Children's home SC434100

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 Safeguarding is weak. Young people go missing and are at risk of sexual exploitation and drug misuse.  Boundaries and routines are inconsistent. As a result, young people fail to make consistent progress or learn acceptable behaviour.  Young people have no set routine and get up and go to bed when they choose.  Young people fail to engage fully with their education. Engagement is sporadic and unstructured. Staff do not provide young people with a consistent message about engaging with education.  Staff have limited knowledge about the whereabouts of young people, who often leave the home for considerable periods of time late at night.  Not all staff have received appropriate training to enable them to meet the needs of the young people admitted to the home.  Record keeping in the home is poor. Risk assessments do not consider ways of risk reduction. Daily case records are not always completed.  Internal monitoring of the home is poor. The management team has not

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

supplied any internal monitoring reports to Ofsted as required. In addition, the provider fails to notify serious incidents to Ofsted as required.  Staff recruitment processes are not robust. Gaps in employment are not routinely explored at interview.

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The children’s home strengths

 Staff display a commitment to the young people in their care.  Parents and other professionals praise the dedication of staff and the fact that they do not give up on young people.  Young people say they like living in the home.

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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

10: The health and well-being standard In order to meet the health and well-being standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(a) the health and well-being of young people are met; (c) young people are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. 19 August

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (a) that staff: (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 (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm (vi) take effective action wherever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. 19 August

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 19 August

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must ensure that: (2)(a) staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 19 August

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Requirement Due date

23 Medicines (1) The registered person must make arrangements for the 19 August handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must ensure that: (a) at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification (Regulation 31(2)(a)) 19 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only: (a) employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3) (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. In particular this applies to exploring any gaps in employment history and ensuring that two written references are obtained. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) 19 August

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records 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: (iv) a description of the measure and its duration (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (a)(iv)(vii)) 19 August

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Requirement Due date

40: Notification of a serious event The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if: (a) a child is involved in or subject to or suspected of being involved in or subject to sexual exploitation (b) an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to the child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)) 19 August

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Requirement Due date

45: (1) The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every six months. (3) After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’) (4) The registered person must: (a) supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report 19 August within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(3)(4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

16: Statement of purpose (1) The registered person must compile, in relation to the children’s home, a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers matters listed in schedule 1. In particular, this relates to quoting appropriate regulations and standards, information about the qualifications and experience of staff. 19 August

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:   The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children’s home

This home is a privately operated children’s home for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural needs.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

8 February 2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Inadequate

The progress of young people is poor. Routines and boundaries are confused and do not assist young people in making progress. Staff do not consistently challenge inappropriate behaviour. This results in some young people having no set routine in terms of getting up or going to bed. Staff do not provide a consistent message around bedtimes. Sometimes young people use the office computer late at night. On one occasion, four ‘guests’ were allowed to enter the unit after 10.00pm to watch a movie on a school night. There are few, if any, consequences for young people when they display challenging or unsafe behaviour. The approach in supporting young people to engage and achieve in their learning has limited impact. Some young people have made slight improvements in their educational attendance. In one case, this has involved attending some home tutoring for the first time in a year. Attendance in this case is irregular, often

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Inadequate

dictated by the wishes of the young person. Tuition amounts to three days a week for five hours a day. Staff do not formally track the level of attendance or engagement in education. The staff believe that these have improved recently, but have not gathered any evidence to support this assumption. Attempts to ensure that young people are up and ready to engage with education are ineffectual and inconsistent. Tuition is supposed to start at 10.00am, but the young person is rarely up before 11.30am. Relationships between young people and staff are mixed. Staff at the home attempt to engage with young people. Key work sessions between staff and young people do occur on a regular basis and demonstrate that contentious issues such as drug misuse are discussed. However, other staff endure significant levels of harassment and threats of violence from young people. The service does not have a coherent strategy to reduce this, resulting in a number of staff left in vulnerable

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Inadequate

situations and fragile relationships. The quality of health care provision is poor. Young people register with a GP soon after admission to the home. However, not all young people have registered with opticians and the distance from their placing authority has sometimes hindered the completion of statutory medical assessments. Where young people are taking prescribed medication for diagnosed conditions, staff are not proactive in ensuring that they take this medication regularly. This severely limits the effectiveness of any medication and does not assist young people in meeting their health needs. Young people are allowed to smoke, both in the grounds and in the general environment of the home. No consistent message is given to young people about the dangers of smoking. There is no evidence of any assistance to cease smoking being offered to young people. Some young people have significant issues with

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Inadequate

drug misuse. Staff have been inconsistent in their approach to challenging this behaviour, with some staff not actively intervening to reduce this behaviour. The home is in the process of sourcing a therapist who will work with the staff team as well as the young people. All relevant checks have yet to be completed and so the therapist has yet to undertake any work in the home. The statement of purpose states that the home aims to provide a ‘non-institutional therapeutic environment’. Many members of the current staff team have not received any training that would equip them to provide therapeutic care. Young people say they enjoy living in the home and that they are more settled since starting to live there. They note that they like some of the staff and feel it is a good home. Parents are also positive about the home. They commend the fact that staff do ‘not give up on children’. Overall parents feel that their children have

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Inadequate

made progress at the home. Some professionals also think that young people have benefited from living in the home and believe that there has been a reduction in antisocial behaviour by young people.

