Children's home run by Educare Adolescent Services Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 1 SC005039 Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to care for up to two children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home currently offers crisis intervention and short-, medium- and long-term placements for children and young people aged 10 to 17 on admission. Inspection dates: 15 to 16 August 2017

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 22 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people form warm and trusting relationships with dedicated staff.  The home is spacious and welcoming. The rural location provides young people with an opportunity to get away from the pressures in their home communities.  Young people like their rooms, which they have personalised.  Staff engage young people in a range of fun and stimulating activities which support their social and emotional well-being.  Child-focused staff listen to young people.  Staff keep young people safe and work with them to understand how to keep themselves safe.  If young people go missing, staff follow them and liaise with the police, family members and the local authority to find out where they are and to ensure their safe return.  Detailed risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated so that they remain relevant and guide staff practice.  The new manager is child focused and has high expectations of staff.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work effectively with a wide range of professionals in order to meet the needs of young people.  Professionals give positive feedback about the service provided to young people.

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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

 The kitchen worktop has been damaged and needs to be replaced in order to ensure safe levels of hygiene.  The manager has not challenged the placing authority regarding an inappropriate comment made by a social worker about a young person’s mental health.  Some staff training in physical intervention and administering and recording medication is out of date.  Some staff have been smoking on the premises, which is against the home’s policy and provides poor role models for young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2016 Full Good 01/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/10/2015 Full Good 12/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 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 engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met standard is that 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, they 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. (Regulation 5(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, challenge an inappropriate statement made by a social worker regarding a young person’s mental health. 29/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child form avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, replace the damaged kitchen worktop, which is a hygiene hazard. 29/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person ensures that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff training is up to date in physical intervention and administering and recording medication. 29/09/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that staff do not smoke on the premises. Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people form warm, trusting relationships with dedicated staff. Although one young person does not like the rural setting, he said, ‘The staff here are sound.’ One young person who struggles to form positive relationships is making progress in talking to staff about his views, wishes and feelings. His social worker commented about the staff, ‘They include and involve him.’ Young people know how to complain and one young person confidently challenged a staff member about smoking on the premises, which is against the home’s rules. Young people attend the regular young people’s meetings, where they can plan activities and menus and raise any concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable, welcoming and spacious, and young people like their rooms, which they have personalised. There is room in the garden to play ball games, and young people can enjoy the large trampoline. The kitchen is a focal point for sitting down, having meals together and talking. Enthusiastic staff encourage young people to engage in and have fun playing football, swimming, and going to a local gym, the cinema and Laser Quest centre.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Sensitive and skilled staff address young people’s diversity needs, including staying in touch with their family and those important to them. Staff also help young people who struggle with reading by simplifying information so that they can understand. Staff check that young people have understood what is said to them by asking questions. Young people are well prepared for their reviews and staff attend medical appointments with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make significant progress in their education and their ability to manage their emotions and behaviour. Young people talk more about their feelings, earn free time, and follow rules and boundaries. One young person who had not attended school for three years before moving in now attends full time. He is pleased with the progress that he has made in writing and maths, and is happy that he is having an extra year in school to make up for the time that he has lost. He feels that staff are supporting him in his education, and he has aspirations to join the armed forces. Another young person has (with the support of staff) become better at managing his anxiety when there are people in the home whom he does not know.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An area for improvement is that staff need consistently to provide young people with good role models by following the house rules.

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

Staff keep young people safe. There has been a reduction in young people going missing, with one young person going missing far less than he did in his previous placement. When young people are out of the home, staff make regular phone calls to them and undertake visual checks to ensure that they are safe. Both young people are identified as being at risk of child sexual exploitation, but vigilant staff have kept them Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 6 safe.

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

Young people have also reduced their drug and alcohol misuse. One young person travels to another town to have contact with his friends and recently told staff that he had resisted the temptation to drink alcohol with friends. Staff praised him for this achievement and he was very pleased with himself for refusing the drink that was offered.

