Children's home run by Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited in Thanet

Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 1 SC023745 Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned by a private company that operates several other children’s homes in the area. The company also provides educational services to support children and, if necessary, has therapeutic services available for young people.

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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: 21 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None. Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people like living here. It is clearly their home.  The staff develop strong relationships with young people which provide them with a secure base from which to progress.  Young people’s contact with people who are important to them is promoted and supported well.  Strong relationships between the managers in the home and other professionals make a real difference to all young people.  Positive behaviour is promoted and encouraged. Poor behaviour is minimised; if it occurs the staff manage it well.  Leaders and managers monitor the quality of care effectively and regularly and this leads to further improvements in it.

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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 staff have not consistently followed the local authority’s procedures for safeguarding young people.  Staff do not collectively have sufficient knowledge about child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/11/2016 Full Good 04/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 16/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 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

7. The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

(a) Develop positive relationships with them.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

(b) ensure that each child— (i) is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. (Regulation 7(2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the staff always respond appropriately to a young people who raises a concern. 03/11/17

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Recommendations

 When establishing the home, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that children are effectively safeguarded and can access services to meet needs identified in their relevant plans (see regulations 12(2)(c)). Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process: Children’s homes regulation amendments 2014: Advice for children’s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came in to effect in January and April 2014. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Recommendations

In particular the registered person should ensure that the location assessment demonstrates particular consideration of the needs of the young people currently Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 4 living here.

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Recommendations

 For some children who have experienced severe trauma, have mental health difficulties or have been excluded or out of education for significant periods, it may be necessary to address and work through their past experiences and present needs before they can positively participate in learning activities and formal education. Staff in children’s homes will play a key role in supporting these children in line with their personal education plan or EHC plan and recommendations from education and health professionals. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.3)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should ensure that any decisions about the communication systems used at the home are as similar as possible with those used at the young person’s school.

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Recommendations

 Staff skills for safeguarding should include being able to identify signs that children may be at risk, and support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. Staff should encourage children to express their views about whether they feel safe both within and outside the home. Staff should support children to understand how to ask for help to stay safe and that the home is an environment which supports this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should ensure that each member of staff has a satisfactory level of knowledge about child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the independent visitor has the necessary skills to review practice appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people progress well because their emotional, educational and behavioural needs are met effectively. Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 5 The staff have very positive and warm relationships with young people. They show real affection towards young people and are interested in the things that they do. The staff know young people very well and invest time in them. They help young people to develop at an appropriate pace, taking account of their learning needs and past trauma. This has resulted in both young people having much greater self-confidence, increasing how they can express their views and improving their social interactions with others. One young person gave the home 10 out of 10 for its care, similarly a social worker said, ‘they have done a fantastic job’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Support for young people’s needs is good. Young people voluntarily engage in regular therapy sessions with relevant health professionals. The professionals also work closely with the staff to help them to understand the impact of autism on young people’s development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Contact between young people and their families is promoted and supported well. Managers understand the importance of building good communication with parents. One parent said that communication had recently improved and she now received more regular information about how her child is doing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of the activities young people have varies. Activities arranged during the school term support young people to maintain their own interests, develop new ones and have social experiences with the staff and the other young person who lives here. The activity programme during the summer lacked the same level of organisation and ambition. Senior managers have already identified and acted to address this matter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carefully planned support has significantly improved young people’s health. One young person attends the dentist, which he previously he would not do. Both young people have improved their personal care, are engaged in sports activities and enjoy regular walks. Medication management continues to be an area requiring improvement. The previous recommendation regarding medication is met. However, the procedures for monitoring medication of controlled drugs administration are weak. The staff sometimes administer controlled drugs alone, where good practice indicates that it should be administered by two people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s access to education has improved during this inspection period. Previously, one young person was tutored at home for some considerable time. Since September 2017 he has been in school. His reintroduction is being supported well and this has assisted him to settle quickly. The staff at both young people’s schools are very complimentary about how the staff interact and support young people’s education. One headteacher said, ‘staff always respond and pick up the phone… they give us good advice which has helped us to support (name of child).’ However, it is unclear whether the use of Picture Exchange Communication Symbols (PECS) to support young people’s communication within the home remains appropriate. The staff could not confirm that its use links appropriately with the school’s programme of learning support. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that the staff fully assist young people’s educational goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers have increased their links with each school and during the inspection asked for clarification about the assistive communication systems currently being used in school. Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 6 Independence skills are developed in line with the young person’s progress and developmental needs. Currently, young people are learning to cook, and they help to clear up after meals and keep their bedrooms tidy. There are plans is to increase each young person’s independence skills over time.

