Children's Home run by Adeza Care Homes Limited in Waltham Forest

Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 1 SC032468 Registered provider: Adeza Care Homes 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

This privately owned home provides support and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties or a mild mental disorder. The company owns another children‟s home in the area.

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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

Date of last inspection: 13 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home is managed effectively, efficiently and purposefully.  Leaders, managers and staff have high ambitions for the home and the young Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 2 people who live there.  Leaders and managers have a strong improvement agenda and take decisive and effective actions to address any weaknesses.  The independent visitor‟s detailed reports support the registered manager‟s realistic self-evaluation of the service and guide its improvement.  Leaders, managers and staff work closely with other professionals, such as those from mental and physical health, education and youth services, to ensure that young people receive specialist support that they need.  Young people receive individualised and good-quality support that meets their needs. This results in young people making good progress.  Risk management practices are robust and proactive. Staff help young people effectively to develop safer attitudes, feeling and behaviours.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people feel listened to and heard.  Young people say that they live in a good home. Their experience of being in care is positive.  Young people say that they feel safe at the home. They have developed trusting relationships with staff members.  Young people have developed maturity and independence skills that support healthy lifestyles.  Young people have made good progress in engaging in education and learning.  Young people‟s overall engagement, communication and social skills have improved significantly.  Social workers and parents talk positively about the quality of this children‟s home.

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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

 Not all staff have the required qualification.  The evidence that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation is not always clear.  The painkillers kept in the home are not recorded consistently.  The records of the incidents when young people are absent without authority or are missing are not always kept clearly and consistently.  The home‟s policy on dealing with allegations does not allow for bringing low- level concerns about alleged conduct of staff members to the attention of the designated officer for the area where the home is situated.  Lone-working assessments are not always completed.  The registered persons do not demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about a prospective staff member before they allowed them to start working in the home. Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/01/2017 Full Requires improvement 19/07/2016 Interim Not judged 07/01/2016 Interim Not judged 17/08/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 4

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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 persons must ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification, which is the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)) 01/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must — (b) ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. (Regulation 33(1)(b)) 01/12/2017

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Recommendations

 Records must be kept of the administration of all medication. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 35, paragraph 7.15) In particular, the home should record consistently the amount of any painkillers that staff buy for young people on the advice of the health services.  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14)). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 46, paragraph 9.31) In particular, the home should achieve consistency in how episodes of young people being absent without authority or going missing are recorded.  The relevant officer or teams within the local authority should be informed promptly of all allegations that come to an employer‟s attention or that are made directly to the police. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the

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Recommendations

quality standards‟, page 44, paragraph 9.18) In particular, review the policy on dealing with allegations to allow for bringing low-level concerns about alleged conduct of staff members to the attention of the designated officer for the area where the home is situated.  Contingency plans should be prepared in the event of a shortfall in staffing levels. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 5 54, paragraph 10.18) In particular, the home should make sure that if it is likely that there might only be one member of staff on duty at any time, a formal assessment of the implications for young people‟s care, including any likely risks, is recorded.  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and

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Recommendations

minimises potential risks to them. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.1) In particular, review the company‟s staff recruitment practice so that the leaders and managers evidence clearly that they take all reasonable steps to obtain full information about a prospective staff member to minimise potential risks to children. In particular, by applying for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, verifying references and more robustly exploring any gaps in the prospective staff member‟s employment history, before a staff member starts working with children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people state that they live in a good home. Their experience of being in care is positive. One young person who has moved many times said that this was the best home that he has been to. Another young person‟s mother said that from all the places that her daughter had stayed in, this home was the best. Social workers talk positively about the quality of placements that this home provides to young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people appreciate the support that they get from the staff members. One young person said that the staff members have become almost like his family. Another young person who was looking forward to being reunited with her family said that she would miss this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people said that they feel safe at the home. They have developed trusting relationships with staff members. They said that they always have somebody to talk with. A parent echoed this in their comments. One mother said that it was reassuring for her to know that her daughter would speak to staff if she had any worries. This mother had confidence in staff doing everything they could to help her daughter. The parents and young people‟s social workers describe the home as a safe place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive individualised and good-quality support that meets their needs and enables them to make progress across different aspects of their lives. Managers and staff work closely with other professionals, such as those from mental and physical health, education and youth services, to ensure that young people receive the specialist support they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage young people to eat healthy food, exercise regularly and attend their health appointments. Young people who came to the home with a history of substance Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 6 misuse have significantly reduced or stopped any harmful habits that they used to have. This has also helped them to distance themselves from the gangs and people with negative influences that they used to meet. Their illegal and criminal behaviours have stopped. They have become much safer and are keen to maintain healthy lifestyles.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is highly valued in this home. The registered manager and staff consistently encourage young people to engage in their education. Young people are provided with extensive support to open up to the learning opportunities that are available to them. From having a limited engagement in education in the past, young people now talk very positively about their learning, education and training. This change in their attitudes towards education has led to better engagement and improved school attendance for all young people who live in this home. For example, a young person who was unable to cope with learning in a classroom environment now receives tuition with other young people and attends school every day. One young person‟s improved behaviours led to reintegration into a mainstream school. Another young person has secured a place on a popular and oversubscribed training scheme. After many years of lacking motivation to

