3.1.10 Residential Care - Operational Policy

This Operational Policy was updated in the March 2010 update of the manual.

Service Aims and Objectives
Quality Policy
How the Objective will be Met
Staff Support, Supervision and Development
Working in Partnership

1. Service Aims and Objectives

The service aims to provide high quality residential childcare for children and young people looked after by Hillingdon social Services. There are 4 different units, which make up the service, each with its own set of tasks and functions and these are described individually in each unit's Statement of Purpose, compiled in accordance with Regulation 4 and 5 of the Care Standards Act 2000. However, the service aims to function as one coherent service as a residential childcare system, with consistent policies, practices, procedures and management across all units. The service will deliver care to the standards set out in Hillingdon Education and Children's Services' Residential Childcare Service: Care Practice Standards.

The service may provide care on a short-term basis (Charville Lane Children's Centre / Hillingdon Children's Resource Centre) or in some homes (Merrifield House / Howletts Lane) respite care for an individual young person over many years. In all cases, the overall aim for the service is to provide care which:-

Helps a young person to make sense of and develop coping strategies for past experiences
Provides young people with positive stimulating and enjoyable experiences.
Helps young people (and wherever possible their families/networks) to plan towards and achieve a positive and controllable future.

The objectives of the service are to:-

Provide each individual young person with the highest quality of care and support achievable within the human/physical resources of the service.
Promote young people's self-confidence and self esteem within a framework of equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice, recognising their individual potential and needs.
Safeguard young people and promote their welfare, including positive health care and health education.
Promote educational opportunities and achievement.
Promote young people's contact with their families, unless this is clearly and explicitly determined to be not in their best interests.
Promote young people's integration with the wider community/supportive networks.
Assist with the preparation for all young people for an independent (within young people's individual potential) and fulfilling adult life.
Work in effective partnership in the best interests of young people within the service, with young people, families, significant others, and with other service providers inside and outside of the department.
Advocate on behalf of young people to assist them to achieve their potential, acting in their best interest at all times.
Sustain, as an essential part of quality care, an effective level of good order within each unit and the service as a whole, and to enable young people to develop their unique potential, self-control, respect for themselves, and others.

2. Quality Policy

All units are inspected at least twice a year by OFSTED. One inspection visit is usually announced, one unannounced, and may include a lay inspector.
All units are subject to a monthly unannounced visit by a person appointed and trained by the Department to conduct such visits, who is independent of the direct line management of the home. Each monthly visit will be recorded, in accordance with Regulation 33 of the Care Standards Act 2000 and a copy sent to OFSTED by the end of the following month - see Regulation 33 Visits to Children's Homes Procedure.
All units are subject to a monthly audit by the Registered Manager of that home. This audit will focus on quality assurance and self-assessment, and will be recorded using the Monthly Manager check format.
All units undertake audits of the Children's individual files as a frequency of 2 files per month at Hillingdon Children's Resource Centre, 5 files per month at Charville Lane and at Merrifield and Howletts - each file over a 3-month period. The Heads of Care are responsible for ensuring these are completed and monitored.
All units undertake audits of the 10 child care standards (one each month excluding August and December). The residential workers complete these audits with the outcomes fed into team meetings. The Head of Care monitors this process and ensures corrective action is taken as required.

