Children's home run by Educare Adolescent Services Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 1 SC428750 Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people, aged between eight and 17, who have social and emotional difficulties. The home offers medium- and long-term placements for young people, of either gender. The home has been without a registered manager since November 2017. Since this time, temporary management arrangements were put in place and registered managers from other homes within the organisation provided daily oversight and support. A new manager took up post in January 2018 but did not apply to register with Ofsted. The current manager has worked for the company since November 2016. She started working at this home in May 2018 and has applied to register with Ofsted. She is currently undertaking her level 5 qualification in leadership and management and has over 15 years residential experience.

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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 inadequate

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/06/2017 Full Good 03/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/05/2016 Full Good 24/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 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 registered person must ensure that staff help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (2)(b)(vi)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‟s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice led supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 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”)— has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 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)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) Specifically, after an incident of restraint, ensure that young people have the opportunity to talk about what happened with someone not involved in the incident. 31/08/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should ensure that children are aware of their right to advocacy in order to enable them to express their views, wishes and feelings in matters which affect them. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 21, paragraph 4.4)

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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. 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)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that staff review young people‟s placement plans regularly and involve young people in this review.

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improvement to be good

Each young person has a placement plan which identifies their individual needs, vulnerabilities and risks. However, staff do not review placement plans regularly, nor do they consistently involve young people in these reviews. This is a missed opportunity to consult with young people about their progress and care and to ensure that written plans continue to meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not always have the opportunity to participate in residents‟ meetings to share their views about their care and contribute to the development of the home. When young people do share their views, these are not always acted upon. For example, one young person wants to personalise his bedroom and purchase new bedding. However, this has not been actioned despite being raised some months ago. This does not help young people to feel listened to and valued.

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improvement to be good

Not all young people are aware of their right to advocacy. This means that young people are unaware that they can seek independent support to help them to raise issues about their care plan.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not provide young people who are approaching independence with good support. As a result, young people do not receive the help that they need to develop the skills and knowledge to prepare them for their next steps.

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improvement to be good

Young people make some good progress from their starting points. For example, one young person has recently undertaken his GCSEs. Another young person has settled in well at the home and is beginning to make better choices about his behaviour. Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 5 Staff support young people well to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. They encourage young people to attend routine medical appointments. Work is ongoing to support those young people who struggle to engage consistently with health services.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage and enable young people to engage in a range of activities, which promotes their good health, broadens their experiences and helps them to invest in their local community.

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improvement to be good

Young people enjoy regular contact with their family members. Staff promote contact for young people and liaise with the placing authority to review contact arrangements. This means that young people maintain safe and positive links with people who are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Staff only use physical intervention as a last resort to maintain young people‟s safety. When such incidents occur, young people do not always have the opportunity to talk to someone who was not involved in the incident about what happened. Monitoring of restraint records requires improvement to ensure that this happens.

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improvement to be good

The organisation adopts the Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (PACE) model to engage young people and to help them to manage their own emotions and reduce harmful behaviours. However, only two staff and the manager have received training to deliver this approach to behaviour management and care.

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improvement to be good

Young people have not benefited consistently from individual key-work sessions to help them to understand and better manage issues that cause themselves and others concern. The new manager has taken steps to address this and consequently this is an aspect of care that is improving.

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improvement to be good

Young people say that they feel safe. They feel confident to speak with staff if they have any worries and young people know how to complain.

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improvement to be good

The responsible individual and senior staff implement detailed recruitment procedures. All staff, including agency staff, are subject to a range of suitability checks. This professional and effective approach means that young people work with safe adults.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately when young people go missing. They work closely with the police, placing authorities and family members to ensure that young people are found and returned safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager for over 26 weeks. The lack of consistent leadership has compromised the continuity and quality of care that young people receive. Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 6 There are monitoring systems to evaluate and assess the development of the service. However, current systems do not include consultation with young people or other professionals. Furthermore, in the absence of a registered manager, interim managers and senior care staff have not used these systems effectively to review the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not always receive monthly supervision in line with the home‟s policies and procedures. In addition, not all staff have had an annual appraisal. This means that the staff do not consistently receive regular feedback on their practice or the opportunity to have a formal review of their performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The new manager has quickly developed a good understanding of the strengths and needs of the home. She is committed to bringing about improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, agency staff have been used because of staff shortages. The manager is recruiting new staff and staff sufficiency is improving. Despite changes in staff, a core group of staff have remained. Young people develop some positive relationships with most core staff. This has helped young people to feel safe and happy living at the home. In the absence of consistent leadership, a dedicated staff team has provided young people with some good support.

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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: SC428750 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC428750 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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