Children's Home run by Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd in Newham

Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 1 SC060545 Registered provider: Laurel Leaf 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 privately run home provides care and accommodation for up to eight young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The service accepts emergency placements as well as provides long-term care.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Inadequate

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: 20 December 2016

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in 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

 Young people do not make good progress in their behaviour, emotional and/or Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 2 social well-being.  Risk factors are not consistently assessed or well managed.  Young people are admitted without a robust impact assessment, resulting in placement disruptions.  There was no registered manager for more than 26 weeks. Staff and management turnover has caused instability and inconsistency of practice.  Not all staff have received appropriate training to enable them to meet young people’s challenging needs.  The home has an ‘institutional’ feel rather than a homely environment.  The registered manager has identified areas of improvement and has put plans in place to address the issues.

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Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/04/2016 Full Good 04/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/05/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 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

12. The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; help each child to understand how to keep safe; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; are familiar with, and in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulations 12 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(vi)(vii)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

14. The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure 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; that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (a)(b)(2)(a)) 30/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 4 11. The positive relationship standard In order to meet the positive relationship standard, the registered person must ensure that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on: an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and that staff— meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationships; are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (b)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(vii)(x)(xi)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

13. The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the registered person must: ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; understand 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. (Regulations 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(e)(f)) 30/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 5 6. The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the

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Requirement Due date

registered person must ensure that: the premise is designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulations 6 (2)(c)) 30/10/2017

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff, or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 45-46, paragraphs 9.30 and 9.31)  Emergency admissions should not be taken unless the home’s statement of purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that it has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice, while continuing to offer high-

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Recommendations

quality care to children already living in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)  The behavioural management policy should set out how staff are trained and supported to meet the child’s needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.37)  The registered person should ensure that staff skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded in the home’s workforce plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)  Ensure that policies setting out arrangements for safeguarding children include gangs, trafficking and female genital mutilation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.19)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities

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Recommendations

and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should have a workforce development plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: detail the necessary management and staffing Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 6 structure, the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose; detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training; detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; detail the process

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Recommendations

and timescales for supervision of practice and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  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)  Ensure that a review of quality of care, under Regulations 45, focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the impact the care is having on the outcomes and improvements for the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  Ensure that the individual appointed to carry out a visit to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangement for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the

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Recommendations

home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  Ensure that the home is a homely home and maintains a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 7

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improvement to be good

The home is not yet delivering good help and care for young people so that they have positive experiences and make good progress. All but one of the 10 young people admitted since the last full inspection have been discharged. Four of the young people’s placements ended in disruption within three months of their admission. Two young people admitted since the last interim inspection were discharged within a week of their arrival. There has been a number of incidents of young people going missing and requiring police intervention for theft and physical assault. A lack of robust impact risk assessment has led to inappropriate placements. Also, ineffective behavioural management has led to young people experiencing poor progress during their stay. Since the last inspection, there have been changes of managers and staff, which have created instability in the home. Consequently, young people felt unsettled. The quality of

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improvement to be good

individualised care and support provided to the young people is inconsistent. Professionals have stated that there were staff who did not appear to know much about the young people’s history and risk factors contained in their care plans. Consequently, they were not able to effectively engage with the young people and help manage their challenging behaviour. Young people are not developing skills and strategies to manage their own conflicts and difficult feelings. While the young people are supported to develop positive relationships with the staff and manager, the impact of those relationships has been limited. For example, key-working sessions take place regularly. Monthly reports reflect the content of the discussions with the young people. However, there is limited analysis of how the discussions have positively influenced the young people. Young people have not made progress in their education until very recently. A young

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improvement to be good

person currently placed at the home had not been in education for four months. Home tuition was offered leading up to the young person starting on-site education. There is evidence of the home advocating for the young person to be in school. The assistant headteacher stated that staff try to keep the young person motivated and that they work closely with the school. The young person has two mentors at school to work with her on boundaries and expectations. The young person is demonstrating good potential, and the staff and manager encourage her to be aspirational. Other positive comments were made by some of the professionals. For example, a youth offending service professional stated that the home exercises good communication with the service, and that the young person is the most settled she has been since they started working together earlier this year. A social worker stated that this is the longest

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improvement to be good

placement the young person has had in a very long time and would like for the young person to remain at the home. A young person shared what they did not like about the home. For example, the young person wants rewards to be based on better incentives and the home to feel homely. Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 8 The young person also stated that most of the staff ‘go out of their way’ to help them and that this is the ‘only care home that has fought for me to get into school’. Young people know how to complain and action is taken by the professional network to address the concerns. Young people have adults in the home they can talk with and who support them to develop good relationships.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not receive good enough help and protection. Lack of impact assessments and proper planning has led to inappropriate placements of young people whose significant needs were not well managed. One young person with a high level of challenging needs was admitted after a lengthy discussion with the placing authority and with an initial risk assessment in place. However, the impact assessment on the young people already placed in the home was limited. Instances of high level conflict between the young people were not well managed. Furthermore, there was an over-reliance on two-to-one support to help manage a young person’s significant needs, which was not effective in managing the conflict with young people in the home. The home’s behavioural management policy is comprehensive and cites a cognitive behavioural therapeutic approach as a specific strategy to manage behaviour. The policy states, ‘Staff receive regular trainings on attachment styles, managing challenging