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

engage in any formal learning or help, this is a great success for the young person. The young person talked about the course with great excitement. He expressed a firm commitment to achieve 100% attendance and gain the qualification at the end of the course.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people with patience, care and skill. Young people talk about being given freedom to be who they are and how this has helped them. They say that staff give young people the time they need „to sort out things in [their] heads‟ and move on in their lives. Young people feel listened to and heard. They describe the atmosphere in the home as respectful and calm. They do not experience any intimidation, bullying or pressure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have secured young people‟s increased engagement in a wide range of activities. Young people who in the past refused to engage or make any choices have helped organise a summer holiday. Their engagement, communication and social skills have improved enormously since coming to live in this home. Spending time together in a seaside resort was a success. Young people had a great time and deepened their connections with staff and each other. Staff described the young people‟s behaviours during the holiday as impeccable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to develop effective life skills, such as shopping, cooking, budgeting and maintaining a clean and well-organised environment. Young people enjoy helping staff around the house with chores, such as with cooking and maintaining the garden. Young people say that staff have helped them to mature and prepare for independent lives.

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

Safeguarding practices in the home are effective. Staff have helped young people whose behaviours used to put them at risk to develop safer feelings, attitudes and behaviours. Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 7 Young people develop trusting relationships and receive good support from staff. This then helps them to become safer. For example, a young person who used to come home after the curfew almost every evening now comes back home on time. This young person said that he was coming home earlier because he cared for staff. He said: „They care for me. So, I care for them.‟ He explained that he did not want to inconvenience staff and other young people by coming home really late and in his own words, disturbing „the peace of the house‟. From being described by the placing authority in the referral document as, „intimidating, aggressive and hostile‟, this young person now presents as friendly, kind and helpful. Another example that shows that young people

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

have developed feelings of empathy and care for others is how a young person cared for a staff member who was a bit anxious about going on a ride at an adventure theme park. With the development of empathy, the incidents of young people engaging in challenging behaviours have reduced. Some young people enjoy volunteering and helping others. Examples include helping to set up a church hall for events and supporting younger children with a show at school.

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

The home provides young people with structure and order. Staff keep clear and consistent boundaries. Young people sign a contract agreeing to keep to the house rules. They talk about the calm and quiet atmosphere in the home being one of the best things about it. All this has had a positive impact on the young people‟s increasing sense of safety and security, and their ability to regulate their emotions and behaviours. A young person, who due to highly traumatic past experiences felt unable to leave the home on their own for a long time, is now able to spend some time in the community without staff support.

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

The home‟s practice regarding assessment of the risks in the locality is excellent. Additionally to the risk assessment regarding the location of the premises, managers carry out a formal risk assessment for each young person coming to the area, before agreeing to admit them to the home. When reviewing the locality risk assessment for the home, they ask young people to make contributions to it by talking about their experiences and views on the risks in the local community. These conversations lead to further talks about what can be done to make the community safer and how young people can safeguard themselves. Key-working sessions focus on developing young people‟s independence and on how they can keep themselves safe in various situations, for example when accessing social media or in the community.

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

Robust and proactive risk management practices underline the effectiveness of safeguarding children and young people in this home. Staff develop comprehensive risk assessments and safeguarding strategies that are specific for each young person. In addition to the general risk assessment, staff also complete specific assessments of risk to each young person. These include the risk of child sexual exploitation, radicalisation or fire setting. This approach enables staff to engage young people in developing strategies to reduce their vulnerabilities to risks. For example, staff had discussions with young people about the recent terrorist attacks, radicalisation and grooming. These discussions have helped young people to develop resilience and commitment to help build safer communities. Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 8 Staff are effective in helping young people whose behaviours put them at risk of being

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

exploited to develop safer attitudes and behaviours. They follow protocols for working together with partner agencies to safeguard young people who go missing from care. They work closely with the placing authorities to agree and implement specific strategies that safeguard young people in those situations. An example of the effectiveness of the home‟s safeguarding practices is that the placing authority has closed a child sexual exploitation case relating to one young person. This is because the young person‟s behaviours have become much safer.

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

In order to safeguard and promote young people‟s safety, the home has developed a range of policies and procedures that meet statutory and other government requirements. However, the policy on dealing with allegations against staff members currently does not allow for discussions with the designated officer about low-level concerns relating to alleged staff members‟ behaviours and conduct. Inclusion of this into the policy would afford another level of safeguarding and protection to young people.

