Children's Home run by Esland South Limited in Greenwich

REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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Leadership and Management

 The home has been without a registered manager for over twenty-six weeks. This leads to an automatic judgement of inadequate for leadership and management. There have been two acting managers in post since 17 October 2014 which has not allowed for consistency in leadership and oversight of practice.  Staff are not yet consistently supported through regular supervision and expectations of supervision are not evident.  A location assessment has not yet been completed and sent to the regulator.

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Safeguarding Children

 Young people are going missing from this home on a regular basis.  Impact risk assessments and matching for new admissions is not robust enough to protect existing residents from disruption. Impact risk assessments do not sufficiently consider the mix of young people placed.

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Overall outcomes for young people

 There are mixed outcomes for young people living at this home.  There has not been enough consideration of placement or planning to prevent young people from going missing.  Progress to care plans is limited and relationships not established due to young people absconding.

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The children's home strengths

 Policies and procedures have been updated to reflect the quality standards and regulations.  The staff team are experienced and well qualified. They support each other and work well together as a team.  When young people have been present there are good examples of staff working hard to progress care plans.  This home has developed good working practice with the Local Authority Designated Officer in an attempt to minimise risks to young people missing from care.  External monitoring of this service is consistent and timely reports are provided to the regulator to keep them informed.  There are safe recruitment practices in place which ensure young people’s safety.  Other professionals feel the staff work well with them and keep them well informed.  The home environment was undergoing some essential repairs and decoration during the inspection. These have been recognised and attended-to promptly.

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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

Appointment of manager. 27.(1) The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if – (a) There is no registered manager in respect of the home; and (b) The registered provider – (iii) is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27(1)(a & b)(iii)) 30/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

14. The Care Planning Standard. In order to meet the care planning standard with particular reference to admissions and matching of young people, the registered person to ensure – 14. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure – (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. (Regulation 14(2)(a)) 31/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard. In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to the location assessment, the registered person to ensure – 12. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure – (c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12(2)(c)) 31/07/2015

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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

 The registered person should only accept placement for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The statement of purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of children the home is set up and equipped to care for. (The Guide – the care planning standard, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (The Guide – employment and supervision of staff, page 61, paragraph 13.2) 

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Information about this children's home

This privately run children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people aged from 12 and 17 years with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

25/03/2015 interim sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement

Staff want to encourage and support children and young people to build trusted and secure relationships with them. They feel frustrated by the problem of children and young people going missing from the home as there is limited opportunity to promote trusting relationships.

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requires improvement

Young people’s meetings are held. However, the acting manager says that young people are very hard to engage, refuse to attend, are out or missing. Incentives to attend have been tried with some success, such as arranging activities or providing favourite foods. Young people generally discuss wanting towels in the bathrooms and food. If they do not attend then they are consulted individually on issues about the running of the home. There is not yet in place a sufficiently robust system for capturing young people’s feedback.

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requires improvement

Young people know how to complain; one young person says, ‘I know how to complain, there are usually forms lying around which can be filled in.’ Another young person was not happy about being placed so far from family and friends and had been supported by the staff to have an advocate to talk to and represent him.

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requires improvement

Most young people were on role at some education provision and there was evidence of hard work to get them into and engaged in education. One young person who hadn’t been in education for a number of years when they arrived was encouraged and supported to complete a preparatory course and gain a certificate at a local college. Attendance is promoted and supported by staff and incentives given. The outcome of this is improved confidence and a cessation of self-harming behaviour. Another young person was encouraged to attend and was on role at a local pupil referral unit; although attendance was sporadic, this was an improvement from this young person’s starting point.

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requires improvement

There is limited evidence of young people engaging within the community or accessing social, educational or recreational activities outside of the home. The staff are planning to engage young people in a programme of activities but are unable to do so as young people are frequently missing from care.

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requires improvement

Self-care skills which promote a positive sense of self and confidence are not apparent. One young person is moving onto semi-independent living but progress with any preparation has been seriously delayed due to them being missing from care over a significant period of time. The home had appropriately challenged the placing authority’s care plan for this young person to ensure they had ongoing support with independent living.

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requires improvement

Young people’s health needs are met when they are present. All files had health plans available and when young people are present there is good evidence of staff supporting healthy eating, attendance at preventative appointments and being supported to engage in specialist services. For example one young person was supported to attend the Tavistock clinic for specialist treatment. Staff promoted referrals to children and adolescent mental health services and supported young people to attend youth offending services.

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requires improvement

Young people are not yet welcomed to this home with careful and considered planning. There is not yet enough thought put into planning to support new admissions who have complex needs and to support the existing residents who also have complex needs. The mix of needs is overwhelming. Young people are going missing, making it difficult to undertake preventative and safeguarding work. A recent example is a young person who had only just arrived at this home had immediately gone missing with an existing resident and an ex-resident who was visiting the home. The staff team are both experienced and committed to young people. One staff summed up the home’s difficulty clearly; ‘I like to work with young people who engage, I can’t see any progress when they abscond all the time.’

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requires improvement

Young people’s diversity, identity and individual needs are considered. The staff group reflect the young people’s backgrounds. No young people have religious or dietary requirements but specialist training has been provided to staff to meet one young person’s specific individual needs.

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requires improvement

Children and young people are offered a safe environment to live in but are not yet being offered strong enough action from staff to support and protect them. There is not enough consideration of the impact risk assessments and not enough planning to engage and support young people to reduce risks. There is not yet consistent, regular and effective contact and planning with professionals that is informing plans robustly enough to make progressive change.

