Children's Home run by Channels and Choices Kent LLP in Kent

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The children say that the best thing about the home is the staff and the activities, and it is these which have engaged them so purposefully with living here.  Children living at the home enjoy fun, reliable and supportive relationships with staff who, in turn, like working here.  The children receive specialist services to meet their individual needs. Links with the Tavistock Clinic provide specialist emotional support. Staff establish connections with specialised agencies specific to children’s individual needs.  Children receive individualised care. A social worker said of her child, ‘She likes the home and the staff have been very patient and encouraging with her, which has enabled her to form attachments to staff, something which she finds fairly difficult to do. Her violent behaviour has stopped and staff are working hard on trying to improve her interactions with others. She always appears happy when I visit her and she has enjoyed being able to

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The children’s home provision is good because:

decorate her own room.’ The same social worker said, ‘This placement has been very positive to date for her and as a result we have started to see a more confident young lady who is becoming more articulate in her communication.’  New children to the home are welcomed by the other children and the staff. For those children who leave the home in accordance with their plans, the home contributes to the success of this move by working with the future care givers to give continuity of the routines which have worked in the home.  The registered manager actively and systematically monitors the quality of care provided. She has a thorough understanding of activity within the home, the children who use the service and staff performance. Her monitoring reports are extremely detailed and comprehensive.

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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

Ensure that 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 (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)) 28/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met standard In order to meet the engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: (a) seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs (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. 25/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

Recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (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 25/11/2016 (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3))

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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 recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Safely maintain the home’s domestic appliances so that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of the children. In particular ensure that the chest freezer in the play room is not a hazard. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Produce a children’s guide which helps children to understand what the day-to- day routines of the home are (‘what happens in the home’), what the statement of purpose of the home (the care they can expect to receive while living there)

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Recommendations

and how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)  Ensure that the independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for no more than four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A partnership company runs the home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 07/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/01/2016 Full Good 04/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/07/2014 Full Good

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Good

Staff provide a secure base for the children, their placements are now settled and they develop a sense of belonging. Careful and thoughtful planning helps newly placed children to settle, rooms are prepared sensitively and children welcome any new child proudly and warmly to the home. One child has moved on from the home and has drawn some positives from the stay there. Although this ending was unplanned, the welfare of all the children was considered in arriving at this decision, and a practical plan was made for the one needing to leave. Staff continue to remain in contact with some of the children who have moved on from the home.

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Good

All the children settled into the home are in education. Staff work with their education colleagues to help the children make the daily changeover to school. One child was supported to voice their opinion about his school placement, and a creative plan has been put in place to support the continuation of their school placement. Staff members make excellent links with the children’s schools, and these links have been improved by daily phone calls and individual handovers from the teachers.

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Good

Staff invest time with the children. The children access social and leisure events inside and outside of the home. Staff actively support the children to develop their interests. The children generally make the decisions about which activities they would like to try. They attend clubs in the community, such as a bowling club, roller disco, dog-walking and a theatre group. This fosters their sense of belonging in the local community. Children continue to develop their confidence and self- esteem.

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Good

Staff demonstrate a proactive response to the children’s health. They recognise and address the children’s health conditions, and as a result children’s health improves. Specialist services support children’s health. These include therapists, child and adolescent mental health services and the Tavistock Clinic. Qualified and registered therapists provide in-house therapeutic support, and the children benefit from this provision for as long as necessary. Staff work with each child to ensure emotional resilience to promote their self-confidence and enable them to withstand any setbacks in the future. Staff continue to remain in contact with some of the children who have moved on from the home.

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Good

Many photographs around the home capture the essence of children having fun. Staff place emphasis on listening to the children. The children have a clear voice within the home. Daily meetings allow them to express their views on day-to-day matters. More formal, individual consultation takes place prior to their looked after children reviews and as part of the registered manager’s review of the quality of care. The children also have regular key work sessions. The children feel listened to and valued. Children invite peers in to share their meals and are proud of the chores they do around the home.

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Good

The home provides a safe environment for children who have experienced unpredictable and unsafe situations in their past. Through close supervision from caring staff, the children develop a sense of safety and trust in the adults who care for them. All staff receive up-to-date safeguarding training that includes training around child exploitation and online safety. Staff are confident in their understanding of safeguarding and their knowledge of safeguarding procedures. Safeguarding issues receive a prompt response, recording is clear and evidences action taken and the outcome.

