Barnes Children’s Home: statement of purpose

Barnes Children’s Home blends into the heart of Tiverton and is within walking distance to the town, local supermarket, schools and parks. Barnes comprises two single-storey bungalows which form one home, set back from the road with gates securing the grounds to protect children’s privacy. Children benefit from amenities that are accessible locally such as cinemas, eating out, canal walks, swimming and gym facilities. Further afield we have access to local beaches, countryside, sporting activities, amusement parks and more, giving great opportunities to children to socialise and exercise. Barnes has a seven-seat car to support exploring the beautiful surroundings. Tiverton has great transport links throughout Devon and beyond. These are utilised as both a leisure activity and as a part of training for young people. Any risks in the local area are assessed at least once a year, by completing a location risk assessment.

Tiverton has access to a wide variety of places of worship catering to many faiths within a 30-minute journey. We will support all children’s religious and cultural needs at all times, working within the local communities where appropriate, to ensure all young people’s needs are met.

We support children with a range of needs, aged 0-17.

Children have access to all areas of the home, other than the staff sleep-in room. Barnes has a kitchen, lounge, lounge/diner, wet room and shower room. We have a laundry room which can be used to teach children home-based skills. The grounds wrap around the home and children benefit from a variety of activities including a trampoline, basket swing, go kart, ride-on toys, water play, musical and sensory toys. We also encourage eating and creative play outside in warmer weather.

Children are encouraged to take as much part in their care as they are able to. Children can’t always tell us directly what their needs and wishes are. Staff use a wide range of strategies to help children communicate and support children’s choices, to include them in making choices about their everyday care, and bigger life decisions. We gather feedback in ways tailored to individuals’ communication abilities and preferences. This may take the form of a paper easy-read sheet, communication mats, technological aids or verbal feedback. Feedback is used to shape the way we deliver our services.

Positive outcomes for children are promoted at all times. This includes outcomes relating to their health, safety and well-being, development, enjoyment and experience. We do this by working together with other agencies to deliver individualised plans of care to children, incorporating therapeutic assessments and programs, delivering and evaluating treatment plans, and gathering evidence to support children’s progression.

Children live here and will attend school from here, with visits supported to the family homes, or from family at Barnes if appropriate to do so. Bespoke packages can be delivered where education outcomes are agreed and provided in the home, however we will always work closely with educational professionals in order to get the child the educational placement that they require and are entitled to. We meet with parents and carers, providers, schools where applicable and other professionals involved in the child’s care to aid the completion of assessment, making certain we can meet the child’s needs.

Children are introduced to the home at a pace that suits them, starting with short visits to the home to meet the staff, have tea and spend time getting used to the home. We can admit emergency placements to support the needs of families, however this is on a case by case basis and involves careful assessment and planning taking into account the needs of children already living in the home.

Staff work alongside parents, children and other professionals to ensure all young people’s health needs are met during stays. This includes training in clinical skills and administering medications prescribed to children. We can work directly with local GP’s and pharmacies to acquire medications for children on longer stays, and obtain authorisation from parents confirming the medication, strength, dose, time of administration and any special administration notes. The home ensures new authorisation sheets are completed for any changes to medication, before administration can take place. On occasions where medication is changed during a clinic or phone consultation, we will endeavour to contact the prescriber for verification, requesting a corrected label for the next visit.

Staff may contact Devon Doctors or emergency services in the event of ill health or a medical emergency. Consent to medical treatment in such circumstances is sought prior to a child’s initial admission to the home and is reaffirmed annually. The team will support children to attend health appointments.

We are actively involved in supporting children to thrive and achieve educationally. We attend annual education healthcare plan reviews, multi-agency meetings and communicate with teachers regularly to promote consistent approaches and maximise positive educational outcomes for children. Staff visit schools during assessment processes and maintain those links throughout the child’s journey with us. We communicate well with schools by email, phone and through children’s home/school books, sharing information and achievements and ensuring each child is central to working practices.

We are able to provide a suitable environment for study and to help children with homework or school projects. We incorporate natural learning in all our activities, embedding essential life skills to promote independence for children and young people.

The staff team at Barnes are dedicated to the children they work with. We aim to provide a family feel where children feel safe and nurtured while having fun and new experiences. Visitors and new staff alike comment that the team are welcoming and friendly.

Our staff are recruited according to Devon County Council recruitment policies and procedures, which follow safer recruitment principles, and all staff meet the requirements of the Children’s Home Regulations 2015. All our staff have a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and work-related references including the most recent employer. Each staff member has an electronic staff file, which is kept secure at all times.

The home is open for 52 weeks of the year, but may close on Christmas day, New Year’s Day and staff training days but only if the young person is staying at home and then we would operate a standby system.

Staff numbers are based upon the needs of the child accessing the home and reviewed when required, utilising waking night staff when needed, with the support of a sleep in staff member and an on-call manager.

Barnes has a manager , a deputy manager, team leaders and residential support workers, with staff of both genders working in the home. Bank and agency staff are available to support staffing levels. The team are committed to development of themselves and the service through personal development plans and appraisals. Our recruitment of staff is designed to encourage a diverse workforce.

All staff attend mandatory training, including areas such as induction, paediatric first aid, medicines management, safeguarding level 3, equality and diversity, fire safety; and have access to clinical training as required, CPR training, basic food hygiene, risk assessment and writing skills. The team attend and complete a level 1 DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) course. Staff training is tailored and focused on the individual needs of the children accessing the home. Additional training to support specific needs for an individual can be sourced as required.