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

Young people learn how to keep themselves safe. The staff help them to understand how their behaviours may put themselves at risk, and there is a high level of supervision to ensure that young people’s welfare is promoted and that they are protected.

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

Young people feel able to express their views and ask personal questions. Records show that young people have good conversations about some difficult and personal issues, which staff respond to well. During the inspection, the staff provided clear boundaries and encouraged structured routines, which young people responded to well. On one occasion, staff responded firmly to what a young person was saying about another member of staff.

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

Young people develop good behaviour and learn to manage difficult feelings and behaviours more effectively. The support of staff has enabled young people to develop more positive behaviours, which has resulted in fewer restraints.

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

Only three restraints have occurred since the last inspection. Staff use these incidents as opportunities to talk with the young person about what led up to the restraint and to consider how, together, they can prevent restraint being used in the future.

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

Rewards systems are appropriate and clear. Young people help to decide and regularly evaluate how well they are achieving their short-term and long-term goals. This helps young people to understand what is expected of them. They feel engaged in the decisions being made about them and know how they how well they are doing.

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

Recruitment practice is well organised and helps to protect young people from unsuitable people. The process follows a variety of stages, and includes the staff’s and young people’s views about an applicant.

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

Risk assessments are well written, regularly reviewed and reflect each young person’s needs well. The location assessment risk assessment is reviewed annually. However, it lacks some detail applicable to the young people who live here. For example, the detail about schools in the area does not relate to young people who are on the autistic spectrum.

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

The staff refer concerns to professionals and ensure that these are acted on. Where the local authority and the young person’s social worker are both from the area where the home is located, the staff do not always inform the safeguarding team of a safeguarding concern. Rather, they refer this matter to the young person’s social worker. This is not in accordance with the local authority’s or the organisation’s own safeguarding policies. However, this has not adversely impacted on decisions made to protect young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 7 Not all staff have sufficient knowledge about all issues relating to child protection. They know and use the organisation’s internal procedures for referring concerns. However, they do not all have sufficient knowledge of child sexual exploitation or radicalisation. It is planned that all the staff will be trained in this by the end of December 2017.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a good vision for the home. They successfully focus the staff on meeting young people’s needs. Managerial changes have been handled well and have not adversely affected young people’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers pay careful attention to promoting equality and diversity. Where necessary, they provide support to develop young people’s understanding, enabling young people to develop their tolerance, appreciation and knowledge of others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are sufficient numbers of well-trained staff on duty each day. A particular strength is the regular training that the staff receive regarding autism and how this affects the ways that staff need to care for the young people who live here.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff speak positively about the support that they receive from managers. They receive regular supervision which matches the frequency outlined in the provider’s supervision policy. Records of this are clear, up to date and demonstrate a good depth of discussion.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals were very positive about the ways that the staff worked with them. The reports that the staff provide for reviews are well written and provided on time, providing a good picture of young people’s achievements and current goals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have their own internal reviewing mechanisms, which regularly check the practice provided and support managers to make further developments. An independent person regularly visits and reports on the quality of the service provided. At times, the person has not identified or interrogated practice rigorously. For example, she did not notice that a safeguarding concern was not notified to Ofsted. This brings into question whether the visitor sufficiently interrogates the quality of service provided. Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 8

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited, 17 Leigh Road, Ramsgate, Kent CT12 5EU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leslie Davenport

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Inspector

Ruth Coler, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC023745 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 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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