Children's Home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 1 Registered provider: My Choice Children‟s Homes Ltd

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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 is a privately owned children‟s home that is registered to provide care for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural problems. Two additional conditions of registration apply. The first is that the home may only provide care and accommodation for children who do not present with known and identified child sexual exploitation. The second is that the home may only provide care and accommodation for children who do not present with a known and identified alcohol and drug dependency. Education can be provided at the organisation‟s school.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children‟s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children do not receive effectively planned care or have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. Poor decision-making about referrals and admissions has resulted in placements being terminated after short periods. Three of the four children admitted since the home‟s registration on 5 July 2017 have had their placements ended.  Impact risk assessments do not provide strategies to prevent the risks identified at the referral and admission stage. Therefore, staff are not well informed of how to prevent or lessen the risks when a child is placed.  There are significant shortfalls in safeguarding practice.  There are significant shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home. Leaders and managers have been too slow to review decisions affecting the quality of care provided since registration. Monitoring systems have not been fully utilised, resulting in poor management oversight and action. The poor

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Key findings from this inspection

timing of analysis of incidents has not enabled staff to reflect and develop practice.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The health needs of children are met. The staff encourage healthy lifestyles in regards to diet and exercise.  Education planning is good, with children successfully enrolled in mainstream education placements. The staff team promotes education and provides positive role models to the children.  Some children develop good relationships with the staff and enjoy the time they spend with the adults. Staff have successfully encouraged the children to join local groups and participate in community activities.  Health and safety matters are addressed and regularly checked to ensure that the home is a safe environment for children to live and for staff to work in. Children are well informed of the fire evacuation procedures.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the home‟s first inspection. Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child may be at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policy. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)) 13/10/2017

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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. The registered person must- keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (1)(3)(a)) In particular, ensure it provides an accurate reflection of the home. 13/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‟s statement of purpose; 13/10/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 4 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; understands the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(f)(h)) The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)) 13/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. The registered person must ensure that a record is made if any complaints, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(c)) In particular, ensure action taken is recorded. 13/10//2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children‟s home at least once a month. (Regulation 44(1)) 13/10/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have experienced instability as a result of ineffective referral and admission processes. In the short time that the home has been open, three of the four children who moved into the home have moved out after very short periods. Poor risk assessments do not equip staff to understand, and manage, children‟s challenging behaviour. As a result, some children‟s risk-taking behaviours increased while they were living in the home. Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 5 Moving in and moving on experiences have not been positive for the children at this home. Ineffective referral and admission procedures have resulted in three of the four children being placed at the home having their placements ended abruptly. Progress for children has been very limited due to the unplanned brevity of their stays, and the serious incidents that have occurred as a result of the staff team being unable to prevent

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

children being drawn into each other‟s negative behaviours. Decisions to admit children have been made too quickly, with insufficient information gained from professionals involved in the child‟s life. The staff have failed to manage challenging behaviours well. They have not devised or deployed effective strategies to lessen or prevent the known risks. Serious safeguarding failures mean that children are not protected and their welfare is not safeguarded. Increasing negative behaviours exhibited by some children have caused others to feel, at times, threatened and unsafe. Bullying incidents have not been managed well by the staff team which has left children vulnerable to continued bullying. Risk-taking behaviours increased for some children over the short period of time that they were placed at the home, including self-harm, going missing and putting themselves at risk of being sexually exploited. A significant number of these incidents

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

have led to police intervention. Despite staff supporting children to make good decisions, their efforts have failed to have good effect as disruptive behaviours continued to escalate until placements were ended. Education is given a high priority, with plans in place for children to attend appropriate educational establishments. Educational attendance levels and achievements cannot be commented on due to the home opening at the start of the school summer holidays, and this inspection taking place prior to the start of the new school year. For one child, relationships with the staff team throughout their time at the home have been very positive, with good progress being made.

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

There are significant shortfalls in safeguarding practices. Staff failed to address thoroughly, and in a timely manner, an incident of bullying and to ensure that children were not drawn into other children‟s challenging behaviours. Staff failed to follow the home‟s child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures. Staff failed to identify an incident of text bullying as a safeguarding concern. Recording and reporting by the staff was poor, leading to a delay in senior staff referring the incident to external professionals. When action was taken, it was insufficient and did not protect the child from further text bullying. Staff failed to ensure that children are not drawn into other children‟s negative behaviours. Older children encouraged younger children to participate in negative behaviours such as verbal and serious physical assaults. Known and new behaviours were not well managed by the staff as children continued to put themselves at risk and,

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

for some, increased their risks. A staff team with varying experience of managing challenging behaviours was not able to stop the increasing risky behaviours that children Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 6 were presenting with. There is a lack of oversight by managers and leaders as to the effectiveness of the home‟s safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures. There is poor practice by the manager in the monitoring and following up of safeguarding referrals. Referrals to relevant external agencies are made; however, on one known occasion a referral was not made when required. This delays appropriate action being taken. The manager‟s practice in communicating with external safeguarding agencies, and in following up on the referrals, is not consistent. The timeliness of the follow-up with these agencies is too long and prevents any actions advised from being taken. Managers act assertively if staff practice is found to be unsafe. They are prepared to use

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

disciplinary action when required. Health and safety matters are addressed and regularly checked to ensure that the home is a safe environment for children to live and for staff to work in. Children are well informed of the fire evacuation procedures. Recruitment of staff is thorough with all checks being completed before staff commence work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is experienced and working towards the level 5 qualification. However, his managerial oversight including the use of monitoring and reviewing systems has, so far, been ineffective. He has failed to review, make comment on, and reflect on incidents in a timely manner. Leaders and managers have been too slow in reflecting on the events that have occurred and the reasons why the home became unstable in such a short period of time after opening. This has caused a delay in action being taken to ensure the future stability of placements, in particular reviewing the home‟s referral and admission procedures to ensure good placement matching. In addition, it has prevented senior leaders and managers from identifying the need to ensure that the staff team has the skills to manage challenging behaviours well. A draft action plan to address shortfalls at the home does not cover all the areas of

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

concern. It demonstrates a limited understanding of areas that need to improve, and of the reflection of the first seven weeks of the home being opened. An additional action plan supplied by senior leaders is insufficiently robust. The registered manager has failed to respond to a child‟s complaint, thus ensuring a good outcome for that child. Despite the instability of the home since opening, there have been very few complaints raised. The home‟s statement of purpose does not contain all the required information. It contains inaccurate information that does not truly reflect what the home and its staff team can provide. It does not give stakeholders the correct detail when considering placements. An independent visitor has not visited the home since it was registered. A visit was being carried out during this inspection, eight weeks after the home opened and the first child was admitted. This does not provide the registered manager, senior leaders or the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 7 regulatory body (Ofsted) with a timely independent view as to whether the children are effectively safeguarded and that their well-being is promoted. The staff have access to a wide range of training, delivered in-house and externally. The training matrix record does not provide correct information of when individual training courses have been completed. This is poor oversight by the manager who, as a result, does not know how well his staff are trained and when they require updated training.

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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 differences 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: 1250194 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: My Choice Children‟s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: My Choice Children‟s Homes Ltd, Unit 3a, Mill Green Business Estate, Mill Green Road, Haywards Heath RH16 1XQ

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Inspector

Liz Driver, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1250194 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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