Children's Home run by Continuum Support - Care Services Limited in Knowsley

Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 1 SC473375 Registered provider: Continuum Support Care 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

A private company owns and manages this children‟s home. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people who can no longer live at home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been at the home since August 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: 7 November 2017

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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: SC473375 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2017 Full Good 12/01/2017 Interim Not judged 08/06/2016 Full Good 18/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child‟s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)) 08/03/2019

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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;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 08/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1)) 08/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents 08/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 4 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))

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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 should 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, paragraphs 14.4 and 14.5) In particular, ensure that the home‟s records for each young person represent a significant contribution to their life history.  Ensure that the registered manager seeks independent scrutiny of the home and makes best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulation 44 and 45) ensure continuous improvement. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards,‟ page 55,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a nurturing and safe home. They receive high-quality individualised care that is making an important difference to their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff have brought stability into the young people‟s lives. Consequently, young people are making progress in their health and emotional well- being, building healthy relationships, confidence, and taking steps to manage their feelings. Young people enjoy the same opportunities and experiences as their peer group and enjoy spending time with their friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to ensuring that young people take part in activities that are important to them. On occasions, staff travelled a long distance with one young person to support them to attend training and competitions for their hobby, ice skating. This had a profound effect on the young person‟s confidence and self-esteem and enabled them to continue with their passion for ice skating. Similarly, staff are working closely with a young person to help them to find a „loan horse‟ to care for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education continues to be a stumbling block for young people. However, the registered manager and staff actively challenge the placing authority and are continually looking at ways to resolve these issues. This has resulted in a bespoke timetable for a young Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 5 person and engaging the services of a tutor for another. Consequently, young people are beginning to re-engage with their education. Social workers confirmed that the manager and staff are strong advocates for the young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have stable and secure relationships with staff. They feel at home because they are treated with warmth and respect. The manager and staff are skilled at engaging naturally with young people and helping them to feel at ease. This was evident from the lively banter, during the inspection, between the staff and young people. Staff listen to young people and respond appropriately to their wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that young people have the skills, opportunities and emotional resilience that they need to become independent adults. This includes encouraging and supporting young people to cook, shop, manage money, make appointments and use public transport independently and safely. A young person who has recently moved out of the home is supported by a member of staff from the home to ease her transition into semi- independent living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy regular opportunities to meet with their family and friends. Staff make sure that it is a safe and positive experience for everyone involved. Staff understand that that it can be difficult saying goodbye at the end of a visit and have a range of strategies to support individual young people.

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

Young people feel safe. They know that staff listen to their worries and do everything that they can to help them. The manager and staff‟s professional practice and the safeguarding arrangements protect young people from harm. Young people have become increasingly safer from the risk of self-harm, going missing and sexual exploitation.

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

A social worker said that their young person is settled here. Prior to coming here their routine was chaotic, but now it is structured and the young person feels safe. As a result, the young person no longer goes missing, which has reduced significantly their risk of child sexual exploitation. Another social worker said that their young person has not been missing since moving here. They are working with the staff and feel safe because of the clear, consistent boundaries that are in place.

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

Staff have a good understanding of each young person‟s vulnerabilities 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 steps 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 take decisive action when they have concerns about a young person‟s welfare, in line with safeguarding guidance. They work effectively with the placing authorities, professionals and the police to manage risks to young people.

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

Staff understand the context behind young people‟s behaviour. This understanding helps Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 6 staff to intervene effectively to get the right support for the young person, including from the child and adolescent mental health services. Young people are now able to ask staff for support. A social worker and a professional from the youth offending service acknowledged that this was a „big step‟ for the young person and had only happened because they felt safe.

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

Young people live in a warm, welcoming, homely environment. Young people personalise their bedroom and each have their own lounge. Young people have access to extensive gardens. However, there are several loose paving stones, there is a large amount of garden rubbish in the far corner of the garden and the fencing needs attention. One young person‟s bedroom door would not close; action was taken during the inspection to address this.

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

Improvements have been made with regard to the recruitment and vetting of staff. The organisation now ensures that any gaps in the applicant‟s employment history are thoroughly explored.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is very experienced and qualified. She provides clear and effective leadership. She is passionate about providing each young person with the best possible care and support to improve their life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff share the manager‟s vision and high expectations for young people. Together, the manager and staff have created a warm and supportive atmosphere. They actively promote tolerance, equality and diversity. As a result, young people feel accepted, safe and comfortable to be themselves.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a detailed understanding of the progress that each young person is making. She makes sure that they are always cared for in line with their agreed plans. The manager has acknowledged that the current care plans and risk assessments are not suitable, as they are not clear or concise and some lack sufficient detail. She is in the process of revising the documents. Young people‟s care and support are not compromised, as staff understand the young people‟s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager identifies when young people may not be getting the best possible help from the local authority and other services. She and the staff are strong advocates for young people and work tirelessly to ensure that young people get the right help and support. For example, this includes challenging the placing authority on their preferred education provider if the manager feels this is not suitable for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides staff with appropriate guidance and support. She makes sure that staff provide young people with a very good standard of care. Staff are knowledgeable, experienced, skilled and motivated. They are resilient and do not give up trying to make a positive difference in young people‟s lives. The staffing arrangements and levels meet the needs of young people and provide them with continuity of care. Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 7 The organisation needs to improve certain areas in the management of staff support, performance and development. The organisation does not have a policy on how to manage incidents of sexting, including young people sharing images which may leave staff vulnerable. Staff have not had training opportunities to develop their knowledge and practice on this issue. Supervisions happen on a regular basis. However, the records of these are not well recorded. The home‟s statement of purpose does provide all the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

required information, such as details for staff supervision and training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has taken steps to improve the quality of record keeping. While this has improved, it is not yet robust. This is because records are not always signed or dated by the author, the language used to describe an incident is sometimes subjective, for example for inappropriate behaviour, and some records do not fully reflect the discussions with young people. This hinders young people‟s ability to reflect on their journey in the home now or in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring by the registered manager is improving. However, the independent person has not identified several of the shortfalls identified at this inspection. This hinders the manager‟s ability to drive forward continuous improvement.

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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: SC473375 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Continuum Support Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sinclair, 300 St Marys Road, Garston, Liverpool L19 0NQ

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Inspector

Chris Scully, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC473375 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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