Children's home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 1 SC060118 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 20 January 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 There has been a lack of continuity of staffing arrangement for the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 2  Not all staff are equipped to manage children’s behaviour without the need for locking internal doors and/or calling the police.  The child is in a safer place since he moved into the home four months ago. However, his care experiences still require improvement to be good.  The child’s psychological health needs are currently not being met.  The manager does not always respond to the allegations appropriately.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The child is engaging with education and has joined a football team.  The child has decreased his harmful activity and does not go missing from home as frequently.  The child’s placing authority and family are very pleased with how well he is doing.  The manager advocates on behalf of the child to ensure that he receives services to support his needs.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/08/2016 Full Good 12/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 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

10: The health and well-being standard (1) The health and well-being standard is that— (a) the health and well-being needs of children are met; (b) children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and (c) children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (c) that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. 30/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard (1) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; 31/12/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 4 (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s

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Requirement Due date

behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; (ix) understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. 12: The protection of children standard (1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 31/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard (1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) 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; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. 31/12/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. With particular reference to establishing a system to monitor the use of locking internal doors as part of a behaviour management technique. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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improvement to be good

Staff do not manage all incidents involving the child in a safe manner. On occasions, the police have been called to help staff. This has resulted in the child being taken away in handcuffs on two occasions, and being charged with criminal damage and assault. Because of these poor outcomes, the child’s experience of living at this home is, at times, poor. The child is making some good progress in relation to the circumstances he was involved with before moving into this home. Incidents of going missing and police involvement have decreased. He attends school daily, having missed a long period of education, and has joined a local youth football team. The child’s psychological health needs are currently not being met, despite this being an action from a strategy meeting two months ago. Following a delay in the children and adolescent mental health service providing the input, the manager is now arranging for

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improvement to be good

the provider’s clinical team to start the necessary assessment. Staff are good at supporting the child to keep in contact with his family. The relationship between the child and his family has improved since he moved in and the child is learning to manage his emotions in a positive way when returning to the home. The child’s grandmother is happy with his progress at the home and reports, ‘We are getting the old (name) back now.’ The child reports that he is happy living at the home. He said that, ‘Staff are really nice, I feel safe and there is someone there I can talk to.’ Staff demonstrate that they care for the child and are building nurturing relationships. They give the child lots of praise and encourage fun activities appropriate to his age to build his self-esteem. The child’s memory book shows photos of him having fun with staff while bowling, eating pancakes and enjoying a summer holiday. Placing authority feedback to the inspector during the inspection is very positive. The

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improvement to be good

independent review officer praised staff’s commitment and feels that they are doing everything they can to keep the child safe. The child’s social worker’s team manager reports that, ‘Staff are very child focused’, and that ‘(Name) is in a good place to be Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 6 helped.’ Staff are meeting all the home’s initial aims agreed for the child. He has a pushbike, goes quad biking, is in full-time education and is enjoying playing football regularly again. Staff are beginning to meet the child’s needs by providing some security and engaging him in age-appropriate behaviour. The home is maintained to a reasonable standard. Some of the walls are bare as a result of photos and pictures having been taken down or broken. There are a couple of unnecessary small health and safety notices that the manager has agreed to remove. The child can use a trampoline in the garden and a shed that has been agreed as a safe

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improvement to be good

The child has gone missing from his home six times in four months, including one episode that lasted five days. The manager followed this with a strategy meeting and staff have since revised the protocol for reporting children as missing, so as not to allow them enough time to get too far from the home. Staff will follow the child when he walks off and report him to the police after 15 minutes of not been sighted. The current child has decreased his episodes of going missing and is beginning to comply with staff’s request to keep himself safe. A previous child also went missing from the home nine times in ten months. Children at this home have not been routinely provided with independent return to home interviews when they return home from going missing. In total, nine episodes were not followed up appropriately. The manager has addressed this issue with the current placing authority and a local service is now providing this resource.

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improvement to be good

The manager’s response to children making allegations requires improvement. The manager lacked clarity about what constitutes an allegation. As such, an allegation made six weeks ago had not been reported to the designated officer. In addition, staff’s protocol for responding to an allegation is inappropriate and is far from child friendly. The manager recognises that not all members of the staff team are able to manage the child’s behaviour. Some staff are not able to calm the child and have, on occasions, locked themselves in the office. On occasion, staff lock internal doors to the kitchen and a bathroom during incidents as an alternative to physically restraining the child. The manager does not have a designated monitoring system to record the use of this measure. Therefore, he cannot identify the frequency of this measure, or the patterns and trends emerging from its use in an attempt to reduce it and find alternative methods

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improvement to be good

of restraint. Staff do not frequently use restraint. There has been only one use of the measure since the previous inspection. It was used proportionately and was appropriately followed up to ensure that the child was unharmed. Staff do not frequently use sanctions as a consequence for children expressing themselves through behaviour. The staff team recognises and understands the child’s needs to express his feelings. The manager reviews all consequences to ensure that they are appropriate and focused on helping the Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 7 child learn from his behaviour. The recruitment and selection process for new staff is good. The manager is involved in screening and interviewing new applicants to assess if they are suitable for this home. He also ensures that staff provided by other homes have been suitably vetted before they work at this home. No agency staff have been used.

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

The manager is recruiting new staff. In the meantime, there has been an impact on the continuity of staffing as individuals from other homes are used to cover gaps created by staff leaving and to provide the required gender balance on shift. Staff are not provided with the necessary support to help them manage and adapt to the child’s needs. Since it became apparent that the child’s needs were more complex than those presented on admission, the monthly team clinical meetings have not always taken place. Also, staff have not received a refresher in their behaviour management training. As such, many of the staff are finding it difficult to safely manage the child’s behaviour. The manager continues to work proactively with the placing authority to support the child’s progress and to obtain further information to inform care planning. Together, they do feel that this is a really positive placement for him and that he should remain at this

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

home as it will provide him with stability. Staff report that they feel supported by the manager and their colleagues, although there have been some difficulties in covering shifts and pressure due to changes to the staff team. The manager is addressing this and, for a temporary period, three members of staff have been redeployed from other homes to help provide a consistent response and a familiar face to the child. Staff report that they are supported through good supervision and that team meetings are useful. The manager is mindful to catch up on supervisions for staff when they have been missed due to busy periods. An independent person provides the required external monthly monitoring of the home’s procedures. The current manager uses this effectively. Since the manager was appointed into role in June 2017, the number of actions on each monthly report has significantly reduced. The manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2017 and is working

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

towards the required leadership and management qualification. He is supported by regular supervision by the provider’s operations manager.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 8 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: SC060118 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Five Rivers Childcare, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Inspector

Guy Mammatt, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC060118 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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