Children's home run by Keys Childcare Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 1 Registered provider: Keys Care Limited 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 operated by a national organisation in partnership with the local authority. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children. The registered manager has been registered since March 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 2

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children to aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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) and (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff receive training programmes tailored to the personal needs of children, including training in disorganised attachment and trauma, emotional development and the ways of working with children with attachment difficulties. Also, the registered person should ensure that staff have regular opportunities for team development days. 30/06/2018

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

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Requirement Due date

The standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, develop systems to measure accurately children’s progress and experiences from their starting points. 30/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 3 Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 4

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Recommendations

 Ensure that information about children’s needs and the day-to-day arrangements for their care is carefully and clearly recorded. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that children’s person-centred plans identify all of children’s assessed needs and risks and set out clearly how these needs and risks will be supported. Furthermore, ensure that staff use clear and plain language in children’s records and avoid using jargon or technical language, which may not be easily understood by the reader.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a stable, friendly and supportive home. They are looked after by people who they know well. Children have positive and trusting relationships with the staff that persist over time. They know that staff listen to them and are there to help them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a detailed understanding of children’s needs, interests and aspirations. They make sure that children get a high standard of personalised care. Staff are open and honest with children and show them that they care about what happens in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children get the help that they need to support and encourage their education, training and employment. They actively support children to go to school every day and motivate them to enjoy learning. Staff understand children’s learning needs and abilities, and know how well children are doing at school and college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work effectively with teachers and the virtual school to make sure that children do well and achieve their potential. Staff raise concerns when they think that children are not making progress or are unhappy in school. Staff have challenged a school’s decision to exclude a child, when they felt that it was not an appropriate or effective response to the child’s difficulties in school. Currently, they are working with the child and the school to find better ways to improve things.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children have plenty of things to do in their spare time and have fun. One child really loves going to air cadets and taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. This is a really important part of his life because it is giving him new and positive experiences. He is growing in confidence and has a sense of pride in himself and achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to learn the practical skills and build the emotional resilience that they need to prepare for adult life. They are working well with a child, his social worker and personal adviser to plan his future. Staff have a clear understanding of the child’s needs and the support that he will need when he moves on. They are working hard with him to Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 5 support his employment and training, find the right place to live and encourage him to make the best use of the support that is available to him.

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

Children live in a safe home. Clear safeguarding arrangements help children to feel safe and protected from harm. Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs and any current concerns about their welfare.

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

Staff use up-to-date and individualised risk assessments and plans that support children’s safety. They are able to identify signs that children may be at risk, including from bullying, self-harm and radicalisation. Staff take appropriate action when they have concerns about children and meet the legal requirements.

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

The manager’s and staff’s strong and effective working relationships with social workers and the police help to protect children. For example, when a child was going missing persistently, staff met with their partners and developed a suitable strategy for managing the risks for the child.

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

Staff help children to understand the risks and dangers of going missing from the home. When children have been missing, staff have done the right things to try to find them quickly. Staff go out looking for them, and they check with the child’s family and friends and the places that the children usually go to. Staff always check that children are alright when they return home. They make sure that children meet with an independent person from Catch 22 to talk about what happened.

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

Children are increasingly able to manage their emotions and moderate their behaviour. Staff work positively with children to find the best possible ways to help them when they are having a difficult time. Staff provide consistent and reliable relationships and routines that help children to feel safe and secure.

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

Staff work hard to find out, and understand, the reasons why children are upset. They work well with children to sort out what is wrong. Staff find out from children about the best ways to help them when they are upset or angry, for example listening to music or having a game of scrabble with a member of staff.

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

Staff help children to understand what makes a healthy relationship and how their behaviour affects other people. They support children to sort out disagreements amicably. Staff help children to see the benefits of positive behaviour and guide them to make good choices. For example, staff are successfully using rewards and encouragement to help a child to settle at bedtime.

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

The manager thoroughly reviews serious incidents when staff have used restraint to support a child. This includes talking to the child and the staff about what happened. The manager makes sure that staff have supported the child using the least intrusive way possible and look at ways to better help the child in the future. Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides clear and effective leadership. She leads a team of caring and enthusiastic staff who have high aspirations for each child. The manager and staff provide children with a positive and settled home environment, and the opportunities that they need to have better outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff actively take part in the wider support system to make sure that each child’s needs are met. They challenge other services assertively to make sure that children receive the right support that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have good working relationships with social workers and other key people involved with each child. They communicate clearly with these partners to make sure that everyone has an up-to-date picture of children’s lives. Staff contribute fully to the ongoing assessment of children’s needs and the planning for their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Well-planned staffing arrangements make sure that there are always enough knowledgeable, experienced and qualified staff available to meet the children’s needs. Children receive a good continuity of care, even when some staff are on long-term sick leave. Staff work together cohesively. They plan the day-to-day care of children well to provide them with the best possible support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides each member of staff with good support, guidance and encouragement. Staff have regular opportunities through practice-related supervision and team meetings to reflect on their work with children and improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and the manager have a realistic understanding of the home’s strengths and take action to deal with any weaknesses. The manager and staff have made excellent use of development days and guidance from a therapist to improve the ways that they work together to support children having a difficult time. They have been able to reflect on their responses to children’s behaviour, get a better understanding of children’s behaviour and identify the best ways to work together consistently to help each child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff would benefit from regular development days to continue to build their confidence, skills and professional practice. They would also benefit from more training programmes tailored to the personal needs of children, including disorganised attachment and trauma and ways of working with children with attachment difficulties.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new recording system is not yet providing a comprehensive picture of children’s lives. Children’s person-centred plans do not identify all of their assessed needs and risks and set out clearly how these needs will be met. Staff are not evaluating children’s experiences in monthly reports to help them to measure accurately children’s progress. Some children’s records use jargon, such as ‘planned ignoring’, without showing what staff actually need to do to support the child. Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 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: 1255796 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, 2nd Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Nick Veysey: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1255796 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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