Children's Home run by McRae Residential Care Services Limited in Croydon

Inspection report children's home: SC025813 1 SC025813 Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework Event: 10026981

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people (boys) who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

Inspection dates: 21 to 22 November 2017

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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: 27 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager and staff team provide good quality and consistent care that meets young people’s needs and supports them to make good progress.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Excellent relationships exist between the manager, staff, young people, parents, carers and other professionals. Inspection report children's home: SC025813 2  Managers and staff challenge placing authorities to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and they strongly advocate for good care planning.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home has an established and energetic staff team which understands the value of making positive relationships to support young people in everything they do.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leaders and managers carefully match new admissions with existing residents. This ensures minimum negative impact on young people during transitions.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Safeguarding is central to the home, and is reflected through all practice.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers and staff expect young people to achieve and they encourage attendance at school and college, work or training to ensure this.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people receive positive support to learn to take care of themselves and are well prepared to live independently in the future.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people feel safe and say that they like living at this home. Their views are taken into account by staff in care planning and about what happens on a day-to-day basis.

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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

 One lounge area of the home is often kept locked, which means it is not routinely accessible to young people. This gives the home an institutionalised feel.

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Key findings from this inspection

 When complaints are concluded, the registered manager does not formally confirm this in writing to the complainant, which can leave the outcome open to interpretation.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good 24/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good

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What does the children's home need to do to improve?

Inspection report children's home: SC025813 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that, as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child's needs. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child's needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are 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.) Specifically in relation to writing to complainants with the outcome of investigations and providing a consistent record when young people have been missing from care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home meets the criteria for good, but also shows some outstanding practice with young people. One young person said, when they were asked to judge their home, ‘I give it 10/10. I would say it’s outstanding.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people in this home benefit from highly individualised care and support. The practice in this area exceeds good, showing some outstanding partnership work to ensure that young people’s needs are met. Staff, social workers, independent reviewing officers and young people spoken with verbalised this consistently during the inspection. For example, one social worker said, ‘The way they work in partnership is brilliant, they make sure everyone is on the same page.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Individual placement planning takes place on the day that young people move into the home. It includes the placing social workers and the young person, but also parents and other professionals if appropriate. This ensures that clear plans are created to help young people understand the expectations of the placement, as well as who will support them with health, education and any other needs they have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of the home is the ability of the managers and staff teams’ to form and build relationships with young people. Young people respect the staff, who they feel care about them. For example, one young person said, ‘They always help me out around the house. I do have a sense they care. They do a lot for me.’ The manager and staff feel that it is important for young people to experience a range of activities including a holiday. Young people get actively involved in choosing and having their say in what they want to do. For example, young people attend boxing and gym club, take piano lessons, and play basketball and football. This year some of the young people went on holiday to Spain. Inspection report children's home: SC025813 4 Staff support young people to make changes and to progress in all areas of their development. Assessments of young people’s needs begin prior to their admission to the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

home to ensure that there is a good match between them and existing residents. A commissioner said, ‘The matching is good. The manager asks for clarity, more information, and often comes and meets the young person.’ This process helps young people benefit from stable placements at the home. Young people currently living in the home are settled and well matched.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

‘Teen talk’ meetings happen every week. These meetings are young people-led and focused. Excellent practice from the staff team encourages young people to write down what has been positive and what could have been better during the week. This helps young people to raise difficult issues and talk about feelings. Suggestions and requests made during the meeting are responded to and decisions are recorded. On occasions, staff invite safeguarding partners to talk to young people. Most recently, the police talked about what happens when young people go missing from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Great emphasis is placed on ensuring that all young people’s basic needs can be met quickly. Managers have good relationships with local schools and pupil referral units and use these relationships to get young people into education as soon as possible. Staff make sure that young people are registered with a local health centre and arrange appointments with the dentist, optician and for routine health screening to take place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people living at the home are on roll at a school or pupil referral unit or they receive home tuition. The manager and staff work hard to engage and motivate young people in learning. They advocate on behalf of the young people and challenge placing authorities and virtual schools when they feel that young people’s educational needs are not adequately met. Care planning also ensures that specialist help is available to young people if needed, for example referrals to the child and adolescent mental health services or the drug counselling services. Staff check that dietary, religious and cultural needs are considered with the young person and that choices are given, even if young people say they are not actively practising or have any preferences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a welcoming, family feel. Young people often cook with staff and eat together at the dining table. Young people have respect for staff and feel valued and part of a family. Young people are encouraged to learn to cook for themselves, and to learn other selfcare skills that help them to move on and look after themselves when they leave the home. There are two semi-supported independent living bedsits attached to this home, to which young people can move and learn life skills while still living within a supported environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people live some distance from their own family and community, the staff team support regular contact to ensure that they keep in touch. The manager and staff understand the significance of family contact, support and identity needs, and work with young people on these issues. Staff often transport young people to contact meetings, as well as facilitating direct contact, and helping young people with some of the difficult feelings that contact can raise. Inspection report children's home: SC025813 5

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

Managers and staff manage risks well. They understand how past situations can impact on complex behaviour and can trigger difficult situations. Risk assessments are clear and offer staff strategies on how to de-escalate and manage such complex behaviours. Restraint is rarely used. Physical interventions are clearly recorded, including young people’s comments on how they felt about each situation. There is good management oversight of the restraint records. Placing authorities, staff and young people meet together to complete risk assessments so that all potential risks are known. This helps young people understand what staff are concerned about and allows them to record their views and have their say on these issues. One young person commented, ‘I agree with the risk assessment, it is true.’

