Children's Home run by In Safe Hands Care Ltd in Doncaster

Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 1 Registered provider: In Safe Hands Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children‘s home that may provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who 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 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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 20 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This children‘s home requires improvement to be good because:  The children and young people are not in education and are not provided with opportunities to learn informally or access any educational support during the length of their exclusion.  The children and young people are not in a routine that prepares them for Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 2 education, employment or training.  The children and young people spend significant amounts of time on their own in their bedrooms and lack any form of daily routine.  Some children and young people are not engaging in activities outside of the home, although staff do try to promote this.  The children and young people do not engage in services to address cannabis use.  Some members of staff are extremely anxious about entering the children‘s and young people‘s rooms without permission.  The children and young people are left to clean their own rooms without

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Key findings from this inspection

support from the staff team.  The children‘s and young people‘s files are not up to date.  Staff would benefit from additional and updated training to address complex behaviours relating to some children and young people placed at the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children‘s home‘s strengths:  The staff follow the correct procedure when the children and young people go missing.  There is a consistent staff team that works hard to create a family atmosphere.  The manager and staff team members want to provide the best care that they can for the children and young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children‘s home‘s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‘s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The children‘s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child‘s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each child is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(vi)(b)(iii)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(v)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills. 01/07/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child‘s interests and preferences. (Regulation 9 (1)(2)(a)(ii)) The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child‘s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(2)(a)(iii)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(vii)) 01/07/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children‘s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 01/07/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 5 registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

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 (1)(a)(2)(a)) The registered person must compile in relation to the children‘s home a statement (―the statement of purpose‖) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (1)(3)(b)(5)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (―the authorised person‖)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 01/07/2018

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improvement to be good

The children and young people live in a well presented three-bedded detached property close to local amenities. They have their own rooms, as well as shared living areas within the home. Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 6 The staff and managers work hard to promote a family environment in the home. The children and young people have the opportunity to enjoy the stability of care that may have been absent from their lives for some time. The consistent relationships from this caring staff group allow the children and young people, if they are able to engage, to experience unconditional support and nurture.

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improvement to be good

Emotional and practical support and guidance provided to the children and young people help them to develop their important relationships with family members. Parents shared positive reports of the care provided to the children and young people. They felt that the relationships with their children were improving. One parent, whose child has lived at this home for many years, said that she didn‘t know what would have happened to her child if they had not had such supportive care. Professionals consider that the children and young people benefit from the family-based care in this home.

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improvement to be good

None of the children and young people who live in this home attends formal or informal education or training, and they have refused any efforts by staff to encourage them to do so. Consequently, they are not in routines, nor do they have any clear structure to their days.

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improvement to be good

Staff have been unable to persuade the children and young people to engage with them in enjoying activities and expanding their experiences. The children and young people choose to stay in their bedrooms until lunchtime or later, sometimes only venturing out for food, to walk to the shops or, occasionally, to go fishing. While the children and young people are not known to be unwell, this lack of activity combined with smoking, or drug misuse, or unhealthy eating means they do not engage in healthy lifestyles. The children and young people choose not to engage with services to address these issues. The children and young people are reluctant to fully embrace the development of independence skills, and they continue to rely on the staff to undertake tasks such as meal preparation.

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improvement to be good

Each young person has a written risk assessment, but these are not up to date or reflective of the current situation.

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improvement to be good

The staff team is currently caring for children and young people who go missing from the home and may be at risk of exploitation. The manager accepts that he and the staff team members have gaps in their knowledge base around these presenting issues, and that the needs of the children and young people are greater than he anticipated. While staff do not consider this lack of experience a barrier to caring for the children and young people, it does mean that risk is not fully understood. As a consequence, support, guidance and planning for the children and young people are not informed. Multi-agency practice and specialist guidance help the staff team to manage presenting risk where possible.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection, the manager was observed taking appropriate actions in response Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 7 to a young person who had been missing from the home overnight. The young person‘s return home was calm and the young person was given the opportunity to recover and prepare to engage with staff. Independent return home interviews are not provided, despite these being identified within the home‘s statement of purpose. Local authorities are not routinely approached by the staff to provide these. This means that the children and young people who go missing from the home do not have the opportunity to independently discuss why this has happened. Opportunities to reduce recurrence are missed.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to put boundaries in place, and use positive rewards to reinforce these. It is recognised, however, that the children and young people tend to respond to boundaries and rewards only when it meets their own needs.

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

The registered manager has the qualifications and managerial experience needed for this role. The home is staffed by an experienced staff team which has previously excelled in providing long-term care for children and young people.

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

There have been some recent admissions to the home, and the dynamics are now very different and the home environment unsettled. Impact risk assessments supported the placing of these children and young people together. There is limited interaction between the children and young people, and they do not have shared interests. The effect of the instability in the home on the children and young people must not, however, be underestimated.

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

Case records are factual and lack detail or analysis. Key-working or one-to-one sessions are infrequent, reactive and lack planning. The content does not reflect the work required for the young people to be able to grow and to make progress. Regular progress reports or summaries are not in the children‘s and young people‘s files. This makes it difficult for oversight of the outcomes of the children and young people.

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

Supervision takes place regularly. However, the records lack evidence of consistent reflective discussion. Staff do not routinely take part in debriefing interviews following physical interventions, and recordings lack detail. An opportunity to support staff is missed. There is no evidence of restorative practice between the young person and the staff member being completed.

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

The manager sends notifications to all involved agencies when serious incidents occur. He is proactive in organising meetings with other professionals relating to safeguarding and welfare issues. His ability to reflect on the needs of the children and young people assists in future planning, but ongoing escalation is not evidenced if identified services for the children and young people are not provided.

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

The statement of purpose is out of date. In his six-monthly quality review, the manager Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 8 identifies areas for improvement and how these will be met. Continued improvement plans increase the home‘s potential to meet the needs of the children and young people but, at this time, are not fully effective.

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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‘.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: In Safe Hands Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Peter Wray Accountancy Services, 48–50, Wakefield Road, Pontefract, South Yorkshire WF7 7AB

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Inspector(s)

Angela Norrie, social care inspector Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: 1232171 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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