All permanent staff and any long term Agency staff receive monthly supervision, an annual appraisal by a named supervisor within the home. These are designed to be reflective and restorative, we use the PACE approach to this practice as well. Supervisions for all staff will include a discussion and or review of any safeguarding concerns, and a topic which changes each month. Support and specific supervision around safeguarding is available to the staff where required via safeguarding leads.

Barnes is committed to the ongoing professional development of our workforce and providing tangible opportunities for all team members to reach their full potential. We use a robust recoding and monitoring system both organisationally and locally to monitor and ensure compliance with required training and development activities.

With excellent learning and development resources and opportunities, we offer and support the completion of a comprehensive mandatory training schedule to every new team member as part of the induction to the home This includes a range of mandatory training as well as training linked to specific needs of the children and homes due to having good links with other teams of professionals and by being creative we are able to use different forms of research and training to develop the teams knowledge and skills enabling development of practice and ability to meet the changing needs of our home.

At Barnes we strongly believe in continued Learning and Development and in providing our teams the opportunity to develop existing skills as well as to gain new ones. We regularly review opportunities for succession planning for the team members giving them support to develop their knowledge and skilling leading to their development into different roles in the homes or services.

Opportunities to discuss, review and plan for development and learning is discussed regularly with the team in individual supervision, Annual appraisals and with the team in the team meeting to ensure we continue to meet the development needs or our workforce and the needs of the children that use the homes.

It is the aim of the home to ensure that childred feel relaxed and safe at all times. Safeguarding disclosures are treated sensitively and supportively, as per children’s homes policies and procedures. All disclosures are treated seriously and reported immediately to the children’s social work team or the emergency duty team should it be out of hours.

Our staff are required to provide written reports and contemporaneous notes of any allegation or disclosure within 24 hours. If abuse occurs, or is alleged to have occurred within the home, this will be reported appropriately.

All those involved with the provision of services for children in the children’s home settings must be alert to the possibility of abuse by other children, visitors and members of staff. Our staff attend relevant training and have access to supervision on safeguarding issues. All the home staff have access to training and information of the most current safeguarding policies and procedures.

The home promotes an atmosphere where bullying is not acceptable. If bullying is found to occur, effective strategies will be implemented to counter it. The service is committed to quality care and anti-discriminatory practice, fully embracing the principles of the Children Act 1989, as laid out in the Bill of Rights for Children and Every Child Matters 2004, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 and Equality Act 2010.

Our staff are aware that children need privacy; however, this must be balanced with issues of protection and safety. The privacy and dignity of the children are respected at all times, where appropriate. Any boundaries or barriers regarding the child’s privacy and confidentiality will be discussed with their parents/carers, lead professional, home manager and recorded in their care plan and/or risk assessment. This includes the use of monitoring devices in the home to counter identified risks to children when no other alternative is possible. Access into the building is restricted by use of number pads at the main entrances. Visitors must provide identification and records of visitors are kept. All visitors to the home must read and acknowledge our COVID-19 risk assessment.
Where children have Deprivation of Liberty Orders these will be incorporated into the child’s plans, with the aim to reduce any restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so, in communication with the child and the team around them.

At times children present behaviour that is challenging. This may be due to their disability, other medical conditions or as part of growing up and experiences they have encountered. If this becomes dangerous for either themselves or others, staff may need to intervene to maintain the safety of the child. Where required, any use of intervention by our trained staff will follow the guidelines set by Devon County Council and the Department of Health. This is used only as a last resort and reflects the presenting behaviour and associated risk, as well as following current guidelines. All children that use our service will have a care plan which includes a risk assessment and behaviour management plan or positive behaviour support plan. Staff attend positive behaviour support training. Interventions are supported with positive strategies, we use PACE and our DDP training to interact, listen and diffuse. Details of any physical intervention will be recorded and shared with parents/carers and relevant professionals. Records are reviewed regularly with the staff team and steps taken to minimise incidents wherever possible. Current legislation always underpins and support good practice.

Details on how to make a complaint are shared as part of the information given to children and their families at the first point of contact with the home. The home also provides a child’s handbook which includes how to access an advocate and how to raise any concerns or compliments. The complaints policy can be accessed at any time by contacting the home to make a request.

Children, their parents/carers, members of the public, agencies or professionals can all raise compliments or concerns to staff, lead professionals, or go directly to Devon Children’s Homes or Ofsted. Children who make a complaint will be protected from any reprisal for doing so and are supported to understand their rights.

Compliments, concerns and complaints can be made to:

Glenn Lobb – Service Manager for Countywide Services
County Hall
Topsham Road
Exeter
EX2 4QD
Telephone: 07814 779948

Devon County Council Customer Relations
FREEPOST DCC CUSTOMER RELATIONS
Telephone: 0800 212783
Email: customer.relations@devon.gov.uk

Ofsted
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester
M1 2WD
Telephone: 0300 123 1231
Email: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

We operate a manager on call system for out of office hours support.

The home complies with Devon County Council Human Resources policies and procedures. Devon County Council have Trade Union Representatives who are widely available to staff at any time for advice and support. Devon County Council also provide occupational health support for all staff and this is a confidential process where required.

For further information please contact:

Registered Manager: helen.stone@devon.gov.uk