Children's home run by Five Rivers Chid Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 1 SC362965 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider. It is registered to provide care and accommodation to one child or young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 16 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is making good progress in many areas of his development.  Staff and the young person have good relationships. He enjoys living at the home and the staff know him well.  The manager actively challenges the young person’s local authority and works collaboratively with his family.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff use sanctions that are repetitive.  Staff have used restraint on one occasion to enforce compliance with their instruction.  The manager has not fully explored issues arising from a staff member’s application and recruitment checks.  Staff use technical language in their reports that does not provide a clear, accountable version of what actually took place.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/10/2016 Full Good 02/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 24/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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) No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that sanctions are effective and not repetitive. (Regulation 19 (1)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

(1) Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing— (a) injury to any person (including the child); (b) serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). (Regulation 20 (a)(b)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (a)(b)) 31/07/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, ensure that staff use plain English and not technical language in their reports. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4).

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s experience and progress are good. Staff help him learn how to manage his emotions and control his anxiety. As a result, serious incidents of aggression, violence and restraint have significantly reduced since he first moved in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a good education package tailored to the young person’s needs and the logistics of attending a school that is one and half hours away. His attendance is excellent and he is now expressing an interest in joining a mainstream school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person enjoys many outdoor activities, especially adventure training, jumping in the sea, walking and rock hopping. Some of these form part of his education timetable, while others he does with encouragement from staff. He has gained certificates of achievement in shelter building, fire lighting and navigation. The young person also now volunteers at a local charity shop where he is given responsibilities and a purpose. This is having a positive effect on his self-esteem. When he returns home he is happy and full of conversation about his experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the young person to manage his anger and emotions, especially towards female individuals and the use of sexualised language. They help the young person respect himself, grow in self-esteem and find better strategies to cope. Staff know the young person well and are quick to intervene if they see him becoming distressed. They can resolve a potential problem quickly by recognising signs that he may be hungry or tired, or bring him back on track by playing his favourite games.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has a good relationship with staff. He responds well to their playful and caring nature. Staff are consistent in their response. They use clear boundaries and adapt where needed to ensure that he has opportunities to take appropriate risks. Staff engage the young person in an effective weekly reward scheme that supports his learning, understanding and independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is building improved relationships with his family and enjoys many positive times with them, including regular overnight weekend visits. His behaviour at his family home has also improved during this time and is helping with the family dynamics. Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 5 The young person reports that he likes living at the home and that staff are good to him. His mum is pleased with his progress during what has been a very difficult time for him. The young person has tried youth clubs and made some friends. He spends time with them playing locally and keeps in touch with staff via his mobile phone.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the young person’s health needs are met. He has regular appointments with medical practitioners and the children and adolescent mental health services. Staff engage the young person in regular yet informal key-worker discussions and house meetings. He happily participates in planning activities, chooses his meals and arranges what he would like to do on the weekends and during school holidays.

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improvement to be good

The manager’s scrutiny of a staff member’s recruitment checks requires improvement. A staff member has provided a reason for a five-year gap in their employment history. However, it is not a full satisfactory explanation. This has not been further explored by the human resources team at the point of application or at the interview stage. Also, one reference that was verified by phone contains information that requires further exploration by the manager.

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improvement to be good

Staff have used a two-person restraint to remove the young person from the home’s office on one occasion. At the time he was not causing injury to anyone, nor was he seriously damaging property. Records demonstrate that staff used restraint to enforce their instruction, which is not permitted. The manager has monitored the record, but did not identify this as being an incorrect use of restraint.

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improvement to be good

Staff use financial sanctions in response to the young person causing damage to the home. These have become repetitive and it is questionable as to whether they are any longer effective. On other occasions, staff have implemented restorative and educational sanctions, where the young person had to spend time repairing damage and learning about the personal safety reasons for wearing a bike helmet.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond effectively to the young person when he walks away from them. Staff follow an agreed protocol, whereby they make a judgement on his mood and will give him five minutes by himself or follow him straight away. If the young person does not return of his own accord, staff will search his known hiding places and inform the on-call manager. As such, the young person is always responded to thoughtfully by the staff and has not actually gone missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

There have been no complaints or safeguarding allegations reported since the interim inspection. The manager and staff understand the process to follow when required to do so. The necessary physical and environmental checks of the premises are conducted in the required timescales and medication is stored safely. The manager has an up-to-date locality risk assessment that includes the home’s proximity to other children’s homes and vulnerable adult’s services in the area. Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2014. She has the necessary qualifications and experience for the role. There has been a new responsible individual in place since March 2017.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager pursued effectively the placing authority about the young person not having an allocated social worker for long periods of time during the previous 12 months. During this time, the manager maintained good communication with the young person’s family, but the joined-up approach with the placing authority was lost because of the lack of an allocated social worker. The situation is now resolved and the manager and the new social worker are working well together to help the young person and his family. The social worker reports that the manager is very good and supports the situation well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads the staff in line with the ethos and aims of the statement of purpose. As such, staff provide care that breaks down the traumas that young people have, and they listen to them and support them. The home is described as providing a therapeutic environment. This does not mean that all staff are therapists, but they are supported through consultation with a clinical psychologist and complete training in understanding children’s attachment difficulties. The culture of the home is characterised by high expectations and genuine aspirations for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is properly staffed and resourced to meet the needs of the young person. He is supported by staff who he is familiar with and knows well. Staff work effectively together and feel supported by regular supervision. There is a good management structure in the home that ensures that staff on shift receive good levels of support from their seniors. Staff comment that they are led well, and one stated that the, ‘manager is brilliant and addresses issues quickly.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person visits the home monthly. They speak with the young person as often as possible as part of their visits. The young person has reported to them that, everything is fine and that he is being looked after by staff. The manager uses the independent visitor reports well and makes sure that any recommendations are met from each month’s visits.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of young people are made to the appropriate authorities. The manager and staff ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard. It meets the needs of the young person and feels and looks like a family home. The young person is very excited about the new summer house in the garden and is looking forward to decorating it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the plan for the young person and drives his achievement and engagement. The manager monitors the progress that the young person makes and can demonstrate the positive impact that living at the home has had on his progress and Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 7 prospects for returning to a family environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A recommendation is made to ensure that staff use clear, descriptive language when writing reports. Some staff use technical language that is specific to the training they have received, such as the terms ‘hurdle help’ and ‘tci language’. This is not appropriate as it does not fully describe what they have done or said, and the reader will not fully understand if they have not had the same training. Staff have also used the term ‘therapeutic listening’, but could not explain to the inspector how that differed from ‘listening’. The manager is required to monitor staff’s records to ensure that they use plain English and understand what they are writing.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Five Rivers Childcare, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Inspector

Guy Mammatt, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC362965 9 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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