Children's home run by Keys Care Limited in Belfast

Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 1 SC063959 Registered provider: Keys Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced and has been managing the home since 2007.

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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

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 16 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/01/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/05/2017 Full Good 05/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 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 ensure that staff- if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority‟s or a relevant person‟s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child‟s needs are met in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that 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)(c) ). 31/07/2018

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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 and are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 31/07/2018

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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 („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards,‟ page 62, paragraph 14.4). Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people experience care that is reliable, consistent and responsive. Irrespective of the challenges in behaviour that young people can present, staff offer patient, unfailing support. As a result, young people, over time, build up trust with staff and begin to listen and apply the advice that staff give them. One young person, commenting on how well staff understand him, said: „Staff get me.‟ Another young person said: „They are here for me if I need to chat, and they understand where I am coming from.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work extremely hard to ensure that young people benefit from education and training. The tenacity that staff bring to problem-solving any barriers to learning and accessing education ensures that young people are given repeated opportunities to reach their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff successfully help young people to overcome fears and resistance to medical and health treatment. As a result, young people‟s health improves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are encouraged to develop life skills that will support their successful transition into adulthood. These plans are responsive to young people‟s changing needs and accommodate the times when young people might falter in their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people have benefited from increased frequency and quality of contact with their families. However, unresolved funding issues between managers and the placing local authority have resulted in contact arrangements being cancelled, on one occasion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have benefited from access to individual therapeutic support. This specialist time offers psychological support to enable young people to talk about the difficulties that they face and how previous life experiences may be affecting their current behaviour.

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

Young people rarely go missing from home. When they do, staff are active in their response to locate young people and to liaise with other agencies to reduce any recurrence.

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

Young people say that they feel safe at the home and know how to make a complaint, should they wish to. Any complaints or allegations are dealt with promptly by the manager and resolved effectively. Young people feel listened to and the manager is proactive in ensuring that young people‟s views and concerns are fully responded to.

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

The risks that young people face from their behaviours are understood well by the staff. Young people are offered, and access, specialist services to minimise the risks associated with drug misuse. Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 5 The need for staff to use physical intervention to manage young people‟s behaviour is infrequent, as staff employ individualised de-escalation techniques effectively. As a result, young people, over time, begin to manage their emotions in more socially acceptable ways. When incidents have occurred, young people are given the opportunity to repair any damage and restore relationships, and are not unnecessarily criminalised. However, full managerial oversight of the use of physical intervention is reduced, as the manager does not always speak to the young person following the incident.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced, and has been registered to manage the home since 2007. She was not available for this inspection. The assistant manager, operations manager and senior care workers supported the inspection process. Since the last inspection, the manager has met the previous recommendation, and the home now benefits from newly refurbished bathrooms.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff work closely as a team to provide consistent and individualised care to young people. Staff receive appropriate levels of supervision, guidance and challenge from managers to support their work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals report close liaison and information sharing among staff, and say that staff actively implement and drive forward the plans for young people. However, some key documents such as pathway plans are not up to date or have not been secured from the placing local authorities. This impacts upon the clarity and agreed timescales for young people‟s transitions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The wishes and opinions of young people matter greatly to the staff, and there has been positive work completed to ensure that young people contribute to the home‟s development plan. Since the last inspection, improvements have been made with regards to streamlining paperwork and making young people‟s plans more child focused in their approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff act as advocates for young people. However, the resourcing of some contact arrangements for some young people has not been resolved or effectively escalated with the placing local authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some key records, such as missing from home incidents, staff supervision and physical intervention records, are handwritten. As a result, some of the documents are not clear in their content, and this limits managerial oversight. Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 6

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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 difference 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: SC063959 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast BT1 3LP

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Inspector

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC063959 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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