Children's home run by Your Chapter Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Children 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 children’s home is one of a number of children’s homes operated by a private organisation. This home offers care and accommodation for up to two young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2018 Full Good 08/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 02/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 3

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Recommendations

 The home should play a full part in promoting the best interests of the child, proactively advocating for the child to ensure that others play their role and deliver the high-quality support that is needed. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.4)

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Recommendations

Specifically, the home should ensure that delays in progressing therapeutic work are quickly addressed and resolved.

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Recommendations

 Staff should encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. Children must be able to take up issues or make a complaint with support and without any fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Regulation 39 sets out the requirements on the registered person to have a complaints procedure. Children must be aware of this procedure and be reminded of it as necessary. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.13).

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Recommendations

Specifically, children must have access to contact numbers for external advice and support should they wish to take up issues independently of the home.

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Recommendations

 Staff must continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for the child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and the placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5).

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Recommendations

Specifically, risk management plans must be consistently reviewed, and this review must be recorded in order to assess whether the agreed measures are effective in reducing risk.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well- being, such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and the use of illegal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18) Specifically, the registered person should update and maintain records of health management Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 4

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Recommendations

sessions for young people known to abuse alcohol.

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Recommendations

 Effective care planning and strong working relationships between the staff of the home and the placing authority are essential to the success of placement. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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Recommendations

Specifically, the registered manager should seek to challenge a local authority where decisions are made that serve to negatively impact on the young person, with specific regard to a young person’s use of an education bursary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection in May 2018, one young person has made a positive move to a supported semi-independence placement in his home community. One young person remains in placement, and there is one new admission to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make progress in this placement. Planning for care is good. This is because young people and staff work together to identify individual achievable goals, which are regularly reviewed and updated. Young people feel empowered and one said: ‘I really like it here. They have helped me so much. I am a different person than I was before. I am working towards building a good future.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education attendance and attainment are consistently improved for young people with a history of disruption in education. This is because young people attend the organisation’s academy, which offers a range of courses that are adapted to young people’s individual learning styles. For example, young people are provided with both academic and vocational courses. This enables them to gain valuable skills and trades that are essential for success and future life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have undertaken GCSE examinations and have been successful in gaining further education placements at local colleges. However, there is one area for further development. Where it is established that a young person uses their education bursary to fund risk taking behaviours, the manager should seek to challenge the local authority and escalate concerns in order to manage the allocation of the bursary more carefully.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between young people and staff are good. The atmosphere in the home is relaxed and everyone shares a bit of banter. Young people are happy, confident and eager to share their views and opinions about the home. One young person said, ‘The staff are great. I have just come back from a holiday in Egypt with two staff. It was the best time of my life.’ 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. However, although the home has worked hard to rebuild relationships with families, there are some delays in the organisation’s therapy Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 5 service undertaking therapeutic work between a young person and their family. This work is important in helping families address the breakdown in their relationship with

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

their relative. The views and opinions of young people are respected. Staff listen and enable individuals to understand that their contribution is important. Regular young people’s meetings take place and the decisions made are evident in the running of the home. Young people confirm that they are provided with a range of information prior to and on admission to the home. Information on such issues as promoting their rights, how to make a complaint and a guide to the running of the home enables young people to understand how things work. However, important contact numbers, including those for helplines and support service numbers are not displayed for young people. Consequently, young people do not have direct access to contact numbers should they wish to discuss issues independently of the home. Recreational activities are suitably supported. Young people are supported to take on challenges and try out new activities either as a group or with friends. They develop in

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

confidence and enjoy regular activities such as attending the gym, quad biking, jet skiing and off-road motorbike riding. In addition, staff encourage young people to join local clubs such as army cadets, and this enables them to meet and make friends in the community. Photographs displayed in the home capture valuable experiences and memories that young people make while living in the home. Young people are registered with local health professionals and mostly attend regular healthcare checks. Staff and the organisation’s therapists work with young people to address healthcare concerns, specifically those relating to risk-taking behaviours. However, records regarding concerns for young people who refuse health-care assessments, specifically where there is substance or alcohol misuse, are not consistently updated. Consequently, patterns or trends relating to this type of behaviour are not consistently reviewed.

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

Young people’s progress is acknowledged and rewarded on a regular basis. For example, young people receive certificates, incentives and recognition for their achievements. This system is part of the home’s behaviour management programme which focuses on praise and reward. Young people also attend a variety of short-certificate courses provided by the organisation’s academy. Courses include keeping yourself safe, the impact of drugs and alcohol, on-line safety and positive relationships.

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

Since the last inspection in May 2018, the home has gone through a period of instability. The manager and staff worked hard to address young people’s behaviours, and, as a result, risk-taking behaviours are now significantly reduced. Risk assessments are routinely updated and identify potential risks and the level of each risk. However, risk management plans do not clearly detail the steps to be taken to reduce such risks, which means that there is a lack of evaluation of the effectiveness of measures taken.

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

Young people rarely go missing from the home. Good relationships with staff and Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 6 consistent keywork sessions support young people to make the right choices in order to keep themselves safe. However, if a young person does not return at the agreed time, staff take effective action to locate the young person and ensure their safe return.

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

Staff receive annual training on the use of physical intervention. However, the home prides itself on the use of de-escalation and redirection techniques and there have been no incidents requiring the use of a physical intervention since the last inspection in May 2018.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified registered manager. He is qualified at NVQ level 5 and has a number of years’ experience working with children and young people. The registered manager is supported by a dedicated and enthusiastic staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, young people live in a home that is managed in their best interests. The home meets the aims and objectives of the statement of purpose, and young people, social workers and families are clear about the service and support that the home provides. Internal and external monitoring systems provide the home with a good 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. Staff say that they receive good support from the manager. Records of supervision demonstrate that staff meet with the registered manager regularly and that training and personal development targets are addressed. An annual training package ensures that staff receive up-to-date training specific to meeting the needs of the young people accommodated in the home. The registered manager and staff demonstrate good overall child-centred practice that is

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

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 the reduction of risk-taking behaviours, and in education, building relationships and social integration. The registered manager is aware of the procedures for notifying Ofsted of all incidents under regulation 40. Since the last inspection, there have been several suitable notifications made. Providing this information ensures that information is shared with the regulator in order that actions and outcomes for young people can be suitably assessed.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 7 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: 1240884 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Care 4 Children, 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspectors

Maria McGranaghan, social care inspector Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1240884 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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