Children's home run by Keys Direct Care Limited in Southend-on-Sea

Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 1 SC482380 Registered provider: Direct 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

A private provider owns and operates this home, which provides accommodation for four children and young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 27 to 28 September 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 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: 7 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The well-being of the children is placed at the centre of practice at the home.  Children increase their contact with their families, including overnight stays. This supports children to maintain these important relationships. Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 2  Staff work skilfully with the children to help them to settle at the home.  Children develop independent-living and self-care skills, including cooking and laundry tasks.  Staff use incentives effectively to encourage good behaviour. This has seen a reduction in unwanted behaviour.  Although rare, when incidents of children going missing occur, the staff understand the action that they need to take to ensure that the children are found and returned quickly.  An ambitious manager supports the children to achieve positive outcomes.  The manager has high expectations of the staff to achieve the best results that they can for the children.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager uses effective monitoring processes to ensure that the staff are meeting the children’s needs.  Regular meetings between the staff and the children provide an opportunity for the staff to hear and take action on the views of children.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/05/2016 Full Good 21/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s well-being is at the centre of practice at this home. As a result, the children benefit from good-quality care. The staff understand the children’s needs and they are alert to the challenges and how to manage them. Consequently, the children are well cared for and develop good relationships with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager produces effective pre-admission risk assessments. These inform the staff about children’s individual needs, which enables them to plan the most suitable approach for the child entering the home alongside the children already living at the home. The manager routinely reviews these assessments as the child’s needs change or if events occur that mean that the staff need to alter their approach to working with the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have recently increased their contact with their families. For example, one child has built up their contact to overnight stays. This is improving the relationships with their extended family. Staff carefully analyse these contact sessions to ensure that the sessions are meeting the children’s needs. Staff have good relationships with the children’s families, and positive communication between the home and families helps to build the families’ confidence during these sessions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff use the community meetings to take time to listen to the children’s views. One child commented, ‘The care staff are the best, totally awesome. We sort out going to Skaters [a roller-skating park] and trips to the cinema with them.’ Staff encourage the children to communicate appropriately with one another through regular group meetings during which the staff talk through any issues or concerns with the children to identify strategies to reduce antisocial behaviour. As a result, the atmosphere at the home is calm and friendly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect by staff who understand their needs. Some of the children have experienced a number of placement breakdowns prior to being placed at this home. The staff gently and skilfully work in accordance with the children’s well-written care plans to help the children to settle and begin to make progress. Placing social workers highlight the positive relationships between the children and staff. One placing social worker commented, ‘There seems to be a very genuine relationship between the children and the staff, which I am really pleased to see. It has paid dividends with the child’s behaviour, which has improved because of the good consistent level of care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some of the children refused to attend any school prior to their admission to this home. Since moving to this home, the children attend the school and make some progress educationally. Children receive a good level of support from the residential staff to move on to further education and the world of work. In particular, the staff have encouraged children to develop their skills through work experience and voluntary work. These opportunities provide children with the chances to make and maintain a friendship group Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 4 outside the home. A placing social worker commented, ‘Their [the child’s] education has been fractured by the number of placement moves. Now, she is being encouraged to establish a good routine of attending the on-site school.’ The education inspection of the on-site school took place at the same time as the inspection of the home and is reported

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the children to develop independent living skills, including cooking and self- care. The children gain confidence in these areas before they leave the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to make and keep appointments with health professionals as necessary. Routine health checks and annual visits to the optician are encouraged.

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

Children go missing from this home. These incidents are rare, but, when children go missing, staff understand the action that they need to take to ensure that the children are found and returned quickly. Some of the children have experienced a number of placement breakdowns and have an extensive missing-from-care history. Children have reduced this behaviour and have settled at the home because of the work with them undertaken by the staff.

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

The staff understand the risks regarding child sexual exploitation because the manager reviews any concerns and updates risk assessments. The practice at the home reduces these risks, including hazards presented by online gaming and social media. Placing social workers have no concerns about the children living at the home. One social worker commented, ‘Safeguarding has been excellent since this child has been here. The risks have been minimised, not just by the work at the home but [also] by the work completed at the on-site school.’ Staff have recently undertaken training to understand the risks of radicalisation in the community.

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

The manager ensures that any required redecoration is completed quickly. This forms part of the development plan for the home. The house is well maintained, has a homely feel and is a safe environment for the children. Recent improvements in the garden provide a better area in which the children can play.

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

Children’s behaviour is well managed. Staff use incentives for good behaviour, and this has reduced unwanted behaviour. As a result, the home is calm and relaxed. There is no evidence of bullying at the home and the staff take action to prevent issues from escalating. Children say that they feel safe. Observation of the interaction between the children and the staff highlights the skills and confidence that the staff have in their abilities to support the children and make positive relationships.

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

Trained staff have used physical intervention on two occasions since the last inspection to prevent a child from harming themselves or others. The manager has reviewed the records of these interventions and the staff have discussed each occurrence to develop an understanding of these events and what the staff can do to prevent future occurrences. Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious for children to achieve positive outcomes. He has high expectations of the staff to achieve the best results that they can for the children. The manager is developing research-based practice to inform the work that staff undertake with the children. This is included in the development plan for the home, which is clear and involves increasing the staff members’ skills and knowledge in areas such as relationship building and resilience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced manager has been in post for three years. He holds a level 5 management diploma. The manager supports the staff through regular child-centred supervision that focuses on safe care as well as staff development. He monitors the quality of care by observing staff members’ practice. This means that he can act quickly to reinforce good working routines as well as take steps to prevent any activity which is not supporting the children. The manager reviews care plans to ensure that they meet the children’s needs, taking prompt action to make necessary changes so that the staff have the most up-to-date information to guide them. The manager ensures that the children’s care plans are personalised to reflect their unique needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider has a clear training pathway to develop the staff’s skills. All of the eligible staff hold a relevant level 3 diploma. Other staff have completed induction training that provides them with the knowledge required to work with the children effectively. The manager identifies that the commitment and dedication of the staff are significant strengths. He is developing the staff team’s understanding of how new and innovative approaches may be used.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The monthly reports that are provided by the independent visitor identify any shortfalls, which the manager takes action to address. Effective monitoring processes ensure that the staff are meeting the children’s needs well and receiving the service described in the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good relationship with placing social workers, who speak highly of the staff team’s interventions with the children. One social worker commented, ‘Communication is good. The staff contact me regularly to check out any significant decisions or concerns.’ This joint working helps the children to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular meetings between the staff and the children provide an opportunity for the staff to hear the children’s views. The meetings provide the staff with a means to give positive feedback to the children about how they are progressing. The children are listened to and they develop a sense of pride in their home. Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 6

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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: SC482380 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Direct Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Goldwyns, Rutland House 90–92 Baxter Avenue, Southend-on-Sea SS2 6HZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rebecca Ouellani

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Inspector

Michael Mulvaney, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC482380 8 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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