Children's Home run by Hampshire County Council in Hampshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 1 Registered provider: Hampshire County Council

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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 home is owned and run by the local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Young people and staff have relocated to a new property since the last inspection. This is a result of the local authority’s revision of its residential care options across the county. This is the first inspection in the new location.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 2

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have formal training in recognising and managing children’s self-injurious behaviour. 31/10/2019

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Recommendations

 As well as longer-term support for children to move on from the home effectively (regulation 6(2)(b)(vi)), the home has an important role in supporting each child leaving the home in the period immediately before their departure. The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9)

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Recommendations

In particular, consider how to support young people to self-medicate and manage money electronically.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people develop safe and secure relationships with the adults around them in this home. They have a secure base, often for the first time in their lives. Young people Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 3 describe staff as family, their key worker as their second mum, and the other young people in the home as brothers and sisters. One young person said, ‘We are one big family.’ Young people feel a sense of identity and belonging that extends well beyond their departure from the home as young adults. Previous residents come back to visit, share a meal or phone staff for a chat. It was noted that a young person who went missing from school came back to school in time to get the taxi home, so she could enjoy the regular communal evening time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are building a new life story in this home where they are learning to understand themselves, love themselves and respect others. They are creating happy memories. Young people make full use of the facilities in the wider community such as the leisure centre, shops and parks. They were observed to have impeccable manners towards members of the public. Young people demonstrate a concern for wider society, for example they do fund-raising events to raise money for local charities caring for other vulnerable children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are well versed in the ‘pillars of parenting’ model. Their understanding is evident in their practice. A professional said, ‘The staff have a very high level of trauma awareness and this informs their day-to-day practice. They use the pillars of parenting approach to good effect, drawing on psychological theory and research to improve care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

As a result of the outstanding support and care, young people develop their own strategies to manage their difficult and painful feelings. Examples include going for a walk to reflect on their emotions. Young people develop a trust of one another. They can share their own worries and vulnerabilities. The mutual acceptance of each other and understanding of individual needs is invaluable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people follow a detailed independence plan. Staff support them to develop the skills necessary as they approach adulthood. Young people have the confidence to do work experience, voluntary work and part-time jobs, and to apply for apprenticeships. Young people would benefit from more support to develop other skills such as managing their own medication and using online banking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people who have moved into the home since the last inspection have had a positive experience. Their placement was well thought through and planned. It is noteworthy that staff consult with the young people already living in the home when planning to admit someone new. This means that placements have every chance of success.

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

Staff provide a safe haven where young people can express their difficult and painful emotions. Young people may express their inner emotional disturbance through self- harming behaviour. Staff are on hand to talk to them about their painful feelings and to explore alternative ways to express themselves rather than self-injurious behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 4 Young people are confident that staff will remain calm when they are distressed. Staff demonstrate a resilience and commitment to young people to understand the underlying trauma and allow young people to express their painful emotions. They use the therapeutic model to effect positive change. Consequently, young people’s distressed feelings decrease in frequency and intensity.

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

There is no bullying or discrimination. There is a family environment where, on occasion, there is rivalry for adult attention. Staff support young people to understand each other’s needs. Young people spoke positively of this approach and said that they can be the person that they want to be without fear of reprisal from anyone.

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

Staff use physical intervention only as a last resort. Young people understand why staff had to restrain them for their own safety. Staff document incidents well and the registered manager reviews them.

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

Staff work exceptionally well with other agencies such as the police. Community support officers are well-known faces in the home who offer words of advice to young people, so they are not criminalised. The community support officers build relationships with young people, for example by playing football, helping with homework and commending young people for their good behaviour. It is worthy of note that despite some significant damage to the home when it first opened, no young person was criminalised. They participated in a national radio programme to illustrate that young people in care are not unnecessarily criminalised in this home.

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

Staff demonstrate a thorough understanding of safeguarding practice. They report any concerns promptly through the correct channels. The registered manager takes a swift and decisive approach to refer to other safeguarding professionals where necessary.

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

The two issues remaining from registration, to provide a film for privacy on some bedroom windows and for staff to be aware of the location of the fire panel, have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by an exceptional registered manager and her team. Other professionals hold her in the highest regard and speak in the most positive terms about her leadership. Equally, staff speak highly of the leadership, support and guidance offered to them. This includes the psychologist being available for individual or group debrief after significant incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has an excellent grasp of the day-to-day practice in the home, as well as the overall oversight. She uses bespoke methods to monitor and measure a young person’s journey. The registered manager uses the therapeutic model and associated software effectively to measure, analyse and address the underlying psychological issues. Young people’s progress is evident, such as being able to manage their own emotions. Documents describing the young people’s progress during their time Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 5 at the home will prove useful to them later in their life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers understand the importance of milestones in young people’s lives. A young person was able to have a birthday party where staff, other young people and friends celebrated together. This was significant as it was the first time the young person had ever had a birthday party.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers work with other professionals such as the leaving care team and personal advisers to drive forward the permanency plans for young people approaching adulthood. They ensure that young people have advocates and that their voice is very clearly heard as they plan for their future. Young people talk to previous residents about how they managed the transition. This helps allay some of their worries.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff speak highly of their training and induction. Key staff ensure that staff have training that is pertinent to the needs of each child. Although staff demonstrate an understanding of self-injurious behaviour, they have not had formal training in self-harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The new build demonstrates a standard of excellence. There has been a careful attention to detail to ensure that this is a family home that is warm, spacious and homely. There is no institutional feel. Young people are proud to show others around their home and take pride in and care for their environment. For example, they were keen to do additional cleaning once they knew the inspector was returning for a second day.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management team has been successful in generating a culture that is one of excellence. There is a member of staff who takes leadership for each quality standard. All staff strive for continual improvement, not just for a gold standard but a platinum standard. The family environment, practice of staff and joint working with others are all cemented together by an outstanding leadership team, which ultimately results in positive outcomes for 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 Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 6 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: 2508451 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hampshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3rd Floor, Elizabeth II Court North, The Castle, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 8UG

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Inspector

Keith Riley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2508451 8 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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