Children's home run by The Vine Residential Services (TVRS) Ltd in Barking and Dagenham

Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 1 SC430320 Registered provider: The Vine Residential Services (TVRS) Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company operates this home for up to five young people who have a diagnosed autism spectrum disorder and/or learning difficulties. The company also has a day-service provision, in the form of an activity centre, at a nearby site.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 15 to 16 November 2018

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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: 18 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: SC430320 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/07/2017 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 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 registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) Schedules 3.14 and 16)

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the following information is recorded clearly and in full detail:

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Requirement Due date

the circumstances of all incidents where a child goes missing from the home, including any information relating to the child’s whereabouts during the period of absence;

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Requirement Due date

and any restrictions on contact between the child, the child’s parents, and any other person. 01/02/2019

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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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the record of any actions taken, and the outcome of the investigation, includes all elements of concern that have been raised by a complainant and that the complainant receives a response that considers all elements of their complaint. 01/02/2019

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Recommendations

 Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 4 including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the room searches are recorded consistently and that staff have clear information about any items of concern that have been found in a child/ young person’s bedroom.

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Recommendations

 In some cases, such as in residential special schools that are also registered children’s homes or children’s homes caring for children with complex care needs, restraint may be necessary as a consequence of a child’s impairment or disability. A child’s education health and care plan or statement of special educational needs may contain detail about planned and agreed approaches to restraint or restraint techniques to be applied in the day-to-day routine of the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.43) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that when it is necessary for staff to guide a child physically in their day-to-day routines that this is explained clearly in the child’s care plan, together with the information about how to distinguish that kind of physical guidance from physical intervention that needs to be logged separately.

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that probationary and annual appraisals are conducted in a timely manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have positive experiences of living in this home. Close and emotionally warm relationships with staff members help children and young people to feel safe and secure. This increased confidence and self-esteem enables them to be open to new experiences and make progress in their learning and personal development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good-quality support helps children and young people to make progress in their lives. Some young people have made excellent progress in areas of their lives. One parent and several social workers highlighted the young people’s calmer state of mind, improved behaviours and better social skills as examples of the excellent progress that they have made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children and young people to learn about the world around them and to attend their schools and colleges. In collaboration with teachers, staff monitor children and young people’s attendance and promote their learning. Some young people have Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 5 achieved 100% school attendance and one teacher said that a young person has blossomed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children and young people to develop active and healthy lifestyles. They support children and young people to access health services and follow any health advice given. The arrangements for dealing with medication at the home are safe and staff ensure that health professionals review children and young people’s medication regularly and when their health needs change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have good times enjoying a wide range of activities within the service and in the community. These activities promote their mobility and fitness, stimulate their learning and enable them to practise their social skills and achieve stronger inclusion. One mother talked about the service being a blessing and said that without staff’s help, her son would not have been able to take part in activities in the community and would be isolated from his peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children and young people to maintain and develop close relationships with their families and friends, when it is safe to do so. Staff are aware of any restrictions around family contact and follow these restrictions consistently. However, one child’s case file did not include information about contact with family members having to be supervised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people express their views, wishes and feelings in positive ways. Staff enable them to have choices and have their voices heard. Staff facilitate children and young people’s participation through forums and key-working sessions, and by inviting them to contribute to staff team meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carefully prepare children and young people for any significant changes in their lives. Any new admissions to the home and endings of the placements are managed sensitively. The home’s programme for helping young people to maximise their independence and prepare them for adulthood is particularly well developed.

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

The home’s safeguarding arrangements are comprehensive and result in effective practice. The clear safeguarding procedures and regular training on a wide range of safeguarding topics ensure that staff have up-to-date understanding, knowledge and skills necessary for their role in protecting children and young people and promoting their safety.

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

The effective management of risks is intrinsic to the support that staff provide to children and young people. Because of the help and protection that children and young people receive, they are safer and behave in more constructive ways.

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

The risk assessments and safety plans for the individual children and young people link clearly with their individual care plans. Staff follow these plans consistently to help children and young people manage their emotions and behaviours better. However, one Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 6 child, who because of their young age and profound and complex needs, requires to be guided by staff physically as part of their day-to-day care, does not have a plan that clearly describes this and clarifies at which point physical guidance becomes a physical intervention that requires to be logged as such.

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

The log of physical interventions contains detailed information required by legislation. The records show that on these occasions, the staff members intervened appropriately to protect children, young people and adults from coming to harm.

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

Leaders and managers work in good partnership with other professionals to agree and implement safeguarding strategies to help children and young people to develop safer behaviours, such as being proactive with the police and the social worker to safeguard a young person from the increased risk of being groomed and exploited.

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

Staff talk with the young people about the risks and encourage them to keep themselves informed and safe. One young person has completed online courses on gangs, substance misuse, anger management, sexual health and leaving care.

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

Children and young people are rarely absent without authority or go missing from the home. This includes children and young people who used to go missing frequently where they lived previously. The home’s records evidence good reporting practices regarding safeguarding children and young people when they do not return home by the agreed time. However, on one occasion, the rationale for not reporting the young person, who was missing overnight, to the placing authority and the police until 9.30 the following morning was not clear.

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

Room searches are not being recorded consistently. One child’s room was searched because of concerns relating to potential self-harming behaviours. However, not all staff were clear about what was found and how this affected the level of concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers are efficient, competent and qualified. They manage the home effectively and in line with its statement of purpose. The service is resourced exceptionally well in terms of staffing levels, the quality of the physical environment and the range of facilities available to children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective promotion of equalities, diversity and inclusion is intrinsic to the service. The leaders and managers are ambitious about what children and young people with disabilities can achieve. They advocate strongly for children and young people within the network of professionals and prepare them well for taking their rightful place in society.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers are highly motivated to provide the best care to children and young people. They carefully monitor children and young people’s outcomes and experiences. One social worker said that he was very impressed with the interest that the management was taking in the well-being of the individual young person. Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 7 In collaboration with other professionals, the leaders and managers take appropriate actions to address any barriers to children and young people’s progress. This has included making appropriate decisions to move some young people into different settings, when it became clear that this home could no longer meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers are committed to the continued improvement of the service. They have met the requirements from the last inspection. They also respond positively to any feedback and advice that the independent visitor gives them on how the service could be improved further.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home provided a comprehensive response to a complaint that was raised by a placing authority. However, the records relating to a complaint raised by one young person’s relative does not show that they received a response that considered all elements of their complaint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have access to a comprehensive training programme. They receive individual supervision monthly and report feeling supported by the management. The scheme for celebrating and rewarding individual staff’s good work at the monthly team meetings acts as an incentive for staff to continue to make the extra effort.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The arrangements for formally reviewing each staff member’s individual performance six months into their employment and at least annually afterwards are in place. However, they have not always been followed in practice. For example, one new staff member’s probationary appraisal is five months overdue and some staff members’ annual appraisals were late.

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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: SC430320 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Vine Residential Services (TVRS) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Studio 4, 1st Floor, The Granary, 80 Abbey Road, Barking, Essex IG11 7BT

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC430320 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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