Children's Home run by Footsteps a Path to Change Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 1 SC476008 Registered provider: Footsteps A Path To Change Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company, and it provides care for up to three children who may experience emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/06/2022 Full Good 22/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/05/2019 Full Good 11/04/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 3

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improvement to be good

Children are making positive progress. They have developed trusting relationships with staff. Both children living in the home said that they feel safe. However, one child referred to ‘just doing my time’ and stated that this does not feel like home. Children also commented on the number of staff who have left the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children with their education. Staff have challenged external professionals to get one child back into school after eight months out of education. When the child was not in formal education, staff obtained tutoring for them and used a weekly education planner to support them to access informal education. This positive practice supports children to achieve their educational potential.

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improvement to be good

Children are not enrolled in social clubs or groups. This reduces opportunities for children to develop positive peer relationships. Staff are creative in engaging children in regular activities and outings with the staff team. This supports the development of positive and trusting relationships between adults and children in the home. One professional commented on the positive relationships she has observed between children and staff and how quickly a staff member was able to help a child regulate their emotions.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to take care of their health and hygiene needs. They take children to planned and emergency health appointments. However, one child has health needs that have been identified for a number of months, with little work done and no concrete action taken. This puts children’s health at risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff are appropriately trained to do this in a safe and helpful way. This helps children to develop and maintain positive relationships and supports children to understand their family identity.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete regular direct-work sessions with children. However, staff do not provide proactive work that is planned based on individual children’s presenting needs. When further learning needs are identified during work or planning, these are often not followed through. This does not enable children to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Decisions about children’s care are, at times, based on a generic model rather than individual presenting needs. Children do not always feel that they have input into their daily care. This does not support each child to reach their full potential.

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improvement to be good

The home is spacious. Children’s bedrooms and communal rooms have been recently redecorated to make them feel more homely. While this has improved the Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 4 look and feel of the home, there are additional maintenance tasks that need to be addressed in order to bring the home up to the standard desired.

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improvement to be good

The environment is a safe space for children. Risks for children have reduced since they moved to this home. Staff have supported children to better understand and manage their emotions, enabling them to develop better coping strategies. Risk management plans and missing-from-care plans are updated regularly. However, these do not include specific strategies for staff to follow should an incident arise.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond to safeguarding concerns appropriately. However, continuing opportunities to support children after an incident are frequently missed. When children have made threats to harm themselves, staff have not provided regular ongoing support to them. Staff have not consulted appropriately with other professionals when making decisions about immediate care for the safety of a child. This does not ensure the safety of children.

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improvement to be good

Staff only use physical interventions as a last resort. When staff have had to hold a child to keep them safe, they have recorded the incidents appropriately. Children do not make allegations often, but when they have, staff have referred them to the appropriate safeguarding professionals. However, the regulator has not been informed of all allegations. This limits external oversight of practice in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s achievements are documented and celebrated. This supports children to improve their self-esteem and self-worth. Staff have developed positive working relationships with other professionals, and they keep them informed of children’s progress.

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improvement to be good

The staff team is supported by a psychotherapist to better enable staff to provide trauma-informed care for each child. The children are provided with access to a therapy dog, who visits the home regularly to spend time with each child. This supports their emotional well-being and mental health.

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good

There has been a number of management changes since the last inspection. The current manager has recently registered with Ofsted. She is experienced and suitably qualified to manage the home. The manager is passionate about improving outcomes for children and has been working hard to improve the quality of recording in the home.

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good

There has been a significant turnover of staff in this home, which has created instability for the children living there. The manager has invested in the development of the staff, and the team appears to be stabilising. Staff are very positive about their roles and feel supported and valued by the management team. Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 5 Staff are appropriately qualified to work with the children. Safer recruitment practices are followed. Staff practice is challenged to provide consistent care to children. This ensures that all staff are suitably knowledgeable and safe to work with vulnerable children.

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good

The manager provides regular supervision for the staff and is ambitious about improving practice in the home. Staff training needs are regularly reviewed. Staff performance is appraised annually.

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good

Staff benefit from regular team meetings and access to therapeutic consultations with a qualified psychotherapist. This provides the opportunity for staff to consider each child’s needs and presenting behaviours.

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good

Management oversight of work completed with children is not robust. The manager does read incident reports and safeguarding concerns but does not reflect on the incident to identify triggers or patterns or to review staff practice.

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good

The manager has not sufficiently escalated concerns with external professionals. This means that key safeguarding information is not known, and the home does not have copies of all relevant care plans for the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that appropriate challenge and escalation are provided when children’s best interests are not met. Additionally, the registered person must ensure that appropriate professionals are consulted when making safeguarding decisions for children. 26 June 2023

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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. 26 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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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 develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(ii)(iv)(vi)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s daily care, routines and work planned are individual to each child’s presenting needs.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well- being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)) 26 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 8 Specifically, the registered person must ensure that identified health needs for children are followed up. Ongoing work should be completed with children to help them understand their health and engage in relevant appointments.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each child is provided with proactive key-work sessions that are planned based on children’s presenting needs and feelings. 26 June 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—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe; 26 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 9 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all risk assessments contain clear steps for staff to follow should an incident arise. Any decision to reduce safeguarding practice should be made in consultation with other professionals.

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that they have oversight of all work being completed and that incidents and work are evaluated to establish patterns and trends and identify areas of learning in order to make continuous improvements. 26 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. 26 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 10 (Regulation 40 (4)(c))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a clean and well-kept environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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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: SC476008 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Footsteps A Path To Change 08 Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Landmark House, Station Road, Cheadle Hulme SK8 7BS

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Charlotte Davies

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Inspectors

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Sally Griffiths, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC476008 12 regulates 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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