Children's Home run by Good Foundations Limited in Wirral

Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 1 SC486165 Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home provides care and accommodation for four children or young people who have social and/or emotional difficulties, and who may have special educational needs.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered since June 2019.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 5 December 2018

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/12/2018 Full Good 03/10/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are thriving in this warm, caring and nurturing environment. One young person said that this was their [name of children’s home] family, and that this was home. One social worker said they wished that they had more children living here.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided by staff is nurturing, responsive and focused on helping children and young people to achieve stability in their lives. Change is supported step by step, and at the child or young person’s pace and ability. This approach allows them to develop confidence, while building self-esteem and trust in adults.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Moves in and out of the home are carefully and sensitively planned to meet the needs of each child and young person. Staff acknowledge that this can be difficult for the children and young people when their friends move on. In these circumstances, staff acknowledge this and put things into place to support them.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is given a high priority. Most children and young people are engaging well with their educational placements and are making steady and sustained progress. One young person is not currently in formal employment, education or skills training. However, they are engaging well with a range of educational activities within the home, which is helping to rebuild their confidence and self-esteem.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff monitor the children and young people’s health, and provide the necessary support to ensure that routine appointments and checks are up to date. This ensures that their health needs are met.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The atmosphere in the home is very warm and calm, and social interaction is friendly and fun. Children and young people enjoy a variety of activities such as going to local parks, cinemas, bowling and playing board games with staff and others.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with children and young people is a strength of the service. Their input is actively sought in all aspects of the work undertaken. Children and young people said that they value this and feel listened to.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have regular opportunities to see those people who are important to them. Arrangements for seeing family and friends are managed sensitively. Children and young people enjoy going to their friends’ homes to play.

p.3

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

The children and young people told the inspector that they feel safe living at the home. They know that they can talk to staff if they have any concerns or worries. Children and young people benefit from the high levels of support and supervision that are provided by a staff team that is trained in all aspects of safeguarding. Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 4 Staff are knowledgeable and confident about implementing the home’s safeguarding policies and procedures, and take a highly proactive approach to ensuring children and young people’s safety. However, on one occasion the staff did not ensure transparency in relation to a safeguarding concern. This was because the home’s records do not demonstrate the action taken by staff and the reasons for not escalating a concern.

p.3

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

Episodes of children and young people being missing from care have dramatically declined in number. This is partly due to one young person moving out of the home. A young person said that they no longer feel the need to go missing as they have people that they can talk to, and that ‘staff just get the real me’.

p.4

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

Children and young people live in a family-style home. The home is decorated to a high standard, and each child or young person’s bedroom reflects their unique personality and interests. Children and young people are proud of their personal space.

p.4

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

Staff have a calming influence when children and young people become anxious or struggle to manage their behaviour. Behaviour management plans have useful de- escalation strategies that support children and young people. Children and young people agree to the consequences given.

p.4

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

Consequences are proportionate and not punitive. It was pleasing to see that the rewards for good behaviour outnumbered the consequences for negative behaviour. As a result, young people are increasing in confidence and self-esteem, and have greater belief in their own abilities.

p.4

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

There are numerous cigarette stubs around the garden and the receptacle for putting these in is full. There are shards of broken glass caught in between the decking boards. These issues are not promoting the health, safety and well-being of the children and young people.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a qualified and experienced registered manager. She is also the manager of another four-bed home that is owned by the company. The registered manager is supported well by her two deputy managers. They are all focused on improving outcomes for the children and young people, and ensuring their well- being.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective staffing arrangements ensure that there are enough suitable, experienced and qualified staff available to meet the children and young people’s needs. Staff work together well. They are passionate about what they do and provide children and young people with good levels of care and support. Ultimately, children and young people are making progress in all aspects of their lives. Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 5 The registered manager is very aware of the strengths and areas of development for the home. Staff now have more opportunities to discuss pertinent issues during one- to-one supervision sessions and at team meetings. Staff said that they receive good levels of support from the registered manager and deputies, and that the training opportunities have improved.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reports from the independent person have improved and are helping the registered manager to identify areas for further development. The registered manager’s monitoring of the home is good, but would benefit from taking into account the opinions and feedback of children and young people, to enable her to identify what has changed.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A key strength of the setting is the manager and staff’s commitment to challenging other professionals when they feel a child or young person is not receiving the correct levels of care and support that they need in order to achieve personal goals. Social workers commented on the professionalism and compassion of staff and their dedication to helping children and young people feel happy and safe.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the quality of record-keeping is good. However, there are some records, such as healthcare plans, records of return home interviews and key-worker records, that would benefit from including more detail and identifying the next steps for the child or young person. There have been some concerns raised by a neighbour in relation to parked cars. This has been dealt with appropriately but has not been entered into the complaints record. Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(vi)) 17/04/2020

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(3)) 17/04/2020

p.6

Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

p.6

Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 45(2)(b)) 17/04/2020

p.6

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. Children’s homes must comply with the relevant health and safety legislation (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). In particular, the home should ensure that the garden is a safe place for the children and young people.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child should always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. The home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraphs 14.4 and 14.5). In particular, ensure that the

p.6

Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 7 children and young people’s healthcare plans, keyworker reports and return home interviews are detailed and demonstrate the outcomes and next steps for children and young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 8

p.7

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: SC486165 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

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

p.9

Inspector

Chris Scully, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC486165 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10