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

The company has a policy on lone-working. However, when one staff member took a young person to an adventure park, the lone-working aspect of this activity was not assessed. A risk assessment for the young person and their engagement in the activities was completed. The trip went well. Both the young person and the staff member enjoyed it.

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

The company‟s staff recruitment policy allows for staff members to start working before all checks have been completed. A decision on the start date is based on a written risk assessment. A management plan is completed to ensure the safety of young people under the circumstances. However, the company does not consistently demonstrate that everything has been done to try to obtain all recruitment checks in a timely manner. An example of this is that a staff member only applied for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check four months after they had started working in the home. The company had sight of this person‟s previous DBS that related to their previous job with children. One staff recruitment file did not have confirmation that the references were verified or that the gap in employment was sufficiently explored. The staff files show that recruitment practice has improved recently, but more evidence is needed to demonstrate that best

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

The arrangements for promoting health and safety on the premises are good. All checks take place in timescales prescribed by legislation and good practice guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a new registered manager. This person has brought stability and effective management practices to the home. She has appropriate levels of experience, knowledge and skills for the role. She has been working for the company for over 10 years in differing roles relating to children‟s residential care. She has qualifications in management and teaching. She is working towards obtaining the level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare. Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 9 Leaders have a strong improvement agenda. When the current registered manager took on this children‟s home, it was a service that required improvement to be good. The registered manager has developed and implemented a comprehensive improvement plan to improve the quality of the children‟s home and bring it up to good. She has achieved this. The registered person demonstrated compliance with 13 out of 14 requirements

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

that were raised at the previous inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have high ambitions for the home and young people who live in it. They are not satisfied with just achieving compliance with regulations. They want to meet all quality standards and develop the service further. Some of the practices that were weak at the previous inspection have now become true strengths of the service, such as working in partnership with other professionals, risk management and admission process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement regarding staff qualifications has been repeated in this report. The staff without the required qualification have many years of experience and in some cases, other qualifications that equip them with many transferable relevant skills. They have been enrolled on an appropriate course. There has been no negative impact of non- compliance in respect of staff qualifications on the care that young people receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement regarding staff probationary appraisal was made as no record that an appraisal took place was on one staff file. However, the registered manager was confident that the director had completed this appraisal, three months earlier.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is aware of the weaknesses regarding the policy on dealing with allegations and the inconsistency of the quality in the records relating to medication, young people going missing from care or being absent without authority and staff recruitment. She has taken appropriate actions to address those weaknesses. The practices are improving, but not enough evidence is available to show that good standards have been maintained consistently. For example, having identified some gaps in the management of medication, the registered manager has organised additional training for all staff and introduced a new form that facilitates good stock control for all medicines, including the painkillers that have been bought from a chemist‟s, and instigated regular monitoring activities. However, discrepancies still occasionally occur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is appropriately staffed and resourced to meet its statement of purpose. The management team is now strong. Two qualified social workers took on the roles of deputy manager and team leader. In addition, the company appointed three new residential support workers. No staff have left in the last 12 months. Staff are familiar with the statement of purpose and make clear contributions to putting it into practice effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff come from differing backgrounds, and are able to meet the needs of young people with diverse and complex needs. A placement officer commented that the local authority places „only hard to place‟ young people in this home. This is because they have confidence that the staff team can manage challenging behaviours that these young Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 10 people present effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good training opportunities, frequent supervision and other meetings have enabled the staff team to continue to build on their skills, teamwork and unified approach to caring for young people. Young people, their views and outcomes remain firmly at the centre of staff practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager knows young people very well and monitors their progress effectively. The information on young people‟s files clearly demonstrates the progress they make and how staff help them to achieve this. The young people‟s social workers receive monthly progress monitoring reports. They value this highly. They say that the communication with the home is always good. Parents echo this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is keen to receive feedback about the home and uses every opportunity to learn from others. She has used the independent visitor‟s robust reports effectively to improve the quality of this children‟s home. She also arranged a meeting with a local virtual school head and achieved stronger partnership with education services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that the quality of professional relationships ensures better outcomes for young people. Leaders, managers and staff play active roles in the planning and delivering of care to young people. They are prepared to challenge other professionals in the interest of young people. An example of this is challenging the placing authority‟s decision to suddenly end a very successful placement without any consultation with the young person, their parent and independent reviewing officer or the home. As result, the young person‟s move was delayed. Consultations on how best to manage the young person‟s return to living with their own family are now taking place.

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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 whom 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: SC032468 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Adeza Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Second Floor, Kestrel House, Falconry Court, Bakers Lane, Epping, Essex CM16 5BD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Deborah Pacquette

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC032468 12 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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