The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House

Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 1 The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House The Woodbridge Family Centre Family Residential Assessments Ltd 2 Knot Tiers Drive, Upton, Northamptonshire NN5 4AY Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

This privately run residential family centre is registered to accommodate four families (consisting of a total of five parents). The primary purpose of the centre is to carry out evidence-based assessments of parenting capacity and skills. Families are typically assessed for 12 weeks.

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Information about this residential family centre

A new manager joined in May 2023 and after submitting an application to be the registered manager their application has now been approved.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and parents, taking into account

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good

How well children and parents are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The residential family centre provides effective services that meet the requirements for 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 residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents are helped to make meaningful progress to overcome difficulties that can impact on their ability to care for and safeguard their child. Parents receive specific help to recognise healthy relationships, particularly when there may be a history of a parent being a victim of abuse, neglect or violence. Parents openly talk about the help they have received. One parent said, ‘Families benefit from a good service with outstanding care, support and guidance.’ Another parent said, ‘This place has been a godsend for me. Staff do not judge, they just help. The staff have helped me to build up my confidence.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Staff take great care in their recording of parents’ assessments. They ensure that records are legible, clear, non-stigmatising and respectful. Staff take account of parents’ wishes and feelings through their daily interactions. Although parents feel informed and receive copies of records, their own written self-reflection is often missing from progress and midpoint reports.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Social workers oversee each stage of a family’s assessment. Care is taken to ensure that the final report is independent, fair, balanced and evidence-based.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families’ moves in and out of the centre are managed sensitively. Careful consideration is given to each new referral, taking into account the needs of the families who are already living at the centre.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents receive a residents’ guide as part of their move into the centre, which contains some helpful information. However, it is not in a format that takes into account the diverse needs of families. For families who are less familiar with the area, there is not enough information to help them to be informed about places of interest, clubs and activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents’ diversity, faith and needs are sensitively respected and their identity valued throughout the assessment. For example, when a parent arrived whose first language was not English, managers ensured that there was a designated member of staff to support the family who was able to speak the same language. When a parent who was deaf was admitted, managers secured additional aids such as a vibrating pillow so that the parent knew when their baby was crying.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

The centre is held in high regard by many external professionals. One said that communication with the centre is amazing and staff were always reachable and are child-focused. One external social worker said, ‘The centre has on two occasions been asked to produce reports for court within a very short time and they had done this without fail.’ A child’s guardian said, ‘They have offered good support and guidance. Any concerns that the staff have are raised in a timely manner for safeguarding purposes.’ Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 3

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

The centre provides a high level of support for families undergoing assessment, including from social workers, early years practitioners and key workers, and from counsellors and psychologists, who provide an additional layer of support. This multidisciplinary team enables every family to receive the help they need to have the capacity to protect their child’s welfare and well-being.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

A high level of supervision is initially provided for new families. Staff start with helping parents to meet their child’s basic care needs, and then build on this to cover emotional warmth, developmental milestones and recognising risk.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

A multi-agency partnership is established to ensure that the safeguarding of children remains central to the heart of the assessment. Partnership working with the local authority designated officer has been strengthened. This ensures that when a concern is raised, prompt action is taken.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Health visitors and midwives routinely visit the centre. Staff seek advice from the health visitor and midwife so that messages to parents are consistent with good health practice. However, there are occasionally errors in the recording of medication. This compromises the oversight of medication.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Staff are carefully vetted to ensure that they are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

All efforts are made to ensure that the environment remains safe, secure and nurturing. Care is taken to ensure that children are safeguarded, through direct supervision and the use of CCTV monitoring, while respecting a parent’s rights to privacy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new manager joined the centre in May 2023. She has made a significant impact to the quality of assessment. She is ambitious, caring and passionate about improving the lives of families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership strive to provide outstanding practice and are committed to continuous improvement in the interest of families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Strong links with a wide range of key strategic professionals, agencies and local groups are well established.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are proud of their work and describe the leadership team as strong, with effective communication and a commitment to transparency. One member of staff said, ‘Leadership have the ability to navigate challenges and make well-informed decisions and have fostered an environment of trust and stability, which greatly contributes to our collective success.’ Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 4 Social workers recognise that their work with parents is essential to ensure that the final report is detailed so that key decisions can be reached.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are highly skilled and qualified for their roles. They receive regular reflective supervision that enables them to review their practice and for their managers to enquire about their own personal well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual plays an integral role in overseeing all assessments, to ensure that all evidence gathered is valid and can be relied on by the court and the local authority. He ensures that his visits to the centre focus on assessing the quality of assessment, speaking to families and securing their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is good use of internal monitoring, which enables the provider to have good oversight of what is working well and what needs to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing levels are flexible to respond when parents may need additional supervision. For example, if 24-hour supervision is required, the deployment of staff is increased. This ensures that staffing levels remain appropriate so that children are safeguarded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are a range of forums for both staff and parents to express their views and feelings. These include residents’ meetings and staff team meetings. The relationships between the staff and parents are mostly strong. However, when parents raise concerns involving staff, they can sometimes struggle to rebuild a trusting relationship with the member of staff concerned, despite the intervention of managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a wide range of training that enables them to support families. However, records that confirm what training has been completed cannot always be relied upon to provide an accurate reflection of training completed by each member of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have been met. There has been greater sharing of key information and car seats have been bought. Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 5

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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, The Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall make arrangements for the recording, handling, safe keeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the residential family centre. (Regulation 11 (2))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered person ensuring that all records of the administration of medication are free from error. 1 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

In preparing or reviewing the placement plan the registered person shall so far as practicably seek and take account of the views of members of the family. (Regulation 13 (3)) 1 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the residents’ guide can be understood by parents. This should include information about the range of activities and places of interest in the local area, especially for families who are not familiar with the location. (Residential family centres: NMS 8.1 & 8.6)  The registered person should ensure that parents are able to sustain constructive relationships with staff so that, where possible, they are able to resolve conflicts themselves in a positive manner. (Residential family centres: NMS 4.3)  The registered person should ensure that the learning and development programme is evaluated for effectiveness at regular intervals and is up to date. (Residential family centres: NMS 16.3)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and parents 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 Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 6

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: The Woodbridge Family Centre Family Residential Assessments Ltd

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: Suite G04 1, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HR

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Residential family centre details

Registered manager: Rebecca Brentegani Ferreira Dos Santos

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Residential family centre details

Email address: lmwape@thewoodbridgefamilycentre.org.uk

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Inspectors

Michelle Moss, Social Care Inspector Kathryn Hurley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: The Woodbridge Family Centre Upton House 7 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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