive a high quality of individualised care that is making an important difference to their lives. Staff help young people to have positive experiences and improved outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff give young people the stability and support that they need. Staff are friendly, upbeat and reliable people. They engage naturally with young people and treat them with respect and empathy. Their approach has helped young people who find it difficult to trust adults to build positive relationships with them and accept the help and support available. A social worker said that:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engaged with my young person with a child-focused approach, reassuring him about the care they provide. My young person had a great deal of anxiety about living in a children’s home and the staff were excellent in reassuring him and calming him down in order to be able to build a relationship up with him. Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 5 Staff listen to young people. They include them in the decisions about their care and the plans for their future. Staff respond appropriately to young people’s wishes and feelings. They are honest with young people and help them to understand the reasons why sometimes their wishes cannot be acted upon.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully selects the young people who come to live at the home, including in an emergency. She makes sure that staff have the experience and expertise to respond properly so that they can meet the young people’s needs. The manager carefully matches the needs of the young people with the young people already living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage young people to spend time with the important people in their lives. Staff help young people to have positive relationships with their parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends. They make sure that seeing each other is a safe and beneficial experience for everyone. Staff make sure that the arrangements follow the young person’s care plan, including when there are restrictions on a young person being in contact with certain people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage young people to get involved in positive activities that they can succeed at and enjoy. For example, a young person has developed his abilities, confidence and social skills by playing tenpin bowling for a local club. This has become something that his whole family enjoys doing with him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are working closely with teachers to reduce the risk of a young person being excluded from his school. His attendance is very good, his behaviour in school is improving and he is on, or above, his targets in every subject.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Currently, two young people are not taking part in education or training. Staff are working with the young people’s social workers and the virtual school to find the right education provision to meet the young people’s needs. However, in the meantime, the young people are not taking part in planned and meaningful activities every day. They do not have the routines that help them to understand the importance and benefits of learning, develop their knowledge and skills, and prepare them return to formal education as soon as possible.

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

Young people have a strong sense of belonging and feel safe. They talk to staff when they are worried or upset. They know that staff listen, care about them and will do everything they can to help them.

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

Staff understand the impact that young people’s experiences have on their development, their relationships and how they respond to difficult situations. Consequently, staff make sure that the young people live in a stable and supportive environment. Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 6 Staff provide young people with safe, stable and reliable relationships. Staff make sure that young people have clear and appropriate boundaries and expectations of the standard of behaviour. A youth justice worker said: ‘The home environment is a significant positive and, therefore, protective factor in both supporting my young person’s development and in him avoiding future offending behaviours.’

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

Staff help young people to see the benefits of positive behaviour. They reinforce children’s positive behaviour through praise and rewards. The excellent use of incentives is having a positive impact on young people’s behaviour. For example, young people are choosing to come in on time and not to go missing. Young people actively buy into the plan because they help staff to choose what they want to work on, and decide on their rewards.

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

Staff find the least intrusive ways possible of helping young people to manage their feelings and control their behaviour. They challenge negative behaviour constructively. Staff help young people to understand the impact of their actions on other people and find positive ways of dealing with problems. Staff have helped young people to sort out their differences with each other. Young people are developing better relationships with their parents. With the staff’s help, they are finding positive ways of dealing with stressful situations safely. For example, a young person walked away from a confrontation with his mum. He gave himself time to regain his composure instead of making things worse.

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

The staff’s knowledge and professional practice protect young people from harm. Staff have a good understanding of each young person’s vulnerability and any concerns about their safety. Staff are vigilant and recognise signs that indicate that a young person may be at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Staff continually assess the risks for each young person and take every necessary step to make sure that young people are protected.

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

The manager and staff have taken decisive action when they have had concerns about a young person being at risk of criminal exploitation, going missing and inappropriately using social media and the internet. They escalated their concerns to the local authority and the police. They used well-established safeguarding partnerships to identify and understand the risks and to follow safety plans that reduce the risks to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and suitably qualified. She also manages another children’s home. She is well organised and has the capacity to be in day-to-day charge of both children’s homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and two deputy managers are a strong, consistent and effective leadership team. They are ambitious for young people to live in a safe and supportive home where they can achieve better outcomes and lead happy and fulfilling lives. The staff share this ethos. This is evident in every aspect of the running of the home and the staff’s Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 7 professional practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy managers use thorough and evaluative monitoring systems to understand the quality of care that young people receive. They have taken effective action to make necessary improvements that benefit young people. For example, they have supported staff to understand the importance of direct work with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of young people’s records has been improved so that they give a detailed and accurate picture of young people’s experiences and progress. This information contributes to the understanding of young people’s lives and the support required to best meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staffing arrangements make sure that young people receive continuity of care from suitable, qualified and skilled staff. Young people have every chance to build safe and stable relationships with the staff who look after them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy managers provide staff with good support, guidance and encouragement. Staff understand their roles and know how they are expected to support each young person. Staff are building their confidence by taking on more responsibility for young people’s care and the running of the home. The manager and deputy managers use supervision and annual appraisals to assess each member of staff’s performance and continued suitability to work with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, managers are using supervision meetings as a means of getting staff to evaluate the quality of their practice. They do not reflect critically on their work with young people. These are missed opportunities for managers and staff to share and improve professional practice, develop an in-depth understanding of each young person’s needs and circumstances, and think to about how best to engage with young people in order to improve their experiences and outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have not had opportunities to receive training that would develop their understanding, knowledge and skills in relation to the needs of the young people they are supporting. They would benefit from developing their expertise in understanding and managing the risk of harmful sexual behaviour and supporting young people who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect and attachment difficulties.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person’s monitoring of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the young people is not effective in improving young people’s experiences. Although the independent person has identified weaknesses in the way that some young people’s education is supported, he has not sufficiently challenged the manager about this or recommended actions to take in order to improve the young people’s education outcomes.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 8 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: SC063318 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 6 Tower Quays, Tower Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 1BP

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Inspector

Nick Veysey: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063318 10 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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