Children's home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 1 SC006921 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to five children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it cares for children who have suffered severe neglect and abuse, have attachment disorders or have suffered childhood trauma. The children may have associated syndromes and a mental health diagnosis for which they require medication and clinical oversight or support. The home has an on-site school and children can also receive therapy. The organisation’s clinical service provides expert advice, assisting in the development of therapeutic practice.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2013.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 18 to 19 September 2018

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/08/2017 Full Good 24/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/10/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of placing authorities. (Regulation 45 (5)) 01/11/2018

p.3

Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

p.3

Recommendations

In particular, risk assessments must include all identified risks.

p.3

Recommendations

 Sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and staff should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

p.3

Recommendations

 Effective care planning and strong working relationships between the staff of the home and the placing authority are essential to the success of placements. ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

p.3

Recommendations

In particular, the home should establish a partnership working protocol and provide regular updates in relation to clinical and educational progress.

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 4 In particular, staff should carry out blood sugar checks and consistently witness medication administration.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children thrive if they are open to the wide range of support available to them. A child described the home as ‘the best placement’, highlighting ‘this is as good as it gets for care’. A parent confirmed that they were ‘happy with everything’, and that they appreciated the strong, solution-focused relationship they had with staff.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning and focused key work addresses children’s needs. Children take responsibility for their lives by working with staff on agreed goals. All children make progress. For some this has been significant, enabling them to return home or to foster care.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are good healthcare arrangements and a broad range of preventative work regarding teen pregnancy and sexual health. The only shortfall was regarding gaps in the health records. These related to blood sugar checks and consistently witnessing medication administration.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The on-site school provides children with excellent educational support. Children can undertake academic and vocational courses. They can also learn musical instruments, digital music production, drama and street dance.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s lives are enhanced by a broad range of activities and experiences. They have the opportunity of going away on holiday and visiting places of interest. Children also enjoy having fun at home through ‘rap battles’ and ‘bake off’ competitions with staff.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Tolerance, equality and diversity are part of the home’s ethos and teaching in the school. Staff actively support children to take pride in their identity; this includes their ethnicity, religion and sexuality. Menus include culturally reflective dishes, and staff also help children with their traditional haircare needs, for example braiding.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child proudly confirmed that they have become very independent. Children take responsibility for their daily living tasks, for example doing their own laundry. There is also the opportunity to manage a semi-independence budget.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff endeavour to build trusting relationships with children, parents and foster carers. Children spend appropriate time with relatives and friends, both in the home and outside. Staff demonstrate a strong commitment to working in partnership. A good example of this is the therapeutic outreach support to a foster carer.

p.4

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

The home has a multi-agency approach to safeguarding children. Children feel safe and Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 5 they learn the importance of healthy personal relationships, internet safety and fire safety. The only shortfall relates to the need to improve children’s risk assessments and the use of restorative sanctions.

p.4

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

Children receive incentives for making positive choices, which lessens the need for sanctions. A child commended staff for steering them in the ‘right direction’, which put them on the ‘right path’. All poor behaviour is challenged; however, staff do not always give appropriate restorative sanctions.

p.5

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

Children’s risk assessments do not detail all the known risks and actions to reduce risks. An example is not detailing a child’s feelings of paranoia, racist views, threats of committing suicide and displays of aggression in the community. Furthermore, risk assessments do not contain details of the frequency at which staff should carry out room searches.

p.5

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

A police officer confirmed that they work closely with the home and they have not identified any safeguarding issues. There are currently no children involved in episodes of going missing from the home or sexually exploitative relationships.

p.5

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

The therapeutic support is highly effective. Children can discuss their feelings every week with the clinical psychologist. A social worker highlighted the vast improvement in their placed child’s well-being.

p.5

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

A positive shift is that children freely discuss their emotions. They can reflect, and use calming strategies to relax, an example being going for a walk. Incidents of young people self-harming have reduced; a good achievement is one child now being able to hand in their razor blades to staff.

p.5

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

Children benefit from consistent, firm boundaries, which helps them develop socially acceptable behaviour. Staff expertly de-escalate incidents and receive ongoing training in therapeutic crisis intervention. There have been no restraints since the last inspection.

p.5

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

The home provides a safe and nurturing environment for children. The organisation follows the principles of safe recruitment. Staff undertake a wide range of safeguarding training, which includes preventing radicalisation, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The highly experienced management team leads with compassion, centred on its dedication to providing a quality service for children. Social workers and involved professionals provided positive feedback regarding the overall care.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Shortfalls are minor and relate to the home’s quality of care review and enhancing the information shared with placing authorities. The quality of care review extensively details the strengths of the service and the areas for development. There was, however, no feedback from placing authorities as required in the regulations. Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 6 While staff have good working relationships with placing authorities, certain areas could be further improved. Occasionally there are areas of disagreement, and it would help if there was a protocol regarding expectations and decision-making to provide a united response to children. Social workers stated that they would also like regular updates regarding children’s clinical and educational progress.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children receive support from a stable, enthusiastic, experienced and culturally diverse staff team. Staff benefit from regular individual supervision, which is complemented by reflective clinical supervision. Staff also praised the personal support available to them.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good training arrangements ensure that staff build on their knowledge and skills. New staff benefit from a comprehensive induction. The majority of staff have finished, or will imminently finish, their vocational training.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recommendations from the last inspection have been addressed effectively. Children are listened to, and they benefit from the improved support and information available to them. There are also plans to make better use of the garden, by having allotments and building a children’s cabin.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children live in a well-maintained detached house, which has a range of communal spaces for them to socialise and relax. Children’s artwork and photographs contribute to the homely atmosphere. A child joked that the home was ‘like a mansion’, and they also confirmed, ‘I love my room.’

p.6

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.

p.6

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: SC006921 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury, SP1 3UT

p.7

Inspector

Sharon Payne, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC006921 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8