Children's Home run by New Roots Children’s Services Limited in St Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 1 Registered provider: New Roots Children’s Services Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a small private organisation. It provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Good 11/03/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 04/06/2019 Full Good 11/02/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Four children have moved into the home since the last inspection, and three have left. One child is currently living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a consistent team of staff. Staff know the children in their care well and build on these relationships to help children improve their behaviours. Staff encourage children to make the most of the experiences on offer to them to improve their life opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with families to ensure that children are able to maintain contact with their families and those who are important to them. Staff do their best to make sure that the time children spend with their families is positive and that contact is maintained. For example, on the day of the inspection, staff travelled a considerable distance to allow a child to visit a dog that they had formed bonds within their previous placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children are registered with health professionals. Children’s health needs are met by attending regular health appointments. If children are reluctant to attend appointments, staff work with them to understand their reluctance. They develop rewards to encourage children to attend appointments to ensure that their health and well-being are promoted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and his staff team understand the importance of education and promote the need to attend education or training with children. The manager is proactive in his approach to securing placements for children and acts in their best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carry out regular, planned and spontaneous direct-work sessions with children to help them understand the impact of their negative or risk-taking behaviours. Records are clear and capture the discussions that staff have with children, as well as the views of children in their own words, clearly reflecting their thoughts and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A consistent staff team, positive relationships between staff and children as well as direct work with children help children’s behaviours to improve while living at this home.

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

Staff are experienced and understand their safeguarding responsibilities. They take swift action in response to safeguarding concerns. Any allegations made against staff are reported to the local authority designated officer, ensuring that the safety and welfare of children are promoted. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 4 Children are safer as a result of living at this home. Risk assessments are in place for all children, which are clear and contain strategies for staff to follow to minimise risk and keep everyone safe. However, not all risks that are known to children are included in the risk assessments. This does not allow staff to have a clear overview of the child’s past and issues that they have encountered. For example, following a serious incident, the manager asked for regular room searches to be carried out, but because the timescales had not been included in the behaviour management plan or

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

risk assessment, these did not take place. This omission could have placed staff and children at risk.

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

Although there are safeguards in place to monitor internet access at the home, the manager does not have a system to does not have a system to review children and staff’s access. This is a missed opportunity to safeguard children.

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

Consequences are rarely used for children’s poor behaviour as staff prefer to offer rewards for positive behaviour. When consequences are used, they are reasonable and help children to understand the impact of their behaviours. However, records do not always show the reason or the duration of the consequence.

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

Staff act swiftly when children share their concerns. Allegations are shared with safeguarding professionals quickly. When necessary, the manager carries out internal investigations at the home to consider any further action that may be necessary in line with the provider’s disciplinary procedures. In addition, the incidents are reflected on to identify any areas for learning and improvement by staff.

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

The home is well maintained and is a homely environment for children to live in. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their individual personalities and interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a qualified and experienced manager. He has clear values and standards about how children should be cared for and shares his aspirations for children with the staff team. This creates a positive environment for children to live in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a therapist who visits the home on a planned basis for one day a month. The therapist also provides training for staff to understand and follow a therapeutic approach to caring for children. However, records do not yet reflect the guidance and thoughts provided by the therapist to improve outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with regular supervision and support by the deputy and manager of the home. Supervision provides staff with an opportunity to discuss any concerns that they may have for the children in their care. Staff also receive clinical supervision by the home’s therapist, providing an additional, confidential opportunity for staff to discuss any concerns that they may have. The therapist also uses this time as an opportunity to discuss and suggest strategies for staff to follow in an Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 5 effort to achieve success for children. Systems are in place to ensure that any concerns identified by staff during these sessions are passed to the manager for their information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy work closely together to ensure that good standards of care are maintained at the home, and they spend time reflecting on the care that they provide to find ways of improving. For example, the manager and staff team struggled when a long-term placement for one child came to an end. The manager and deputy discussed this with their therapist and, as a result, developed leaving letters for children. These are intended to provide clarity for children about the reason for their placement ending and to help children and staff move on in a positive manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals spoke highly of the care provided by the staff team and referred to the consistency of staff making a difference to children and their success while living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of records at the home and uses this to reflect on practice and make improvements at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments contain all known risks to children and include clear and appropriate strategies for staff to follow to manage children’s behaviours. 1 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)) 1 July 2023

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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— 1 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 7 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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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: 1277656 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Roots Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 139 Stoney Lane, Rainhill, Prescot L35 9JY

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Inspector

Julia Toller, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1277656 9 and inspects 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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