Children's home run by Your Chapter Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Children 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 run children’s home offers care and accommodation for up to four young people who may experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by an experienced manager who has made an application to Ofsted to become the registered manager of the home.

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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: 15 January 2019

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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: 1271213 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 3

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Recommendations

 Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  Children should be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon within the home’s records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  Case records including keywork sessions, must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. Records should be routinely reviewed to

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Recommendations

identify potential patterns and trends. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The behaviour management strategy should be reviewed and updated to ensure that it is understood and applied at all times by staff. The strategy must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  Staff must help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another placement or to live independently. This includes, but is not limited to, practical skills such as planned cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection in January 2019, a further two young people have moved into the home. At the time of the inspection, four young people are accommodated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Residential care planning is good. As part of the placement targets, young people are supported by the company psychologist to undertake the three phases of the ‘well-being for life’ programme. This addresses safety and containment, resilience and relationships, and restoration and lifelong learning. A young person said, ‘I love it here. It is like another part of my family. I am doing better than I ever thought I would.’ However, young people do not consistently contribute towards the development of their individual Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 4 goals or review the progress that they make. Encouraging young people to develop ownership of their plans will enable them to have a better sense of what is working for them and what is not. Likewise, key-work sessions for some young people are not consistent and therefore do not routinely pick up patterns and trends that are valuable in the future planning for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Basic independence incentive programmes are in place to enable young people to learn self-care skills. For example, completing laundry, keeping their bedroom tidy, cooking and attending to personal care. However, plans lack a detailed progression in order for young people to further develop essential independence skills. Furthermore, plans do not assess and review young people’s difficulties within this training, for example the reasons why a young person has failed to undertake a specific task. Consequently, the current independence training programme does not stretch young people to achieve their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people attend the on-site registered education facility. Attendance has significantly improved, with young people attending between 96 and 100 percent of the time. At the time of the inspection, some young people were undertaking GCSE examinations at a separate facility. A young person said, ‘These guys have helped me sort my life out. I am doing my exams and I have a college placement to train in hospitality. I am making something of my life.’ Since the last inspection, there has been a drive to further develop partnership working between the school, psychologist and home’s staff. This is working well and clearly benefits the overall outcomes for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between young people and staff are good. Observations during the inspection highlighted the relaxed atmosphere in the home, and young people present as happy, confident and eager to share their views and opinions about the home and staff. Where possible, young people enjoy structured contact with family and friends. Contact plans are agreed between young people, families and placing authorities, to ensure that contact is valuable and positive for the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people confirmed that their views and opinions are encouraged and respected. Staff listen to individual young people and enable them to understand that their contribution is important. Regular young people’s meetings take place. However, records of young people’s comments and suggestions are not consistently maintained to reflect the action taken by staff to address them. As a result, young people and staff are unable to keep a formal track of their comments and suggestions in order to review the outcome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people confirmed that they are provided with a range of information prior to, and on admission to, the home. Information, such as individual rights, how to make a complaint and a guide to the running of the home, enable young people to understand how things work. Recreational activities are suitably supported. Young people are supported to take on the challenge and try out new activities, either as a group or with friends and family. They develop in confidence and enjoy regular activities such as attending the gym, Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 5 scrambling, football, country walks and jogging, as well as a variety of day trips to theme parks and beaches. Photographs displayed in the home capture valuable experiences and memories that young people make at this home.

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

Effective risk assessments are developed in partnership with the home’s psychologist and placing social workers. On the whole, they detail the action to be taken to reduce and minimise risk and the response to identified risk. Overall, physical intervention is rarely used in the home. Staff focus on de-escalation and redirection techniques in order to defuse situations. However, a recent increase in risk-taking behaviours led to several physical interventions taking place to reduce the risk of harm and maintain the young person’s safety. These measures are agreed with placing social workers and work in accordance with regulation. Records are thorough and shared with the young person as part of the planned debrief.

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

Detailed individual missing-from-home plans are now further developed to ensure that the correct procedures and strategies are implemented without delay. Staff work well with the police and have provided individual vulnerability and risk profiles for each young person to ensure that they are prioritised in the event they should be missing from the home. Through effective partnership working, young people are returned quickly and are provided with a suitable return home interview. Since living in this home, all young people have made significant progress in reducing missing-from-home episodes.

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

Young people know how to complain. Information is provided in the young people’s guide and organisational complaints documents. Since the home opened in May 2018, there have been no complaints made within the home.

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

Individual behaviour management plans identify triggers for negative behaviour and provide some direction on the management of unacceptable behaviours. However, records of both positive and restorative sanctions are not consistently updated to reflect the current behaviours of the young people. Likewise, plans to encourage positive behaviour, such as incentive plans, are not clear and have the potential to be misconstrued. Consequently, there is a lack of clarity in the current behaviour management processes within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection in January 2019, there has been a change in the management of the home. The registered manager has left this service to manage another of the organisation’s homes. An experienced manager has been appointed to the home and has made an application to Ofsted to become the registered manager. Internal and external monitoring systems provide the home with a suitable approach to the overall monitoring of care. Detailed information highlights areas for development, and the manager’s action plan details the methods used to enhance the service. Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 6 Staff are provided with an annual training package. Mandatory training is regularly refreshed, while additional training based on the individual needs of young people is available to staff. This ensures that staff receive up-to-date training essential to maintaining the overall good childcare practice evident in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff demonstrate a commitment to delivering child-centred practice that is tailored to the individual and personal needs of young people. The effectiveness of this approach is measurable in the progress that young people make, particularly in education and reducing their risk-taking behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home employs a consistent and committed staff team. Currently 50 percent of the residential staff are qualified at NVQ level 3, with the remaining staff enrolled on the diploma in children’s social care. The training of staff at this level ensures that they are suitably qualified in the care and management of young people. Young people’s records are securely stored and updated in order to capture the essence of young people at a given time. However, some records are not signed by the manager or staff. Therefore, it is not clear when some records are monitored by the manager. A recommendation is made to address this matter.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that all referrals to the home are suitably assessed for compatibility. Evidence of impact assessment leading to decisions not to place demonstrates a clear commitment to the young people already placed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the last inspection in January 2019, four recommendations were made to further develop the service provided in the home. Three recommendations are suitably addressed. The statement of purpose is revised and updated, and staff have received the training required to promote their confidence when managing risk-taking behaviours. One recommendation requires further development to ensure that young people are provided with opportunities to review and record their views about the care they receive. There are five recommendations to improve practice made at this inspection.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 7 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspectors

Maria McGranaghan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1271213 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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