Children's Home run by Action for Children in Hertfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 1 SC426172 Registered provider: Action For Children

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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 large charitable organisation operates this service. The home provides short breaks for up to six children who have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 There has been a serious safeguarding incident at the home, which has led to a child being harmed. A number of shortfalls found during the inspection were contributory factors.  Relevant information in relation to a child’s previous behaviour was not taken into account and risk assessed.  The manager has failed to implement safeguarding procedures effectively following a serious incident.  The manager and the staff did not provide full and accurate information in relation to a recent serious incident in the statutory notifications made to Ofsted.  The registered manager does not ensure that each staff member’s practice is reviewed and evaluated through supervision and appraisal.  The staff are not following agreed protocols in relation to carrying appropriate equipment when lone working.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff support the children to express their views and wishes, and listen to and act on these views.  The staff support the children’s transitions and recognise when the children are ready to move on.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/09/2016 Full Good 29/04/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/01/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 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

*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 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)) 26/01/2018

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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 promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(f)(h)) 26/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide each employee with a job description outlining the employee’s responsibilities; undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (1)(c)(4)(a)(b)(c)) 26/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. A notification under this regulation must include details of the matter; the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified and any actions taken by the 26/01/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 4 registered person as a result of the matter; must be made or confirmed on writing. (Regulation 40(5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A recent serious safeguarding incident has had a significant impact on the children receiving short breaks. Although many aspects of the inspection were positive, the seriousness of this isolated incident and the impact on the children concerned means that the overall experiences are inadequate. Although up-to-date care plans are evident on the children’s files, not all relevant information was gathered for one new child. Failure to ensure that the plans are accurate, coupled with a lack of clear strategies to manage behaviours, has significantly contributed to a serious safeguarding incident. The staff meet the children’s health and education needs. The staff follow a clear medication process to ensure the safe administration of medication to the children as part of their daily routine. The staff support the children to attend school. An education professional said, ‘The children go [to the home] happy and leave happy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff enable the children to make choices and express their views and wishes. The children have access to a ‘talk corner’, with comfortable seats and laminated pictures, symbols and words. The children can use this space to communicate and tell the staff how they are feeling. The staff use a ‘feelings file’ to help the children to debrief after incidents. This has symbols and pictures and is interactive for the children. In addition, regular children’s meetings encourage the children to communicate about the activities that they like and if they are enjoying their stay at the home. All of the children have opportunities to express their views, which the staff listen to and action. The children benefit from new adapted play equipment in the garden that is specific to their needs and has been well thought out by the manager and the staff. The children have fun during their stays and engage in activities that develop their confidence and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

skills. Regular culture days enable the children to ‘explore’ various countries around the world. Tasting foods and being involved in creative activities gives the children the opportunity to stimulate their five senses. The staff adopt an inclusive approach, to ensure that the activities are accessible for all of the children. Some children have not had good experiences. However, some parents say that they are very happy with the care provided to their children, they are confident that their children are well looked after and that they have good experiences. One parent said, ‘My child loves it there. It’s brilliant.’ The staff support the children’s transition to adulthood and recognise when they are Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 5 ready to move on. The staff help the children to celebrate their time at the home. This gives the other children and the child moving on a chance to say goodbye and reflect

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

on their time at the home. Regular reviews of the children’s progress help to ensure that targets and goals are still relevant. The children’s goals vary from settling into the home to undertaking independence tasks, which help them to develop further skills.

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

A recent serious safeguarding incident at the home has led to a child being harmed. The investigation regarding this is ongoing. A number of shortfalls found during the inspection are contributory factors to this incident. Individual plans detail those children who require high levels of supervision at all times. The staff did not consistently provide these levels of supervision, and this placed children at risk. The manager and the staff failed to fully risk assess known patterns of behaviour of children who are relatively new to the home. This did not provide sufficient safeguards of monitoring and support for the children. On one occasion, the staff did not follow the guidance detailed in the lone-working risk assessment. Consequently, this staff member was not suitably equipped to seek assistance from other staff quickly when required. This significantly undermined her ability to respond effectively to a serious incident, which meant that a child did not

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

receive the immediate care that they needed following a highly distressing incident. The staff and the manager do not ensure that all relevant information is available to them prior to each new child coming to the home. Neither the manager nor the staff followed up information in relation to one child’s previous overnight stays at another resource. The failure to obtain all of the necessary information in advance of children staying at the home does not ensure that all plans and risk assessments are accurate and well informed, and therefore does not enable the staff to care safely for every child. The records lack sufficient detail and do not provide clear information about the management and behaviours of the children during their overnight stays. The records for waking night staff indicate that a number of domestic tasks are to be undertaken during the shift. The record does not identify how individual children with varying needs

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

should be closely monitored throughout the night. The manager and staff failed to follow safeguarding procedures after a serious incident and there were significant gaps in the sharing of information. Advice provided by the on-call manager was ineffective and did not support the staff or follow appropriate safeguarding procedures. This raises concern about the manager’s and staff team’s understanding of the action to take to safeguard children and to respond to a serious incident. Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is suitably qualified and holds a level 4 diploma. The core staff team is consistent, with several members being in post for many years. The core staff describe the registered manager and team leader as supportive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and the team leader did not include all relevant details of a serious incident in their statutory notification to Ofsted. Failing to provide full and accurate information raises concerns about the integrity and reliability of those records. This failure prevents Ofsted from monitoring incidents effectively and taking the appropriate action necessary in order to safeguard children. The registered manager does not supervise the agency night waking member of staff as this is undertaken by the agency. The registered manager does not know the details of the training schedule of this staff member and so she is not clear if training has been undertaken, or if it is comprehensive or relevant to the agency staff member’s current role and responsibilities. This lack of overview and review of skills and practice does not enable the manager to develop the staff member’s skills or identify poor practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A regular agency night waking member of staff does not consistently attend team meetings and there is no evidence that this staff member reads the minutes of these discussions. There is no clear mechanism for communicating the minutes of these discussions to the agency member of staff. This means that not all of the staff are in touch with the day-to-day running of the home or regularly informed of any proposed changes. The registered manager does not ensure that all of the staff attend meetings; this does not engender a consistent team approach. There is no current job description for the agency night waking member of staff. The registered manager advised the inspector that this role has ‘evolved’ over the past three years. This does not provide clarity in ensuring that all waking night staff know their duties during the night. A lack of clarity as to responsibilities does not ensure that the quality of care provided to the children is effective. This raises significant concerns

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

about the day-to-day management of the home and senior management oversight, which has resulted in a child being significantly harmed. The night waking night staff have a high number of domestic duties to undertake during their shift. There are 18 tasks identified on the waking night document. It is noted that all of the tasks have been ticked as completed by the waking night staff member on the night that a serious incident occurred. These tasks include cleaning toilets and hoovering. During this particular night shift, both of the children who were staying overnight did not have listening devices or door alarms activated. This raises significant concerns as to how the children’s movements are adequately monitored by the waking night staff while they are undertaking various domestic tasks around the large home. The internal and external reporting is undertaken. There is an evaluation and plan for the home moving forward. Specific actions, when identified by the external visitor, are

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

actioned by the registered manager. Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 7

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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: SC426172 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Action For Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Action for Children, 3 The Boulevard, Ascot Road, Watford WD18 8AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Shelagh Frankcom

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Inspector

Debbie Young, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC426172 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 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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