Children's Home run by Acorn Homes (UK) Ltd in Kent

Unique reference number SC416915 Inspection date 18/01/2012 Inspector Lucy Ansell Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/05/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Brief description of the service

The private company currently has one children's home and a sixteen plus unit. This is situated close to the sea, park and within walking distance of the town centre. It is a large detached house able to accommodate up to seven young people aged between 10- to 17-years-old on admission. The home offers a unique and specialised service which is an activity based programme of care, offering all young people placed the opportunity to participate and engage in a number of sporting activities.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress.

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Progress

At the previous inspection, this was carried out in May 2011, just as the home had newly opened, the overall effectiveness judgement was satisfactory. There were two requirements made. These have both been addressed and the home has made good progress since the last inspection to positively improve the outcomes for the five young people in their care.

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Progress

The home was asked to ensure that electronic or mechanical monitoring devices for the surveillance of children are not used within the children's home. The home now uses the CCTV for outside monitoring and to promote the safety and welfare of the young people, staff and premises.

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Progress

The home has critically looked at the systems they had for monitoring and improving the quality of care provided to the young people. The manager has set up further systems for monitoring quality assurance and improving positive outcomes for the young people. These include comprehensive regulation 33 and 34 reports, quality assurance surveys to stakeholders and systems which monitor trends and patterns.

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Progress

The seven recommendations made at the last inspection have also been mostly addressed. The young people now benefit from a home that makes proper provision for their educational needs. The home has a designated staff member with an education background who is able to liaise with the local schools and promote attendance and ensure comprehensive educational records are being kept.

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Progress

The recommendation to ensure staff are supported to manage their responses and feelings arising from working with difficult children has not been fully met and has been repeated. In particular this relates to when children display challenging behaviours or have difficult emotional issues. The support for staff to understand how children's previous experiences can manifest in challenging behaviour is not fully demonstrated. The home has not provided training for staff on this particular issue and is looking for a trainer suitable to provide this. The home has improved its practice on supporting staff following any incidents to ensure any issues are picked up immediately. The management has made progress to ensure the qualified staff team are competent to manage the young people's behaviour well and the positive relationships have benefitted the young people.

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Progress

Young people now have comprehensive written care plans which outline the strategies to be used to enable them to achieve positive outcomes. The care plans explain how the young people are to be supported to have their needs met. Young people are involved in the development of these plans which are continually developing to meet ongoing needs. This ensures that each young person is aware of what is being written about them and how the adults caring for them think they have been progressing.

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Progress

Three recommendations were made to protect young people's safety by improving their recruitment practices. All staff responsible for recruitment and selection of staff have been trained in, understand and operate the good practices around safer recruitment. The recruitment records now show the date on which each check was completed and who carried out the check. The home is now able to demonstrate their recruitment practices are safeguarding the young people in their care.

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Progress

Young people's safety is ensured by risk assessments of the whole children's home environment being carried out on a regular basis to identify any potential sources of harm. However, there is no updated individual fire risk assessment for each room.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure risk assessments of the whole children's home environment are carried out, to identify any potential sources of harm to the children and are recorded in writing and regularly reviewed (NMS 10.8)  ensure staff receive training to manage their responses and feelings arising from working with children, particularly where children display challenging behaviours or have difficult emotional issues. (NMS 10.3)

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