Gawber Road

Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 1 Gawber Road Twenty Four-Seven High Support Accommodation for Young People Limited 32 Gawber Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S75 2AF Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

This residential family centre is privately owned and operated.

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Information about this residential family centre

The centre provides accommodation for up to 10 families who are subject to parenting assessments.

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Information about this residential family centre

This residential family centre has two registered managers. Both registered with Ofsted in June 2021. They have relevant experience, including working within the service for several years.

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Information about this residential family centre

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and parents, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and parents are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The residential family centre provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the residential family centre contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and parents. Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 2 Date of previous inspection: 17 May 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

A first-rate open culture exists in the home. All staff work to obtain the best outcome for children and parents. The atmosphere is positive, relaxed and calm, and there are smiling faces. This creates a real sense of optimism for parents undertaking an assessment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Great sensitivity, care and attention are given to children and parents at the point of their arrival and discharge from the home. Parents explain that staff show empathy and understanding when they arrive, providing them with information and reassurance about the home and its facilities, as well as explaining the assessment process. Parents are given time to settle and feel reassured. A sound plan for parents leaving is pursued. Staff prepare a memory book, which includes photos and key events for children and parents to take with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

The building of trusting and positive relationships between children, parents and the staff is given the utmost importance. The staff see this as essential to supporting the children and parents through the assessment process. Parents confirm that this has made a positive difference to their stay and their ability to engage well in the assessment. A parent said: ‘The best thing about the home is the staff. I couldn’t have done it without them. They have been so supportive.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Each family admitted to the home receives an individualised plan and assessment, specifically tailored to support and meet their particular need. There is a key worker for the baby and a separate key worker for parents, along with an assessing social worker and play development workers. This ensures that the individual needs of each child and parent are addressed effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Children and parents respond well to having a weekly planner that sets out social activities and planned key work, parenting skills, assessor sessions and regular review meetings. The parents speak positively about knowing what is happening from day to day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Parents are encouraged by staff to attend baby play groups in the community, baby massage, crafts and cooking sessions. Parents enjoy the ‘Look, say, sing and play’ sessions. This is a new initiative promoted by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Parents are actively empowered to be involved in the assessment process and day-to-day plans and the care of their children. In addition, this supports parents to set consistent routines for their babies and children that promotes their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Frequent and constructive consultation with parents is fully embedded in the assessment process. Parents receive constant feedback on how their assessment is progressing. Parents said that they are informed after every parenting skills Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 4 observation, key work, and direct work session, on how this has gone. This includes the positives, along with any area noted for improvement or continued support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Parents are provided with all of their case records. They are encouraged by staff to read, comment on and sign these. There are four review meetings during their 12- week assessment process, which parents attend. This ensures that parents are fully informed about the progress of their assessment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Regular review meetings are held with parents. This helps staff to evaluate each family’s progress. Staff look at additional approaches and strategies, if required, on how they can further support parents to succeed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Close attention is given to the identified areas of the assessment. This ensures that the final assessment report is analytical, details the strengths and weaknesses of parents and evaluates the parents’ capacity to look after their child. The frequent review of the assessment process makes certain that the quality of assessment is consistently maintained to a high standard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

The home’s registration was extended with additional accommodation for a further four families in 2021. The new accommodation was developed to a high standard. Since then, the existing accommodation has undergone refurbishment. This now provides all families with the same high standard of accommodation. All families have a bedroom with en-suite facility that is well furnished and equipped for children and parents. Within the home, the children and parents enjoy an environment that includes several lounges and dining kitchens. There are sensory rooms and outside space and facilities for the children to play.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: outstanding

Suitable action has been taken to safeguard the children, parents and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The management team has worked with staff and parents to offer reassurance and follow the guidance given by government.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

Staff fully understand the vulnerabilities, past trauma and the potential risks identified for each family. The staff follow the individualised support plan and specific risk assessments. The provision of good staffing levels allows the close supervision and oversight of the children and parents. Highly effective planning and monitoring of the families helps enormously to manage and minimise risks inside and outside the home. Therefore, this assists in protecting and keeping children safe from harm.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

