Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 1 Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company and is registered to provide care and accommodate up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered to manage this home in June 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: This is the home’s first inspection.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided for young people is nurturing, responsive and helping them to have a positive experience and make good progress in their lives. Staff support young people to make positive changes in their lives at their own pace. Young people develop in confidence, build on their self-esteem and trust the manager, staff and other professionals involved in their lives. A social worker said, ‘This is the most settled placement the young person has had.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people feel consulted, supported and listened to by the care staff responsible for them. Young people benefit from having regular discussions with staff about their needs and progress. Staff provide young people with a considerable amount of advice and guidance to support their progress and to help them to keep themselves safe. Key-work session records demonstrate that young people are regularly consulted about the plans for them. The young people benefit greatly from the discussions and key-work sessions, which is demonstrated in the progress that they make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff support young people to achieve in education. One young person is excelling in education and has excellent attendance at school. Another young person who has recently moved into the home has experienced some difficulties in education and the registered manager has collaborated effectively with the young person and professionals to secure suitable alternative education provision to meet the young person’s educational needs. The registered manager and staff have developed effective communication systems with education providers and take action to address any concerns as they arise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people’s health and well-being needs are met well. Routine and specialist health appointments are attended as necessary to ensure that they receive suitable support and intervention to meet their physical and emotional health needs. The manager and staff benefit from regular consultation with a young person’s therapist that helps them to understand the behaviour of young people and the best approach to meet their needs and support the young person’s progress and development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Referrals are carefully considered to ensure that staff understand the impact of a new child or young person moving into the home. The registered manager and staff considered the lesson learned from the negative impact that a previous admission to the home had on the young people living there. This consideration means that the home only admits young people whose needs can be met, and who will not have a negative impact on the children and young people already living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people well to maintain a strong sense of identity. Keeping in touch with family members is promoted and managed, where possible, in young people’s best interests. When young people are unable to maintain contact with Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 3 family members, staff work effectively to support their emotional well-being and sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm and welcoming. It feels like a family home, with photographs and personal items displayed around the home. The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard and is a pleasant place for young people to live. Furthermore, young people have a say in the day-to-day running and the development of the home.

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

There is good evidence that young people who live in this home are significantly safer due to the care and support they receive. Young people reported that they feel safe and well cared for.

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

Safeguarding practice at the home is good. Staff are confident in identifying, managing and reducing risks to young people. Young people’s risk assessments identify individual risks and the strategies to manage risk. As a result, young people are safeguarded effectively. However, the home’s risk assessments for pets visiting the home and for young people’s friends staying overnight could be strengthened to demonstrate the effective measures in place to manage the risks. Although this has not yet compromised how well young people are safeguarded, it has the potential to do so.

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

Records of restrictive physical intervention for young people include the antecedents and strategies that the staff used to manage the behaviour of the young person, to demonstrate that the use of physical intervention is necessary to keep the young person safe. Furthermore, they provide details of the intervention used and its duration and if any injuries were sustained or medical treatment was required. However, one record stated that the young person had not sustained an injury despite this becoming apparent after the record was completed. Furthermore, records do not demonstrate that staff were spoken to about the intervention to reflect and amend practice if necessary.

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

Young people benefit from detailed behaviour management plans that are followed by staff consistently. Young people understand the expectations of behaviour and benefit from clear and predictable boundaries. Reward and incentive charts help the young people to concentrate on individual targets and a restorative approach is taken to managing negative behaviour. This approach helps young people to reflect on their behaviour and to make positive changes.

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

Recruitment practice is robust and safe. Recruitment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, gaps in employment and references are obtained, explored and verified to make sure that only the most suitable staff care for young people.

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

The manager and staff regularly consult with safeguarding professionals, including the police and the local authority, to gather information that will assist them in completing the home’s location risk assessment. Additionally, they proactively gather Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 4 information from local newspapers about the area to ensure that all risks in the community are known and strategies are in place to manage and reduce the risks to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people benefit immensely from a manager who inspires his staff team to look to improve the quality of care continuously. Staff respond well to this motivational ethos to deliver the very best outcomes for young people within the aims and objectives of the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff demonstrate genuine commitment and extremely high aspirations for the young people in their care. Feedback from external professionals on the leadership and care provided at the home was without exception highly positive. A social worker said, ‘I have worked in residential care and had involvement with a number of children’s homes and this is by far the best.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are good levels of appropriately qualified staff providing a good quality of care to the young people. Their range of skills, backgrounds and knowledge flexibly meets young people’s needs well. A member of staff said, ‘We are a supportive and consistent staff team who are extremely child-focused.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision that helps them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people. The continuing professional development of staff is a priority and staff receive regular training and development opportunities. Team meetings allow the manager and staff the opportunity to discuss the needs and progress of the young people, staff practice, and to share information from training and research, which enhances their knowledge and skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records and plans for young people are detailed and reflect the young people’s journey. However, there are some minor shortfalls in young people’s education and healthcare plans being updated in a timely manner; for example, with information and outcomes of recent personal education plan meetings and statutory health assessments. Furthermore, the young people’s views are not consistently recorded in their plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and review systems at the home help the registered manager to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home. He takes effective action to adequately address any shortfalls identified in order to improve practice, the quality of care provided and the outcomes for young people. Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 5

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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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes–

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Requirement Due date

the name of the child; details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure (‘‘the user’’) and any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

Within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)–

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)) 17/04/2020

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Recommendations

 Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.6) Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 6  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)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 41, paragraph 9.5)

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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: 2536395 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1GJ

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2536395 8 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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