Children's Home run by J & R Care Limited in Kent

Unique reference number SC065684 Inspection date 11/03/2014 Inspector Keith Riley Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 07/11/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is privately run and provides care and accommodation for no more than five young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Education is provided in an adjacent building.

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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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Progress

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

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Progress

The Registered Manager ensures that significant incidents are notified to the relevant authority and that there is a system for monitoring the quality of care. However, the system is ineffective. Significant incidents or comments from young people are not analysed in sufficient detail. The formal internal monitoring systems, such as regulation 34 reports, do not provide an analysis of incidents with clear outcomes or subsequent reflection on practice. This means there is the risk that young people are not fully safeguarded and that the quality of care remains static.

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Progress

The home was required to take adequate precautions against the risk of fire. The vast majority of the recommendations made by an independent expert have been implemented. However, the senior management team have decided not to complete one recommendation. This decision is currently awaiting ratification by the fire and rescue service. Fire escape routes are clearly marked and there is an evacuation procedure in place. However, the fire escape routes are locked at night. Although all staff carry a master key, there is no risk assessment in place to reflect practice. This means there is the potential for the misunderstanding of procedures, thereby placing young people at risk during the night. Likewise, other established practices, such as keeping fire extinguishers behind a locked door and silencing the alarm, are not documented. This means that the overall approach to fire safety is inadequate. The

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Progress

risk to young people, staff and visitors is not being fully managed and controlled.

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Progress

The home was required to use physical intervention only in accordance with regulation, namely in the event of immediate risk of serious injury or serious damage. However, guidance is provided to staff authorising the use of restraint to prevent a young person leaving the home, which is a breach of statutory guidance and regulations. Other strategies to deter young people from leaving the home, such as the removal of footwear, are an ineffective and unreasonable measure of control. Although there is a missing person policy in place, this does not take into account the local Runaway and Missing from Care and Home (RMFHC) protocols. Care plans do not inform staff when to alert the police and risk assessments do not identify the particular vulnerabilities of each young person. Records do not clearly detail the action taken by staff during the missing episode. Young people are not fully supported to understand the risks and dangers they place themselves in when they

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Progress

do go missing. The opportunity to speak to someone independent of the home upon their return is not always formally offered to them. Young people are not fully empowered to keep themselves safe when missing, staff are provided with inadequate guidance and records do not evidence a thorough and robust response when young people leave the home. This places young people at risk of harm.

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Progress

There is a safeguarding and child protection policy in place. Procedures have been submitted to the Local Safeguarding Children's Board and Local Authority Designated Officer for consideration. The Registered Manager ensures that referrals are made to the relevant authorities and there is corroborative working to keep young people as safe as possible. However, there is insufficient written evidence to demonstrate that the procedure is followed rigorously on each occasion, for example when young people raise concerns or further practice issues come to light during another investigation. Although the Registered Manager can give an account of each incident, his findings are not suitably recorded in accordance with the regulations. This means there is insufficient scrutiny of potential safeguarding issues to confirm a robust and rigorous approach to the on-going safety of young people.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) promote and make proper provision for the safeguarding and welfare of children accommodated in the children’s home, in particular ensure risk assessments detail all known risks and 30/04/2014 control measures to clearly guide staff when children go missing (Regulation 11 (1)(a))

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure the system to improve the quality of care provided in the children's home is effective, in particular the analysis of incidents (Regulation 34 (1)(b)) 30/04/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure there are adequate precautions against the risk of fire, in particular ensure the home's fire risk assessment reflects practice (Regulation 32 (1)(a)) 30/04/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) consult with the fire and rescue service to ensure the precautions taken against the risk of fire are adequate (Regulation 32 (1)) 30/04/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that a measure of restraint is only used on a child accommodated in the home for the purpose of preventing injury to any person or preventing serious damage to the property of any person (Regulation 17 (1)(a)(b)) 30/04/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure no measure of control which is unreasonable is used at any time on children accommodated in a children’s home (Regulation 17 (1)) 30/04/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure written records are kept of the action taken in response to any allegation of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 16 (2)(d)) 30/04/2014

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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 staff do not exceed current legislation and government guidance on the measures they can take to prevent a child leaving without permission (NMS 5.3)  ensure the home’s procedures are compatible with and have regard to the Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocols and procedures maintained and managed by the police or by the local authority for the area where the home is located (NMS 5.6)  ensure children are helped to understand the dangers and risks of leaving the home without permission and are made aware of where they can access help if they consider running away (NMS 5.8)  ensure written records kept by the home when a child goes missing detail action taken by staff, the circumstances of the child’s return, any reasons given by the child for running away from the home and any action taken in the light of those reasons. (NMS 5.10)

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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.

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