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Inadequate

Children and young people living at this home are not safe. Managers and staff are unable to keep young people safe and protected from harm. Young people leave the home whenever they wish without any consistent challenge from staff. They will then often place themselves at risk in the local community. Staff do not always know where young people are when they leave the home. There is no consistent process of reporting missing episodes to the police. Young people often leave the home late at night and are not reported missing to the police. Managers claim that staff know where the young person is, but case records do not evidence this. It is unclear at what time of night young people are reported missing. There is no assessment of impact of age or vulnerability in terms of when to report young people missing. This means that young people as young as 13 are away from the home after midnight and are not reported missing. This significantly increases the

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Inadequate

risk that young people will come to harm. Young people receive extremely poor guidance to address their inappropriate and unlawful behaviour. A lack of boundaries means that there is no consistency or routine for young people. Young people are on a two-to-one staffing ratio, yet are often out in the community unsupervised. Staff fail to routinely challenge poor behaviour or drug misuse by young people. As a result, young people openly smoke drugs in and around the building, with little evidence of challenge from staff. On one occasion staff advised a young person not to smoke cannabis in the front garden but instead to smoke in the back garden. Staff do not ensure that young people are protected. On a number of occasions, staff at the home have made decisions around the care of young people without undertaking appropriate risk assessments. These have included taking young people to off-site parties hosted by members of staff without any assessment of

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Inadequate

the risks posed by or to the young person. On another occasion, a family member was allowed to visit their child at the home despite this not being allowed or authorised; the family member was subject to police bail for an alleged assault on the young person which resulted in the young person receiving a serious injury. This is a serious shortfall and one which directly placed the young person at significant risk of harm. Risk assessment is particularly weak. The risk assessments completed by the staff contain a lot of detail and assess the level of risk from one to three, with three being the highest risk. The assessments do not identify strategies to try to reduce the risk. In one instance, a young person was deemed to be at high risk of child sexual exploitation. However, the only preventative measure identified was to limit access to the internet. There were no strategies to reduce the risk to this young

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Inadequate

person when she was out in the local community, despite her considerable vulnerabilities. This means that young people remain exposed to risk without any tangible safeguards. Since the last inspection, one incident of restraint has been recorded by the home. This was a serious incident that resulted in a child protection enquiry and the suspension of two staff members while investigations were undertaken. The restraint record detailing this incident is inadequate. It provides insufficient detail as to the actual nature of the restraint, the duration or the impact on the young person. Neither of the staff members involved have provided written accounts. A report was written, however, this was completed by a deputy manager who was not present during the incident. Not all notifiable incidents are reported to Ofsted. The case records detail a number of occasions when serious incidents have occurred at the home which

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Inadequate

managers should have notified to Ofsted. These include incidents of young people gaining access to knives and petrol, as well as incidents where local residents have threatened staff and young people in the home. Recruitment processes in the home are not robust. One recent person appointed had a 14-month gap in their employment history. There was no evidence that this was explored at the formal interview. The date that the application form was completed and signed occurred two weeks after the actual interview had taken place. For another employee only one written reference was on file. Such lapses heighten the risk that young people will be looked after by adults who are not suitable to do so.

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Inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since December 2014. The current manager is still undertaking the registration process with Ofsted. The lack of a registered manager for longer than 26 weeks results in an inadequate judgement for the home in terms of leadership and management. The current manager is experienced in working in children’s homes. They are supported in the day-to day running of the home by a deputy manager who undertakes all staff supervision. Monitoring processes fail to consider the views and experiences of young people. External monthly monitoring reports are completed regularly by an independent consultant. These reports are detailed and identify tasks for the home to complete. However, they do not routinely include interviews with young people and their parents as required. Internal monitoring is weak. Leaders and managers have persistently failed to undertake a quality of care review at least every six months, as required by

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Inadequate

regulation. The manager was not clear about the timescales and submission dates of these reports. The responsible individual/director displayed a limited knowledge of the type and function of these internal monitoring reports. Managers also appeared to have little understanding of their role in ensuring that the internal quality of care review was completed. Daily recording in the home is poor. Case records are not always legible. On occasion it is difficult to identify who has completed records. It is also not always clear what actions staff have taken. On some days, no case records were completed. This is of considerable concern as information about the daily lives and progress of young people is lost. Staff turnover at the home has been high, with gaps in the team covered by a combination of agency and bank staff. The home has recently achieved a level of consistency in terms of staffing, but this has also resulted in some staff working

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Inadequate

very long shifts, often in excess of 48 hours. The staff training matrix is detailed and includes a long list of training courses. However, there are gaps in the training undertaken by new staff and the home has not had a first aid trained member of staff on duty at all times. New staff have the title of ‘residential therapeutic support worker’ but have undertaken no therapeutic training since being employed at the home. Managers are in the process of employing a therapist who will provide a service to both the young people as well as the staff team. In the interim, the manager intends to provide therapeutic guidance to the staff team despite having no therapeutic or counselling qualification himself. Staff receive formal supervision from the deputy manager. This is regular and has elements of reflective practice. New staff state that they have had a positive induction to the home and have received support from management to settle into

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Inadequate

their role. The home’s statement of purpose is inaccurate. This does not contain up-to-date information on the experience and qualifications of staff employed at the home. The manager has not produced a workforce plan, despite being tasked to do so in the last external monitoring report. During the course of the inspection, the manager produced a strategic development plan in lieu of the workforce plan. This document does not meet any of the requirements of the workforce plan.

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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 children looked after 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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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