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Good

The core staff team is skilled at providing clear boundaries for the children. Consistent behaviour management systems ensure that children have increased security and well-being. The children are beginning to understand and respect these boundaries. Staff have called the police to the home regarding the behaviours of a child who has since moved on from the home. A calm and measured approach is adopted to defuse untoward incidents successfully. A social worker said, ‘When my child entered the home they had very challenging behaviour, which has since reduced dramatically.’ The children feel fairly treated, but records do not easily allow an audit trail of sanctions, in particular regarding the times.

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Good

The staff have a thorough understanding of how to safeguard children from going missing from the home or what to do should this happen. They have excellent links with the local police missing persons’ coordinator. The children go missing rarely, only three times since the last inspection, and when they do, individual missing person plans guide effective action. One staff member said, ‘We adapt our care and practices to suit the children’s needs, particularly if they have a history of going missing from home. We have clear protocols to follow for each individual child.’ The manager now agrees with the placing social workers the procedures for arranging return home interviews. Not all of the children have received return home interviews due to the placing authorities’ criteria. However, the home provides these where the local authority is unable. There are no issues of drug or alcohol use or smoking at the home. Clear policies

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Good

guide staff to address these issues should they arise. Disagreements between the current children are rare and are subject to immediate successful action by staff. As one child commented, ‘You get to go to the cinema and do activities when you behave, and staff can deal with it if someone is being naughty or bullying you.’ There is a focus on learning and restoration, which supports constructive relationships between the children.

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Good

Staff complete generally secure recruitment procedures, which ensure that all staff are vetted prior to commencing working at the home. However, on one file voluntary work references had not been sourced, and on another there was a gap in the employment history. These were immediately remedied by the registered manager.

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Good

Fire drills take place at regular intervals and when new children come to the home. Health and safety checks are up to date, but the large chest freezer located in the play room is accessible to the children unsupervised, which requires review.

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Good

A suitable registered manager, with a commitment to achieving high standards of care and good outcomes for the children, leads the home. She brings her broad experience to the role, including nine years of employment in residential childcare. She has completed the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. She is supported by a newly appointed deputy manager. A staff member said, ‘Handovers and communication are really important. Keeping children in mind when planning and planning ahead is really important. We make relationships for them in which they want to talk.’ This indicates that management provision is focused on the children.

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Good

The statement of purpose is regularly reviewed, along with the children’s guide. However, the current version of the guide is aimed at an older age group than the home has recently admitted, and also does not include contact details for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, but has the previous children’s rights director’s details.

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Good

Current staffing levels are appropriate to meet the needs of children living at the home, ensuring that they are closely supervised, protected and supported to manage their emotional difficulties. Staff recognise that, ‘There has been a lack of numbers in the team… cover staff don’t understand,’ and, ‘There have been five new staff members joined within the last two months and we’ve had help from cover staff. We recognise that we need the staff team to stabilise.’ Staff feel well supported. Formal supervision for staff is, however, inconsistent and not in line with the home’s policy. One new member of staff has had only practice supervision sessions in areas of fire safety, completing a body map, a sanction form and an incident form since starting over a month ago. This does not demonstrate effective and consistent performance management of staff to maintain safe practices within the home.

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Good

The registered manager actively and regularly monitors the quality of care provided. She has a thorough understanding of activity within the home, the children who use the service and staff performance. Monitoring reports are extremely detailed and comprehensive. An independent visitor comes to the home regularly. She submits a report to the relevant authorities, including Ofsted. These do not always provide her professional evaluation on how the conduct of staff is promoting the children’s well-being. For example, her analysis of a child’s missing incident was ‘no action required’ although the child’s social worker did not speak with them or arrange a return home interview. This is a missed opportunity for the home to receive independent scrutiny.

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Good

Staff regularly review detailed care plans. These plans remain live documents, which inform staff about changes to the children’s needs and promote a consistent approach to their care. In addition, separate key worker action plans link to the care planning process. These plans provide in-depth identification of children’s needs and guidance for staff, and they are followed in practice. However, inadequate sharing of information from a placing authority is not consistently challenged or an effective resolution found.

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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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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