Children's Home run by Hopedale Children and Family Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 1 SC444869 Registered provider: Hopedale Children and Family Services 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 privately owned children‟s home provides care for up to 15 children who have suffered adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours. There is also a school on the same site.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children‟s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children‟s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 19 September 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/09/2017 Full Outstanding 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/06/2016 Full Outstanding 31/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 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 registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children‟s home at least once each month. The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person‟s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children‟s well-being. (Regulation 44(2)(a)(b)) 28/02/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive outstanding care. They live in a therapeutic environment that enables them to thrive. Children make exceptional, sustained progress in all areas of their lives. This is due to the close relationships that they have with staff and the consistent, individualised support that they receive from them. Children are happy and content in their home. They benefit from spontaneous, affectionate care from staff who genuinely care about them. Children enjoy spending quality time with members of staff. They benefit from a structured activity programme that reflects their individual interests and encourages them to lead an active and healthy life. Staff support children to develop positive interests and hobbies. Some children have annual passes to local attractions which enable them to have unlimited access to activities they enjoy. Children go abroad at least once each year and have additional holidays with staff in the United Kingdom. Staff provide children with the opportunity to

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

create new memories through happy experiences. As a result, children start to move forward with their lives. Staff provide children with the practical and emotional support that they need to develop or maintain positive relationships with their families. On occasion, managers and staff have challenged placing authorities to ensure that the time children spend with their family meets their individual needs. Staff work very well with parents, and parents speak highly about the care provided to their children. One parent told the inspectors, „I can‟t believe the progress my son has made and that he is able to come home to us. I can‟t fault the care he gets. I have never worried about him not being safe; all his needs have Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 4 been met.‟ When children don‟t have any relatives, managers and staff ensure that children are provided with independent visitors and have positive contact with adults who care about

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

them. For example, some children received individual visits from teaching staff on Christmas Day. Annual summer and Christmas events are huge celebrations and provide children with positive and happy memories. Staff create beautiful memory books for children. These books are filled with photographs of their time in the home, providing children with a valuable record of their childhood. Children‟s views are central to the running of the home. Staff consult children in all aspects of their care and support them to take increasing control of the decisions that affect them. Children are encouraged to try new foods. For example, one child expressed a wish to have crab cakes and these were purchased for her to cook with staff. Children are provided with healthy and nutritious meals. Food is of a high quality and is locally sourced. Internal care planning processes are flexible, and centre around each child‟s identified

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

needs. Staff deliver bespoke care packages and successfully support children‟s emotional development by delivering care based on a secure attachment model. Daily routines are led by children‟s needs for support at certain times of the day (such as when they return from school and bedtime). Consequently, children realise that they are the focus of the home. Staff creatively celebrate children‟s unique personalities. For example, one child is encouraged to put on dance shows for other children. Another child has been given a job helping staff to encourage other children to save their money.

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

Children are kept safe because of the excellent practice and understanding of staff. Staff understand that when children display challenging behaviours, these are symptomatic of children‟s frustrations, anxieties and previous experiences. Staff are encouraged to reflect on children‟s behaviour, with support from the therapeutic team. As a result, staff are skilled in looking beyond the immediate situation to identify specific risk factors and antecedents that may result in children harming themselves or others. This approach helps staff to devise highly effective behaviour management plans. These highlight children‟s individual risks and provide staff with detailed strategies for managing them. Consequently, staff manage risk exceptionally well. They offer children the right support, at the right time and in the right way. This promotes children‟s safety and protects them from harm. Despite facing significant challenges, children‟s self-belief and confidence improve

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

significantly. Consequently, they make excellent progress socially and emotionally. Staff provide children with structure and routine, and staff strike a good balance between enforcing boundaries and rewarding positive behaviour. Children‟s behaviour improves and there is a significant reduction in the number of incidents. This is because staff are creative about how they manage children‟s behaviour and implement advice provided by the therapeutic team. When physical interventions Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 5 are required, they are reviewed and analysed closely by the management team. Children rarely go missing. Staff have excellent relationships with local police services, the placing authority and other professionals. This helps them to identify any potential risks for children and minimise them. Most children achieve 100% school attendance. School staff and care staff work seamlessly to meet children‟s needs and the therapeutic approach is embraced by all.

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

For example, each morning two members of the school team work in the home and are part of the children‟s morning routine. Staff encourage children to be ambitious by helping them to understand that they can achieve their dreams and aspirations. As a result, children see education to be a necessary and positive aspect of growing up, and a means of realising their future career goals. Children recognise that staff help them to manage their feelings. For example, one child spoke of how he has been supported to go home through a bespoke therapeutic package that has been offered to the whole family. He said, „I am different from when I came, I can control my temper now. I couldn‟t do this before.‟ The staff team has undertaken work with his parent and siblings and will continue to offer support on an outreach basis. Children make exceptional progress because of the innovative care that they receive and a flexible therapeutic package. This includes traditional talking therapies, holistic

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

therapies, music therapy and animal therapy. The home has a therapy dog, and some staff have been trained in animal-assisted therapy. Other children benefit from hand massages using aromatherapy oils. These approaches are tailored to each child‟s needs. Children enjoy these experiences and look forward to their sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified. She keeps children at the heart of all that she does. She is inspirational and ambitious for children and ensures that this ethos is cascaded throughout the entire staff team. The registered manager maintains an admirable overview of children‟s behaviours and risks. She continually considers these against their individual progress and achievements, and the wider objectives of their placing authority. The registered manager places considerable emphasis on the importance of listening to children and takes their views and opinions seriously. She uses children‟s comments to review and appraise the quality of care that they receive. However, the independent visitor does not provide reports that demonstrate how they have made an impartial and rigorous assessment of the quality of care provided. The impact of this shortfall is significantly reduced by the registered

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

manager‟s excellent monitoring and oversight. The management team has a comprehensive development plan. This plan considers how to improve children‟s experiences and how the service can be developed. Managers are ambitious for children and recognise that many children benefit from living within a family setting. Consequently, there are plans to develop an intensive fostering service with close links to the home. The registered manager and staff know their strengths and weaknesses and embrace ideas to continually improve. Following the last inspection, managers considered how Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 6 best to meet the shortfalls raised. As a result, medication is now managed via a bespoke electronic system, which was thoroughly researched before implementation. The system minimises the risk of human error and allows staff to spend additional time with children rather than completing administrative tasks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are highly motivated and enthusiastic. They are qualified, skilled and knowledgeable, with many years‟ experience of working with children. The registered manager and senior staff ensure that staff training programmes are relevant, and reflective of children‟s complex needs. This means that staff continually refresh their skills to meet children‟s ever-evolving needs. Staff benefit from excellent practice-related supervision and weekly therapeutic reflection sessions. Staff feel well supported and enjoy their work. One staff member told the inspector, „I love it. I really enjoy it. I love the job.‟ The registered manager and staff have strong working relationships with partner agencies, including social workers, independent reviewing officers and the police. An independent reviewing officer told the inspector, „There is a clear plan around [name of child]. He has responded really well in all areas, including education and family contact.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

He is growing in confidence, and now takes part in his reviews. He is ready to move on to a foster family; they [staff] have really supported that.‟ A social worker added, „The placement has been excellent for [name of child] and met all of her needs. The onsite therapy has been really beneficial. The staff are really good at communicating.‟

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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: SC444869 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopedale Children and Family Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Sarah Deaville Clare Ratcliffe

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Inspectors

Annemarie Parker, social care inspector Lisa O‟Donovan, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC444869 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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