Children's Home run by Child First Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 1 SC042147 Registered provider: Child First Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s statement of purpose states that this service will accommodate up to six young people of mixed gender between the ages of 11-18 years who may have experienced a chaotic early family life which may have included abuse, emotional neglect and exploitation.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably qualified and was registered by Ofsted in February 2018.

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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

Date of last inspection: 21 December 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/12/2017 Full Good 01/09/2017 Full Inadequate 07/12/2016 Full Requires improvement 25/04/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 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— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that their monitoring processes consistently identify and rectify any errors in key documents such as risk assessments. 07/08/2018

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is with specific reference to ensuring that records are kept up to date accurately and can be found if needed, in particular, risk assessments and records of key-work sessions. Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel safe living at this home. The positive culture established by the hard- working staff team means that the children benefit from good standards of consistency, stability and nurturing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between the children and staff are warm and trusting. Children speak highly of the care they receive and actively seek staff company and reassurance. ‘Staff know when I’m sad and know what I need’ was a comment made by one child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made very good progress, especially when bearing in mind their starting points. There is an embedded culture in which attendance at school and the value of education are promoted. As a result, children have bought into this culture and made very good progress at their schools.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health needs are very well promoted. There had been a pattern of non-engagement with health services and refusal to attend health appointments for a couple of months prior to the inspection. Staff perseverance, patience and sensitive working with the children has changed this, and now all children have their specific health needs met. Additionally, with skilled staff support, the children have now also engaged with health professionals in gaining advice in wider areas such as sex education and healthy relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have gained in confidence and grown in self-esteem. With staff support and encouragement they have joined local clubs and organisations such as Sea Cadets and Saint John’s Ambulance. This has helped them to expand their circle of friends and become active and positive members of their local community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are confident that their views are valued and considered. They are able to express their preferences and opinions with members of staff, and know how to complain and to whom if they are unhappy. They are confident that they are taken seriously, and this further strengthens their trust in those caring for them.

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

Children have their safety promoted to a good standard. Not only do members of staff know what to do to keep them safe, but the children also benefit from the advice and guidance they are given in order to reduce risks. For example, the children spoke about members of staff who have taught them about e-safety and how to recognise the risks posed by the internet.

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

All members of staff receive training in safeguarding matters such as child protection, recognising signs of exploitation and radicalisation. They know what to do and who to inform if they have concerns about a child’s well-being. They are also aware of any local issues, such as drug use and gang activity. This means that they can provide very clear Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 5 guidance to the children and divert them away from any potential risks.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. Staff have shown resilience and determination to persuade children to return home safely if they have left without permission. This has also provided a strong message to the children that staff genuinely care for them and will make strenuous efforts to keep them safe. The children all appreciate this. ‘I feel safe and welcome here,’ said a child.

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

Positive behaviour is rewarded and celebrated. Sanctions used are appropriate and fair, and an emphasis is placed on reparation and conflict resolution rather than punishment. Any incidents of restraint are recorded to a good standard. Everyone involved, adults and children, are able to reflect on and discuss the incident with a view to learning from it and implementing new strategies if needed.

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

Each child’s individual strengths and vulnerabilities are known to the staff. This means that support is ‘tailor made’ and staff work hard to develop each child’s awareness and abilities. Written risk assessments are sometimes generic and could be more detailed to outline specific strategies and approaches to be used to support the children. This shortfall has not had an impact on the children as staff know them and their vulnerabilities very well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides strong leadership to the staff team, and this has helped staff members to grow in confidence and provide stability and consistency for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of leadership provided by the registered manager has helped to establish a positive culture in which the children readily engage with the staff and develop strong and trusting relationships. Staff feel reinvigorated and enjoy working at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Members of staff receive regular formal supervision as well as ongoing informal support which they value highly. There is a real sense that the team members are working together closely and are ambitious for the children in their care to achieve to their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In turn, children feel they have an influence in how their home is run. They meet regularly as a group, as well as on an individual basis with members of staff, in order to voice their thoughts and feelings about how they feel they are being cared for. As a result of this, they can effect change and make choices, for example choosing activities, menus and holiday destinations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partner agencies speak positively about the communication achieved with staff and have confidence in their ability to report any issues and put in place strategies to keep the children safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 6 The registered manager and other senior staff carry out quality assurance checks of records and reports completed by members of staff. Despite this, some records have lacked detail or have not been up to date. This is an administrative error which has not impacted on children’s well-being, but it is also a missed opportunity to ensure high standards in all records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Additionally, on some occasions it is difficult for members of staff or managers to find recording of key-work sessions which staff have had with children. This can make auditing and tracking of progress of the children more difficult. Managers in the home have acknowledged this and have stated that they will review the process to examine how this can be improved.

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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: SC042147 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Child First Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 40 Oxford Road, WORTHING, West Sussex BN11 1UT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Johanna Davys Havard

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Inspector(s)

Paul Taylor, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC042147 8 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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