Children's Home run by Building Bridges Care Homes Ltd in St Helens

Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 1 Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes 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

The home is one of several managed by a private provider. The home provides care and support for up to four young people who are not able to live at home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since the home opened in February 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children‟s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 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 meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child‟s placing authority effectively in the child‟s care, in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child‟s needs. (Regulation 5 (a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that any changes to a young person‟s care plan are made clear by the placing authority. 29/03/2019

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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 staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child‟s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)) 29/03/2019

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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

promotes their welfare. 29/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 4 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(f)(h)) The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv)) 29/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date; and 29/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 5 are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, ensure that records are current and are sufficiently detailed.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of the information from independent and external monitoring (including under regulation 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learnt and sustaining good practice. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  Ensure that the records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. Information about the children must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child should they access their information 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 records tell the story of a young person‟s time in the home.

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improvement to be good

Young people live in a caring home where they receive the help that they need to recover from, and to develop, following traumatic and harmful experiences. Young people have positive relationships with staff. Some young people are increasingly confident to talk to them about their concerns or worries and said that the staff will help them to resolve these. One young person said that the staff are „great‟. Staff understand that young people new to the home need time to settle and feel safe here.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of the individual needs of young people and treat them with dignity and respect. Staff ensure that young people‟s cultural and religious needs are met. For example, they source shops that supply specific food ingredients. An independent reviewing officer said that the home is supporting their young person well. They acknowledged that the young person „has not fully bought into the placement‟, as the young person wants to move back to their home area. However, staff are taking action to support him and advocate for him.

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improvement to be good

Young people‟s health is generally improving. Some young people are beginning to take more responsibility for administering their medication. Young people are helped to understand the risks associated with drugs, and substance misuse, and to understand Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 6 how to stay fit and well. The staff‟s support is helping young people increase their levels of independence and young people enjoy a range of activities within the community.

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improvement to be good

Young people are making progress with their education. One young person has sustained 100% attendance; another has improved their attendance to 84%, although staff are challenging this figure with the school as they feel this should be higher. Staff work with schools to ensure that young people are fully supported. A virtual school headteacher said that the home has provided „excellent support‟ to their young person and that the young person is being supported well to make sense of changes and come to terms with these. Some young people have a chosen career path and staff are supporting them in achieving their goal.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide young people with the opportunities to increase their confidence and self- esteem through activities that they enjoy. They provide an environment that helps young people feel emotionally safe. Consequently, some young people are beginning to reflect on the past, how this has shaped their lives and how they move on from this. A young person said that, for them, the past is in the past and this is now the future.

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improvement to be good

All young people live some distance from their families. The manager and staff carefully and sensitively manage the complex contact arrangements. This means that young people remain in contact with those people who are important to them and that it is a safe and positive experience. Some young people have recently seen family members who they have been estranged from. Staff are supporting this appropriately so that the young people can re-established and maintain these relationships.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff have a sound understanding of safeguarding practice. They usually balance the need to protect young people with providing them with an appropriate level of freedom, supervision and choice about how they spend their free time. Staff have an awareness of the vulnerabilities and risks for young people. However, this is not reflected in the risk assessment and care planning documentation. This means that some information is missed, and this places young people at risk.

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improvement to be good

Furthermore, the staff‟s understanding and planning in some areas lack rigour, in particular the support that they provide with safe and well checks when young people are on extended homestays. One young person had not been spoken to by staff since 11 January, and they were unable to confirm whether the young person was safe.

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improvement to be good

This situation was further compounded because the staff had not received clear information from the placing authority as to what the expectations were of them during this time. In addition, the manager and staff had not planned effectively to support the young person. Action was taken during the inspection to address these matters.

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improvement to be good

Young people who have been in the home for some time are becoming increasingly safe. The staff work to reduce incidents of missing from care, for example writing to families Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 7 about the expectations of them and the action staff will take if a young person is missing. This has resulted in a decline in the incidents of one young person being missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people who have been struggling with their emotions and behaviour. A virtual school headteacher said that the staff have looked beyond their young person‟s behaviour and seen them as an individual. Staff spoke with the young person as to the best way to support them and have implemented new support plans. They are now seeing a reduction in negative behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The quality of recording in the sanction and incident records has not improved since the last inspection. Incident records lack detail and sanction records do not demonstrate the effectiveness of the sanction, or include the young people‟s comments, and some are not signed or dated. This lack of detail does not promote transparency.

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improvement to be good

Young people live in a warm, welcoming and homely environment. One young person is particularly pleased to be redesigning their bedroom. They have created a mood board and are eagerly sourcing the furniture, paint and soft furnishings. Young people are consulted on all aspects of the home, including the decor in communal areas.

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

A qualified, committed and very experienced manager leads the home. Her deputy and team leaders support her.

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

The manager is aware of the home‟s areas for development, such as the improvements needed in record keeping. She has taken steps to address this, but the changes have not been sufficient or sustained by staff. Consequently, there are shortfalls in several records because information is not current and does not tell the story of the young people‟s time in the home. This is compounded for one young person as the home has not received written updates to the young person‟s care plan. Therefore, the manager is unable to plan effectively for the young person. Overall, records lack clarity.

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

Monitoring by the manager and independent person is usually secure and provides areas for development for the home. The home has experienced a difficult few months with regards to the behaviours of some young people and damage to the home. The manager has spent a considerable amount of time supporting the young people and staff. As a result, there has been a lapse in the manager‟s monitoring, meaning that the shortfalls identified at this inspection had not been identified.

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

The manager ensures that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff protect young people. New members of staff undertake a sound recruitment and selection process that minimises the risk of unsuitable people working with young people. The manager ensures that staff have the right personal qualities, experience, skills and values to work with vulnerable young people.

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

Team meetings are used to enable staff to reflect on the difficulties that the home has Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 8 faced recently and what they need to do to improve. However, this has not resulted in consistent, good-quality record keeping. Staff receive regular opportunities through practice-related supervision to discuss young people‟s progress and the expectations of their performance. Staff receive a range of training based around the needs of the young people. However, they have limited understanding of county lines and would benefit from training in this area to support individual young people.

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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: 1250035 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mill Farm, Bull Bridge Lane, Liverpool L10 6LZ

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Inspector

Chris Scully, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1250035 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 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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