Children's home run by Phoenix Childcare Ltd in North Devon

Inadequate

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

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 There are serious failings in the leadership and management of the home. These include a lack of effective oversight of records, and monitoring and review of care practice to promote positive outcomes for young people. The deployment of staff lacks the consideration needed to ensure the best possible care and protection for young people.  There is insufficient staff on duty during the night to protect the welfare of, or to safeguard, the two young people living in the home. This has resulted in an unnecessary reliance on police involvement to deal with incidents of young people going missing at night.  A lack of effective action and consideration by staff when faced with safeguarding concerns has left young people vulnerable. On one occasion, a young person was left in her room for eight hours. Staff failed to intervene and make sure the young person was safe and well.  There has been a recent but sustained breakdown in relationships and

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

communication between one young person and most of the staff team, including the home’s manager. This has led to the young person developing a mistrust of staff and becoming increasingly withdrawn and isolated.  Care plans are not up to date. A lack of information and discussion about an imminent move from the home has led to increased anxiety and frustration for one young person. Plans demonstrate little understanding of, or action to promote, a young person’s cultural and identity needs.

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The children’s home strengths

 Young people completed full-time education, sustaining a good attendance record and undertaking GCSE examinations.  One young person who has been a long-term resident has flourished in the home. The young person is looking forward to a college placement and continues to take part in a wide range of activities to enhance their social and emotional well-being. They have clear aspirations for the future and enjoy life in the home.  The home has offered stability of placement for both young people. This is particularly significant for one young person and follows nine previous placement moves.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

(1) In order to meet the protection of children standard, children are protected from harm and are enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to 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 (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies (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

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationships standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(1) 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. 28 August (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure: (a) that staff: (i) meet each child’s emotional and behavioural needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (vi) help each child to understand in a way that is appropriate,

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Requirement Due date

according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful (viii) strive to gain each child’s respect and trust (ix) understand how children’s previous 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 (xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable, and (xiii) have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive

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Requirement Due date

(1) In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure that children: (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home, and (b) have a positive experience of arriving at and moving on from the home. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 28 August 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: (b) that arrangements are in place to: (i) ensure the effective induction of each child into the home (iii) plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home (c) that each child’s plans are followed.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that: (a) helps children to fulfil their potential (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to: (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 (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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

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Requirement Due date

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: (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received, and (h) monitor and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 28 August

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Requirement Due date

6. The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must: (2)(b) (iii) treat each child with dignity and respect 28 August (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs taking into account the child’s background (d) ensure that the care provided satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3). (3) The conditions are: (b) that the care meets the child’s needs (c) that the care is delivered by a person who (i) has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care, and (ii) is under the supervision of a person who is appropriately skilled and qualified to supervise that care.

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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: (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. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to: (a) ensure that staff: (iv) regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care (b) ensure that the child is given appropriate advocacy support. 28 August

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that, within 24 hrs of any measure of restraint, a record is made which includes the detail as required in section (3)(a)(i-viii) of the regulation, and that, within 24 hrs of the use of any restraint, the registered person: (i) has spoken to the user about the measure, and (ii) has signed the record to confirm its accuracy. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i-viii) (b)(i-ii)). 28 August

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Requirement Due date

32: Fitness of workers Ensure that full and satisfactory information has been obtained for all staff working in the home in respect of each of the matters listed in Schedule 2. In particular, 6. A full employment history, together with a satisfactory explanation of any gaps in employment in writing. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) 28 August 25: Fire precautions Ensure that by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and children are aware of the procedure to be followed in the case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 28 August

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. This particularly relates to ensuring that young people have sufficient storage space for their belongings and that attention is given to maintenance of the garden area. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Ensure that all staff are familiar with the record keeping policy and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third party information. Information about a child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider of education and social care for children and young people. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or a learning disability.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

27 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19 November 2015 Full Requires improvement

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Recent inspection history

19 March 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inadequate

The experiences and progress for young people are too variable. For one young person, a stable home has been provided for nearly three years. She has a clear sense of belonging and the environment has lots of her photographs and belongings throughout. Following a significant period on her own with the staff team, she has struggled to share with a new resident. Staff have been unable to help the young people develop a meaningful relationship.

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Inadequate

Staff have failed to provide any points of identity or cultural reference to make one young person feel valued and welcome in the home. Her experiences of living in the home are poor. She has not had equal access to rewards or, more recently, to money for leisure activities. Many of these inequalities are blamed by the manager on the young person’s recent lack of communication and engagement.

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Inadequate

Both young people finished their full-time compulsory education and took examinations at the end of the school term. One has clear, achievable, aspirations for the future and is looking forward to attending college.

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Inadequate

The home has failed to support a positive and planned move from this home to more suitable accommodation for one young person; the manager gave a month’s notice to the young person’s local authority to end the placement. This has caused additional stress and anxiety for the young person. Three days before she was due to move, the young person had not visited her new home and neither did she or the manager have the address or any written information about it.

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Inadequate

Despite the efforts of staff and the social worker, it has taken more than six months to secure support and assessments from the child and adolescent mental health services for one young person. This has delayed her getting the emotional help and support she needs. The organisation has its own psychologist who has offered help, but he has been unable to engage and support the young person effectively.

