Children's home run by Action for Children in Watford

Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 1 SC438756 Registered provider: Action For Children

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides shared and long-term care for children aged eight to 18 years. The children‘s needs range from moderate to severe learning disabilities, and may include physical disabilities and/or complex multiple needs. The home provides care for five children overnight.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2017 and is experienced in working in this type of provision.

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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: 18 October 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/09/2017 Full Inadequate 31/08/2016 Full Requires improvement 06/07/2016 Full Inadequate Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 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 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 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‘s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home‘s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(d)(e)) 25/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (2)) 25/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‘s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, a copy of the staff roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked. (Regulation 37 25/06/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 4 (1)(2)(a), Schedule 4(3)) The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (―a quality of care review‖) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‘s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(5)) 25/06/2018

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Recommendations

 The regulations set out standards (―the Quality standards‖) that must be met by the homes. The Quality Standards describe outcomes that each child must be supported to achieve while living in the children‘s home. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 7, paragraph 1.13) In particular, ensure that children‘s progress is recorded and evaluated.  Positive relationships are those which are characterised by consistency and unconditional positive regard for the child on the part of the carer; and where the carer acknowledges the importance of understanding and responding to the child‘s lived experience of care. Positive relationships helps the child to feel secure and cared about and for. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 21, paragraph 4.3) In particular, ensure that direct work with the children is consistent and meets

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Recommendations

their needs.  Registered persons have a key role in seeking to develop the home‘s effective working relationships with each child‘s placing authority and with other relevant persons which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community e.g. police, schools, health and youth offending teams (regulation 5 – engaging with the wider system to ensure children‘s needs are met). These working relationships will also be the key to success in delivering the care planning Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 5 standard (regulation 14). (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 52, paragraph 10.3) In particular, improve communication with parents and education professionals.

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improvement to be good

Currently, the behaviour presented by one child is having a significant impact on the experiences of the other children. Some of the children are sensitive to noise and another is visibly distressed during incidents. The staff try hard to occupy the other children when this is happening, and support them to attend activities in the local community. This helps to ensure that they are not exposed to noise for a significant period and that they are away from the home when possible when an incident is occurring. One child spent an evening at another home to ensure that he had a good experience. Although it is reported that he enjoyed his time at the other home, this was in a different place and environment and not in accordance with his care plan. Despite the efforts made by staff, the home is not providing consistently good experiences for all of the children as outlined in the statement of purpose.

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improvement to be good

The staff and the manager understand the progress that the children are making. However, this progress is not consistently evidenced, and the system to review targets is not robust enough.

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improvement to be good

The staff communicate well with the children, and some direct work is taking place. However, this direct work is not regular or creative enough when considering each child‘s individual needs. The manager advised that this is an area that the staff are working on and trying to improve.

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improvement to be good

Parents‘ views about their children‘s care are mixed. Overall, parents said that individual staff are dedicated and are providing the children with consistent care. One parent said, ‗The staff noticed an issue with my child‘s medication straight away. They [the staff] communicate well with me and try hard to keep him safe.‘ The manager and the staff work in partnership with the local authority, attending meetings and reviewing the children‘s plans. One professional said that communication has improved recently, and advised that the manager keeps the local authority up to date. However, education professionals, the staff at the home and the registered manager said that communication between the school and the home is inconsistent. This does not help to provide a consistent approach to behaviour management. Some parents said that communication is an area that could improve. One parent was concerned that they were

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improvement to be good

not fully informed of an escalating incident concerning their child in a timely way. This is being addressed by the manager and a clear plan is now in place that outlines communication with parents.

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improvement to be good

The staff know the children well. They are able to meet their health needs, and ensure Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 6 that medication is administered safely. The children are making progress in their health, and one child is now eating a variety of different foods. Another child‘s vocabulary is increasing and he is becoming more confident. The staff communicate well with the children, making sure that their views are listened to. One child who is currently unsettled is supported to express his feelings and views as the staff are keen to find out what is contributing to this change in behaviour. The staff undertake social stories with the children to let them know about any changes in routine or health appointments.

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improvement to be good

High-level challenging behaviours have led to a number of incidents at the home. Most of the incidents occur at the weekends when the number of children staying is higher. The staff are managing behaviours during the week by using disengagement techniques and supervision from a distance. However, this is less effective during the weekends, and inevitably has an impact on the experiences of the other children.

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improvement to be good

One child‘s behaviour has become more challenging in recent months. The incidents are significant and escalating in frequency. Staff use the techniques available to them as set out in the behaviour management protocol. Despite the best efforts of the staff, these techniques are not consistently effective and the child is not responding positively. This led to an escalating and distressing incident that required police intervention because the staff were not able to manage the behaviour. The manager is liaising with other professionals to formulate an effective plan for this child, and the plan is now progressing.

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improvement to be good

The risk assessments and plans for the children are current and comprehensive. Additional services have been requested to provide support to help safeguard children and manage negative behaviours. These services were not in place at the time of the inspection, although planned appointments are evident. However, the request for and implementation of additional support have not been timely, as the challenging behaviour has been ongoing since November 2017 and increased in frequency in March, April and May 2018.

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

There are vacancies and sickness absences in the staff team, and there are currently no employed waking-night staff. This means that day staff are regularly covering the waking-night shifts. The staff are working long hours, which is not sustainable in the longer term. There is a contingency plan for sickness absence and annual leave. However, these plans often do not come to fruition due the low numbers of staff available.

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

Parents are pleased with how individual staff are working with their children but also are aware of low staffing numbers at times. One parent said, ‗The staff should get a medal. They go over and above.‘ However, the staff are not supported by the organisation as they are moved within the organisation to fill staffing gaps at short notice. This does not Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 7 provide consistency of care for the children or give parents enough time to make alternative plans if they are unhappy with the proposed staffing. During the inspection, the manager was concerned that she would not be able to open the home safely at the weekend due to the lack of staff available.

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

Staff rotas are not clear and it is not evident who is working each day. The staffing arrangements on an evening when a significant incident occurred were unclear. Lack of accurate recording of rotas does not provide sufficient transparency or a clear audit trail of accountability.

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

The registered manager has worked hard to address the requirements and recommendations since the last inspection. She will be leaving her post very soon. This means that there will be another management change at the home. There are ongoing recruitment issues that have an impact on the manager‘s ability to recruit workers needed for the home.

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

Supervisions are not happening regularly enough and the records are not consistently comprehensive. This means that the staff are not accessing the support that they need, particularly during this period of managing difficult behaviours at the home. The manager has tried hard to provide regular supervision to the staff but there is a lack of time, due to the staffing issues. This does not ensure that staff are adequately supported to undertake their roles effectively.

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

The external reporting is effective. The independent visits are unannounced and the visitor spends time with the children, the staff and the manager to gain a clear view of the home. The internal reporting does not sufficiently include the views of parents, local authorities and the children. Consequently, it is not clear if or how these views influence and contribute to the development of the home.

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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: SC438756 8 Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Action For Children

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector:

Debbie Young, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC438756 10 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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