Children's Home run by Shalamar Children Limited in Essex

Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 1 SC475088 Registered provider: Shalamar Children 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 provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional or behavioural difficulties (social and emotional difficulties). There is a manager in post who is not yet registered.

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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 September 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/09/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 14/06/2017 Full Good 22/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/07/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 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 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 —

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Requirement Due date

that staff 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 10/08/2018

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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—

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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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that the location risk assessment, missing risk assessments and missing protocol consider the risk of the nearby road and the risks associated with children going missing in periods of darkness. 10/08/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 10/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 4 understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that clear, accurate and comprehensive records are made following incidents in the home and that these actively contribute to reviews and reflection on practice in the home. The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that risk assessments demonstrate the need for all monitoring devices used in the home and written consent is provided by each child’s placing authority for the use of door alarms. 10/08/2018

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children,

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Requirement Due date

allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— 10/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 5 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(b)(3)(d)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Children’s homes should work closely with the placing authority to understand the child’s relationship history and the impact that the child’s arrival may have on the group living in the home. Staff should understand, for each child, what the placing authority has recorded in the relevant plan as an appropriate level of contact with family and friends. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.3)

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Recommendations

This is with particular regard to ensuring that records are clear about, and staff are aware of, contact arrangements for the children.

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improvement to be good

At this inspection, Ofsted has found that while there are some strengths within the home and children make progress in some areas, there are safeguarding shortcomings which have the potential to compromise children’s safety and well-being.

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improvement to be good

 Risk assessments do not consider predictable risks associated with the location.  Safe recruitment checks on staff do not include all of the information required by regulation.  Following one serious safeguarding incident, the management team did not ensure that a clear picture of what had occurred was captured in the records.  A risk assessment relating to potential child exploitation has not been updated Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 6 despite a young person claiming to have had access to a significant amount of money and going missing for a prolonged period.

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improvement to be good

There are elements within the decor of the home that are institutional, for example the CCTV and the large keypunch locks on some doors. This affects the homeliness of the building. The home uses door alarms on the bedroom doors to monitor the children’s movement at night. The need for these is not reflected in risk assessments, nor has written consent been sought for their use from local authorities.

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improvement to be good

The children speak positively about the support they receive. They feel well cared for and they believe that the staff care about them. Interactions between staff and children were positive during the inspection. The staff and managers understand the children’s individual interests. They support children to pursue these. For example, children are able to grow vegetables and care for animals.

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improvement to be good

There is evidence of children making some progress. One child spoke about the progress he has made in managing his emotions. He felt that he could now manage his anger much better than before he arrived at the home.

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improvement to be good

The staff and managers work with the children’s schools. This results in individual tailored support. One child has been supported to complete his examinations and apply for college. The staff support children to access work experience and volunteering experience. This provides children with valuable opportunities to expand their horizons.

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improvement to be good

The children say that they enjoy a range of activities. For children whose backgrounds and experiences limit the freedoms they can have, the management team links with appropriate professionals to agree activities.

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improvement to be good

The arrangements to safeguard the children are not good enough. Unchecked, these have the potential to leave children at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Children have previously gone missing from the home by climbing out of the bathroom window, placing themselves at significant risk. Following a recent incident in which a child again managed to go missing via the window, no clear records of the incident were made. It is of significant concern that a clearer picture only came into view as a result of Ofsted’s persistence in seeking clarifications and querying inconsistencies. The absence of a clear overview means that there was no comprehensive understanding of what had occurred. Naturally, this affects the management team’s ability to act to lessen the likelihood of a repeat or learn from what has happened.

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improvement to be good

The management team has not updated a linked risk assessment following the incident of going missing. The child was missing for a prolonged period and claimed to have had access to significant sums of money to enable this. Despite this, the child exploitation risk assessment has not been updated to acknowledge or consider these emerging Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 7 concerns.

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improvement to be good

The child went missing at night. The risk assessment did not distinguish between actions to take during the day or at night time. It gave no consideration to any additional difficulties that may arise at night. Therefore, it does not reflect any learning from the incident. Nor does it consider any difficulties the night time staffing arrangements may cause staff in implementing the risk assessment.

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improvement to be good

There is no consideration in the home’s location risk assessment, the children’s individual missing risk assessments or in the missing protocols about what to do if a child goes missing during darkness. The home is on an unlit, 60mph road with no paths. Children have gone missing during hours of darkness from this home. Therefore predictable risks associated with known behaviours are not considered or mitigated.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment checks are not compliant with regulation:

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improvement to be good

 The managers make no efforts to find out why people left employment with children or vulnerable adults other than routine references for the most recent posts. Managers were unaware of the need for this verification to take place.  Information held about a therapist employed to work in the home does not include the information required by regulation.  Recruitment records in relation to agency staff do not meet the regulatory requirements. This does not enable managers to satisfy themselves that agency staff working in the home are suitable.

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improvement to be good

Therefore, the recruitment process does not safeguard children or minimise the potential for inappropriate adults to gain employment.

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improvement to be good

The children say that they feel safe. They say that the staff are available to them. They say that they can talk to staff if they have any worries or concerns.

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improvement to be good

The staff are able to outline what they would do if they had concerns about a colleague or a manager. They are aware of the designated officer within the local authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The current manager has been in post since March 2018. She was previously the responsible individual. She is not yet registered. However, she has applied to be so. The home has been without a registered manager for 51 weeks at the time of the inspection. Therefore this area is judged as inadequate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff have access to learning and development opportunities. However, the staff do not receive supervision at the frequency noted in the home’s statement of purpose. In one recent incident, the actions of staff may have contributed to an escalation of an incident. This culminated in police involvement. Despite this, the incident was not discussed in subsequent supervisions. This does not provide the staff with the support they need to carry out their roles. Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 8 Feedback from external professionals was generally positive. The independent reviewing officer for one child was positive about the approach to contact. However, in one instance, a lack of clarity about contact arrangements led to a child having contact not previously agreed with his social worker. As a result, the child had contact with individuals where the risks had not been fully assessed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The deputy manager has developed child-centred plans. She completes these alongside the children. They encourage children’s participation in the care planning process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The managers have some understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. Some actions have been taken to address previous shortfalls. The pull cords identified as a risk at the last Ofsted inspection have been replaced. Retrospective consent has been gained for the use of CCTV in the home. Restraint records are now compliant with regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and the staff have high expectations for the children. The children speak positively about the staff and the manager. There are regular consultations with the children. The children feel listened to. The children are encouraged to take part in activities in the local community.

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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: SC475088 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Shalamar Children Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 3, 2nd Floor, Stanhope House, High Street, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex SS17 0HA

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Inspector

Ashley Hinson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC475088 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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