Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 1 SC005066 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A large provider of children’s services operates this home. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people who have experienced childhood instability resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

A principle feature is the use of a campervan, hostels and rental cottages. Ofsted does not inspect this part of the service.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager holds a level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 14 to 15 February 2019

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 31 January 2018

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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: SC005066 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2018 Full Good 06/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/12/2016 Full Good 10/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 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

treat each child with dignity and respect. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b), (2)(b)(iii)) 08/04/2019

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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–

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager will continually review the quality of care young people receive and address any concerns in a timely way. 08/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people first arrive at the home, they have the opportunity to stay off site with staff and enjoy a range of outdoor pursuits. Staff use this initial period to assess young people’s progress and plan for their transition to the home. Young people thrive during this period. They value the opportunity to reflect on and learn from past behaviours. Staff are empathetic, and have open and meaningful discussions with young people. As a result, young people build trusting relationships with staff, settle into the home on their return and, over time, make significant progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people engage in education both when they are off site and upon their return to the home. Staff work closely with the in-house and virtual school to address young people’s educational needs. The registered manager escalates his concerns when young people do not have a school place. For example, a young person is now in school with 100% attendance. This is significant progress from his starting point. Staff work closely with teachers daily to share key information. This provides the young person with consistent, joined-up care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff hold a range of specialist qualifications in outdoor pursuits. Consequently, young people have access to an exceptional range of activities. During their time off site they enjoy countless opportunities, such as biking, kayaking and mountain climbing. A wide range of activities are also on offer in the home and in the local community. For example, young people enjoy trips to the gym and bowling alley, and they enjoy baking with staff. Young people often sustain their interest in the activities that they try. For example, a young person enjoys attending a local boxing club.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to participate in day-to-day and complex decisions about their care. They use a variety of means to capture young people’s views, including daily discussions, key-work sessions and young people’s meetings. Young people are also involved in decisions about more complex aspects of their care. They work alongside the registered manager to review their monthly progress reports and internal plans. Young people also set and review their own behaviour targets. This helps them to feel valued and to have a sense of ownership of their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to promote positive and productive relationships with young people’s families and carers. They are strong advocates for young people. For example, staff initiate and organise events so that young people can spend time with their family. They safely manage these occasions by offering young people transport and supervision. Parents speak positively about the care that their young people receive from staff. A parent told the inspector: ‘The staff gave him (young person) stability and good boundaries. He respected the staff. He felt safe to open up to them’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive support to prepare for their future. Staff work alongside young Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 6 people to create independence targets. These include important life skills such as improving their personal hygiene, cleaning and cooking. Young people enjoy earning rewards for carrying out additional independence tasks. This provides them with an added sense of responsibility and maturity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Unfortunately, staff have made derogatory and offensive comments to a young person about their appearance. This has the potential to diminish young people’s self-esteem and make them feel unsettled and distressed. It is acknowledged that this practice is at odds with an otherwise nurturing and supportive home environment.

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

Staff identify and understand the risks associated with each young person. Individualised and up-to-date risk assessments contain clear staff guidance to manage risk. Young people work alongside staff to review their levels of risk and discuss strategies to keep them safe. In addition, staff offer young people a high level of supervision and support. As a result, young people’s risk-taking behaviour significantly reduces from their starting point. A social work manager told the inspector: ‘His (young person) progress is remarkable. Before living in the home, he was going missing, offending and not in school. This is no longer the case.’

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

Staff offer young people a calm and nurturing home environment. They skilfully use key- work sessions to help young people to learn from past behaviour and challenging incidents. Subsequently, young people develop a greater insight into these behaviours and learn to recognise their triggers. Young people create new strategies to manage difficult feelings and emotions. As a result, incidents of challenging behaviour are significantly reduced, over time. A young person told the inspector: ‘I get a chance to think here. I can open up to staff instead of bottling it all up. I’m more calm. I don’t run off anymore.’

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

Staff provide young people with clear and consistent boundaries. Young people understand that negative behaviour will incur consequences. Staff consistently enforce a restorative justice scheme in the home. This helps young people to develop a sense of responsibility and reduces the likelihood of formal police involvement. Young people receive daily rewards for positive behaviour. They respond positively, and enjoy earning extra money and receiving praise. This positive ethos means that incidents of restraint rarely occur.

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

Staff understand the risks posed by young people’s unsupervised online activity and phone use. For example, some young people are at ongoing risk of criminal exploitation. Staff work alongside young people to help them to understand these risks. They ensure that internet and phone use is monitored to keep young people safe. The off-site environment helps young people to break negative cycles of behaviour and to focus on their strengths.

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

A safe and nurturing home environment means that young people rarely go missing. This is significant progress from their starting points. One young person struggled to Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 7 settle and absconded from off-site activities. However, staff walked alongside him for several miles to keep him safe and provide reassurance. This committed approach helped the young person to reflect on his behaviour and form a bond with staff.

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

The registered manager ensures that the off-site and home environments are safe. He carefully assesses each off-site location to establish the level of risk. This information is incorporated into detailed location risk assessments. In addition, staff hold specialist qualifications which enable them to safely offer young people a range of outdoor pursuits.

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

The registered manager ensures that recruitment processes are safe and robust. This helps to protect young people from unsafe adults.

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

Young people enjoy access to staff with a range of specialist skills and expertise. Staff invest in young people and are committed to them. They work well together to offer consistent and well-thought-out care. As a result, young people make good progress.

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

The registered manager has monitoring systems in place. This helps him to identify strengths and areas of development. Daily, weekly and monthly reports capture young people’s progress and inform their internal plans. However, some concerns about staff practice were not shared with the registered manager in a timely fashion. This was a lost opportunity to fully investigate and address the issue. Likewise the registered manager was unable to assess the impact of this practice on young people or implement any learning or development.

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

Staff receive regular supervision and appraisal of their practice. The registered manager is keen to develop his staff. For example, some staff benefit from taking on additional roles with added responsibility. However, there are shortfalls in the quality of supervision records. In particular, supervision agendas are very limited and do not offer staff an opportunity to discuss young people’s progress.

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

The home has benefited from several developments since the last inspection. For example, the in-house therapist now regularly attends staff team meetings. This provides staff with enhanced learning and reflection on their practice. New team leader roles provide the registered manager with additional support and oversight. Some staff hold specialist roles in outdoor pursuits, while others are completing counselling qualifications. These developments have the potential to strengthen the staff team and improve the quality of care that young people receive.

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

The registered manager develops strong relationships with partner agencies. Staff work closely with social workers, schools, local police and youth offending teams. They use this shared knowledge to ensure that young people’s plans are in line with their needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 8 Staff also access local amenities and work with voluntary organisations to offer young people a range of support and experiences. This includes access to local sports clubs and substance misuse support services.

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

The registered manager ensures that transitions to and from the home are well managed. Young people often experience periods of stress and uncertainty prior to arriving at the home. The registered manager works hard to alleviate their fears and anxieties. He travels to meet young people in their communities and explains the support on offer. This helps young people to settle quickly and build relationships with staff. In addition, the registered manager continually assesses young people’s progress when they return to the home. This helps him to identify appropriate placements when young people are ready to move on. Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 9

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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 difference 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: SC005066 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC005066 11 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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