Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Walsall

Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 1 SC038526 Registered provider: Progress Children’s 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

The home provides care and accommodation for up to nine children and young people. The service is available to children who have a learning disability, a physical disability, sensory impairment or any combination of the three. The service is operated by a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The interim manager holds a level 4 qualification in leadership and management.

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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: 5 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/02/2019 Full Outstanding 13/02/2018 Full Outstanding 30/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 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—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 26/08/2019

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). In particular, ensure that plans to redecorate the home are implemented.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3). In particular, ensure that children’s internal plans are up to date, and key-work sessions are relevant and in line with children’s needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop strong and trusting relationships with children. They know children well and provide bespoke care and support that is tailored to each child’s needs. This helps children to settle and develop a strong sense of belonging. These foundations support children to make progress in a range of areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff skilfully use a range of communication aids to help children express their views. Recently, the interim manager introduced new pictorial cards to help children develop their communication. This innovative approach has helped children to increase their interaction with staff and peers and develop their spoken vocabulary. For some children, this is significant progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop strong and proactive relationships with children’s schools. They communicate with teaching staff daily and attend regular meetings to review children’s progress. This consistent and seamless approach helps children to make social and academic progress. A teacher told the inspector, ‘He [child] has made accelerated progress. He is much more communicative. Staff work really well with school. This is integral to his progress.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from receiving specialist care that meets their complex health needs. Staff develop close links with a range of health professionals. They quickly establish each child’s needs and complete specialist training to develop their skills and knowledge. The interim manager regularly invites a registered nurse to observe and develop staff practice. This robust approach helps to promote children’s good health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of positive social and recreational activities. These include impromptu singing sessions in the home, seaside holidays, pop concerts and trips to the cinema. These rich and enjoyable experiences leave a legacy for children and develop their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to participate in day-to-day and more complex aspects of their care. Regular children’s meetings and key-work sessions help them to participate in a range of decisions about their care. In addition, staff work alongside children to set targets for good behaviour. This gives children a sense of ownership over their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s complex needs are not seen as a barrier to independence. Staff offer children sensitive support to help them build important self-care skills. These skills enable children to take appropriate risks such as crossing the road or buying items in a shop. As a result, children become increasingly confident and independent in the home and community.

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

Staff use carefully targeted interventions to help children settle when they are anxious or Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 5 distressed. Staff use a range of pictorial aids to help children express their feelings and emotions. For example, a traffic light system helps children to understand their behaviours and develop strategies to self-regulate. For some children, there has been a marked decrease in challenging incidents.

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

Staff encourage and reward children for positive behaviour. They use a range of colourful reward charts that are tailored to each child’s interests. This imaginative approach captures children’s attention, and they take great pride in meeting their targets. As a result, incidents of challenging behaviour significantly reduce for some children. This is excellent progress from their starting points.

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

Staff used appropriate restraint on a number of occasions to keep a child safe. Detailed records show that the interim manager, staff and child reviewed each incident to implement learning and develop practice. Unfortunately, the child’s complex behaviours persisted, and an alternative specialist provision was secured. A well-managed and sensitive transition helped the child to settle quickly in her new home.

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

Some risk assessments do not fully capture children’s risks. In addition, staff guidance for monitoring children who have specific health needs throughout the night is unclear. The impact of these shortfalls is lessened as waking night staff frequently monitor children to keep them safe. The interim manager rectified the shortfalls in risk assessments and staff guidance during the inspection. However, during one incident, poor staff supervision of a child during the night exposed the child to potential risk of harm. The staff member did not follow the agreed protocols. The staff member was employed by a recruitment agency and no longer works in the home. Leaders undertook a comprehensive review of the incident and have learned from it. For example, the home now receives detailed staff profiles from recruitment agencies. In addition, the interim manager introduced visual monitors as an additional measure to keep the child safe at

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

night, in agreement with the placing authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the previous inspection, the registered manager has left and taken up another post within the company. She continues to closely support the experienced and skilled interim manager. A well-planned management transition means that there has been no impact on the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, some staff have left while others have gone off on maternity leave. In response, the interim manager has used staff from other in-house services to fill the vacancies. A recruitment campaign has resulted in the appointment of a number of new staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced interim manager is aspirational, confident and keen to embed her vision for the home. She leads by example and uses innovation to introduce new ideas to improve the quality of care children receive. For example, the interim manager has introduced a range of new communication aids to help children develop their interactions with staff and peers. Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 6 The interim manager uses a range of monitoring systems to oversee all aspects of children’s care and staff practice. She compiles monthly reports which identify strengths and areas of development. The reports outline each child’s progress and help to inform staff practice. The interim manager also works closely with the independent visitor and uses this learning to improve the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a comprehensive training programme with a key focus on specialist aspects of care. The interim manager ensures that training is in line with the complex care needs of each child. For example, she organised specialist training, delivered by hospital staff in preparation for a child’s arrival at the home. On other occasions, a registered nurse delivers medication training and oversees staff practice in the home. This ensures that staff have the skills and knowledge required to meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff develop excellent working relationships with a number of agencies including local authorities, health and education. This coordinated approach helps young people to make strong progress. Feedback from professionals is highly complementary. A social worker told the inspector, ‘She [child] has made absolutely brilliant progress. Staff work really well with us [local authority].’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal areas of the home require redecoration. Some children’s bedrooms need repainting and kitchen cupboards are broken. The interim manager has plans to extensively refurbish the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of staff supervision records is variable. Furthermore, some key-work sessions are not targeted, and a child’s internal plan is significantly out of date. The interim manager is planning to use additional training and discussions in team meetings to address these shortfalls.

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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: SC038526 7 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV4 6JG

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC038526 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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