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improvement to be good

behaviour’ as well as ‘physical intervention/restraint techniques’. However, this has not taken place. Consequently, young people do not receive a range of effective means of behavioural management support that they need. Risks are not clearly identified or well managed on a consistent basis. Risk assessment on aggression and violence has been updated, but no change was made to the risk level despite further incidents since the last update. Furthermore, there is no evidence of reviewing the effectiveness of the actions to keep young people safe. Another review took place a month later, but there is an incomplete recording of the incident and no analysis. Risk assessment of a young person out in the community is not robust. Only one incident is recorded to inform the level of risk, even though the staff have experienced several incidences of the young person absconding from staff supervision. It is unclear what level of impact the advised actions have had on reducing the risk. Risk

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improvement to be good

assessment on child sexual exploitation is clear and well informed; however, the approach in supporting young people to reduce the level of child sexual exploitation risk has been limited. Although staff follow the home’s procedures when young people go missing, there has been a lack of effective action taken to mitigate the persistent pattern of high-risk behaviour of the identified young people. While staff attempt to speak with the young people when they return home, there is no arrangement in place to offer them independent return home interviews. Hence, there is no evaluation of missing incidents undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff. The views of the designated officer, independent reviewing officer and other social work and police professionals were obtained for this inspection. With respect to safeguarding, Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 9 there have been concerns about the leader’s and manager’s lack of understanding in

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improvement to be good

keeping children safe; however, the current registered manager is regarded as ‘proactive’ in following procedures. Also, the presence of a strong network and a young person being on a tag have reduced the number of missing episodes and the associated risks. However, the social educational work around child sexual exploitation has been limited, and a greater understanding of the young people’s vulnerabilities needs to be exercised by the home to promote better outcomes. The location risk assessment contains a good level of detail and evidence of consultation with relevant persons to gain an accurate picture of the local risks. However, given the risks related to child sexual exploitation in the area, the home needs to be more robust in safeguarding young people who are vulnerable to exploitation. The safeguarding policy is also comprehensive, but there is no information on keeping young people safe from gangs, trafficking and female genital mutilation. This does not aid staff to

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improvement to be good

understand the full range of safeguarding issues affecting young people’s vulnerabilities, or the arrangements set out to protect young people from such risks. There has been no incident of restraint since the last inspection. Young people are given space to vent their anger. Sanctions have not been effective overall, although there have been some opportunities for restorative justice. A rewards system is in place to reinforce positive behaviour, which has had limited positive impact on the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has experienced three different managers since the last full inspection. This has caused considerable disruption to the service delivered to the young people. The home did not have a registered manager in place between August 2016 and June 2017. The current manager is experienced in managing children’s homes. He was appointed in April of this year and became registered in July. The registered manager has identified areas of improvement and has started to take steps to address the concerns. No new young people have been admitted since mid-May. This is to allow for the manager to review the home’s admission impact assessment process and to build a core group staff. By recognising the impact of the management and staff turnover, the registered manager is keen to develop a permanent workforce and ensure that the home is properly staffed. He has hired several new staff, thereby reducing the dependency on

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

agency workers. Safe recruitment is in place, in line with the regulations. Not all staff have engaged with the young people, with some of the staff preferring to stay in the office. This has caused young people to feel that they are not valued and are left without proper supervision. Not all staff have received the appropriate training to enable them to meet young people’s challenging needs. The registered manager has put together a training plan to address this need. For example, training on child sexual exploitation and safeguarding was recently delivered. The impact of the training is yet to be assessed by the manager, which will inform his workforce development plan as well Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 10 as individual staff development plan. The statement of purpose sets out of the ethos and objectives of the home. However, it portrays the home as a therapeutic service, which it currently is not. Also, the statement

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

of purpose does not include fully updated details of the staff’s background, their levels of experience and qualifications. Inaccurate and incomplete information within the statement of purpose confuses staff and placing authorities. The physical environment of the home is not maintained to a high standard and does not meet the needs of the young people. The home does not feel warm and welcoming. The home does not feel like a family home, but instead has an ‘institutional’ impression. A young person shared that they would not want to invite people to the home as it is not a family home. The independent visitor’s reports are comprehensive, but lack a rigorous assessment of the home’s arrangement for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the young people. The registered manager recognises the importance of the independent visitor’s reports and their function of informing the quality review of the service. He has recently

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

hired a new independent visitor to deliver a thorough assessment of the service. The registered manager ensures that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of the young people living in the home are made to the Regulator. Further actions are taken when necessary. However, the impact of the necessary actions taken to meet the young people’s needs is not always evident in the outcomes. The manager regularly monitors the quality of care provided. The manager has produced an action plan with his review of the service in line with Regulations 45. However, the review is not underpinned by the quality standards, nor does it detail how the impact on the young people and the value added by the home would be measured. The action plan is comprehensive, refers to the quality standards, and includes the actions required to improve the quality of care provided by the home. The manager’s review reflects his

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

correct understanding of the areas of weakness. Team meetings are held regularly and promote learning. Within the discussion of serious incidents that have transpired, opportunities to reflect on practice are encouraged. The manager and staff discuss what could have been done differently, and what they have learned from the incident. This helps to build a culture of learning, self-assessment and continuous improvement. The manager promotes taking collective responsibility to provide good care to young people who are looked after by the local authority. He is working to build a culture of accountability in the home. Staff have shared what impacts the changes of managers and support staff have had on them and young people, and the need for all staff to exercise consistent boundaries with young people. They have also shared the need for training to enhance their knowledge and practice. Staff receive supervision regularly, which they find helpful. Support staff

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

have shared that they value the feedback from the registered manager on the quality of their practice. Staff enjoy working with young people on the whole, albeit there are difficult moments. Staff want to make a difference and see young people succeed in Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 11 their lives.

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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 who 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: SC060545 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Stavordale Road, London N5 1NE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Mohammad Baulackey

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Inspector

Linda Kim-Newby, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC060545 13 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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