Children's Home run by New Forest Care Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 1 SC068046 Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns the home. Its statement of purpose confirms that it provides care for one young person with social and/or emotional difficulties. The young person living at the home may attend the organisation‟s school. The home is located within easy reach of community resources and services.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 23 April 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 25 to 26 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 requires improvement to be 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: 28 November 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2017 Full Good 20/03/2017 Interim Not judged 20/12/2016 Interim Not judged 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that— demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, monitor and review restraint practice with a view to minimising the need for it. 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), the registered provider may not appoint the following as an independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered provider is not a local authority, a person who is employed for payment by the registered provider;

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Requirement Due date

An employee of the registered provider is not, by reason only of that employment, disqualified under paragraph (3)(a), (b) or (g) from appointment as an independent person if the employee is employed solely to examine and scrutinise critically— the way that a home is carried on or managed; and the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 43(3)(b)(4)(a)(b)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care 01/01/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 4 review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”). (Regulation 45(3))

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Recommendations

 Each local authority should have clear arrangements in place for the management and oversight of allegations against people that work with children. The relevant officer or teams within the local authority should be informed promptly of all allegations that come to an employer‟s attention or that are made directly to the police. For further information, including about the role of a local authority designated officer see „Working together to safeguard children‟. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 44, paragraph 9.18) Specifically, ensure that investigations detail the reason, rationale, analysis and judgement reached regarding the matter.  It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff successfully support the young person to make good progress. They provide individualised, intensive, child-focused care and support that enables him to develop essential life, social and emotional skills. Staff create structure, routine and stability that enable him to feel safe. The young person has lived at the home for two years and has been able to build good stable relationships of trust with established staff. Staff have good knowledge and understanding of his needs, likes and dislikes and this is evident within their relationships. Staff support the young person to make sense of his previous trauma, experiences and feelings and provide strategies to assist him to manage this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with education providers and regularly meet to clarify strategies, aims and objectives and to review education plans and progress. Through this careful and considered approach, the young person is making good academic progress. Staff support the young person to explore and consider future opportunities and plans for learning, development and employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the young person to develop and take part in a wide variety of hobbies, interests and community activities of his choosing. Staff support the young person to develop his community networks and friendships. Staff encourage and support him to engage in specialised support services, health services and activities that promote emotional well-being. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 5 Staff offer regular one-to-one sessions that provide the young person with lots of opportunity to learn and develop his understanding and knowledge about risk-taking behaviours. The young person is fully involved in decisions made about the home. The home is a solo placement and the young person who resides here has personalised the home with his belongings. Staff and the young person plan the weekly menus and activities and explore any future changes to the presentation of the home and outside areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff facilitate and support the young person to maintain relationships with family and friends. Staff prepare and support the young person with this to ensure that contact is a positive experience for all.

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

Staff have good knowledge and understanding of risk and what is required to keep young people safe and protected. Staff raise and report concerns with others as required. Staff have good relationships with the young person that encourage and enable him to raise concerns, worries and anxieties with them. However, records of concerns do not consistently provide a clear evidence trail of how judgements and decisions have been reached following internal investigations and explorations.

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

Staff are trained in the home‟s preferred approach to physical intervention and behaviour management. Staff have a clear positive ethos about the use of physical intervention and it is only used as a last resort. The home has experienced a change in staffing over the past year and the stability and consistency of approach have been maintained through the guiding input of long-term staff. Staff have used high levels of physical intervention to manage challenging behaviour and records detail the reason and rationale for this. However, the manager has not applied robust scrutiny and review processes to these. This has negatively impacted on staff‟s opportunity to reflect on and review practice to ensure that the most appropriate response is applied to future incidents. Staff have very good knowledge and understanding of young people‟s journeys and experiences and how this impacts on behaviour. This knowledge promotes their ability to support the young

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

person to explore the cause of his behaviour.

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

Staff formulate practical risk assessments and plans that guide and inform staff of some approaches and strategies used to manage and minimise risk. Staff have not detailed all the proactive strategies they use to encourage the young person to make good choices. Staff support him well through periods of high anxiety, challenge and difficulty.

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

Episodes of going missing have been well responded to through a collaborative approach to seeking, locating and reporting the incident as required. Staff actively seek the young person and welcome him back to the home once found. Risk assessments do not collate all known historical information that supports others in locating young people, for example information about known places the young person will go to. The home‟s recording system does not prompt staff to request a placing authority return-to-care interview. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home‟s registered manager has worked many hands-on shifts to provide stability and support to the young person placed here. This is due to a high turnover of staff and several changes in personnel. This has had a negative impact on other areas which require the manager‟s oversight and attention. The registered manager is positive that the recently formed staff team will remain in the home for a substantial period. Staff work well with other agencies and organisations, which has had a positive impact on the young person‟s plan and the corresponding support strategies adopted by staff. However, currently staff do not have clear systems to ensure that they review and focus support to enable them to measure whether the identified aims and objectives in the young person‟s plan are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Newly appointed staff access a good induction and probation period in which they complete a wide variety of training suitable to their role. They also have opportunities to reflect on their practice alongside the regular reviews of their performance. Staff are offered regular formal supervision, though records do not provide clear evidence that this is effective. Supervisors do not detail actions, outcomes and deadlines for tasks to be achieved. Staff who are not yet qualified are enrolled on the required qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The regular monthly scrutiny applied by the independent visitor has supported the manager to identify areas of weaknesses; however, the visitor has also been involved in human resources tasks within the wider organisation for some staff employed in the home and this impacts on her ability to remain impartial and independent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not applied regular review and monitoring to assess the quality of care provided by the home. The home‟s development plan is out of date and has not been reviewed or updated for six months; due to this, it appears that there has been drift with items identified as having not been addressed. Leaders, managers and staff do not have a clear current understanding of the home‟s strengths or weaknesses.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home‟s statement of purpose has not been updated to reflect the current staff team.

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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. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC068046 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Amanda Maxwell, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC068046 9 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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