Children's home run by South West Childcare Services in Plymouth

Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 1 SC486167 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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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 children’s home provides care for one child or young person who may have some emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/07/2018 Full Inadequate 28/09/2017 Full Good 15/09/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 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 care planning standard is that children have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that arrangements are in place to plan for, and support, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care, in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with his or her placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1) (iii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the staff ensuring that the voice, views and wishes of the young person are included and documented in their care plan, including their views of how best they can be supported to learn independent living skills. 06/06/2019

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Recommendations

The registered person should ensure that children and young people are encouraged to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, two young people have left the home. The staff were unable to meet the complex care needs of one young person. The other young person made good progress and moved from the home, as they requested to live with other young people, rather than being the only young person living in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person currently living in the home recently moved in. She is settling into the home and beginning to make progress through receiving good-quality, kind and nurturing care from the manager and the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and the staff understand the importance of establishing consistent routines and are effectively supporting the young person to get up each morning, achieve full attendance at school and prepare for GCSE examinations this summer. The staff succeed in building positive relationships with the staff at the young person’s school. The regular communication between the home and the school staff ensures that the young person receives consistent messages and continuity of care in each setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff welcome the family and friends of the young person into the home and effectively and sensitively support the young person to build positive family relationships, which include overnight stays with her family. One aim of the long-term plan for this young person is to return to her family home when she leaves this home. The young person’s family reported that they are very positive about the progress the young person is making at the home and the positive relationships that she has with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is supported to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The staff help her to understand the importance of eating a balanced diet and taking regular exercise. The young person is learning to cook healthy meals and keeping fit from taking part in regular horse-riding sessions and walking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff ensure that the young person attends medical appointments and they have been successful in obtaining support to help her deal with her emotional health needs. The staff are trained to meet the young person’s individual healthcare needs. Healthcare plans give the staff clear guidance and strategies to use should the young person experience any incidents of severe emotional distress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is encouraged and supported by the staff to learn to be as independent as possible, in line with her post-16 pathway plan. She is being encouraged to independently budget, shop and cook her meals and now has a bank account and passport. Free time away from the home is being gradually increased, as is the young person’s use of the internet. The staff succeed in providing the young person with experiences in which she is safely able to make mistakes and learn and develop as a result.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is fully involved in decision-making in the home. The staff fully involve Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 5 her in making choices about her activities for the day. The young person’s views and wishes are recorded and acted on if appropriate, such as her request to buy a hamster.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Placement plans inform the staff about how best to meet the care needs of the young person, to support her to make progress. The information is concisely and clearly provided to the staff to offer them guidance and strategies. However, the plans do not contain the young person’s views of how she thinks that the staff can best support her and do not document her views and hopes for the future and ways in which she thinks that these can be achieved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person does not benefit from having a memory book that contains photographs and memorabilia of her time living at the home. This is important so that in the future she will have tangible memories of this time in her life, her achievements and the people who cared for her.

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

The staff respond to any concerning safeguarding incidents strongly and comprehensively. They are vigilant and understand the young person very well. Due to the trusting relationships she has made with the staff, the young person now discloses information to them if she is feeling unsafe or is worried.

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

The staff effectively establish strong boundaries and routines for the young person. The young person benefits from the home’s rules and routines that give her security and safety. The young person reported that she thinks that the rules are fair.

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

The young person reported that she feels safe living in the home and could name a member of staff she can speak to if she is feeling unsafe. Comprehensive risk assessment processes provide the staff with clear guidance and strategies to follow to safely manage risk.

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

The manager and the staff at the home effectively liaise with safeguarding professionals and the police to obtain information and guidance to keep the young person safe. Referrals to safeguarding agencies are promptly made if it is decided that the young person needs help to learn how to keep herself safe.

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

Incidents of the young person going missing are decreasing. The staff follow a comprehensive missing from home protocol to enable them to safely and effectively manage any incidents involving the young person going missing from home. They actively look for the young person and know the places where she is likely to go if she is missing, so that she can be promptly found and return home.

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

The staff praise and reward positive behaviour and support the young person to learn from her mistakes. The staff maintain a calm and confident approach if the young person is putting herself or others at risk. This approach is effective in calming difficult situations and helping the young person to learn how to manage a situation differently Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 6 the next time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and appropriately qualified and is providing good leadership in the home. She has recently completed the level 5 qualification in leadership and management. Staff reported that the manager provides strong leadership and support and there is good morale in the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Learning has been undertaken by the manager and the staff team, following a turbulent time in the home last year, when a young person was placed who had complex care needs that the staff struggled to meet safely. The manager is aware of the strengths and areas for improvement in the home. A development plan is in place that outlines ways in which further improvement in the home will be achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff benefit from a comprehensive training programme on topics such as first aid, safeguarding and physical restraint. The registered individual and the registered manager understand the importance of the staff fully understanding the therapeutic care needs of the young person, so the staff receive training in attachment and therapeutic parenting techniques.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager actively challenges other services to ensure that the young person receives the services and help that she needs. The young person is now receiving help with her emotional care needs due to the persistence and prompt action taken by the staff to obtain these services for her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The young person gains a sense of security and permanence from being supported by a small and consistent staff team. The registered manager undertakes regular care shifts in the home as well as managerial tasks, so knows the young person well. If a member of staff is away, other staff cover the shifts rather than a member of staff that the young person does not know.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Any damage in the home is promptly repaired. The home has recently been decorated and furnishings replaced following extensive damage by a previous resident. The young person enjoys living in a very homely and well-maintained environment. Photographs of the young person are displayed throughout the home along with rosettes that she has been awarded for horse-riding.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 7 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: SC486167 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor Flat, 46 Durnford Street, Plymouth, Devon PL1 3QN

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Inspector

Tina Maddison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC486167 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 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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