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Inadequate

Young people are encouraged and supported to develop their practical independent living skills by cooking, shopping and cleaning for themselves. One young person is also a regular user of public transport.

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Inadequate

This home has provided stability of placement for both young people until recently. For one this is a significant achievement following several previous unsuccessful placements. The home is small and for the most part it is homely and comfortable. The space available does not allow for a member of staff to be sleeping on the premises and for a second member of staff to be working through the night. On at least one occasion, this led to a member of staff using a young person’s bedroom to sleep in overnight while the young person was away on holiday. This is unacceptable practice. It shows a lack of respect by staff, to the personal space of young people.

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Inadequate

Young people do not have sufficient space to store their belongings. One young person’s bedroom was overflowing with items, leaving very little floor space.

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Inadequate

The small garden area is neglected. The lawn and borders are overgrown with weeds and attempts to grow some vegetables have failed due to a lack of attention.

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Inadequate

The safety and welfare of young people are not fully assessed by the staff team. During a recent incident, a young person was left in her bedroom. Staff did not intervene, and waited more than eight hours for the police to arrive before any effective action was taken. Neither the young person’s risk assessment nor care plans include clear strategies to reduce further incidents or avoid further police involvement in the life of this young person.

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Inadequate

One young person has gone missing from the home during the night on several occasions. The one member of staff on duty at night has responsibility for two young people and is unable to leave the home. This has resulted in the police being contacted and used to compensate for a lack of staff on duty. The young person has not been interviewed by someone independent of the home on their return. The manager negotiated additional support during the night and employed waking night staff for a two-week period. This helped to reduce the number of incidents of the young person going missing but the practice of providing additional night staff was not sustained. As a consequence, there is now a risk of further incidents of the young person going missing and placing themselves at risk.

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Inadequate

Conflict management is ineffective. The two young people living in the home do not always enjoy a harmonious relationship. The manager and staff try to keep the young people separate whenever possible by keeping one young person occupied with activities. Living together has had a negative impact on both of the young people in the home. Relationships between staff and young people are too variable. One young person enjoys meaningful attachments to the care staff, which have contributed significantly to her progress, development and enjoyment of life. Staff have not been as successful in establishing an effective relationship with another young person. The young person has developed a sense of mistrust in the manager and most of the staff. An advocate is not currently available, although the social worker has recently made an application for one.

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Inadequate

Recruitment practice is not yet good. The employment histories for recently recruited staff contain unexplained gaps. It is not clear how staffing decisions are reached or that priority is given to the needs and safety of young people in making these decisions. This includes decisions about new staff members’ lone-working and the deployment of staff.

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Inadequate

It is difficult to know if all complaints are recorded. Both young people made complaints about one another during the inspection and one made complaints about the manager and some members of staff. There is a loose-leaf file and a hardback book to record complaints and it is not clear to staff the purpose of having two records, which do not align. As a consequence, it is difficult to know which one provides an accurate record.

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Inadequate

Although young people lack some understanding of their vulnerability, especially when going outside at night, they feel safe in the home.

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Inadequate

The manager has failed to respond effectively to the needs of both young people. He is not able to demonstrate sufficient understanding of how to respond to deterioration in the emotional health and well-being of one young person. A lack of engagement and nurturing is causing this young person to become increasingly more isolated, withdrawn and mistrustful of the manager and the staff team.

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Inadequate

The home is not properly staffed to protect the welfare and safety of young people and to ensure their progress is sustained. Members of staff with less than three months of residential child care experience have been lone-working, including overnight duties. Each night a member of staff is on duty in their own home because the children’s home does not have sufficient space for a second member of staff to work in the home overnight. This arrangement does not meet the needs of young people and has created unnecessary involvement of the police in the life of one young person who has been leaving the home during the night.

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Inadequate

Monitoring by the manager has failed to identify and deal with issues which affect the welfare of young people. There is no evidence of reflective practice by the staff team following serious incidents. This denies staff the opportunity to learn and to improve the care given to young people. The use of subjective recording has not been challenged. One young person is upset about a record which describes her demands as ‘petty’.

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Inadequate

Records are not effectively monitored. The one restraint record made since the previous inspection did not contain details of the intervention used and had been monitored by one of the people involved rather than independent oversight by the manager. Complaints records are confusing: there are two separate records used and neither is complete. Histories of employment for the two recently recruited staff have omissions which have not been satisfactorily explored by the manager.

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Inadequate

Care plans do not comprehensively address the needs of young people. Significant needs, such as those relating to culture and identity or imminent moves to a new placement have not been properly considered. While other needs are listed in plans, there is little or no indication of how these will be achieved, by whom or in what timescales.

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Inadequate

During the inspection, the manager referred to one young person continually as refusing to engage or communicate. Care plans do not identify and address this problem.

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Inadequate

The statement of purpose has recently been reviewed and updated. It clearly sets out the objectives of the home. This document quickly becomes out of date because of the instability within the staff team. Two members of staff have left the home and three new staff have been employed since the previous full inspection. There are problems in recruiting and retaining suitably experienced, qualified and trained staff.

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Inadequate

Significant events are notified by the manager to the appropriate authorities. The manager has regular meetings with placing local authority social workers to keep stakeholders informed of any difficulties.

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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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