Children's home run by One To One Crisis Intervention Ltd in Teignbridge

Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 1 SC003884 Registered provider: One to One Crisis Intervention 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 children’s home is registered to care for one child who may have some behavioural and/or emotional difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/11/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 2 16/06/2016 Full Good 14/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 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

(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, arrangements should be in place to ensure that incidents that take place in the home have robust oversight from a manager who was not involved in or who wrote the report in respect of an incident.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, internal investigations undertaken should ensure that any conclusions reached are evidenced based and factually correct. 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

(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— (2)(e) ensures that the children’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements to the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the management of the home has day-to-day oversight of all aspects of the home and reviews the care delivered to children on a regular basis. 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

(1) The care planning standard is that children— (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; Care planning must be proactive and consistently reviewed. 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

(1) no measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in 30/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 4 relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when staff remove items to support them to manage behaviour, a review of this arrangement must take place in a timely way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people who live in this home benefit from living within a residential area, close to all the amenities that they may require. The home is within minutes of vast areas of natural beauty and this provides a multitude of opportunities for children to enjoy the countryside and the coast. As a result the young person has been able to engage with the local community and make some positive friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person who lives in this home benefits from positive relationships with the core staff who care for them. Relationships are built upon honesty, trust and respect. Interactions observed by the inspector were positive, warm and nurturing. The young person appreciates these relationships and feels supported by some staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The core staff who work alongside the young person know them really well. They understand what is expected of them in terms of the care they deliver, and are able to demonstrate that they can adapt their approach to de-escalate the majority of incidents. As a result, physical intervention is not currently used within the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well to access services to meet their health and emotional needs. For example, the use of a therapist has enabled the young person to start opening up about their childhood experiences and start to address these in a safe way. In addition, the therapist works very closely with the staff at this home to ensure that their care takes into account the child’s therapeutic journey.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people who live in this home are supported to attend education. When they are not being provided with appropriate education, staff advocate well on their behalf to ensure that this is addressed. There have been delays in respect of education being provided in line with legal entitlements. This has been appropriately and robustly challenged by the acting manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a small team of staff on a one-to-one basis. While the majority of care is consistent in terms of staffing, there have been a number of changes.. This has meant that for two days a week care is not always delivered by the same staff, resulting in changes for the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are some circumstances in which the young person holds the balance of power in this household. For example, they refused to switch the television off and go to bed. This resulted in them sleeping on the sofa for a prolonged period of time. The resolution Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 5 to this came when staff started removing the television overnight. These arrangements were effective. However, they have not been reviewed for two months. This has resulted in the approach to care and the feel of the home during the daytime becoming institutionalised.

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improvement to be good

There has been one internal investigation undertaken since the last inspection. This investigation was undertaken by the designated safeguarding lead for the organisation. Despite the fact that the allegation made could not be proved or disproved by the investigator, they reached the conclusion that they believed the member of staff’s account over that of the child. There was no evidence to support this conclusion, given that it was one person’s word against the other’s. This demonstrates an over-optimistic approach to allegations in respect of staff.

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improvement to be good

The inspector reviewed one significant incident that took place in February this year. The incident form was completed by the acting manager, who was present and fully involved in the incident. Likewise, the management oversight of this incident was completed by the same manager. This approach to practice is in danger of being insular and is not transparent. The lack of independent oversight and review could result in areas of poor practice going unchallenged.

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improvement to be good

Any concerns that are raised by young people in respect of the staff who care for them are initially managed and escalated well. There have been three referrals made to the designated officer since the last inspection. The designated officer reported to the inspector that these referrals were appropriate; none reached a threshold for formal investigation.

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improvement to be good

There have been no safeguarding concerns raised in respect of young people since the last inspection. Good arrangements are in place around known risks for the young person. As a result, the young person is supported to remain safe, particularly when they access the internet and when they are out and about in the community.

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improvement to be good

The arrangements in place in respect of the employment of staff are good. Safer recruitment processes are in place to ensure that appropriate checks are undertaken in respect of new staff’s suitability prior to their employment starting. This means that the organisation takes the necessary steps to reduce possible risks for children.

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

There have been significant issues in respect of the consistency of leadership and management within this home. There has been no registered manager in post for the past four months. The manager who has been covering this vacancy has not been actively working here since a significant incident took place in February this year. A new Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 6 manager has been employed and they are due to start work imminently. These changes have resulted in some areas of practice not having robust oversight, and have led to multiple changes for the young person.

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

There have been some changes within the staff group. Some staff work between two homes within this organisation. This means that supervision is undertaken by different managers who do not have day-to-day oversight of this home. This compromises the continuity of leadership and means that any issues regarding practice could be missed. This was an issue raised by the inspector at the last full inspection, and remains common practice.

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

The lack of a consistent and dedicated manager has impacted on some areas of practice. The inspector noted a number of areas of practice that had not been reviewed in a timely way, for example the removal of the television from the lounge room and the removal of the young person’s laptop, which was taken from them eight months ago. The interim manager was able to reflect on how managing two homes can compromise practice.

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

A small sample of incidents was reviewed by the inspector. One significant incident lacked independent oversight and review. The interim manager had not considered the conflict and concern that result from this approach to practice. However, when this was discussed, they were able to see the shortfall straight away and took to ensuring that all incidents had independent management oversight and review.

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

The interim manager presented as child focused and dedicated to their work. It was clear that the manager knows the young person well and is able to identify and de- escalate situations before they result in an incident. This was observed by the inspector during this inspection. This manager also advocates well for young people in an authentic and passionate way. The manager’s oversight of the home has brought enthusiastic challenge to other agencies when they have not delivered the best service to the young person.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 7 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: SC003884 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: One to One Crisis Intervention Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: One to One Crisis Intervention, 5 Newton Road, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 3AL

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Inspector

Tracey Ledder: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC003884 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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