Children's home run by Jamores Limited in Bexley

Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 1 Registered provider: Jamores 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 home is privately owned and provides care for up to three children. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home looks after children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since April of this year.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 September 2018

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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: 18 December 2017

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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: 1234166 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/07/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/12/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

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-

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Requirement Due date

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document. (Regulation 7 1 (a) (b) (c) (2) (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that information contained in the children’s guide is accurate. 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

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—

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Requirement Due date

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 quality of the assessment of children’s daily living skills. 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

Fitness of workers 01/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 4 The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 1 (3)(d)) Fitness of workers

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 32 (4)(b)) 01/12/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care. Staff devise relevant placements plans, which meet children’s identified needs and which are written in accordance with local authority care plans. However, some children do not make significant progress from their original starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they are generally satisfied living in the home and feel that staff meet their needs. They participate in key-work and one-to-one sessions that are relevant to their placement goals. Relationships with staff are good and children are able to share their views with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child said, ‘Staff here are really good. They understand and try to help you as much as your own family can. They make you feel welcome and they care.’ The staff team is committed to offering good-quality care to children. One staff member said, ‘The best thing about my job are the kids. I like going home feeling satisfied with what I’ve done.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children understand how to make complaints. Since the last inspection, children made two complaints, and two other complaints were received from adults. Managers deal with complaints promptly and appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children engage in their education and their learning outcomes are positive. However, this is not the case for all children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children take responsibility for their healthcare and staff support them to live healthy lives, while other children do not regularly attend their medical appointments and continue to misuse substances. Staff continue to work with children to help them curb these behaviours. Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 5 Children have access to specialist healthcare services, for example sexual health clinics The home’s two therapists work hard to engage with children to help them develop emotional resilience. The staff’s medication practices are safe. Children enjoy healthy, nutritious diets and participate in meal planning to ensure that meals are to their liking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff treat children with dignity and respect and pay attention to any identity needs. For example, they are offered meals that meet their religious obligations and staff promote children’s cultural heritage. This helps children to develop positive self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to participate in planned activities. However, they rarely choose to participate, preferring to socialise independently of the staff team. The home is equipped with recreational activities, and one member of staff takes the lead for coordinating leisure activities. This is in an effort to increase children’s participation with planned activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children engage with staff to improve their practical daily living skills. This includes preparing meals, budgeting and attending to their personal care needs. Records of children’s practical skills development require improvement to ensure that there is an assessment of the tasks that children can complete and those skills that they need developing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the home’s flexible visiting approach; children and their visitors are familiar with boundaries around visiting. Children’s family members and friends are welcome at the home and staff make good efforts to support contact. A father said of the home, ‘I was reassured and so happy. The home has done so well for my son and family.’ Staff encourage children to develop and build upon existing positive relationships and discourage relationships that are not in their best interests.

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

Children said that they feel safe at the home and with the staff team. Staff protect them from harm, abuse and bullying. The staff team has access to comprehensive child protection procedures, and safeguarding features strongly in staff training and induction.

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

Some children have a prolific history of being absent or going missing from care and continue to do so at the home. For others, however, the frequency of their missing episodes is on the decline. Staff take appropriate action when children are missing from the home or absent, and records of these instances are clear and comprehensive.

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

Staff work effectively with the police, the local authority and other safeguarding professionals to promote children’s safe return to the home. This helps to curb risk- taking behaviour and keeps children safe.

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

Risks posed to children suspected of being involved in child sexual exploitation prior to their admission to the home are reduced as the placement progresses. Key-work sessions with children and regular professionals and strategy meetings ensure that plans Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 6 to eliminate risks are effective.

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

Children who are suspected of being involved in criminal exploitation are encouraged to develop positive peer relationships and engage in the home’s activities. This is to help discourage their affiliations with gangs. Staff enlist the support of the police and community-based services to support this approach.

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

Where children do not respond to this input and continue to place themselves at high risk, placements at the home are terminated. The allocated social worker for a child who continues to exhibit high-risk behaviour said, ‘This has been a difficult challenge, which was beyond the capabilities of the placement. Nevertheless, the team have worked diligently in trying to safeguard the young person.’

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

Children benefit from the home’s training, policies and procedures about the management of allegations. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the action to be taken in the event of a child making an allegation against staff. Since the last inspection, children have made three allegations against staff. Managers ensure that investigations are robust and that they liaise with the local authority designated officer for advice and guidance.

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

Children’s behaviour is sometimes challenging and the staff’s management of such instances is measured, and appropriate to prevent harm to children and others. Since the last inspection, there have been two instances in which staff have restrained children. Records are detailed and clear, and in accordance with the regulations.

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

Staff devise risk assessments and behaviour management plans that support their practice in reducing poor or challenging behaviour. Staff make good use of praise, rewards and incentives to promote positive behaviour. This has some positive effect.

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

Staff promote restorative justice as an approach to address, for example, criminal damage. Children therefore learn to take responsibility for their actions and behaviour. This helps them to manage conflicts and difficulties.

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

Staff recruitment and vetting practices are adequate. However, managers do not ensure that the vetting information obtained from recruitment agencies is sufficient to confirm that all staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children.

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

The home’s premises are physically safe and appropriately secure. Staff routinely conduct health and safety checks and there are good fire precautions in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership and management of the home are strong. The home has a newly appointed manager, who is in the process of being registered with Ofsted. The manager has appropriate experience, skills and qualifications to manage the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s monitoring systems are robust. Managers undertake weekly and monthly Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 7 monitoring exercises. These explore most aspects of the home’s functioning and offer some insight into the quality of the service. Monthly independent monitoring visits help to highlight the home’s strengths and weaknesses and provide action points, which helps managers to improve the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home employs a sufficient number of staff to meet children’s needs. Staff have access to training opportunities that help them develop their skills to care for children. New members of the team undergo induction, and the support of staff is good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A staff member said, ‘I feel very supported. I meet with my line manager monthly, and sessions are meaningful.’ However, not all staff receive regular supervision. This is required to ensure that staff’s performance and development are carefully monitored and result in them providing high-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff share good working relationships with other professionals. This ensures that all parties are aware of placement issues and developments. Managers appropriately challenge action taken by other professionals if this is thought not to be in the best interests of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A good example of this is the manager’s challenge to the police when a missing child was not returned to the home. An independent reviewing officer (IRO) said, ‘Often IROs are the last professionals to be updated, but this placement copies me into most updates/reports. Thank you, this makes a refreshing change.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is financially viable and appropriately resourced. The development plan outlines proposals to improve the home. The children’s guide requires revision to ensure that it contains accurate information about the home. The statement of purpose describes the home’s services, facilities and the manner in which the home operates.

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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: 1234166 8 Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Thames Innovation Centre, Studio 52, Veridion Way, Erith DA18 4AL

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1234166 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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