Staff explain in detail the expectations of each family’s assessment. Staff know the families well. Staff are clear on the house rules and boundaries that must be respected to keep children safe. Staff work well to manage situations and presenting behaviour. Parents’ views are actively sought, and they are involved in the support strategy decisions to help them at times of stress or crisis. This helps children and parents enormously to feel safe, secure and well supported. Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 5 Children and parents benefit immensely from the strong and proactive response of the staff to safeguard everyone. Staff are clear on what to do about the absence of a parent, if an allegation is made, and in the event of an unexplained minor or major injury to a child. There is excellent partnership working with placing authority social workers and health professionals. Professionals said that there is contact several

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

times a week, via emails and telephone calls, as well as the four review meetings during the 12-week assessment. This provides a robust multi-agency approach to safeguarding children and parents.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

There have been several new staff appointed to the team in the last year who have joined the remaining experienced core staff team. Safe recruitment practices are implemented to check that all staff are safe and suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

Children and parents’ lives improve due to the reflective practice style used by managers and staff in their daily approach. This is positively implemented, and staff are fully involved. Feedback from parents is used to inform and improve the care and support provided. This positive culture greatly assists staff and the service to protect children from harm and improve their experiences during their stay.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: outstanding

Health and safety checks and audits form part of everyday life in the home. There is a quick response to address any shortfall relating to the safety of children and parents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered managers have an abundance of ambition and high expectations of staff to make certain that children and parents receive the very best care, support and assistance. This reflects the home’s aims and objectives. This helps parents enormously to succeed in being able to parent their children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. The promotion of a ‘one team ethos’, and valuing all, has helped tremendously, especially during the pandemic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staffing levels in the home are good, with sound management decisions made to ensure that these have been maintained during the pandemic. This has been achieved by reducing the number of families completing assessments. There has been sufficient staff when individuals have contracted COVID-19. This makes sure that children and families receive the care, support and guidance that they require, and high standards are maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are committed and enthusiastic about their work with children and parents. The staff have a wealth of knowledge and clearly articulate their roles and responsibilities. This is due to the work experience and the training that they receive. New staff receive a thorough two-week induction, followed by shadow shifts, before they commence working as part of the core staff team. Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 6 All staff have undertaken mandatory training that includes child and adult protection, child development, medication, first aid, and health and safety. Staff also benefit greatly from additional psychotherapeutic training. This training focuses on attachment, brain development and trauma. However, not all staff are recorded as having undertaken training in how to support children and parents with learning needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive excellent support through regular formal supervision, handovers, open discussions and staff meetings. All staff said that this was a great place to work, and a number said that it was the best job they had ever had. One staff member said: ‘This is my forever job.’ Staff said that there is very good communication and teamwork. However, the quality of all supervision records is not always maintained to a high standard. This is a missed opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of staff supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and parents benefit greatly from the relationships that managers and staff have forged and established with professionals and agencies. Those professionals spoken to said that there are ‘excellent’ and ‘very good’ working relationships and communication with the home. This gives substantial support to the continual review of assessments and consideration of the best steps to take next.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of the internal and external monitoring of the home is thorough. There are several audits undertaken. This includes case files, assessments, the environment, staffing matters, and health and safety. These are undertaken by the managers and senior team on a regular basis. There is a frequent review of all parenting assessments. The shortfalls detected are addressed. However, the varying quality of supervision records and the quality of a few records have not been detected. Some of the auditing systems take a considerable time for the managers to oversee. However, overall, the monitoring of the service ensures that good-quality parenting assessments are delivered and that the home is run effectively. Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record-keeping and take action when needed. (Residential family centre NMS 20.2) Ensure that the quality of supervision records and aspects of some direct work sessions are all maintained to the high standard found in many other records.  The registered person should ensure that staff are equipped with the skills and experience required to meet the needs of the parents and their children and the purpose of the centre (Residential family centre NMS 16.1) Ensure that all staff receive training in supporting children and parents with learning disabilities and needs appropriate to their role.  The registered person should ensure that there are clear and effective procedures for monitoring and controlling the activities of the centre. (Residential family centre NMS 19.1) The registered person should review the monitoring systems in

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Recommendations

the home, streamlining and structuring them in a way that best supports the managers to carry out this task in a more time-efficient way.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and parents 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 Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 8

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: Twenty Four-Seven High Support Accommodation for Young People Limited

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: Magic House, 5–11 Green Lanes, London N13 4TN

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Residential family centre details

Registered managers: Donna Wilde and Nicola Fenton

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Residential family centre details

Email address: sueyatgin@24sevensupport.co.uk

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Inspectors

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Cath Sikakana, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: Gawber Road 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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