Children's Home run by Individual Specialist Care Limited in Sandwell

Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 1 SC481235 Registered provider: Individual Specialist Care Ltd

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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 is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children or young people.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted on 28 December 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 15 to 16 May 2018 and 14 to 15 June 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 22 February 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/04/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/01/2017 Full Inadequate 21/09/2016 Full Inadequate Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to involve each child‟s placing authority effectively in the child‟s care, in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child‟s needs. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)) 20/07/18

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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.

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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

understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child‟s welfare. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)) 20/07/18

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Requirement Due date

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

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)) 10/07/18

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. 10/07/18 Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child‟s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home‟s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that 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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 20/07/18 Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 5 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(g)(ii)(h)) 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 registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child‟s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(b)(ii)(c)) 20/07/18

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 (1)) 20/07/18

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (1)(7)(b)) 20/07/18

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children‟s home if—

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)) 20/07/18

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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 which includes— 20/07/18 Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 6 details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(v)(vii)

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child. (Regulation 36 (1) 20/07/18

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 20/07/18

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not receive the continuity of care they need. For example, 19 different staff cared for the young people during a four-week period. As a result, young people do not benefit from consistent care provided by a stable staff team. Furthermore, young people are unable to develop a sense of safety and security.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure that complaints are investigated appropriately, in line with the home‟s complaints procedure. Complaints have been dismissed and minimised. This leaves young people vulnerable to poor staff practice and care. Furthermore, it means that young people do not feel listened to and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager and staff do not ensure that young people receive good care that considers their health needs, risks and behaviours. As a result, young people do not receive well-planned and coordinated care that supports their progress and safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people have made some progress living in this home, such as one young person being able to regulate their emotions in a more positive way. Another young person does not go missing from the home as often as she did when she first arrived at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

However, young people‟s progress is hindered because of the actions of staff. For example, staff use disproportionate sanctions, including preventing young people from attending after-school activities. For one young person, this has had a significant impact because she is unable to complete her Duke of Edinburgh‟s award until she has more consistent attendance at cadets. Consequently, staff actions have curtailed the young person‟s engagement in positive activities and experiences that will help her to learn new skills, develop confidence and self-esteem. This limits her opportunities and progress. Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 7

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

Staff do not protect young people from the risk of harm. They have a limited understanding of the home‟s statement of purpose and the home‟s safeguarding procedures. As a result, staff do not respond promptly and appropriately when safeguarding incidents occur.

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

Young people told the inspector that they have not always felt safe living in the home. This is because they have been bullied by another resident. Although a young person recently moved on from the home, this does not negate the negative impact that being bullied has had on the young people‟s experiences and safety.

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

The responsible individual and the registered manager do not review significant incidents, to reduce the likelihood of these incidents happening again. Furthermore, they do not take follow-up action to ensure that young people receive the support that they need. This compromises young people‟s safety and welfare.

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

The registered manager and staff failed to take prompt and appropriate action when a young person went missing from the home. This led to a poorly coordinated response to a high-risk situation, which left the young person at risk of significant harm.

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

Young people‟s risk assessments are not updated and do not reflect the known and current risks posed to the young people. This means that staff lack the necessary guidance and knowledge to keep young people safe.

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

When young people present challenging behaviour, staff do not always assess the situation carefully to inform their next steps. For example, staff physically intervened to prise broken glass out of a young person‟s hand rather than consider alternative strategies to de-escalate the situation. Consequently, the young person sustained cuts to her hand.

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

Physical intervention records do not contain all the required information. For example, records do not include details about what led to the restraint being necessary and what actions were taken to try to de-escalate the situation. In addition, incidents are not reviewed effectively. These shortfalls do not promote safe restraint practice.

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

Staff do not undertake good-quality key-work sessions with young people to address current and past behaviours. This is a missed opportunity to help young people understand how they can keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and staff have not worked collaboratively and effectively with placing authorities and other agencies. They have not kept social workers up to date about young people‟s progress and any incidents. Furthermore, staff do not effectively support young people to access specialist services, when needed, such as seeking sexual health advice. Poor partnership working means young people do not receive well-coordinated Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 8 care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Ineffective monitoring does not enable leaders and managers to understand the strengths and needs of the home. This limits the capacity of the home to achieve good standards of care for young people and to develop the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers fail to review records promptly. This means that poor practice is not identified and followed up in a timely manner. For example, when a significant missing from home episode involving two young people occurred, there was no log of the event or what action staff had taken. Such critical information, lacking from the young people‟s records, was not identified by managers. Poor oversight leaves young people vulnerable, as the staff team does not have the skills and experience to care for them without clear management direction.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Shortfalls identified at this inspection show that the registered manager and responsible individual do not use the skills and experience that they have to manage the home effectively or safely. The registered manager has failed to respond appropriately to safeguarding incidents. Furthermore, the responsible individual failed to show that he had followed up on the actions he said he was taking, in response to a serious incident. Consequently, the registered manager and responsible individual have failed to take effective action to ensure that young people‟s needs are met and that they are kept safe from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and staff do not implement or understand the home‟s statement of purpose. For example, when the inspector spoke with staff, the staff could not explain the model of care used at the home. This means that managers have failed to support the members of the staff team to understand what model of care they should be delivering, to ensure that young people achieve the best possible outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not receive appropriate training. For example, not all staff are sufficiently trained to meet a young person‟s specific health needs. Consequently, they provide care to the young person without having the necessary knowledge and skills to do this safely.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 9 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: SC481235 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Individual Specialist Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 65 Lodge Road, Walsall, Staffordshire WS5 3LA

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Inspector(s)

Lisa O‟Donovan, social care inspector Michelle Spruce, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC481235 11 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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