Children's Home run by Keys Direct Care Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 1 Registered provider: Direct Care 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 for up to five children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 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: 21 November 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2017 Full Good 08/02/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 2

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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 care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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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 each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to having up-to-date plans for children. 08/10/2018

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Recommendations

 Many children placed in homes may undergo a difficult transition and what should be simple aspects of their care take on a substantial significance in this context. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to

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Recommendations

inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11) Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of young people’s histories and know the children well. Children say that they have trusted relationships with some staff. A child who has recently come to live at the home said: ‘Staff have supported me well with my move here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s emotional health and well-being needs are met. Staff are nurturing in their approach. Relationship-based interventions ensure that children’s emotional needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the home is well maintained and presents as welcoming. Some of the children recognise and adhere to the routines in the home. For other children, additional support is required to promote a positive environment. A recommendation is made in relation to making sure that direct work between staff and children becomes routine and supports children settling into the routines of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from a variety of sources is unanimously positive about the care provided. Professionals express that children do well at the home. Staff work hard to develop good working relationships with other professionals to promote positive outcomes for children. A designated teacher said: ‘We have really good relationships with the staff and staff do their very best for the children.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children are engaged in education and this represents excellent progress. Staff work tenaciously to help children to engage in education and go above and beyond sometimes. An example of this is staff being present at college to support a young person to settle in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well when they move on from the home. For one child, staff strongly advocated on her behalf to progress her care plan. Another child was helped to move into semi-independent accommodation, a significant distance away from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain, and the home’s complaint processes are clear. Children receive appropriate feedback about their complaint and communication is good.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is currently understaffed and this has resulted in them not being able to implement creative ways to communicate with children. Key-working sessions have not taken place as often as planned and the recording of sessions that have taken place is poor. Key-working sessions are not taking place frequently enough and are not sufficiently planned and reviewed. Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 4

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

From their starting points, young people have significantly reduced their risk-taking behaviour. Children have reduced incidents of going missing, of child sexual exploitation, self-harm and drugs and alcohol misuse.

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

Working together with other agencies is a strength of this home. Staff have positive working relationships with a variety of core agencies and with parents. A parent told the inspector: ‘My daughter is a different child now. The support staff have given her has been brilliant. If I was inspecting, I would give it 100%.’

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

Staff provide a safe place for children to live. They use well-written, clear risk assessments that support children’s safety inside and outside of the home.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. This is significant progress for most children. If this does happen, staff are proactive in their responses. Each child’s missing from home protocol is followed and reports to relevant agencies are completed in a timely manner.

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

Incentive plans are in place to promote positive behaviour. This, alongside clinical support from the company’s psychologist, helps children to gradually learn how to manage their anxieties, worries and relationships.

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

Children engage in group projects and discussions around keeping safe. The most recent example of this was some excellent work on using the internet safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is strong and is led by a strong, experienced manager. Despite issues with staff shortages, the core staff team is stable. Staff are maintaining positive practices in the home. It is commendable that despite staff shortages, the staff team ensured that all the children had had a holiday away from the home this summer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team is led by a nurturing, experienced manager. Staff report that they feel well supported within their roles and have development opportunities. Managers are accessible and approachable. A staff member said: ‘The registered manager has been the best manager I’ve worked for. She’s a leader and has everyone behind her.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training, staff supervision and team meetings are structured, take place regularly and are well recorded. Staff feel able to share their experiences. There is a shared ethos in the home which is supported through the staff’s nurturing approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is experiencing a difficult period with staff vacancies. The registered manager is focusing on safeguarding and ensuring that children’s needs are met. The registered manager has a clear plan in terms of building the team and knows what her priorities are. Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 5 The manager and staff advocate well for children. There was lots of evidence of how staff had advocated for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some local authority documents were not on file. It is imperative that the provider has key plans and documents in place. This ensures that the plans that staff are implementing reflect the overarching plans for children in their care. A requirement is made in relation to this.

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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: 1240397 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Goldwyns, Rutland House, 90–92 Baxter Avenue, Southend-on-Sea SS2 6HZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rebecca Ouellani

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Inspector

Bev Allison, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1240397 7 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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