Children's home run by Good Foundations Limited

Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 1 SC456417 Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities. It is run by a private provider. The manager has been registered at the home since June 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 21 to 22 November 2019

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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: 27 November 2018

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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: SC456417 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2018 Full Outstanding 24/01/2018 Full Outstanding 01/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 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 registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious (Regulation 40 (4)(e)). 03/01/2020

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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) Specifically, records should include the information listed in Schedule 3.  It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4) This is about making sure that a full record is kept of the discussions in supervision of the registered manager, in line with the provider’s policies and procedures.  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of

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Recommendations

care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact care is having on outcomes and improvements for children. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weaknesses in the home’s care, which is captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 64 and 65, paragraphs 15.2 and 15.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most young people make very good progress from their starting points, due to the highly individualised and nurturing level of care they receive. A strength of the home is the team’s ability to build genuinely warm and caring relationships with young people. The staff clearly invest in the young people and are driven to provide the best opportunities and experiences to help them achieve positive outcomes. Young people speak very positively of their relationships with the staff and about living at the home. When asked about anything that could be improved about living there, one young person said the only thing would be ‘even more laughter!’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people know that if they make requests, these will be carefully considered and that the manager will do her utmost to facilitate them if they are appropriate. For example, one young person is in the process of changing bedrooms. This is so that she can have it decorated and furnished in line with her interests, which could not be facilitated in her current room. External professionals noted the swift response to meeting young people’s requests, based on listening to young people’s wishes and feelings before they move into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person has finished GCSEs and has gone on to college to follow her chosen course. She also has a voluntary work placement to complement her studies, as well as a part-time job, which support her to develop her confidence and skills in customer service. She is being well prepared for independence. The home is being proactive in planning with her local authority about her transition from the home before her 18th birthday.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The two other young people currently living at the home have excellent school attendance and are achieving well. The home works closely with schools and maintains highly effective communication, so that personal development work being focused on in school is replicated at the home. Professionals from a school commented on the positive progress one young person has made with her self-presentation as ‘unreal, compared to before’, and that the young person’s sense of self-worth has grown.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff proactively seek advice from health professionals so that they can meet young people’s needs. They have followed advice about a young person’s allergies and are all trained in responding to anaphylaxis. They ensure that the young person carries an EpiPen. The staff have also sought advice so that they have a full understanding of a young person’s visual impairment needs and have adapted his paperwork as recommended. This means he is fully able to participate and contribute to consultations about his care planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team has been trained to understand complex trauma and staff have sensitively supported a young person to understand how his earlier experiences have impacted on his emotional well-being. Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 5 Young people enjoy a range of activities and opportunities with the staff. For some, this has included new experiences that have helped them to develop a sense of belonging and being cherished by the staff. Records clearly reflect young people’s day-to-day lives. Immediate action was taken to address an omission in records about whether young people follow a religion, as required by the regulation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people see the important people in their lives. The staff have been able to reassure family members by welcoming them to visit the home to see where the young people live. For one young person, overnight stays with family members have progressed positively. Another young person has now moved closer to his family because of the positive developments in his relationship with them. However, decisions made by placing authorities about young people seeing family members have not always resulted in such positive outcomes. For one young person, this led to episodes of going missing that affected his progress in education and in his overall well-being, after a long period of positive progress and re-engagement in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home effectively challenges placing authorities when young people’s needs are not being met, and when necessary, requests an early review of a young person’s placement to ensure that more appropriate arrangements are put in place.

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

The staff team has an excellent understanding of young people’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Risk management plans are clear and concise, so that the staff know the strategies to follow to keep young people safe. The staff confidently demonstrate a very clear understanding of procedures to follow if there are any safeguarding concerns and how they should respond.

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

Young people are involved in their risk management planning, so that they understand any concerns that the staff and other professionals may have. Staff use direct work that helps young people to keep themselves safer. This means, for example, that one young person is now able to have a mobile phone at all times, due to her progress in being able to manage online activity safely. Staff creatively adapt materials to use in direct work, so that young people with differing needs can understand how to keep themselves safe online, and appropriate monitoring is in place to protect young people when they are accessing the internet.

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

Young people respond positively to the clear boundaries and expectations put in place by the staff. One young person said, ‘There are quite a few rules, but I know they’re there to keep us safe.’ Young people describe the home as ‘warm and safe’. They respond well to incentives put in place to help them to improve their safety and positively manage their emotions and behaviour. The staff are vigilant in supervising young people to ensure that they are not exposed to harmful behaviours.

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

Staff create trusting relationships with young people, who respond well to advice and guidance provided. This means that negative consequences and the use of physical intervention are not required to manage young people’s behaviour. Young people are Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 6 well supported to manage their emotions more effectively, which means that they no longer self-harm.

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

The staff are highly proactive and tenacious in their safeguarding of young people. They were persistent in raising concerns with a placing authority regarding a young person’s changes in behaviour. They continued to share new, relevant information with safeguarding agencies when the young person began to go missing more frequently and attended multi-agency child exploitation meetings when invited. This means that the placing authority was fully informed in their decision-making to find an alternative placement for the young person, away from the immediate risks to his safety. However, the registered manager had failed to notify the regulatory body about the serious safeguarding concerns.

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

Records show that the staff continued to support the young person to encourage him to disclose what was happening when he was away from the home. They challenged him and reported any concerns that he was returning under the influence of substances. The staff were also vigilant about keeping other young people in the home safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a very effective partnership between the registered manager, who also has responsibility for another home, and the deputy manager. They lead a team that shares their aspirations to deliver the best quality and highly individualised care. The team has a good gender balance to provide appropriate role models for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a clear understanding of young people’s progress. They are strong advocates, taking a proactive approach in meetings to ensure that care is well planned and that it meets the individualised needs of young people. Well-established relationships with other professionals from education, social care, health and the police mean that young people’s progress and any vulnerabilities are communicated well, and appropriate advice is sought.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive any training required to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care. Direct work is suitably adapted to young people’s differing needs and levels of understanding. The quality of online training is improved, and staff are expected to demonstrate their continued professional development via additional quizzes to test their understanding. Training from external professionals has been delivered in team meetings, so that the staff have a bespoke understanding of how to help and support young people. Team meetings are held regularly and are well attended. Records show that meetings are focused on the needs of young people living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective safer recruitment procedures are in place, which ensure that only suitable individuals are employed to work with vulnerable young people. Newer staff members report that they are well supported throughout their induction and probationary period. They confirm that they have enrolled on a suitable residential childcare qualification. Young people contribute their views on the performance of each member of staff as part Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 7 of the annual appraisal process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive regular, well-recorded supervision that is reflective of good-quality discussions about young people’s progress. The provider has recognised a shortfall in the recording of registered managers’ supervisions, identified in an inspection at another home, and is taking steps to address it. However, this is yet to be implemented for the manager of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is effective use of both internal and independent external monitoring of the home, so that leaders and managers have a thorough understanding of the home’s quality performance, which drives continuous improvement. The manager’s review of the quality of care does not clearly identify future plans for improvement. A more recent innovation is the development of a young person-friendly version of the quality standards. This helps young people to understand what the staff team should be doing to help them achieve and gives them the opportunity to provide their feedback on the team’s performance. Young people’s consultation and contribution to the development of the home is evident and clearly demonstrates that they are held at the centre of the staff team’s practice.

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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 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 6 Tower Quays, Tower Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 1BP

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Inspector

Karen Willson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456417 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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