Children's home run by Family Care Associates Limited in Preston

Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 1 SC063380 Registered provider: Family Care Associates Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of several homes owned by this independent provider. The home provides care for up to four children or young people who present with complex behaviours following adverse childhood experiences and trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2008.

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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: 19 February 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: SC063380 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2019 Full Good 19/02/2018 Full Good 23/06/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people in this home to prepare for living independently or to return to live with their family or foster carers. Each young person receives individualised care according to their age, circumstances and emotional needs. Young people preparing to move into their own accommodation complete an independence programme which includes buying, storing and cooking their own food. This helps young people to develop skills required to budget, plan and take good care of themselves. Young people returning to their family spend increasing amounts of time at home. Staff continue to support young people by maintaining contact with families. This ensures that there is good communication to manage practical issues, such as appointments, and provide emotional support to families during a period of transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote young people’s health and emotional well-being by encouraging healthy eating and lifestyles and attendance at medical or therapy appointments. The arrangements for the storage and administration of young people’s medication are safe and effective. Staff support families when they manage medical arrangements themselves for young people. This empowers families when planning for a young person to return home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people living in this home make good progress. They work hard to progress with their education and pursue apprenticeships, which helps them to achieve their career aspirations. Staff advocate for young people to access courses, which inspires them to be successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A therapist works with the staff to implement a research-informed therapeutic model of care. The therapist tracks young people’s progress using an assessment tool designed for young people in care. Staff reported that young people build good relationships with staff and each other. A social worker described a young person who was ‘actively trying hard to manage his emotions and reflect on his behaviour’, continuing: ‘He has become more confident. I feel the staff have been a fantastic support for him with regards to his education and working together with all involved with his care planning.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager ensures that young people have positive experiences when leaving this home. Current and previous staff members attend a celebratory meal before leaving. Staff help young people to budget to furnish their new home and spend time building furniture from flat-packs. This provides important practical and social support during the early days when a young person is setting up their new home. Staff invite young people to return for meals and maintain daily contact initially. This helps young people to feel remembered and receive encouragement from staff as they settle into their new home. Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 4

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

Staff deliver therapeutic care and have received training to apply a research- informed model to their practice with young people and each other. They work consistently together as a team to maintain boundaries and encourage young people to make positive choices. This helps young people to understand expectations and learn alternative strategies as they prepare for independent living or returning to their family.

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

Young people respond well to incentive charts. This promotes positive behaviour. Staff put short and natural consequences in place, often after speaking with a young person’s family. This shows staff working in partnership to encourage young people to engage in more appropriate behaviour, both in the home and when they are with their families.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the young people in their care. Each young person has risk management plans which staff review and update to reflect individual incidents and vulnerabilities. This guides staff to identify, manage and minimise risk. As a result, there are rarely incidents which involve staff needing to use physical intervention. Staff manage these incidents effectively, to minimise impact on young people. After an incident, staff support young people to repair their relationships within the home.

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

Staff ensure that young people keep themselves safe at home and in the community. Young people seldom engage in self-harm in this home, which demonstrates that staff are addressing young people’s emotional needs. Staff have received appropriate training in the identification and management of young people at risk of self-harm. Staff are aware that young people, as they approach independence, may spend unauthorised time away from the home. Staff work hard to maintain contact, assess risk and encourage young people to return home. Using this approach, staff acknowledge that young people are building support systems outside of the home. Young people know, however, that staff keep them safe and prepare them correctly for their planned transition.

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

Staff who care for young people have a range of skills and experiences to meet their needs. Leaders employ staff according to safer recruitment guidelines.

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

Staff complete safeguarding training as part of their induction to the home. The inspector found one occasion when leaders did not report an allegation according to their company policy and procedures. Staff recorded the information, updated the risk assessment and informed the young person’s social worker and family. However, as the allegation was quickly retracted, leaders had not reported it to the designated officer in the local authority There was therefore no independent oversight of this allegation.

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

Where concerns have increased with new information or behaviour, the registered manager has reported this to the police and safeguarding agencies. The registered Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 5 manager notifies Ofsted of significant events. However, the registered manager did not notify Ofsted of incidents during an unsettled period in the home, which, given the cumulative effect, were serious.

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

Young people live in a well-maintained home. All staff and young people participate in regular daytime fire drills and show that they can leave the home safely. However, staff have not completed a night-time drill during this inspection period to help young people practise leaving the home quickly in the dark in the event of an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has ambition for the home and wants young people to receive the best therapeutic care which will help them to achieve their desired outcomes. Staff benefit from training provided from the therapist within team meetings to manage the complex issues that young people display. The registered manager recognises that research-informed therapeutic care and assessment models are improving the experiences for the young people living in this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff told the inspector that they feel supported by leaders. They receive regular supervision and described the registered manager as approachable. They discuss any personal or professional concerns as they arise. This means that leaders support staff to minimise impact on attendance at work or provision of care. Staff are confident with the registered manager’s ability to assess suitability of young people to the home. They described young people living safely and happily alongside each other. This support and planning of care help staff to feel prepared and skilled in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have investigated one complaint which was about factual accuracy within a report. The registered manager has rectified the error and an improved quality assurance process is in place. This will significantly reduce the chance of this reoccurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has developed good professional relationships with agencies, including police, education, social care and housing. This helps to provide coordinated support to keep young people safe. Professionals stated that staff attend meetings, communication is good and staff are committed to the young people even after they have transitioned away from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The reviewing and monitoring systems used by the registered manager are of excellent quality and show an analysis of information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people express their views to staff within key-working sessions, significant conversations following on from an incident, and group planning around meals and activities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has also sought the views of others about care provided. However, the registered manager has not incorporated this feedback within her Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 6 quality of care review. The registered manager does not, therefore, comment on the opinions of families, professionals and staff and any actions in response to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 7

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(v)(vii)) 01/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 11/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(5)) 01/04/2020

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 8  Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious assault; a serious illness or accident; a serious incident of self-harm, or serious concerns over a child’s missing behaviour, particularly where the child is considered to be at grave risk due to age or vulnerability or where they have been missing for a considerable period of time and their whereabouts is unknown. This is not an exhaustive list and homes must assess each case individually taking into account any patterns of behaviour or unusual behaviour which may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate even if in isolation each event would not warrant this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC063380 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Family Care Associates Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 60 School Lane, Bamber Bridge, Preston, Lancashire PR5 6QE

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Inspector

Joanna Warburton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063380 10 to 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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