Children's Home run by Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company in Birmingham

Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 1 Registered provider: Birmingham Children‟s Trust Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for 12 children who have learning disabilities. Young people may stay beyond their 18th birthday while they complete their education. Two of the current 11 residents are adults.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home has been operated for several years by a local authority. The service and the existing manager were registered again under a newly created local authority trust in March 2018. The registered manager has extensive experience and knowledge.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

It is one of four homes operated by this local authority children‟s trust.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 September 2018

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

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.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 2

p.1

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.2

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children and use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)) 31/12/2018

p.2

Requirement Due date

The children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who 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.

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to express views, wishes and feelings, and ensure that each child is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives; and ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child‟s arrival about the children‟s guide and how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(b)(i)(d)(i)(ii)) 31/12/2018

p.2

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.2

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff assess whether each 31/12/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 3 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;

p.2

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.3

Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.3

Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

p.3

Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies.

p.3

Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home‟s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vii)(e)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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;

p.3

Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

p.3

Requirement Due date

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 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

p.3

Requirement Due date

This relates to effective tracking and reviewing children‟s progress against their plans, ensuring effective training systems, and implementing timely improvements as identified by internal and external monitoring and complaints. 31/12/2018

p.3

Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies 31/12/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 4 to the home the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

p.3

Requirement Due date

The requirements are that the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform and 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)(a)(b)(3)(b)(d)) 31/12/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes a description of the measure and its duration.

p.4

Requirement Due date

Within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”) has spoken to the user about the measure and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(b)(i)(ii)) 31/12/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date; and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)) 31/12/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 31/12/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for 31/12/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 5 children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

p.4

Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care 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”).

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5))

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

p.5

Recommendations

This relates specifically to timely regulation 44 reporting and ensuring that key safeguarding information is shared with the visitor.

p.5

improvement to be good

Children receive individualised care from a stable, consistent staff team that knows them well. They experience kind relationships. Staff increasingly listen, offer choice and consult with children.

p.5

improvement to be good

Some motivated staff enrich children‟s relationships and social opportunities further Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 6 through their creative use of a range of resources. Some key-working sessions support progress. However, this is still not consistent across the home. One unit does not have individualised communication aids for children who do not have speech. This limits opportunities for two-way communication about children‟s key interests and needs. There is a reliance on technology and screens to occupy children.

p.5

improvement to be good

Display boards around the home and the children‟s guide promote children‟s participation and invite their views and complaints. However, when they have made complaints, there is not an effective record of the response or the outcome. Also, the children‟s guide does not say what children can expect in response to any complaint that they raise, nor does the manager consider and report on children‟s feedback about their complaints or lessons learned. Consequently, children may feel that their views do not matter.

p.6

improvement to be good

Children also experience an inconsistent quality of homeliness. Children live in three separate units. These have no welcoming signs to distinguish one from another. Broken or missing furnishing and equipment, and an absence of child-friendly signage in one unit, give a markedly more institutional effect than the other two units. Some children have indistinguishable bedroom doors, wardrobe door handles have been removed, and curtains are missing from windows meaning that children‟s privacy is compromised at bedroom windows. One child was eating from a plastic storage container instead of a plate. Other children were using cheap „picnic plates‟ instead of proper tableware. Children‟s self-respect and dignity is not promoted by this institutional care.

p.6

improvement to be good

There are sufficient staff on duty to enable individual attention and activities. Staff cooperate across units and children make friendships in the different units too. There is plenty of space in the building for them to explore, use the safe gardens, and be alone or in company. One child described „tons of activities‟. He told the inspector about going to the Edgbaston cricket ground and playing sport, and about going camping on a summer holiday.

p.6

improvement to be good

Some children are making progress in their speech, their sociability and their behaviour. Staff have improved children‟s community experiences, trips and activities. One child goes out and about, to college and to meet friends alone. Children have had good, individually tailored holidays this year. Staff promote good health and make good links with children‟s schools. They challenge and work in partnership with the placing authority and parents to secure smooth transitions home or to adult placements.

