Integrate Families

Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 1 Integrate Families Renee P Marks Associates Limited Unit 2A, Croft Head Business Park, Dale Street, Huddersfield HD8 9BQ Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this adoption support agency

Integrate Families is a registered adoption support agency. It offers specialist assessments and therapy services to adopted children and their families.

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Information about this adoption support agency

The services help children to process previous trauma, and to establish a secure attachment between them and their adoptive parents.

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Information about this adoption support agency

The agency comprises of the registered manager, 14 therapists and three administrative staff.

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Information about this adoption support agency

At the time of the inspection, the agency was working with around 128 adopted children and their families.

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good

How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The adoption support agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 2

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The good-quality service delivery has some exceptional characteristics and has a profound impact on the lives of children and their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Children benefit from the highly individualised adoption support that is provided by the agency. There are some children who have been in therapy for several years and have developed strong relationships with their therapist, which has lasted into early adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Adoptive parents receive useful and relevant information about the services that reflect their unique family dynamics. An unbiased approach is used with the children at the start of their assessment. Therapists hold the bare minimum information about the children prior to carrying out the assessments. This gives children full control of what they want to share with their therapist. The model used to assess children is exceptionally good. It has provided robust assessments that are research- informed and include good analysis.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency agrees on the plan prior to therapy sessions. However, funding issues have impacted on the continuity of therapy for some children. While leaders and managers have made efforts to respond to this matter, they are exploring what more they can do. Children receive therapeutic interventions that offer them flexibility and do not last for longer than needed. Skilled, well-trained, knowledgeable and talented therapists provide excellent therapeutic services and genuine support to children and families.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic has been exemplary. The services offered to children and their families went online overnight. This enabled the children to have a consistent person outside of their families when other agencies were limited. The therapists went above and beyond to engage children in their therapy, which they conducted in inventive and creative ways.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The trusting and enduring relationships between the therapists, children and families are evident. Typical comments from children include: ‘Therapy has helped a lot. My anxiety has improved’ and ‘They have been really good at helping me find my way.’ Parents said, ‘They have kept our family together.’

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Children’s wishes and feelings are listened to, respected and acted on as appropriate. Leaders, managers and therapists act as strong advocates for children, which promotes their wishes and feelings. The therapists’ work in schools has helped teaching staff to understand and support children more effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Information about the complaints procedure is shared with families at an early stage. Since the last inspection, no complaints or allegations have been reported by the agency. Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 3

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good

The agency has established a strong safeguarding culture that is reinforced by a wealth of sound professional expertise in the team. Safeguarding matters are referred appropriately to the designated safeguarding leads, one of whom is the registered manager who has a firm grip of safeguarding matters.

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good

The assessment process ensures that the children’s risks are clearly identified, understood and managed. However, not every child with high-risk behaviours has a written risk assessment that considers the risks and mitigation to minimise harm to everyone at the agency.

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good

The agency ensures that parents understand that the staff team has a duty to share information of a safeguarding nature to other agencies. Parents sign to confirm their agreement with this practice. This promotes transparency and ensures that everyone has a shared understanding of the expectations from the start.

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good

Highly skilled and intuitive therapists work in partnership with parents. The swift action taken by the agency to report concerns linked to the risk of exploitation and radicalisation promote collaborative working and ensure that children are safeguarded effectively and their welfare is promoted.

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good

The agency provides exceptionally good support to parents that is skilfully delivered by therapist. They have an in-depth knowledge of the children’s highly complex problems and behaviours that may be in relation to complex trauma, attachment difficulties and disassociation. They are highly motivated and their ‘never give up’ mantra is evident in their work with children.

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good

Parents confirm that the therapists provide invaluable support to them and their children, which has ensured that they continue to live together as a family. The support goes a considerable way to helping parents to support and care for their children therapeutically and help them to self-regulate. One parent said, ‘It has been a massive learning curve and [Name of therapist] has taught us to be better parents.’ Another said, ‘They have taught us how the brain works.’

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good

The agency follows safer recruitment practices when they recruit staff. This includes all staff having an up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service check. Leaders and managers are reviewing their practice to ensure that the level of checks to administrative staff offer the correct level of scrutiny.

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good

The agency maintains secure premises. All information is stored to high security standards, which ensures the high levels of confidentiality. Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The agency is well managed and led to an efficient and effective child-focused standard. The prompt response to the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the agency to continue to offer a valuable service to children and families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The changes in management and expansion of the service since the last inspection have not adversely affected the quality or safety of the service. The registered manager is an experienced registered social worker. Her dedication to the agency’s child-centred culture and sound adoption knowledge makes her a valuable addition to the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The senior leadership team now includes the clinician lead, senior therapist and operational management, which strengthens service delivery. The vision of the agency is highly aspirational about making a difference to children’s lives. The team all play an important role in contributing to the agency’s success and the positive team culture in which everyone feels valued and has something to contribute.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide the staff with a supportive environment for the staff team to thrive. Staff rank the registered manager highly, among other things, describing her as being very supportive and going the extra mile. Her oversight of children and families enables her to support them when the therapists are not in work. One staff member said, ‘[Name of registered manager] has been a great addition to Integrate as she has brought clarity and put processes in place that have made us all more efficient.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The therapists are highly skilled, knowledgeable and creative in their work with children. They benefit greatly from the clinical supervision and support from the clinical lead, for whom they hold a high level of respect. The clinical lead is an internationally and nationally recognised speaker, trainer, author and recognised expert in the field of trauma and dissociation. The combination of regular clinical and case supervisions, meetings and excellent training and learning opportunities promote the therapist’s continued development. The cultural awareness training that took place this year provided insightful information that helped the participants to change their practice. Furthermore, therapists feel sufficiently comfortable to challenge each other constructively and they share their practice within a safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Information technology systems have been developed by the responsible individual, which has improved efficiency and access to information. Clinical notes provide some good examples of sessions with children that have been overseen by the clinician.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a coherent understanding of the agency’s strengths and weaknesses and takes decisive remedial action as appropriate. The annual reports enable the management team to reflect on the journey so far and identify any plans for further service developments. Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 5 The three recommendations that were raised at the last inspection have been met, which demonstrates that this is a service that has capacity to continuously improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The main building provides suitable accommodation for the agency’s purposes, including well-resourced therapy rooms, office space, a kitchen and toilets.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals rate the agency in positive terms, and they would recommend the service to others. Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children’s safety and welfare are promoted. Specifically, ensure that all children’s risks are supported by a written risk assessment. (‘Adoption: national minimum standards’ page 18, paragraph 4.1)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, young people and adults, using the social care common inspection framework.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the adoption support agency, how it meets the core functions as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Adoption Support Agencies (England) and Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2005 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 7

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Adoption support agency details

Registered provider: Renee P Marks Associates Ltd

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Adoption support agency details

Registered provider address: Unit 2 Croft Head Business Park, Dale Street, Huddersfield HD8 9BQ

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Adoption support agency details

Email address: manager@integratefamilies.co.uk

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Inspectors

Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Evelyn Chafota, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for adoption support agency: Integrate Families 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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