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

Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 1 SC066881 Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services 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 children’s home is registered for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The home’s statement of purpose describes crisis intervention and short, medium, or long-term placements for children aged seven to 17 years.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 15 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: SC066881 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people form warm and trusting relationships with caring and committed staff.  Young people enjoy a very welcoming and comfortable home where they personalise their rooms.  Young people experience a level of stability and security, with clear boundaries and routines, which enable them to focus on their own needs.  Highly skilled and perceptive staff help young people to make significant progress in their emotional and social development, education and physical wellbeing.  Staff have high aspirations for young people.  Young people have fun with each other and staff by engaging in activities of their choice.  Staff listen to young people when they express their views, wishes and feelings.  Staff practice is based on a therapeutic model which is highly effective at supporting young people’s behaviour, reducing conflict, and minimising risk- taking behaviours.  The experienced, newly appointed registered manager is child focused,

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Key findings from this inspection

dedicated and leads by example.  Staff work effectively with a range of professionals to ensure that the needs of young people are identified and met.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have not received the opportunity to engage in regular key-work sessions due to recent significant changes with the staff team.  The high use of agency staff has undermined the home’s ability to identify and respond to child protection concerns, as safeguarding procedures have not been consistently followed.  The registered manager has not regularly monitored the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policy.  Staff shortages have resulted in the core staff team undertaking a high number of additional shifts, placing staff under significant strain. This practice is not sustainable.  The registered manager has not provided staff with regular supervision.  The registered manager has not always ensured that Ofsted is notified of serious incidents regarding young people.  The quality of case recording needs to improve. Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/09/2016 Full Outstanding 10/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 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 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 help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(ii)) In particular, undertake regular key work with young people. 30/11/2017

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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 take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 30/11/2017

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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 the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policy is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(e)) 30/11/2017

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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 ensures that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(1) and (2)(d)) 30/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

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 or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(1) 30/11/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 5 and (2)(c)) In particular, make a record for the home of the decisions made at young people’s looked after reviews. The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(b)) 30/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 30/11/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy an exceptionally homely and welcoming environment. They form warm and trusting relationships with dedicated staff, including the new registered manager. Young people have personalised their rooms and enjoy meals and chatting with staff together in the dining room. Young people benefit from clear and firm boundaries and routines, which provide them with high levels of stability and security. This enables them to focus on their own needs. Young people engage in lots of fun activities such as horse riding, dog walking, ice-skating and swimming. Their social and emotional development is supported by attendance at the local youth club and cadets. The young people have also formed friendships with other young people in the local community. Young people make significant progress in understanding and managing their own emotional well-being. One young person has been able to reflect on her own behaviour

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

and to see things from a wider perspective. She has been a positive role model to another young person who lives in the home . Young people also make progress in developing their independence skills and their personal hygiene. One young person, who Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 6 is exploring her family history and identity, has had overnight contact with her siblings, supported by staff. Staff support young people to achieve educationally, supporting them to make progress both academically and in their social development. Staff have high aspirations for the young people. Staff listen to young people who express their views, wishes and feelings. Young people know how to complain and they are able to access the support of independent advocates. Recent changes in the staff team have resulted in a period of instability for one young person who has lived in the home for three years. Staff anticipated the emotional impact

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

of the changes and put in a number of measures to maintain the important relationships that have developed over time. This has meant that the young person has been able to manage the inevitable changes. However, the home has relied heavily on agency staff, and this has unsettled the young people. Improving the sufficiency of the staff team is an area of improvement.

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

improvement to be good. Highly trained core staff work effectively with young people to keep them safe. However, recent changes in staffing and the increased use of agency staff mean that young people have not always been consistently protected. Just prior to the new manager starting in post, staff failed to follow child protection procedures and relied on the police to find a young person at night rather than searching a local underpass themselves. The local police have recently attended a team meeting to discuss the missing from care procedures. Despite the police advising that a ‘grab bag’ containing torches is kept in the home, to enable staff to respond quickly when a young person goes missing at night, this is still not in place. There are a number of areas for improvement. Staff do not routinely undertake key-work sessions with young people. The recording of incident records is not consistently

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

undertaken and there is no evidence of regular managerial review of risk assessments. There is little evidence that the registered manager is monitoring the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policy. Whilst young people have not been harmed, they do not positively express that they feel safe in the home. Staff are safely recruited. They receive training in child sexual exploitation, internet safety, physical intervention, self-harm and young people going missing. Staff understand how to identify and respond appropriately to these risks. The up-to-date locality risk assessment is a valuable tool for staff, as are the detailed and individualised risk assessment and behaviour management plans. Core staff have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the young people’s emotional needs and the impact that their needs have on their behaviour. Behaviour management is good with clear strategies for

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

reducing risk. Core staff are highly skilled at de-escalating challenging behaviour, which contributes significantly to keeping young people safe. The most recent young person to move into the home struggled to follow boundaries in her previous placement. Staff have helped her to reduce the length of her episodes of challenging behaviour and to Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 7 quickly engage with staff again after incidents. She also goes missing less. The home is a well-maintained and safe environment.

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

The new registered manager has been in post since July 2017. She also manages another children’s home, which is judged by Ofsted to be outstanding. The previous registered manager left the post in May 2017 and the home was managed by acting managers for two months prior to the new registered manager starting. The registered manager holds a level 5 leadership and management qualification and has several years’ experience in working with children and young people. Staff either hold a level 3 qualification or are undertaking training for the same. All staff hold a first aid qualification. A number of staff have left the home in recent months, and this has undermined the stability and smooth running of the home. The remaining core staff have taken on additional shifts. This has provided young people with consistent care, as there is always a core staff member on duty. However, this is not sustainable. The registered manager

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

is in the process of recruiting new staff to improve this situation. Senior management in the company have acknowledged the impact of the significant changes in staffing on the running of the home and on the sense of stability for the young people. There are gaps in staff supervision and team meetings, and record-keeping is inconsistent. Management oversight of practice needs to improve to ensure that staff follow policies and procedures. A lack of note-taking in a young person’s review, for example, has resulted in staff waiting for the minutes from the placing authority in order to have clarity about any changes to a young person’s plan. Furthermore, Ofsted has not always been notified when significant incidents involving young people have occurred. The recently recruited registered manager is working very hard to make the improvements needed to ensure that effective leadership is in place. The manager has

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

quickly assessed the strengths and areas for development in her team and she is recruiting staff who have skills and qualities that will complement the current team. The core team has highly skilled staff who use elements of the PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy) theoretical model to underpin their practice. The staff team provides young people with positive role models who are sensitive and strongly committed to the young people. Staff reflect on their work and bring in other relevant approaches in order to support young people, including gathering high-quality life story materials for young people in order to support their identity and emotional well- being. Staff work closely with a number of other agencies in an effort to identify and address young people’s individual needs. These include the police, placing authorities, independent advocates, health, education and the in-house clinical team. Staff are

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

proactive in requesting relevant information about young people from placing authorities, and staff challenge them if the information is not provided. Staff also liaise with local resources like the local youth club and cadets in order to help young people become part of their community. Inspection report children’s home: SC066881 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 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: SC066881 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: SC066881 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 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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