Children's Home run by Park Blue Homes Limited in Wiltshire

Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 The home is operating outside of its conditions of registration.  Two compliance notices have been issued following this inspection; to improve the leadership and management of the home and to address the shortfalls in the recruitment process of new staff.  The leaders and managers do not have the skills or experience to manage the children‘s emotional needs and behaviour.  The staff do not have the skills or experience to manage the children‘s emotional needs and behaviour.  The recruitment processes for new staff are inadequate.  The sanctions used are excessive, ineffective and not recorded properly.  The leaders and managers endorse a culture of punishment in response to children in crisis. This is not in-line with the mission statement in the home‘s statement of purpose.  The professional supervision arrangements for the manager and the previous deputy manager are inadequate.  The staff do not provide the children with a well-kept and homely

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

environment to live in.  The leaders and managers do not use monitoring processes effectively.  The manager does not listen to the views of the children. Children do not have a phone to use without having to ask staff first. The complaints procedure information for children is incorrect.  The children‘s risk assessments are not accurate concerning their personal care and supervision around other children.

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The children's home strengths

 The staff promote the physical health needs of the children well  The children have good attendance at their education placements

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose standard, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority‘s or a relevant person‘s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child‘s needs are met in accordance with the child‘s relevant plans. 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(c) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— (i) meet the needs of each child; and (ii) enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

7: The children's views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children‘s views, wishes and feelings standard, the registered person must ensure that children receive care from staff who:

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Requirement Due date

(1) (a) develop positive relationships with them; (b) engage with them; and (c) take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‘s care and welfare and their lives. 22/01/2016 (c) keep the children‘s guide and the home‘s complaints procedure under review and seek children‘s comments before revising either document.

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Requirement Due date

(1) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) meet each child‘s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child‘s relevant plans; (ix) understand how children‘s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(a) (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child‘s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; with particular reference to young people‘s risk assessments concerning their personal care and supervision around other young people. 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard *

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the 13/11/2015 registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(2) (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‘s statement of purpose; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on — (i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2) (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home‘s statement of purpose. 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‘s home a statement (―the statement of purpose‖) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1)) 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

19: Behaviour management and discipline 22/01/2016 The registered person must ensure that no measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 91) (2))

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Requirement Due date

22: Contact and access to communications

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children are provided at all reasonable times with access to the following facilities which they may use without reference to persons working in the home

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Requirement Due date

(a) a telephone on which to make and receive telephone calls in private. (Regulation 22 (5) (a)) 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‘s safety. The registered person may only — (a) employ an individual to work at the children‘s home; or (b) if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that — (a) the individual is of integrity and good character; (b) the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; (c) the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation (1)

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Requirement Due date

(a) The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction and that all employees (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(b)) 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children 22/01/2016 (1) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which (a) is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children‘s home from abuse or neglect; with particular reference to preparing and implementing a personal care policy. (Regulation 34 (1) (a))

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— (a) within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— (i) the name of the child; (ii) details of the child‘s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; (iii) the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv) a description of the measure and its duration; (v) details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; (vi) the name of the person who used the measure (―the user‖), and of any other person present when the measure was used; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and (viii) a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure.

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Requirement Due date

(b) within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (―the authorised person‖) — (i) has spoken to the user about the measure; and (ii) has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

(c) within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3) (a) (i) – (vii) (b) (i)(ii) (c)) 22/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (―a quality of care review‖) at least once every 6 months. 22/01/2016 In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— (a) the quality of care provided for children; (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children‘s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and (c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. The system referred to must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2) (a) (b) (c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a small private provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children and young people, who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11 December 2014 Registration No judgement

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Inadequate

The staff do not meet the emotional and behavioural needs of the children. The leaders, managers and staff do not understand how children‘s previous experiences and present emotions are communicated through behaviour. The staff are not provided with leadership which helps them manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children. A member of the staff team, who is also one of the directors, has written a report in an opinionated and unprofessional manner in response to an incident which she was involved in. The staff lack the de-escalation skills to manage incidents safely. They will often use inflammatory remarks during an incident; such as, they will lock the child out of their bedroom, strip all of their belongings out of their room and make them sleep in a staff room.

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Inadequate

Staff do not have the skill to maintain positive relationships with one child, when she displays challenging behaviour. One child states that she is scared, she does not feel safe with any of the staff and that they argue with her. Children are not satisfied with the response to issues which they raise with the manager. Also, the children do not have a copy of the correct complaints procedure, as it states that ‗all complaints will be investigated by the manager.‘ The manager confirms this is not the case as complaints made about him will be looked into by the Responsible Individual.

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Inadequate

The managers and staff do not challenge and engage with the wider system to ensure that the children‘s needs are met. They did not challenge the action of the police when they were called to the home following an incident. This resulted in a 12 year old girl being handcuffed three hours after an incident of physical aggression. She was detained in a police car for 45 minutes and was told she may be taken to a cell. Staff did not stop the police or report their actions as unnecessary. The Responsible Individual condones the police response and states that he feels it was proportionate.