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requires improvement

Young people are missing and unable to be supported with concerns. It is unclear as to how well young people develop trusted relationships. This is difficult to assess (and too soon) for two of the young people who have not been in placement for very long. One young person did not feel listened-to or that there are trusting relationships with staff to make supportive plans, stating: ‘I find the organisation annoying, too bureaucratic and inflexible, I’m not allowed to be trusted to negotiate nights off the unit.’

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requires improvement

Risks for young people are not fully understood. The impact assessment is not fully considered when making decisions about staff ability to meet needs. There is evidence of plans to reduce risks but not enough consideration is given to external risks for young people. Staff are taking time to try and manage behaviour but liaison with all involved in care plans is not sufficiently robust.

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requires improvement

The home has developed good well-co-ordinated responses to young people who go missing. Clear policy and plans are in place where the requirement of statutory guidance is implemented well. The home takes appropriate steps to advise and inform necessary agencies and search for young people. Despite this, the frequency of young people going missing is increasing and the home is not yet reducing this trend. There is no clear plan to address the missing episodes strategically; staff do not recognise this as an issue. They have not planned enough in light of young people’s impact risk assessments, especially where emergency placements have been made.

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requires improvement

There are clear risk assessments, but lack of clarity and agreement between the home and placing authorities has led to young people feeling they cannot be trusted to take managed and age-appropriate risks.

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requires improvement

There was limited opportunity to find out what young people think about Chestnut Rise because at the time of the inspection two of the three were missing. However, there is evidence that staff do respond with clear boundaries for safe and acceptable behaviour, for example in key-work sessions and behaviour management plans. Restraint is rarely used and sanctions where required have been commensurate with the misdemeanour and have been accurately recorded. Rewards have been used to encourage positive behaviour; however, providing cash rewards could inadvertently be encouraging absconding. Positive behaviour is promoted; young people can earn additional money for undertaking useful tasks. All staff are well trained in conflict resolution (team teach) and there is a good team approach.

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requires improvement

Staff have relationships with safeguarding partners, but these are not fully developed to ensure prompt and joined-up responses to young people who are missing from care and child sexual exploitation (CSE). However, it is not yet doing enough to keep young people as safe as they possibly can through development of these key networks.

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requires improvement

Staff are aware of child protection policies; the home has a clear and updated policy including a good e-safety policy. The recruitment practice is robust which helps to keep young people safe from inappropriate people working in their home.

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requires improvement

The home environment is spacious and homely. Minor repairs and decoration are attended to promptly which promotes a sense of self-worth for children and young people.

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requires improvement

The home takes adequate precautions to prevent and protect against fire. Correct fire equipment is available at the home and records indicate regular compliance to checks and fire drills. Fire extinguishers are currently located in the staff office due to a recent escalation in young people’s behaviour which resulted in damage to equipment. The acting manager advises that consideration is being given to purchasing covers for the extinguishers. As a preventative measure, the fire brigade will come and talk to young people about the importance of fire safety, key work sessions are planned to discuss this individually and the fire maintenance team arrived to refill the extinguishers during the inspection.

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inadequate

This area is inadequate as there has not been a Registered Manager for over 26 weeks since 17 October 2014, which is a breach of regulation. This leads to an automatic judgement of inadequate. The most recent application to register the acting manager has been returned to the registered individual as it was submitted on the wrong form and included the wrong fee.

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inadequate

There is an experienced staff team working at this home. Some have been employed over a number of years and they work well together as a team. The team is currently carrying a vacancy and another member of staff is due to leave shortly. Recruitment of staff is ongoing, with three new starters awaiting clearance to begin. Recruitment practice is robust with appropriate checks and safeguards in place.

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inadequate

There is regular independent monitoring of this home, with reports submitted in a timely way. Feedback has been gathered from parents and professionals and action plans formulated in response to monitoring reports. Feedback from young people is not so evident and attempts to engage young people in this process have not had the desired response.

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inadequate

There is good evidence that complaints are dealt with and acted upon appropriately.

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inadequate

One recommendation from the last inspection report remains unmet; this is in relation to the location assessment, which is still incomplete. A requirement is made at this inspection in relation to completing this. While there are clear care plans in place and staff attend meetings to support young people, progress to plans has been delayed due to young people being regularly missing from care.

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inadequate

There is evidence of good working relationships with the day-to-day professionals involved in young people’s care; there is good reported communication and regular updates. Networking with the wider safeguarding partners is less developed, and given that young people are frequently missing, this networking could provide better information sharing to further safeguard young people. One agency says, ‘They contact us and we can see they are trying to do the right things, limiting damage by following correct process, but further sharing would promote better safeguarding.’

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inadequate

Staff say that they have good relationships with neighbours and keep them regularly informed of any issues. Beyond this there is limited involvement within the wider community.

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inadequate

The interim manager is following monitoring advice to call reviews where young people’s care plans made limited progress. One care plan was being robustly challenged, for example a young person due to leave the unit with no supported plan was enabled to remain in the home until a clearer plan was formulated.

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inadequate

Progress for two newer resident’s care plans is not so evident. Both young people were missing throughout this inspection. There is limited evidence to demonstrate this home is able to make a positive impact for them and this raises questions about the appropriateness of admission and matching processes.

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inadequate

The contact risk assessments are not robustly or realistically considering the impact of new admissions on young people already in placement. For example, there is clear information in the most recent referrals of two young people’s impact assessments that clearly show that a placement here would be complex. These placements have gone ahead despite concerns raised and have led to young people being missing from care and at risk.

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inadequate

Training opportunities for staff are good, effective and specific, for example framework and regulation training and transgender training. Staff are not yet being sufficiently helped to reflect on the emotional impact of working with young people’s complex needs. Staff supervision does not make clear expectations, nor provide space for reflection on practice.

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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

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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

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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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