Children's Home run by West Sussex County Council in West Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 1 SC037454 Registered provider: West Sussex County Council

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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 home is operated by the local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children. Its statement of purpose says that the overall aim of the home is to provide high-quality care in a warm and caring environment where the children are supported to come to terms with their past and current difficulties and begin to prepare for their future.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2008. The home is currently being managed by the former deputy manager, who is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 to 29 November 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/01/2018 Full Outstanding 09/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/12/2016 Full Outstanding 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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 staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to following agreed procedures when a child is missing or absent from the home and is thought to be at risk of harm. 18/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(b)) 18/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32 (1))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that before staff are promoted to a position with greater responsibility they are interviewed in order to assess their competence and suitability for the role. 18/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff who are promoted to a position with greater responsibility complete a planned induction programme. 18/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 4 The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure the designated person in the local authority is notified promptly when a child makes an allegation against a member of staff. 18/01/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18) Specifically, ensure that there is a planned and coordinated approach to helping children to reduce their use of cannabis.  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Specifically, ensure that all risk assessments are completed and updated in a timely manner, that they address all known risks and that they contain effective strategies for minimising the potential for the child to come to harm.  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36) Specifically, ensure that the procedure for evaluating the effectiveness of sanctions is fully implemented in practice.  For most looked-after children, many of these planning duties fall to the placing authority. The registered person should ensure that they and their staff engage proactively with the placing authority to contribute fully to the relevant plans for

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Recommendations

the child’s care on an ongoing basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.3) Specifically, ensure that the care planning process responds to the changing needs of children so that there are strategies in place to support children to meet their goals and targets. Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children settle well at the home and begin to experience greater stability and security in their lives. This is because of the care they receive and the positive relationships they develop with staff. Children feel valued and said that the staff genuinely care about them. Over time, children make steady progress across most aspects of their lives, particularly in relation to their engagement with education. When the progress children are making declines, staff are tenacious and maintain their commitment to supporting the child or young person, despite the challenges this may present.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult children regarding the day-to-day running of the home. Children engage positively at house meetings and receive feedback from staff on the suggestions they put forward. Children have the confidence to tell staff when they have a concern and use the complaints process if necessary. Children feel listened to and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the physical and mental health needs of children are prioritised. Staff maintain regular contact with the nurse for looked after children and ensure that children and young people have access to the advice they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle, including in relation to sexual health and safe relationships. Despite this good practice, there is not a well-developed plan to help some young people to reduce their cannabis use.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A strength of the home is the accessibility of mental health support. A psychologist from the child and adolescent mental health service who is assigned to the home, provides guidance to staff on how to best help and support children emotionally. The psychologist is also able to provide, or arrange for, individual therapeutic work for children to help them address specific difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a warm welcome when they move into the home. They are given the information they need to help them manage daily routines and expectations. Staff encourage and support children to develop their personal hobbies and interests. Children and enjoy well-planned holidays, which consider each individual child’s interests and their ability to manage change and new experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The standard of care planning is inconsistent. A positive example is when good planning resulted in a young person benefiting significantly from undertaking voluntary work organised by staff. For another young person, however, care planning did not identify specific work required to address concerns relating to their use of the internet. Overall, care plans would be improved if they contained clear steps and timescales to support children to meet their identified goals.

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 6 The staff develop supportive, trusting relationships with the children. This is a strong protective factor because it results in children having the confidence to speak to staff about their worries and about any situations where they could potentially be at risk of harm.

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

Highly effective work undertaken by staff with children assessed as being at risk of sexual exploitation is making them safer. The work has ensured that the children have a greater awareness of the risks they face when out in the local community or interacting on social media sites. Consequently, children are better equipped to recognise and avoid potentially dangerous situations.

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

Staff fully understand and consistently implement well-developed behaviour management strategies. Each child’s or young person’s behaviour management plan is highly individualised and is frequently reviewed. Staff find creative solutions when established strategies become less effective. These include a card system that alerts a child or young person to the fact that their behaviour is becoming unacceptable. This has had a positive impact, resulting in fewer challenging behaviours by some children.

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

In the vast majority of cases, staff take effective action when a child leaves the home without permission or goes missing from the home. However, on one occasion, the staff did not follow the home’s agreed procedures, resulting in a delay in a vulnerable child, who had only recently moved into the home, being reported missing to the police. When this incident occurred, the child’s risk assessments and safety plan had not been fully developed. This hindered the staff’s ability to understand the child’s specific vulnerabilities and take prompt and appropriate action to safeguard them.

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

Overall, managers are proactive and take steps to ensure there is a multi-disciplinary approach to managing risk. Established positive relationships with a range of external safeguarding professionals help to keep children safe. Staff take appropriate action when they become aware of safeguarding concerns and maintain records, in respect of the concerns, to a high standard. This ensures that there is a clear audit trail of the actions taken when there are indications that a child or young person may be at risk of harm. However, there has been one occasion where there was a delay in informing the designated officer in the local authority when a young person made allegations of assault against members of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager stopped managing the home on 22 October 2018. He remains working within the local authority in a more senior role, on a one-year contract. He does not intend to cancel his registration. The former deputy manager, who has significant experience and is suitably qualified, is now managing the home. He is currently in the process of submitting an application to become registered with Ofsted. The staff and children feel that the transition in management arrangements has been smooth. This has ensured consistency and stability within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and current manager are positive role models and have Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 7 established a culture in which all staff have high aspirations for the children in their care. Leaders and managers make strong challenges when they perceive that a professional involved in the care of a child or young person has not been good enough. Effective partnership working helps ensure that any delays in the provision of services, such as appropriate educational provision, are kept to a minimum.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Systems for monitoring the quality of care have been strengthened significantly in recent months in response to the authority’s quality assurance manager undertaking a comprehensive review of the home. The manager is in the process of addressing areas of identified weakness. He reviews all significant incidents and takes action when it has been established that the practice of staff could be improved. The manager is aware that the effectiveness of sanctions used to address children’s unacceptable behaviour still needs fully evaluating.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment procedures are focused on preventing unsuitable adults becoming employed at the home. However, the current manager was appointed to his new post without being formally interviewed, and without his knowledge of children’s homes regulations and the quality standards being formally tested. Although the manager has been able to access the support of senior managers since taking up his post, no formal induction programme has been arranged to help him settle into his new role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is kept under review and amendments are made when needed. The statement is a good representation of the service being provided. However, managers have not ensured that updated versions of the statement of purpose are sent to Ofsted within the timeframe required by the children’s home’s regulations.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children. They watched how professional staff work with children and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children 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 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’.

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Children’s home Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 8 Registered provider address: West Sussex County Council, County Hall, West Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RQ

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Inspector(s)

Stephen Collett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037454 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 looked after children, 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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