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Inadequate

The staff do not provide a homely and well-kept environment throughout. There are padlocks on kitchen cupboards, a young person‘s bedroom door lock is broken, a young person‘s bathroom does not have a lock on it and does not have frosted glass windows. Also, the notice board in the kitchen contains health and safety information and house rules, which are not conducive to a family home environment.

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Inadequate

All the children have good attendance at their schools. The staff meet the physical health needs of the children well. As such, children who moved into the home overweight and with a poor diet, have lost weight and now enjoy a much healthier range of foods. The leaders and staff promote lots of fresh air and physical exercise. Children are encouraged to join local sports clubs and go for long walks in the countryside. Children have access to horses and four acres of land at the home. They also go for riding lessons at nearby stables and take part in gymkhana competitions. The staff take the children to see local events and attractions, as well as on activities; such as, to an indoor trampoline centre and trips to London to see the X-factor.

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Inadequate

The Responsible Individual‘s processes for recruiting staff are inadequate. New staff are not carefully selected and vetted before they commence working with children. They start to work with children before their DBS certificate is issued and without references in place. The Responsible Individual has not obtained verification from a staff member‘s most recent employer where they had worked with children, nor have they obtained the reason that their employment ended. He does not obtain a full employment history of new staff and does not explore the gaps in their employment. The Responsible Individual does not hold a record of photo identification being checked as part of all staff‘s applications.

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Inadequate

The Responsible Individual‘s assessment of a member of staff with declared DBS convictions to work with children is inadequate. He does not know what one of the convictions was for and his assessment focuses on the needs of the ‗business‘ and not the vulnerabilities of the children. The same member of staff does not have valid references, as they have not been verified as being written by the referees.

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Inadequate

The leaders, managers and staff use excessive sanctions in response to the behaviour presented by one child. The sanctions used are repetitive and ineffective. The recording of sanctions is also poor. It does not routinely include the details of the child‘s behaviour prior to the measure being imposed, an accurate description of the sanction imposed, its duration and the effectiveness of the measure used. The records do not confirm the manager has spoken to the staff imposing the sanction as part of their monitoring. The children‘s views are recorded on most occasions; however, the comments are quoted as an initial reaction by the child. For example, ‗I don‘t care‘ and ‗I didn‘t want to do it anyway.‘ The manager or staff do not take time to speak with the children following the implementation of sanctions to check their understanding of the measure and explore their feelings. The children are not offered medical attention following a restraint. They are not

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Inadequate

engaged in effective conversation after the physical intervention to explore if they are okay and if they understand the reason for the use of the measure. The staff do not have proper written guidance to tell them how to manage children‘s personal care needs. The home does not have an intimate care policy and the risk assessment for a child whose personal care needs are supported by staff is incorrect. Another risk assessment for a child does not detail the necessary staff supervision arrangements for when they are around other children.

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Inadequate

The children do not have access to telephone without having to ask staff first. This does not protect the children if they wish to make a complaint to an outside agency. It also does not provide them with the opportunity to maintain social friendships and confidentially phone advice lines.

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Inadequate

There has been no registered manager in post since February 2015. A manager has been appointed and his application was submitted in May 2015. This is currently being considered by Ofsted.

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Inadequate

The home is operating outside of its conditions of registration and its statement of purpose. The Responsible Individual has admitted two children with a learning disability, whereas the home is only registered to provide care and accommodation for children who may display emotional and or behavioural difficulties.

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Inadequate

The Responsible Individual and the manager do not lead the staff in-line with the mission statement in the home‘s statement of purpose. This includes the statement - ‗We pride ourselves on being none institutionalised and work by a system of positive behaviour management rather than negative energies and a no philosophy.‘ In actuality staff are encouraged to use punishment in response to children‘s behaviour rather being kind and calm. The staff do not have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. They lack underpinning training which would help them support children with attachment needs and separation issues. They also lack training to support children who may display inappropriate sexualised behaviour. Only one of the current staff team has received behaviour management training. A member of staff stated that they ‗do not know how to de-escalate the children when they are

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Inadequate

in crisis.‘ All of the current staff team began working at the home in the last four months, only one has previous experience of working with children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties in a residential setting. One member of staff began working with the young people before they had completed their induction training. One auxiliary staff member, who works alongside children, has not received safeguarding training. The Responsible Individual, the previous deputy manager (who is also one of the directors), and the manager fail to understand how the quality of care provided at the home impacts on the experience of the children. They respond inappropriately to incidents; not demonstrating unconditional positive regard to the children in their care. It is reported that some staff shout at the children and enter into a power struggle. The arrangement for the professional supervision of the staff is ineffective. The

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Inadequate

manager does not receive practice-related supervision by a person with the appropriate experience or professional qualification. The manager states that the previous deputy manager did not receive supervision for four months and that she was having conversations with him during this time helping him into his role. Current supervision arrangements contravene those outlined in the statement of purpose. The Responsible Individual and the manager do not use the monitoring and review systems of the home effectively. The independent visitor carries out monthly visits where she has highlighted some of the concerns raised during this inspection. The manager‘s monitoring is ineffective as it is not an accurate account of the records and practice. Also, it does not include and use the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. Therefore, the monitoring of the home is not used effectively to make continuous improvement in the quality of the care

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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