The Willows

Inspection report for residential family centre: The Willows 1 OFSTED USE ONLY

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The Willows The Woodbridge Family Centre Family Residential Assessments Limited 7 Fortescue Drive, Shenley Church End, Milton Keynes MK5 6BP Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

This residential family service is registered to conduct residential assessments for a maximum of five families. It is part of a larger family residential assessment service. At the time of this inspection, three families were in residence.

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Information about this residential family centre

The service and manager were registered in December 2024. This was the first inspection of the service.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for residential family centre: The Willows 2 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents receive a good level of support that is specific to their and their child’s needs. They develop warm and trusting relationships with staff. Staff tailor their support to ensure that parents receive the best possible opportunities to show their parenting capacity. Because of this, many parents and their children have a positive experience. There is a relaxed atmosphere and there is laughter in the house.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents have opportunities to express their views. The staff listen and are responsive. Regular house meetings provide time for discussion and for making requests and suggestions. The manager provides feedback and tells parents the outcome of their requests, which parents value. Parents are involved in target setting and staff share their weekly update reports with them. This enables parents to see how they are progressing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents and their children receive effective support from highly qualified staff. They enjoy their time living at the residential family centre, despite the circumstances of their assessment. They receive all-round and consistent care and support that result in good experiences. Parents can access learning opportunities that support their development and parenting skills. They access the weekly baby massage provided by the service. This helps to nurture the baby while also cultivating relationships between families. Parents have access to therapists as needed. Cooking and sharing a meal together on Sundays contribute to the homely environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

The staff are responsive to the unease that parents feel when moving in and out of the centre, and they ensure parents are involved in these plans. There is good communication between staff and responsible authorities, in which they discuss plans for parents moving in and out. For example, one parent was positive about this and said, ‘They made it welcoming. There was no animosity. There was a welcome card and chocolates. There is great support, and I could not ask for better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

The parenting assessments contain pertinent information and show the parent’s capacity to care for their child. The tracking of progress that parents make during the assessment involves all staff. This is well documented and allows parents to understand the stages of their assessment. Parents can comment about their progress during the weekly feedback session that they receive from staff. As a result, parents have clarity about the direction of their assessment. This means that there are no surprises at the end and parents can prepare, in the event of a negative outcome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

All the staff know the assessment model used in the centre. They know their roles and how their observations contribute to the final assessment report. Assessors recognise the complexities of these assessment reports. They ensure that they are produced in a way that helps families with neurodiversity or additional needs to understand them. Inspection report for residential family centre: The Willows 3 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

There is a strong commitment to ensuring that children and their parents can access specialist services. For example, one parent was struggling with their hearing and sometimes could not respond to their child. The manager arranged a hearing assessment. This was to ensure that the parent had every opportunity to show how responsive they could be to their child.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Clear and detailed information is available to staff about the welfare of children. This means that they can provide parents with advice on how to care for their children and protect them from harm. There are posters around the centre providing information to parents, including advice on safe sleeping. CCTV is used and one-to- one supervision is in place. This ensures good oversight of how parents care for their children.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

The staff have a good understanding of risk. They review assessments of risk each week and they update them as needed. This includes a review of the levels of supervision required to keep children safe. Parents with a history of substance misuse have hair strand tests before they move in and during the assessment process, for example on return from spending time in the community.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

While the service has not experienced a parent going missing with their child, the staff know what to do in this instance. One parent left the centre without their child, despite encouragement from the staff to stay. The manager is responsive and aware of the need to keep children safe from harm. She put extra but unobtrusive monitoring in place following a parent being heard shouting at their baby.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

The staff work together to manage incidents. Processes are in place to ensure that children are kept safe. One parent who was abusive to staff and others was asked to leave, and the assessment ended. The manager was effective in her response to ensure that these behaviours did not affect other families in the centre. The staff received specialist training when a family with complex health conditions was being assessed. The manager ensured that this happened before the family moved in and continued during the assessment.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Safeguarding arrangements are in place to protect and promote the welfare of families. Staff notify relevant agencies of any safeguarding incidents in a timely way. Managers and staff review and reflect on practice following safeguarding incidents. This helps to inform future decision-making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are ambitious and are committed to the development of the centre, so that children and their parents receive the best possible care. They are committed to ensuring positive outcomes for families and have realistic expectations. Additionally, they recognise the different learning needs of parents. Inspection report for residential family centre: The Willows 4 OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good processes are in place that enable the management team to oversee the progress that families are making. The monitoring system is effective. The manager is present, enabling parents to feel that they can approach her and seek advice. The quality assurance of assessments provides further opportunities to learn how families are doing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides a supportive environment for staff. This is a particular strength of the service. Staff receive good-quality supervision and appraisals that promote their continuous development. Staff are happy to do extra shifts if necessary and show a strong commitment to the continued growth of the service. The manager manages staff performance issues with great skill and sensitivity, enabling a positive outcome for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know what they do well and continue to build on these practices. They are aware of areas to develop, and they are responsive when they need to make changes to improve an area of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works closely with a range of professionals to ensure that they provide the best possible care and support to families. Because of this, leaders and managers are confident in raising issues if they fall short of expectations. All external professionals, without exception, spoke positively about their relationships with the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are strongly committed to the development of the centre. They work together to drive improvements. The manager ensures that they promote equality, diversity and inclusion. For example, they worked effectively with a parent whose first language was not English. They arranged for documents to be translated into their language. This parent said the centre also helped them to learn English.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

No requirements or recommendations were made at this inspection.

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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 Willows 5 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: The Woodbridge Family Centre Family Residential Assessments Limited

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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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Responsible individual:

Email address: lmwape@thewoodbridgefamilycentre.org.uk

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Inspector

Vevene Muhammad, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: The Willows 6 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspector

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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