Children's home run by Young Foundations Limited in Wirral

Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 1 SC068410 Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company. It provides care for up to six children with mental health and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered on 3 November 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are four children currently living at the home. The children enjoy positive relationships with staff and managers. They feel happy and settled living at the home. Since the last inspection, two children moved on sooner than anticipated as they required more support than staff at the home could provide. These decisions were made in the best interests of children and in consultation with relevant professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff speak warmly about the children. They know them well and provide the children with consistent care that is nurturing and meets their individual, complex needs. Consequently, all children are making good progress considering their starting points. One child has made excellent progress, so much so that he is now accessing education after a significant gap of not attending school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another child is on target to achieve her predicted grades. The headteacher said that the child had made ‘incredible progress and is a great role model to peers both at home and school’. When children struggle to make progress, staff and the managers give them a lot of reassurance and encouragement. For example, one child has been struggling with attending school. Staff have taken time to speak with the child to try and understand any barriers to learning and how they can support them better. They have worked well with the school to form a collaborative approach to offer the child consistent support both at home and school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend good-quality time with close family and friends. This helps children to develop and maintain positive relationships with those who are important to them when it is appropriate to do so.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff value children’s wishes and feelings. Children are involved in making decisions about their daily life. They are consulted through group and individual discussions with staff and monthly visits from the independent visitors. Managers and staff act on children’s views and wishes, and as a result, children feel listened to. For example, managers and staff arranged for the Wi-Fi speed to be improved and purchased some particular toys for the home as requested by the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy various activities in the home and in the community, such as day trips to different places of interest, a summer holiday to the seaside and simple pleasures like playing in the garden, playing video games and cooking family dinners with staff. Children have opportunities to interact with peers, form social networks and develop their self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and provides a cosy living environment for the children. All children have been given the opportunity to personalise their bedrooms. Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 4 Staff encourage and enable children to live healthy lifestyles. They ensure that children eat a balanced diet, and one child enjoys going to the gym. However, staff and managers have not acted on recommendations from one child’s health assessment. This means the child has an unmet health need. This has not had an adverse impact on the child’s overall health but is an area to address moving forward.

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

Managers and staff work in partnership with external agencies such as social workers, health professionals, the police and parents to formulate plans to keep children safe. Consequently, they are able to pre-empt risks, which means children can access support services quickly when this is required.

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

There has been a significant reduction in the number of incidents when children go missing from home or seek to hurt themselves. This is because staff manage these incidents well and follow safeguarding policies and children’s missing-from-home protocols. Children are given a lot of support after incidents, which makes them to feel cared for, valued and safer.

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

Staff support children to take age-appropriate risks to promote their social and independence skills. For example, some of the children access the community independently and enjoy spending time with close friends. However, there have been missed opportunities to do some one-to-one work linked to children’s developmental milestones, such as sexual health and appropriate social relationships.

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

Managers have reviewed the home’s location risk assessment. They have now consulted partner agencies to ensure that this now contains up-to-date information on known risks to help inform them how to keep children safe when accessing the community.

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

Safer recruitment remains robust, which helps to ensure that only safe adults care for and support the children at all times.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and knowledgeable, and she offers stability to the team. She is child-focused and has good insight into the needs of the children. The manager has plans to develop the service to maintain good standards and to continuously improve the quality of care given to children. She wants the children to have positive experiences of living at the home and to achieve better outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, which is detailed and reflective. New staff are well supported through their induction and probationary period. Staff who have worked in the home for longer have appraisals, and the manager supports them with their professional development. When there are issues around staff practice, the manager addresses them, which helps staff to reflect and improve their practice. Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 5 Feedback from the professionals is positive. They recognise that the manager and staff communicate well with them and that they feel children are making good progress. One child’s social worker said that this is the best children’s residential home she has worked with.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed mandatory training. However, they have not yet received additional training relevant to one child’s individual needs and behaviours. This has not yet had an impact but may do so if not addressed. Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well- being needs are met. In particular, ensure that all recommendations raised in children’s health assessments are acted on. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 34, paragraph 7.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both inside and outside the home, to the extent that any good parent would. In particular, staff should complete some educational work with children in line with their developmental stages around appropriate social relationships and sexual health. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 43, paragraph 9.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and they should understand the

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Recommendations

key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff receive specialist training linked to individual children’s needs and any formal diagnosis they might have. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC068410 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Alexander House, Highfield Park, Llandrynog, Denbighshire, Wales LL16 4LU

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Inspector

Rumbi Mangoma, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC068410 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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