p.6

improvement to be good

Parents, children and placing authorities are positive about the quality of care. A social worker described good work by staff to make smooth transitions for children when they come to the home, to give helpful support for parents in court, and provide useful contributions to children‟s plans for contact with families. A parent said, „I can‟t praise them enough.‟

p.6

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

Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 7

p.7

improvement to be good

Parents and the placing authority feel that their children are safe. Despite this, risk management is ineffective. Staff do not reduce unnecessary risk to children effectively when children go out alone or go online. Staff are not trained in internet safety and there is no system for monitoring who children are talking to online in foreign countries. Prior to one young person going out and about alone, there was no formal risk assessment to guide staff about how to reduce his vulnerability or likelihood of going missing.

p.7

improvement to be good

Safeguarding practice is also ineffective. Managers did not implement safeguarding procedures after a behavioural incident which resulted in an allegation by a child. Managers did not follow up to ensure that the internal investigation, directed by the local designated safeguarding officer, was carried out. External visitors did not have crucial information about this to help them consider children‟s wellbeing and safety. The manager had lost sight of these events and risks in her monitoring, and there has been no evaluation of practice against policy to learn lessons.

p.7

improvement to be good

Arrangements to ensure fire safety are unclear. The service‟s fire risk assessment identified action to be taken to improve fire safety, for staff training and fire marshals, and to make fire doors safe. However, there was no clear evidence of actions to reduce the identified risk. For example, children‟s bedroom doors were still not fire resistant, the fire procedure did not identify who would lead in the event of a fire, and there was no plan that described children‟s individual needs or responses. There had been no fire drill when a new child moved in. Staff cannot be confident that they can keep children safe.

p.7

improvement to be good

Children‟s behaviour is sometimes challenging. Staff have helped two young people to reduce the effect of bullying and improve their mutual understanding of each other. One child described how staff „are helpful and sometimes talk about my behaviour.‟

p.7

improvement to be good

Staff work to defuse and deescalate unhappy situations. When restraint is used, managerial oversight of records does not always ensure that a full picture of events is clear. For example, records of restraint do not make clear the types of „named‟ holds used.

p.7

improvement to be good

Staff are caring and protective in their attitude. One parent told the inspector that, since her child had been at the service, „He has calmed down, much better, does not get as angry. He now listens at home. They have taught him a lot. I never thought I would be able to have him at home but he is so much better.‟

p.7

improvement to be good

A consistent staff team and a consistent group of children means that in practice, staff are not wholly reliant on documentation to help them safeguard children. However, these combined weaknesses have the potential to jeopardise everyone‟s welfare.

p.7

good

Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 8 The quality of the service has slipped. Managerial monitoring and development planning has not resulted in consistent improvement. The formal six-monthly review of the quality of care does not evidence the consultation that has taken place. It does not identify timescales or that the provider has learned from accidents, safeguarding incidents or complaints to improve the quality of the service. While some children are making progress, there is no system for setting placement goals and reviewing progress.

p.8

good

Systems to ensure staff training, skill and competence are also not effective. For example, while nearly two-thirds of staff have completed autism spectrum disorder training, there is no other training about child development or learning disability. It is not clear how many staff have completed training in reducing the risks of extremism. Less than a quarter of staff have food hygiene training and yet are preparing and serving food. Some staff are a year overdue with refresher training in physical intervention, and yet have carried out restraint. This means that training is not tailored to children‟s needs.

p.8

good

Some children‟s records show meaningful communication and demonstrate the quality of respect and relationships between the staff and the child. Some records require improvement. The children‟s register does not provide the information about children‟s addresses when they leave. Systems to recruit agency staff do not evidence thorough checks as required.

p.8

good

The stable staff team feels supported and encouraged by managers in team meetings, daily contact and professional supervision. The skill, commitment and passion of some staff for their work was evident in their records and their practice with children. These staff were clearly passionate about what they do. A professional said, „I can‟t fault the staff, so engaging, so welcome, they always reply, so open and honest.‟

p.8

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.8

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: 1273663 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Birmingham Children‟s Trust Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Third Floor Zone 16, 1 Lancaster Circus, Birmingham B4 7DJ

p.9

Inspectors

Christy Wannop, social care inspector Lisa O‟Donovan, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1273663 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.

p.9

Inspectors

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 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.10

Inspectors

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

p.10

Inspectors

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

p.10