Children's home run by Care Today (Childrens Services) Ltd

Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 1 SC005589 Registered provider: Care Today Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home offers care for up to two children who can no longer live at home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in August 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/04/2021 Full Good 06/08/2019 Full Good 22/05/2018 Full Good 15/06/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living at the home said that he was happy and well cared for. He said, ‘I am doing great, and this is all down to the staff. They accept me for who I am, and they have helped me with so much.’ The good care that the child receives has brought about stability in his life and is making a difference to his life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are helping the child to make progress in his emotional well-being, education, self-esteem, social skills and independence. However, the child’s files are cumbersome because old information has not been archived. When new information, appointments or updated plans are received, the information is not used in the main care documents. This means that staff may not be aware of important updates. Furthermore, this does not help the child understand the next steps for him or what changes have taken place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff make sure that the child gets the support he needs to express his views, wishes and feelings about his care and life. The child is involved in every aspect of his care, including how his home is decorated and the selection of new staff coming to support him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that the child understands his rights and entitlements. The child knows what to do if he is unhappy or wishes to make a complaint. He has several adults who are independent of the home with whom he can talk to if he has concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have encouraged and supported the child to return to education and improve his outcomes significantly. The child’s attendance at college was excellent. He is motivated to learn and to do well. He has finished one college course, and he has successfully applied and been accepted for another.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand and monitor the child’s health and emotional well-being. They encourage and support the child to have a healthy lifestyle, including eating nutritious food and being physically active. Staff make sure that the child gets the advice, support and treatment that he needs to be healthy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are working with the child, his social worker and personal adviser to plan and prepare him, emotionally and practically, for leaving care. The child’s social worker said that the child has gained lots of independence skills while living there. The child is confident that he will be able to live independently. However, a transition plan has not been formulated yet. As a result, the child does not know what opportunities are available to him. Similarly, a previous child’s transition plan was just a list of dates for him to move. The manager has not evaluated this plan. Therefore, he cannot reflect on whether he would have done anything differently or whether changes are necessary to improve the plan for other children. Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 4

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

Children are provided with a calm, welcoming and secure home environment to live in. Staff ensure that they spend meaningful time with children to get to know them and build trusting relationships. As a result, children say that they feel safe, can talk to any member of staff and feel listened to. A child said, ‘I am very safe here because staff talk to me about risks all the time.’

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

Staff take a patient and caring approach towards children who display risk-taking behaviours. Children are supported to better understand their own vulnerabilities and to develop strategies to help keep themselves safe. Consequently, there has been a significant reduction in the frequency and severity of serious incidents. However, some risk assessments cover several aspects of behaviour in one document. Some of the risks would not need the same response or would require other decisive action. Therefore, staff do not have clear guidance on the action to take if an incident was to occur.

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

Staff are confident and say they are supported to be able to meet the needs of children. This is because staff have a wealth of safeguarding training that is refreshed regularly. This has enabled one child to grow, mature and understand the concerns adults had for them.

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

Children benefit from well-established relationships with staff members who can help them stay calm when they feel distress. In relation to this, a social worker said, ‘When he is low, they pick him up quickly. Their therapeutic approach is very good. They have very good understanding of child development, and this underpins staff’s practice.’

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

Effective multi-agency working is well embedded in staff practice. When children go missing from home, there is a well-coordinated response from staff. Clear missing- from-home protocols are followed, which has resulted in children being located quickly and a reduction in missing-from-home episodes occurring. However, a child’s local authority does not commission return home interviews. The manager has not sought this support externally. This means that children do not get the opportunity to discuss why they went missing. Further to this, the manager does not get impartial feedback on whether the child has gone missing due to something happening at the home.

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

There have been no incidents to report to the safeguarding professionals. Staff discussed with the inspectors their roles and responsibilities in this area. They clearly demonstrated their responsibility in protecting children. In addition to this, safeguarding policies are regularly discussed in staff meetings, so that staff know the procedures to follow and the action they should take.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good range of experience and a recognised qualification to care for the children and staff. Most of the staff have a relevant childcare qualification. Two staff are completing the diploma in childcare. Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 5 The manager has high aspirations for the children living at the home and ensures that they are provided with a high quality of care. The children and professionals spoken to as part of this inspection were complimentary about his skills, knowledge and ability to work closely with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides the staff with regular and effective supervision that enables them to reflect on their practice. This is in addition to monthly team meetings, where staff can share their knowledge and discuss the children in depth. As a result, staff said that they felt supported, valued and motivated. The staff also benefit from a wealth of training and development opportunities to support their continuing professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs, experiences and progress. The manager challenges local authorities and other services effectively to provide children with the support that will meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose, development plan and workforce plan are up to date. External monitoring of the home helps the manager to identify the home’s strengths and weaknesses. However, the manager’s internal monitoring lacks analysis and evaluation. As a result, he has not identified any improvements or developments to continually move the home forward. Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 6

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments give clear guidance to staff. 30 November

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that any additional information about a child is referenced in their main care documents. 30 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are 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. This is specifically in relation to the structure of the young people’s files. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19).  The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the steps taken by staff to secure good progress and outcomes are clearly recorded in the young person’s documents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 7  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after

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Recommendations

being missing, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home or moving to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. In particular, ensure that the home has a transition plan that supports young people to move in or out of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered manager should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring. In particular, ensure that regulation 45 reports are evaluative and include areas for improvement and development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55,

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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 for children's home: SC005589 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Today Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspectors

Pam Nuckley, Social Care Inspector Rob Neild, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC005589 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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