Children's Home run by Footsteps Care Limited in Waltham Forest

Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 1 SC481293 Registered provider: Footsteps 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 home provides care and accommodation for up to eight children who have a learning disability. Some children also have physical and significant health needs.

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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: 30 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/07/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/11/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) In particular, that the registered person devises and implements a development plan that outlines strategies to improve the home. To improve the equipment in the sensory room. 01/02/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation13(1)(h)) In particular, that the registered person ensures that staff’s recording information is of a high standard. This relates to records of the assessment of children’s independent skills, key work sessions, critical incidents, complaint outcomes and progress summaries. 01/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where 01/02/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 4 appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 3(a)(b)) In particular, that the document includes information about staff’s experience and qualifications. 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that each child— has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home.

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Requirement Due date

Regulation (7)(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(b)) 01/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees— have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 01/02/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all their staff have been adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children the home is set up to care for as defined in the home’s Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards (2015), page 49, paragraph 9.57) In particular, the provider should update the home’s physical intervention policy to clearly define what constitutes a physical intervention. Staff training should explore the legal frameworks and practice to ensure that they clearly record and describe their actions when, for example, young people are ‘guided away’ to manage behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good experiences and make progress in this home. Children receive individual care that meets their complex learning, medical and communication needs. Support plans meet the specific needs of children as outlined by the local authority. A child said of the home, ‘It’s good here. I have my own room, which I didn’t have at home. Staff are helping me with lots of things. Getting to and from school, doing my laundry and clearing up. They won’t do it all for me, so I’m not fully reliant on them.’ Staff encourage children to be as independent as possible. Children settle quickly once in the home. They benefit from the home’s effective care planning processes. Staff communication with other professionals is good. A local authority social worker said, ‘ The placement has a good understanding of the young person and works well with relevant professionals and ensuring that the appropriate support is provided for the young people. The placement has adequately fulfilled actions

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

assigned to it as part of the LAC process.’ Children attend school regularly and make good progress academically and in their general development. Staff work closely with educational professionals to ensure that children’s learning needs are met. Support plans highlight individual targets for children. These focus on improving children’s practical daily living skills, their communication and interaction with others. Children’s achievements are widely celebrated. Children lead healthy lifestyles. Children present with complex medical and healthcare needs. Despite this, however, managers ensure that children’s healthcare needs are understood by the team and that these are well met. Staff communication with healthcare professionals is effective and ensures that children receive expert healthcare as required. Staff regularly receive specialist healthcare training. For example, in response to a child’s epilepsy condition, staff completed relevant training to safely manage the child’s health

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

needs. Staff undertake first aid training and training in the safe administration of medication to ensure that children receive appropriate, safe healthcare treatment. Complaints are taken seriously. There have been five complains since the last inspection. Managers have responded to these appropriately. However, staff must ensure that the outcomes of all complaints are recorded. Information in the children’s guide about how to complain requires updating to ensure that all children can access this information. Children’s identity needs are well met. Staff have a very good understanding of the impact of children’s disability on their behaviour and presentation. Staff work diligently to help children improve their communication skills. Staff support children to meet their cultural and religious obligations. For example, children who are Muslim have the opportunity to study the Quran and take time out for prayers if they wish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy working with staff and have good relationships with them. A child said, Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 6 ‘The staff here are not like staff. They’re like your mates. They have jokes with you, take you places. We’re like a family. They’re like a friend you can speak to about anything.’ Staff encourage children to share their views about the home. For example, all children attend the residents’ meetings, and all children, regardless of their disability, are encouraged to participate.

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

Children are protected from harm and abuse. They benefit from the home’s detailed child protection policies and procedures. Staff receive training that is focused on safeguarding children, especially on the risks posed to children who have disabilities. Staff’s communication with eternal safeguarding professionals is good. The home’s physical restraint policies and procedures require review. Relevant policies make no mention of the use and recording of non-restrictive practices. This leads to confusion within the staff team in determining whether staff’s intervention equates to a restraint incident. Some records of incidents do not always tally with information seen on corresponding restraint records. This issue needs some clarity. Since the last inspection, there have been several restraints. In each case, staff intervened to prevent harm to children, staff or damage to property. Staff’s vigilance and supervision of children is effective. This helps to keep children safe.

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

A local authority social worker said, ‘Safeguarding here is very effective. Staff have been observed in taking proactive steps to ensure children’s safety. There is a good ratio of adults to children.’ Risk assessments highlight strategies that help manage and reduce identified risks to children. Staff regularly update risk assessments. This helps to curb risk-taking behaviour. Since the last inspection, there has been one allegation made against a member of staff. This is currently under investigation. There have been no episodes of children going missing, suspicion of child sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation. Bullying does not take place at the home and staff understand the risks posed to children by their use of the internet. Appropriate safeguards are in place that promote internet safety. The recruitment and vetting of staff is robust. This confirms that 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 safe and secure. There are no health and safety issues and adapted equipment is maintained safely. The home’s fire precautions are sound. For example, staff have sought the advice of the fire authority to ensure that fire prevention systems are effective. Each child has an individualised evacuation plan for use in the case of emergencies.

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

The home’s registered manager is skilled and experienced in leading a staff team dedicated to providing good-quality care to disabled children. The registered manager is in the process of completing management training at level 5. The registered manager Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 7 has a clear vision for the improvement of the home. However, the current development plan is dated 2016/17 and requires updating. A social worker said of the home’s leadership,’ Management is proactive in communicating with the social worker, including providing timely updates on young people regarding appointments, health-related issues or incidences. Staff members are friendly and welcoming and appear to have good relationship with the young people that they support. ’ The home’s monitoring systems are adequate. Some areas of the home’s functioning require further development. For example, difficulties in implementing the home’s

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

electronic recording system have resulted in the duplication of some records. The quality of staff’s recording requires review as some records are insufficiently detailed. The monitoring of children’s progress is not well captured in monthly progress reports and other documents. These are largely descriptive of work and activities that children are participating in. In particular, care plans do not evaluate children’s progress or establish ambitious future targets. Managers’ support, training and supervision of the staff team is good. A member of staff said, ‘Our line managers are very good. The manager is a good listener and likes caring for people. It’s a good team and the training is good.’ New staff participate in a comprehensive induction. However, some staff annual appraisals are overdue. The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document which outlines the aims and objectives of the service. However, the document requires revision, particularly in

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

relation to the information about staff’s experience and qualifications. The children’s guide also requires revision to make the document easier to read and/or interpret. The home’s physical appearance is undergoing improvement. Key areas of the home are being redecorated and modernised. The home’s sensory room requires some attention. This is to ensure that children’s needs in relation to play and sensory stimulation are well met.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 8 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 8 James Martin Close, Denham, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB9 5NN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anslim Narinesingh

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Inspector(s)

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Patrick Sullivan, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children’s home: SC481293 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.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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