Children's home run by ABC Care Solutions

Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 1 SC460740 Registered provider: abc-care-solutions.

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A limited company runs this service. The home provides care for up to four boys who 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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children are settled and do not experience disruption.  Staff help new residents to settle quickly. Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 2  A court guardian is pleased with a child‘s care and can see a ‗huge difference due to the dedication and commitment of the staff team to him‘.  The interim manager has had a positive impact on the home following the departure of the registered manager.  Education is encouraged and supported.  Staff keep children safe in this home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/10/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 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

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‘s home a statement (―the statement of purpose‖) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. This should also make clear the number of staff trained in the home‘s preferred therapeutic techniques. (Regulation 16(1)) 31/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children‘s home if— there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and the registered provider— is an organisation or a partnership; does not satisfy regulation 28; or (iii) is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 31/08/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home‘s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  Ensure that the registered person has a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs19 and 20) The plan should: - detail the necessary management and staffing structure (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any

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Recommendations

further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home‘s Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 4 statement of purpose; - detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications); - detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; - detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4)(b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home‘s manager. Also, use this to ensure that all staff are trained in the home‘s therapeutic techniques and in preventing radicalisation. (‗Guide to the children‘s

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Recommendations

homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  Where children have specific health needs or conditions, they should be supported to manage these subject to their age and understanding. Specifically, to seek guidance regarding nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight and medical advice. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  For children‘s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children‘s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, etc.). However, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‗institutional‘ impression. Specifically, review school-like displays and notices, how the home‘s rules are written and terminology used which could stigmatise children. (‗Guide to

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Recommendations

the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful planning when children move into the home means children experience stable placements. Only one child has moved on from the home during this inspection period. This was a planned move on reaching the age of 18. Children feel supported by staff, who advocate for them when they feel their placing authorities are not listening to their wishes. Staff help new residents to settle in gradually. For example, children can visit for a series of overnight stays to get used to their new home, the staff and other children. One child reports how they settled quickly and feel ‗at home‘. Children enjoy warm and affectionate relationships with staff. There is a happy, relaxed atmosphere in their home. A social worker feels that their child is ‗getting very good care‘ and sees a ‗positive difference‘ as a result. Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 5 Two children attend school regularly. There is improved joint working between staff and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

schools. One child has experienced a dramatic reduction in exclusions over recent months, which optimises their chance of settling in school and making progress. Another child‘s education is with tutors who visit the home. There is progress in his engagement with one tutor and an improved willingness to try different subjects. Staff help children to better manage their feelings. Incidents of challenging behaviour are rare. There has only been one incident when staff called the police during this inspection period. Children are better able to control their anger and express their feelings. For some, there is a knock-on effect at school where there have been fewer challenging incidents and, therefore, fewer exclusions. A parent finds an improvement in their child‘s ‗management of feelings‘. A social worker said ‗the staff put in boundaries and listened to the child‘. Children enjoy a variety of activities. A trainer visits and offers the boys different physical

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

activities, such as boxing, to help them learn new skills and get some physical exercise. Trips to local places, such as the cinema and bowling, as well as to other areas, such as a theatre in London, provide varied experiences. There are plans to make greater use of the resources in London in the coming months. Engagement in some cultural events helps the boys develop a positive identity, such as Black History Month. Children got a great deal out of a holiday last year. They talk positively about their memories of being away with staff. They are looking forward to trying new things this year on a week‘s holiday and then on short breaks away from their home. There are exciting plans to take the children abroad to encourage their interest about other countries. Children enjoy eating home-cooked meals with the staff. They like baking cakes with the staff and learning other skills to help their independence. Staff encourage them to drink

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

plenty of fresh water to keep them healthy. Staff support those who wish to lose weight, for example, by encouraging further exercise. However, further advice from medical professionals and a nutritionist may support their efforts. The building is comfortable. Some displays on the wall, prepared with the best of intentions, can appear institutional and more like a school. Also, some rules and language used such as ‗contact‘ rather than ‗visiting family‘ can label children as looked after. There is a small garden, which is quite bare, so that children can kick a football around. They have made lovely wooden boxes in which to grow plants to make the garden look more attractive.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are very protective of the children. They talk to them about potential risks and make them feel cared for. Children going missing is not a problem in this home; therefore, children are not at risk. There has been only one, brief incident of a child going absent, which staff managed well, with the child being quickly returned to their home. No children are at risk of sexual exploitation. Staff teach the children about online safety and monitor children‘s use of the internet as best they can. Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 6 There is a good approach to keeping the premises safe. Checks of fire equipment and the risk assessment of the premises all help to promote fire safety. Children are involved in fire drills so that they understand what to do in an emergency. There are similar checks of other parts of the building. A court officer said that they have ‗no concerns regarding (the child‘s) safety‘.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff recruitment is thorough. Head office conducts appropriate checks on all staff before they start to work with the children to ensure that they are safe. There has been an appropriate reaction to a concern about radicalisation. The staff response has been to educate children about risks of online grooming and to promote British values.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

There have been significant changes to the leadership and management team. The registered manager and three other staff left the home suddenly. This was unsettling for some staff, but does not appear to have impacted greatly on the children. This is because the manager had not been a consistent presence in the home and bank staff known to the children covered the sudden vacancies. A social worker said that their child felt some of these staff ‗didn‘t care‘ about children‘s needs, so this may be a positive change for the home. The registered manager has not yet resigned her registration with Ofsted. A senior member of staff has been the interim manager since March 2017. Staff viewed her as the manager before this time. She has initiated positive changes. One staff member said that they are ‗very happy‘ with the changes brought in by the interim manager and sees an improvement in the team: ‗We all get on and work well together.‘

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

The interim manager has been in post for three months but has not yet submitted an application for registration with Ofsted. The interim manager has completed a review of the service and shared this with Ofsted. An independent person has visited the home regularly. Reports from their visits have not been particularly analytical or useful in helping the service develop. The provider has appointed a new organisation to carry out external monitoring to try to improve this way of checking what goes on in the home. Staff receive a reasonable range of training. This includes first aid, fire safety and physical intervention. One staff member described recent autistic spectrum disorder training as ‗brilliant‘. However, there are some gaps in staff skills and knowledge. Not all staff have yet received training in anti-radicalisation measures. Management has not yet arranged training about some children‘s specific needs, such as selective mutism,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

although it has provided staff with some resource materials on this issue. Although there is a training matrix in place, the home does not benefit from a workforce development plan which focuses on achieving a trained workforce. Only a third of staff have achieved the minimum level 3 qualification, but the rest are working towards achieving this. Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 7 The interim manager has made some progress in updating the statement of purpose. However, it is not fully reflective of the new regulations and contains errors and, therefore, requires further work. The service does not meet the part of its statement of purpose which states that all staff are trained in therapeutic techniques. This may mislead placing authorities who expect a fully trained workforce. Children are helping the interim manager to develop an improved children‘s guide to the home. The interim manager has started supervision meetings with staff. Staff have not yet had

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

an appraisal of their work so do not get a complete overview of their work. Staff have developed new records for children which more clearly identify what children would like to achieve and recognise their progress. Some record-keeping has ‗slipped‘ but staff are working to rectify this.

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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: SC460740 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: ABC Care Solutions, 249 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 4TG

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Inspector

Jacqueline Graves, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC460740 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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