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

The staff response to young people who go missing from the home is good. Managers and staff create an environment within the home that encourages young people to get involved in activities and feel that they belong. If young people do go missing, staff follow them, make continual contact with them and their networks and encourage them to return. Staff understand the processes to follow when young people are missing and they report young people to the police, placing authorities and parents/carers when appropriate. Because of the actions of the manager and the staff, the levels of young people going missing from the home have significantly decreased since the last inspection. Some young people who have a history of going missing continuously have remained at the home and have settled. However, the staff recording of missing from care episodes is inconsistent. It meets regulation but does not assist the manager’s

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

analysis and understanding of missing episodes.

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

Young people say that they feel safe, do not feel bullied in any way and know how to complain. Young people have support to talk about their week at the weekly residents’ meetings, and contentious issues are discussed and resolved in this forum. There have been no complaints from young people since the last inspection. There have been two complaints to the registered manager about young people at the home since the last inspection. The registered manager keeps a record of complaints and the outcome. Although there are records, it is not always obvious what the outcome is. A recommendation is made about having a better system of recording and ensuring that final outcome letters are kept on file.

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

The home benefits from regular health and safety checks to ensure that young people live in a safe environment. The manager completes an annual review of the area immediately outside the home to ensure that any wider risks are assessed to ensure young people’s safety within the community.

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

Recruitment processes ensure appropriate checks are undertaken for new staff coming to work in the home. These processes help to protect young people by ensuring that unsafe people do not work in their home. Inspection report children's home: SC025813 6 Young people benefit from a clear safeguarding policy, which is at the centre of practice in this home. Staff spoken to understand their responsibility to safeguard young people and are aware of the home’s whistleblowing policy. There is excellent training on offer for staff, including around the risks of child sexual exploitation and the risks of radicalisation as well as other relevant training which meets the needs of specific children.

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

Staff receive peer support and management guidance to manage high-level complex needs and behaviours. They support one another and work well as a team. Staff feel that the home’s success is down to treating young people as individuals and with dignity and respect. Staff know young people really well and they praise leaders and managers for being both accessible and available in the home. One staff member said, ‘I feel really humbled by the leadership. The young people adore the deputy manager, they really love her; she is very firm but very loving at the same time, and shows them respect.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers at this home are consistent and established. The senior managers have been involved in running the service since 2007 and it has been consistently good at inspection since then. It is a privately owned home and is one of two homes run by the same company, with the same registered manager for both homes. The registered manager has a social work qualification and a wealth of experience running residential provision. He also has other management qualifications equivalent to the required level 5 in leadership and management. An experienced deputy manager supports the day-to-day running of the home. She holds a national vocational qualification, (NVQ) level 5 in leadership and management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Both the registered manager and the deputy are excellent and have the necessary skills and experience to run the home effectively. They know the young people well, are excellent advocates for them and motivate both staff and young people. Both managers show a warm, caring, hands-on approach. Young people described feeling included, using language such as ‘on a level’ and ‘can talk to them’. All young people show that they trust and respect staff and look towards them as role models.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is a learning environment for all. Staff say that they learn from leaders and managers, from good quality training and from young people. New staff described their induction as effective: it helped them to settle into their new roles and learn, with support from mentors and good quality supervision. Care assistant roles have been created and are supported by experienced care workers in a mentoring role. This means that more staff are available to interact with young people, freeing up more experienced workers to carry out key work sessions and attend meetings to support young people. The initiative is having a positive impact on young people. It gives them more interaction with staff members, as well as more opportunities for support, to go out in the community, to go on activities and to share thoughts and ideas in residents meetings. Workers in residential care assistant roles start the care certificate straight away and,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

once a probation period is completed, go on to register for the NVQ level 3 training. Inspection report children's home: SC025813 7 There are good training opportunities for more experienced staff, for example learning about matching and the management side of running the home. Staff are supported to attend training around topics such as radicalisation, gang awareness and safeguarding, as well as to work towards the NVQ level 5 in leadership and management. Staff say they feel well supported and have regular supervision and yearly appraisals, which help them to develop both personally and professionally.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings shows strong leadership and management. There is good staff attendance, with relevant topics discussed and action points made to help keep things on track.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring of the home is good. An independent person visits the home once a month and provides a report, taking into account the views of young people, parents and other professionals. These reports highlight the home’s areas for improvement. The registered manager uses these reports well and this helps him to improve the practice within the home. In addition, the registered manager completes his own six-monthly quality of care review. This demonstrates his understanding of the strengths and areas for development in the running of the home. Leaders and managers have met the requirements and most of the recommendations from the previous inspection. They use inspection and quality of care reports to inform practice going forward and to develop new initiatives such as the new residential care assistant role. One recommendation not met from the last inspection is to ensure that young people can access all areas of the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

home. Leaders and managers have created another lounge area but young people are still not able to access all areas of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A key strength of this home is the capacity of leaders and managers to work in partnership with others. This is a theme with professional and safeguarding partners, families and young people. There is an inclusive approach, which supports children’s views and participation. This area of practice has developed significantly since the last inspection in March and the impact is obvious in the outcomes for young people.

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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 Inspection report children's home: SC025813 8 children's homes regulations including the quality standards'.

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Children's home details

Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 57-61 Lodge Road, CROYDON, CR0 2PH

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Inspector

Christine Kennet, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC025813 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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