Children's home run by Future Focused Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 1 Registered provider: Future Focused Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for two children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 13 April 2022.

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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: 22 September 2021

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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: 2495397 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/09/2021 Full Good 04/06/2019 Full Good 21/03/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move into the home in a well-planned way. Children already living in the home are involved in welcoming new children to the home and demonstrate empathy to younger children’s new experiences. Consequently, children settle in the home quickly. Staff work hard to develop relationships with children. This supports children to feel safe and comfortable in their new surroundings. Staff support and encourage children to personalise their bedrooms, choosing themes and colours for decoration. However, children’s records do not demonstrate that staff have supported children to understand the children’s guide when new to the home. For children moving on from the home in an unplanned way, staff work hard to promote their welfare and well-being. Children maintain contact with staff when they transition on from the home. This demonstrates the strong relationships that children build with staff when living in the home. Staff seek feedback from children

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

who have moved on from the home. One child wrote, ‘My time at [name of home] has been one of the best times of my life. I’ve been in care about 5 years, and this has been the best placement I have ever been in. They helped me make so much progress and achieve so much.’ Children are supported to engage in education. Staff work well with professionals to ensure that plans are put in place to support children who struggle to attend education on a full-time basis. The manager advocates on behalf of children to address any barriers to learning. The manager is proactive in identifying education placements for children new to the home. Children living in the home are in good health. Staff are proactive in addressing any health concerns when they arise. Specialist support is identified and sourced when children struggle with their mental health. When children move into the home, staff are proactive in accessing local health services to ensure that children’s health needs

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

are met. Staff engage children in activities that they enjoy. Staff have introduced one child to new activities and experiences. This has supported him to settle into the home and the local area. Staff support children to spend time with those important to them. Staff support children and their families to repair relationships and they advocate for children to spend more time with them. Staff worked hard to rebuild one child’s relationship with his family. As a result, plans are underway for him to transition back to the care of his parent. For children new to the home, staff recognise the strong relationships built with professionals in their home area and support positive endings with them.

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

Risk-assessment documents are comprehensive and detailed. They include clear guidance and strategies for staff to follow. The manager works hard to understand Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 4 children’s backgrounds and histories when they are new to the home. However, not all staff could demonstrate their knowledge of children new to the home. This means that they may not be able to provide the level of support that children need. Staff work hard to create a warm and inviting environment for children to live in. Staff use their creative skills to decorate the home to provide children with calm and relaxing areas to enjoy. Children use these spaces to help calm and regulate their emotions. The strong relationships between staff and children mean that staff are able to manage challenging behaviour. Consequently, incidents of physical restraint are rare. When incidents do occur, staff manage these well. Follow-up work is undertaken

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

with children following any incidents. Behaviour-management documents provide clear strategies and guidance for staff to follow. Staff promote positive behaviour at all times. There are clear boundaries in place to protect and safeguard children. Children are praised for achievements in the weekly children’s meetings. Staff adopt an incentive-based approach, which is relevant and individual to children’s needs. As a result, consequences for negative behaviour are rarely used. Any consequences that are used are fair and proportionate. Staff support children to work towards a formal, certificated award scheme. This provides children with a sense of pride and achievement. Staff manage incidents of children going missing from home well. Staff adopt a multi-agency approach to manage risks for children who go missing. Staff actively search for children and have a clear understanding of the risks. Staff develop

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

positive relationships with children’s friends and families. This helps staff to locate children when they are missing from the home. Children’s records are detailed and include clear plans for staff to follow, should children go missing from home. Children know how to complain and are supported to do so. Allegations and complaints are rare. However, when issues do arise, staff manage these well. The manager communicates with social work professionals and local authority designated officers when allegations are made against staff. Children are cared for by a stable staff team. Recruitment practices for new staff are safe. This ensures that children are cared for by suitable people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably experienced manager. He knows the children well and is actively involved in their care. Staff spoke highly of him and said that they feel supported and empowered in their roles. Professional development is supported. Staff feel involved in decision-making processes and are delegated tasks in the home to support their progression. Staff benefit from regular supervision and team meetings that are reflective and child-focused. Staff are supported in caring for the children through monthly Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 5 consultations with the in-house therapist. This provides staff with a therapeutic understanding of the children’s needs. The manager is proactive in addressing any staff practice issues during team meetings. He is committed to providing good-quality care to the children at all times. He promotes this ethos to his staff team. He implemented an ‘employee of the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

month’ scheme, which staff said boosts morale in the team. However, children’s records do not consistently reflect the work undertaken with children. Furthermore, not all staff have received training specific to the children’s needs. This means that some staff may not have the skills required to fully support children. The manager is able to identify when children’s needs are not being met and when the well-being of other children in the home is compromised. He works well with social work professionals to ensure that transitions from the home are positive for children. However, the admissions and discharge book does not include any details for the new child in the home. The manager seeks feedback from children through monthly children’s meetings. These forums provide children with an opportunity to raise their views on the daily running of the home and highlight any issues they may have. Feedback is obtained

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

from professionals on an ad hoc basis. Internal quality-of-care reports are descriptive in respect of the progress of the children. They include targets for moving forward. An independent visitor provides reports following their monthly visits. However, the independent visitor does not consistently obtain feedback from parents or children. This limits their ability to provide independent scrutiny of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff undertake direct work with children and record this in children’s records. 10 November

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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 staff— 10 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 7 assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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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)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff know plans for children, including their risks and needs, when they are new to the home.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that all staff undertake training specific to the children’s needs. 10 November

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4: A record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child—

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Requirement Due date

the date of the child’s admission to the children’s home; 10 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 8 the child’s address immediately before being accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

the statutory provision (if any) under which the child is accommodated. (Regulation 37 (1) Schedule 4 (1)(a)(c)(e)(f))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent visitor obtains feedback from parents and children in order to provide independent scrutiny of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed (or on arrival at the home if the placement is made in an emergency) and must be age-appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. Specifically, ensure that children’s records reflect that the children’s guide has been explained to new children in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations’, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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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: 2495397 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Future Focused Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Future Focused Limited, Crows Nest Business Park, Ashton Road, Wigan, Lancashire WN5 7XX

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Inspector

Claire Hobbs, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2495397 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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