3. How the Objective will be Met

The key process in ensuring that the service objectives are delivered, are:-

REFERRAL: All requests for a residential child care service will be based on clear and up to date information about the young person's history, current situation and needs. Referrals will be responded to promptly. Decisions on the allocation of resources will be based on the clear assessment of individual need (under the Assessment Framework) and the most appropriate available matching of resources to meet that need. For Charville Lane Children's Centre and Hillingdon Children Resource Centre, all referrals are made in the first instance to the Children's Resources Placement Service - see Placement in Residential Care Procedure - For Merrifield and Howletts referrals are made via the Children and Families Disabilities Team and discussed in the monthly panel meeting - see Children with Disabilities Team Procedure. The referral process must include a risk assessment by the Social Work team or Emergency Duty Team.
ADMISSION: The process of a young person joining a residential establishment will, within whatever constraints are imposed by the particular circumstances, be planned, positive and attentive to the significance/impact of the experience for the young person. Whenever possible, family members and/or other people significant to the young person will be partners in the admission process. The young person's social worker will be involved in the admission process wherever possible. This process will be assisted by a Placement Planning Meeting, which must be convened by the social worker within 72 hours of the placement.
ASSESSMENT: The planning of day to day and future care will be based on clear and ongoing assessment of each young person's needs, aspirations, wishes and potential. Young people, their families and significant others will be centrally involved in the assessment process. Assessments will be clearly recorded and regularly reviewed.
CARE PLANNING: There will be a clear LAC Materials Care Plan and an individual unit Care Plan for each young person. The individual unit Care Plans will specify the aims of the placement, its expected duration, what the unit is seeking to achieve for and with the young person, his/her family, how it is to be achieved, and who is responsible for what. Care Plans are clearly recorded, and regularly reviewed and updated. Young people, their families, and significant others will be centrally involved in the care planning process, and young people are encouraged to read, contribute to and sign their unit Care Plan.
THE PLANNING OF DAILY CARE: Daily care will be clearly and proactively planned to ensure positive and purposeful experiences for all young people. Particular attention will be given to ensuring that the daily experiences for all young people, support and advance the overall Care Plan as outlined above. Each unit will plan (via the Statement of Purpose and shift handover/planning system) and make known to all staff and young people a clear daily routine and structure, and clear basic rules and boundaries for all young people.
LINKWORKING: Every young person will have at least one linkworker throughout their time in residence. The linkworker is responsible for maintaining an overview of all work with the young person/family, and will undertake specific pieces of focused work. The link worker system will ensure effective coordination of all service provision for and with the young person. Allocation of link workers will be matched as closely as possible (within resource constraints) to the young person's needs and, where appropriate, choices.
REVIEW: Care Plans, Care Strategies and Practices with each individual young person, the quality of care being received, how it can be improved and the degree to which the care has positive outcomes for the young person, will be regularly reviewed. The outcome of such reviews, actions to be taken, by whom, and when, will be clearly recorded. Young people, their families and significant others, will be centrally involved in the review process.
PREPARATION FOR MOVING ON: Preparing the young person to move on positively, whether home, to another placement or to independence, will be integral to all care planning, daily placement planning and review processes. For all children aged 15 and over, the Care Plan and issues of transition will specifically address the issue of preparation for adulthood and the work required to be undertaken, by whom, and within what timescales.

4. Staff Support, Supervision and Development

A.	Staff's skills, experience, attitudes, behaviours, commitment and motivation are the service's primary resources in delivering and assuring quality care. Staff will be supported and developed through the Department's Staff Induction, Performance Management, Development and Supervision Policy and Procedure. All staff, including administrative and support staff will:- Undertake a planned induction programme on starting work in a unit Receive planned individual supervision within departmental policy guidelines Agree annually a Performance /Personal Development Plan with their supervisor Participate in annual appraisal and review leading to the agreement of a revised Performance Plan/Personal Development Plan Agree with their supervisor a Personal Development Plan incorporating training needs and objectives
B.	It is the joint responsibility of the Service Manager for Children's Resources and the Team Manager for the Residential Child Care Service, in conjunction with the Children and Families Training Management Structure to ensure an annual residential child care training needs analysis is prepared and incorporated into the Children and Families' Training Plan. All staff must complete NVQ in Child Care as a minimum requirement (as required in the Residential Child Care Standards).
C.	A weekly Care Staff meeting will be held in each unit where possible (barring school holiday periods). All Care staff are required to attend unless on leave, absent through sickness, or on a particular day, deployed to the care of the young people while a staff meeting is in progress. This latter duty will be shared equally amongst the non-managerial staff team. Staff will have an opportunity to place items on the agenda for the meeting. An agenda will be agreed for each meeting. Care Staff meetings will focus on two main issues; care planning and practice, and team development (including the team brief and council/departmental/divisional information). Care Staff meetings will be minuted and it is the expectation that Care Staff not present will read the minutes to update themselves on care planning/team development issues.
D.	Staff will be recruited in line with the Department's commitment to safe recruitment procedures as recommended by the Warner Report. The procedures specify the checks to be undertaken prior to appointment, including a Criminal Records Bureau enhanced check, and the receipt of two written references, including one from the current or most recent employer. The interviewing process will include a visit to the home, a written exercise or presentation, a personal interview, and a technical interview. In addition, for unit managers, he/she will be expected to complete and successfully pass the OFSTED Registered Manager Suitable Person interview.
E.	The standards of behaviour expected of staff are set out in the Council's 'Golden Rules' leaflet, Hillingdon Education and Children's Services Department 'How We Work in Hillingdon' leaflet, and the Residential Child Care Generic Behavioural Competencies.

