Children's Home run by Adeza Care Homes Limited in Waltham Forest

Unique reference number SC032468 Inspection date 03/03/2014 Inspector Tola Akinde-Hummel Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 29/07/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a privately run children’s home and it is one of two children's homes owned by the organisation, within the locality. This home caters for an older age range with an emphasis on semi-independent living. The home is registered to provide support and accommodation to four young people of either gender. These young people may have emotional or behavioural difficulties or a mild mental disorder.

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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 satisfactory progress .

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Progress

The full inspection was completed in July 2013. The home received an overall judgement of good. One requirement and three recommendations for improvement were made as a result of the inspection.

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Progress

The home was asked to review and update the statement of purpose to ensure it remained relevant. This has been completed and reference to the independence programme has been amended. The document more accurately reflects the home's ethos and work carried out by the staff team.

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Progress

Recommendations focused on the home providing evidence of how the home's development and support of young people. Young people no longer consider that there is unreasonable delay in decisions being made if the manager is not available. One young person said, 'I have no problems here, they look after me.' Staff spend time with young people and try to explore their wishes and feelings and implement these whenever possible and reasonable. As a result young people feel listened to.

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Progress

Issues raised regarding sanctions and rewards for behaviour related to the lack of transparency about how and when rewards are given to young people. The home have amended their policy and made this clear for young people. However in the process, the home have not been explicit about what sanctions will be considered for unacceptable behaviour. Therefore; a lack of clarity and boundaries prevent young people having a full understanding of the consequences of their behaviour. Staff state they use methods apart from the one recorded ( which has been described as ineffective) such as withholding computer and internet access. These sanctions are not recorded in any of the home's records.

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Progress

There is a written development plan in place that demonstrates the home's intention to develop in the next 12 months. Plans include the continued professional development of staff, improved links with the wider professional network and more structured consultation and feedback from young people. This will allow the home to monitor the impact of the care and support provided across the home.

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Progress

Presently young people are not working with the home or the professional network to execute their care plans. Young people have had an extended period of absence from the home, refused to engage with medical professionals and been inconsistent with regards to education. This means that little progress has been made to improve the outcomes for young people since the previous inspection. The home contributes to regular strategy, planning and review meetings to discuss the issues and lack of progress. All parties agree that action needs to be taken to address this.

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Progress

The home recognises that some placements may not be in the best interest of the young person but have not been robust enough in their approach to addressing these issues clearly with the network. However; the home have actively worked with education professionals to re- integrate young people back into education with some success. One education professional said, ' The home have been rock solid about trying to help young people engage, they challenge the effectiveness of the care plan. They always contact us if they need help.'

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Progress

Young people's case records kept by the home are of varying quality, a number of entries are recorded later than acceptable and are not always signed by the author. This means that the level of accuracy cannot be easily determined.

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Progress

The home provides a safe and comfortable environment with facilities and assistance to enable them to develop their independent living skills. Staff remain kind and caring but appear to have exhausted strategies to deal with opposition displayed by young people to comply with what is expected of them. One social work professional said, 'The home need to provide more robust messages especially around sanctions. Young people are not engaging, this is not due to lack of support, they are not engaging with all services on offer.'

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Progress

Staff have been able to plan and facilitate trips with young people to re establish relationships with their family and visit other parts of the country that are significant to them. Birthdays are celebrated and young people are made to feel valued.

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Progress

The home provides monthly monitoring reports to Ofsted. On a number of occasions these have raised queries which the home has responded to and suitably addressed.

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Progress

The Registered manager of the home has very recently had to take temporary leave. Currently the home is being managed by the Registered Manager of the sister home. More permanent arrangements to cover this situation are being explored to ensure the homes always have a manager available. The homes are less than 10 minutes apart by car.

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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) keep under review and where appropriate revise the behaviour management policy ( Regulation 17 (2) 30/05/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain in respect of each child who is accommodated in a children's home a record in permanent form which is kept up to date, signed and dated by the author of each written entry (Regulation 28 (1) (a) (b) ( c) ) 30/05/2014

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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 that the home contributes effectively to each child's placement plan review and statutory review of the child's care plan NMS 25.3)  clear arrangements are in place to ensure appropriate management of the home when the registered manager is absent (NMS 21.5)

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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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