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

Staff work with young people in key-work sessions and informal discussions to help them to understand a wide range of safeguarding issues. These include relationships, drugs and alcohol, going missing and the risks when they are away from the home without authorisation. Other topics include child sexual exploitation, sexual health, safe sex and online safety. Staff remind young people of the reasons they were placed away from their home areas and make links between their behaviour and the consequences. Staff skilfully use open-ended questions to engage young people in the discussions and make them think about safety. Staff involve young people in reviewing their own risk assessments and behaviour management plans. Staff explain the strategies that they use to keep young people safe, and young people can make their own suggestions about what would help them to be safer. Staff have asked one young person, who struggles to

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

manage his anger, to identify what support he needs from them to help him to control his behaviour when he is upset.

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

When both young people refused to engage with drug and alcohol services, creative staff obtained information packs to work with the young people themselves. These packs are designed to be accessible to young people and include, for example, quizzes about alcohol and colourful worksheets about drug misuse. An information pack regarding child sexual exploitation helps to engage young people in contributing to keeping themselves safe.

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

The manager regularly reviews and updates detailed risk assessments. Daily records highlight any concerning changes in behaviour or mood, which might indicate that young people are struggling or are at increased risk of harm. Staff work closely with a range of professionals, including the police and social workers, in addition to maintaining links with family members in order to keep young people safe, especially when they go missing. Staff are skilled at de-escalating stressful situations and have not had to use physical interventions. They develop in-depth knowledge of young people. This enables them to anticipate and respond proactively when young people may become angry or be at risk of going missing.

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

Parents, professionals and young people consider that staff keep young people safe. One parent said, ‘They have made a real difference to him. He has stopped the drugs and alcohol, and is definitely kept safe.’ The social worker for one young person commented, ‘He is missing less often. He has become safer.’

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

Staff are highly trained and experienced in safeguarding. However, some staff do not have up-to-date training in physical intervention or administering and recording medication. The new manager has ensured that this has not had a negative impact on Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 7 young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager resigned in June 2017. Before this, staff supervision was not as frequent as required and some training had become out of date. Record keeping was also in need of improvement. The home has had a period of time without a registered manager, and an application from the current manager to become the registered manager is awaited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The new manager has recently started. She has previous experience of being a deputy manager at a home judged by Ofsted to be outstanding. All staff hold level 3 diplomas or are undertaking them. Staff all have first-aid training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The new manager has quickly focused on coming to know her team, and has identified their strengths and areas for development. She has paired staff members up in order to balance their skills and experience and provide young people with more consistent care. The manager has high expectations of her team, in keeping with ethos of the home and the statement of purpose. She expects all staff to be fully aware of the care needs of each of the young people. The manager and staff demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the impact of young people’s experiences on their emotions and behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is organised and has begun to improve the record keeping and access to information within the home in order to make staff practice more effective. Most staff training is up to date and the manager is actively addressing any shortfalls in training. Staff speak positively of the manager, who now provides them with regular supervision and monthly team meetings. One staff member commented that the manager ‘Likes to get a balance between managing and knowing what is happening with young people. She likes face-to-face work with young people. She wants the staff to participate in decision-making processes and influence practice.’ Staff feel supported by the manager and the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff work effectively with family members to ensure that they meet the needs of young people. Staff have developed very positive relationships with the families of the young people, providing them with regular updates by telephone and sharing information about any concerns that they have. This collaboration helps families to understand and to support the care that the home provides. It also enables staff to have a better understanding of the young people and their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff also work closely with a wide range of professionals, including from the youth offending service, police, health professionals, education and social workers. The local police community support officers make regular visits to the home and know the staff and young people well. Staff attend professionals meetings regarding the young people and provide social workers with regular written feedback. They ensure that other professionals have accurate and up-to-date information about young people to provide consistent responses to young people’s needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 8 The manager gathers feedback from staff, young people, parents and professionals in order to inform her development of the service and drive up standards. Feedback is positive. A family member says that her son’s key workers are ‘fantastic’. The social worker for one young person stated that communication from staff is good, and that he

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

was impressed with the report that they wrote for the looked after review. He also commented on how well staff are working with the young person’s mother and previous foster carer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have highlighted a concern regarding an inappropriate comment made by a social worker about a young person’s mental health. The manager has not challenged the local authority about this issue, which could have far-reaching negative consequences for the young person. An area for improvement is challenging other professionals when they are not meeting the needs of young people. Another area for improvement is to replace the damaged kitchen worktop, which is a hygiene hazard.

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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: SC005039 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC005039 10 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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