Children's home run by Icare Children’s Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 1 Registered provider: Icare Children’s Services 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

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have complex needs. The home’s statement of purpose states that staff aim to help each young person achieve their full potential through providing a family environment.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since August 2017. A new manager is in post, and she has applied to Ofsted to become the registered manager of the 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 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

Date of last inspection: 27 November 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home was the subject of a restriction of accommodation notice from 29 November 2017 to 21 February 2018. This was issued following concerns about the leadership and management and staffing of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/05/2017 Full Good 02/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 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 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— a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iv)(v)(vii)) 14/06/2018

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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 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 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, monitor the cleanliness of the home, review and update the home’s policies and procedures, and consider how staff monitor young people’s progress. 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3): the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that details of employees’ past work history 14/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 4 is clearly recorded. The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child, are kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that young people’s health assessments are available, and that information about young people’s cultural needs is documented. 14/06/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)) 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the decoration and facilities of the home meet young people’s needs. Damaged furniture needs to be replaced, there is not enough crockery for young people’s use, a window in the bathroom needs attention, carpets are stained and damaged, kitchen worktops are damaged, and the electric box in the living room creates an institutional feel. The garden looks unwelcoming. 10/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 5 The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who develop positive relationships with them; engage with them; and take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each child is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(b)(i)(ii)) 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an individual who works in a care home in a care role has the appropriate qualification by the relevant date. This is if the individual has attained— the level 3 diploma for residential childcare (England) (‘the level 3 diploma’).

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is— in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(5)(a)) 14/06/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person builds a strong safeguarding culture in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.8) In particular, ensure that staff always check visitors’ identification and explain the Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 6 fire evacuation procedure.  Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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improvement to be good

Young people do not live in a well-maintained home. For example, crockery is chipped and in short supply, a bathroom window needs replacing, and some parts of the home are not thoroughly cleaned. In addition, areas of the home are damaged, for example, a kitchen worktop, chairs, a wall in a living room. In some parts, decoration is not completed, this includes damaged doorways that have been repaired and plastered but not painted, and in some areas of the home, the decoration looks worn and marked.

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improvement to be good

Young people contribute their views and opinions to staff in key-work sessions and in young people’s meetings. However, their views and opinions are not reflected in documentation used by staff. For example, young people’s views are missing from incident logs and in their placement plans. Although staff can talk about young people’s progress, staff fail to record the detail. As a result, young people’s records fail to capture the voice of the child.

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improvement to be good

Young people have opportunities to enjoy activities outside the home. These include trips to the cinema, as well as the use of local facilities such as parks and shopping. One young person told the inspector, ‘I like it here. The staff are nice. We go out and about.’ A social worker commented, ‘I am pleased with the placement so far. Staff work well with my young person, and keep me up to date about how things are going.’

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improvement to be good

Young people are new to the home and are waiting to have school placements confirmed.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 7 One young person has had a large number of missing-from-care episodes since living at the home. Managers and staff work closely with social workers and police to minimise the risks to the young person. Staff are knowledgeable about the steps to take if the young person leaves the home. However, despite the manager liaising with local authorities and consulting the children’s commissioner, a social worker or independent person does not always carry out return interviews when the young person returns home. This means that the young person does not have the opportunity to talk to someone outside the home to discuss any difficulties.

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improvement to be good

Carpets in the home pose a safety hazard. Carpets are torn and frayed and present a risk to young people, staff and visitors. The garden is full of tall stinging nettles, again presenting a risk to all.

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improvement to be good

Managers fail to ensure that risk assessments are updated if information becomes known during the recruitment process. This failure to assess the risk does not assure good recruitment practice, which is aimed at keeping young people safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff lack the required knowledge in understanding the risks of radicalisation. Their limited knowledge compromises their ability to safeguard young people.

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improvement to be good

Since the monitoring visit in December 2017, staff have used physical intervention on one occasion. The record does not include all the information required to give a clear picture about why the intervention was necessary. Specifically, it does not include details about the escalation of a young person’s behaviour, and the de-escalation techniques employed to manage the situation.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff do not always ask visitors to show their identification. Nor do they explain the fire evacuation procedure should a fire break out.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since August 2017. This means that the effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as inadequate. This has had an impact on the overall judgement given at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new manager has been in post since February 2018. She has submitted an application to Ofsted to become the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some staff have not completed refresher training in health and safety and the administration of medication. One member of staff has not completed a level 3 diploma in residential childcare within the required timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not ensure that all new staff provide all required information about their employment history. For example, one staff member had not given a detailed account of previous work history. This lack of scrutiny means that young people are not adequately safeguarded. Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 8 There are shortfalls in how staff maintain young people’s case records. For example, case records do not include details about young people’s cultural needs, and a young person’s health assessments is missing. The manager has contacted the local authority about missing paperwork, but not received it. Staff do not have all the information they need to understand young people’s needs. There are shortfalls in record-keeping, and some records are incorrectly dated. The home’s policies need updating as some reflect the needs of young people who have left the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all requirements and recommendations have been met from the interim inspection in November 2017. Requirements about the recording of physical intervention, monitoring, recruitment procedures, training, and case records are repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are positive about the support they receive from the manager. They have regular supervision with the home’s manager which includes the opportunity to discuss young people’s progress, the quality of team working, and their training and professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager acknowledges the shortfalls identified at this inspection, and is working closely with the new responsible individual and staff to improve the service offered to young people.

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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: 1164379 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Icare Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 24 Milton Road, Smethwick B67 7HT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Angela Griffiths

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Inspector

Julia Wright, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1164379 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 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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