5. Working in Partnership

A.	All units within the service have a responsibility to support and work cooperatively with each other. This includes taking shared responsibility for, for example, difficult placement issues, which are problems for the service, not for individual units, until they are resolved (obviously reference to the individual unit's Statement of Purpose continues to apply in such circumstances). It includes a responsibility for the sharing of information and experiences, which can contribute to the improvement of the service as a whole. It may include in exceptional circumstance, by agreement between unit managers or at the direction of the Team Manager/Service Manager for the service, the provision of staff cover between units (consistent with staff's contractual terms and conditions of employment).
B.	The young people themselves, their families and significant others, are central partners in all the work of the service. The units are expected to work, in line with the Care Plan, to encourage their involvement, ascertain their views and promote partnership working. This can be achieved by, for example: Young people and their families helping to devise and agree the young person's internal care plan Regular (weekly) young people's meetings Link work sessions Individual planned activities with young people. Providing appropriate hospitality and facilities for family members and significant others to visit young people in residence.
C.	Field social workers are also central partners in all of the service's work. The Department has an expectation that every young person Looked After by Hillingdon Education and Children's Services will have an allocated field social worker. If a young person requires to be re-allocated a field social worker, then the fieldwork team will deem this to be a high priority. The field social worker holds a care management/co-ordinating responsibility on behalf of the Department. The Residential Child Care Service is committed to:- Working closely and co-operatively with field social workers. This entails working together to find shared solutions to problems and difficulties, rather than arguing about "Who is responsible?" or seeking to proportion blame. Ensuring that field social workers are kept fully informed on all issues to do with a young person's care, behaviour, wishes and feelings. Providing appropriate hospitality and facilities for social workers to visit children in residence. Ensuring that professional debate or disagreement is appropriately and openly dealt with, and under no circumstances acted out inappropriately in professional relationships with young people and their families. The Department follows the statutory requirements / expectations on the frequency of social work contact with young people in residential care.
D.	A. Health and Education services are also key partners. Every Care Plan will set out the specific arrangements for seeking to meet a young person's health care and educational needs. In addition, all young people for whom the service is looking after on a full time basis will have a Personal Education Plan (PEP) and a Health Action Plan. drawn up jointly between the young person, their family, children's social services and education/ health professionals. The units will work closely with the Hillingdon Virtual School (LACE team) and the SEN Team.
E.	The Residential Child Care Services will utilise and promote joint training opportunities with Education / Schools and Health colleagues to promote partnership work and good practice.
F.	Other partners with whom the Residential Child Care Service is committed to working closely and co-operatively include the Police, Probation, Immigration, Legal Representatives, Youth Offending Team, the Courts, Health Promotion Colleagues, Youth and Community and Careers Services, Places of Religious Worship, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations, Community Groups, The LAC Project, Behavioural Support Team, CAMHS, and Children's Rights Officer. This is not an exhaustive list and will be continually up-dated when new working relationships are forged in relation to individual young people.