Children's home run by Southern Adolescent Care Services Ltd in Crawley

Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 1 SC487196 Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The staff at this home care for up to four children who have experienced adverse circumstances in their past, resulting in them having a range of difficulties, particularly where this relates to attachment disorders.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2016.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Recent inspection history

Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2018 Full Outstanding 24/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Outstanding 22/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 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 may only– employ an individual to work at the children‟s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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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.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained– the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is– in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual– does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 32 (2)(3)(b)(4)(5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must review whether the staff who are undertaking their level 3 diploma for residential 28/02/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 4 childcare (England) qualification will have completed their qualification by the relevant date.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that members of staff gain their qualification as soon as possible if they have not attained this within the given timescale. They must monitor effectively any delay that occurs.

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Recommendations

 Regulation 11(2) sets out the expectations on staff in building a positive relationship with each child and helping the child develop skills to have positive relationships with others. “Others” includes individuals both inside and outside the home such as other children in the home, staff, family members, siblings, previous carers and friends (in accordance with their relevant plans). The care planning standard (see page 55) provides further detail in respect of contact with parents, relatives and friends. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 38, paragraph 8.6)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should review whether all staff have a good understanding of how to work with children‟s families effectively.

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child‟s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children‟s needs are met). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 38, paragraph 8.6)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the support which they provide if a child is not in education assists children to maintain daily routines which will support them to re-engage with their education or be ready for employment.

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Recommendations

 Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months; also see regulation 13(2)(h) (the leadership and management standard). The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. („Guide to the children‟s homes Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 5 regulations including the quality standards‟, pages 64–65, paragraph 15.2)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the six-monthly report shows more quickly how children‟s, professionals‟ and families‟ views of the issues that the review is considering are taken into consideration. Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children settle quickly and develop very positive attachments with staff, and clearly feel at home here. One social worker said that a child feels that this is his home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed and appropriate assessments of the needs of children carefully consider how the decision for them to live here might affect both them and the other children who live here. The management‟s ability to match children well has resulted in stable placements. Three children have lived here for over two years, and one for over a year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good health and well-being are promoted. The staff encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles. The children usually take regular exercise and are encouraged to eat well. The staff are good role models for healthy lifestyles. They engage in physical activity with children and help them to identify when physical activity would aid them to manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are extremely adept at working with children who misuse substances. They are successfully supporting two children who have habitually taken illegal substances for some time to change their habits. The staff have increased their ability to keep children safe when misusing substances through open discussions about the impact of substance misuse. This has enabled the staff to provide appropriate both immediate and after care, and to assess risk more rigorously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Medication monitoring and review are well organised and effective. Managers have quickly eliminated errors in recording and are reviewing how to prevent any recurrence. Children received their medication appropriately on the inspection days.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A fully documented independence programme helps children to prepare to look after themselves. The programme is to be developed this year to ensure that that children‟s emotional ability to manage living on their own is fully considered and that they know their rights.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff positively support children to engage in their educational placements. If an education placement breaks down, every effort is made to quickly find another. However, the daily routines that children follow do not always help them to be ready either to re-engage with their education or to start employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children‟s relationships with family and friends are valued and promoted. Friends are welcome at the home, and the staff work cooperatively with local authorities to decide on arrangements for children to see their families. One child‟s records did not show how the staff maintain effective and positive working relationships with parents. A social worker also said that this was the one area where she considered that some improvement could be made (although she said that this was a minor concern).

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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 7 Children say that they feel safe living here and think that the staff have their best interests at heart. Two social workers were also very positive about how the staff keep children safe and act when concerns arise.

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

Staff understand and follow safeguarding procedures very well. They attentively ensure that safeguarding concerns are appropriately and quickly referred to safeguarding bodies. The staff continually search for more information which will assist both them and the wider professional network to appropriately safeguard children.

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

Managers regularly maintain and develop the staff‟s safeguarding knowledge. The registered manager continually updates her knowledge, and she has become a child exploitation and online protection (CEOPs) ambassador so that she can support staff to have up-to-date knowledge on online abuse. Two staff have developed courses on substance misuse and emotional trauma, which they have presented to staff. Both courses were well received.

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

Risk assessments are well written, updated regularly and reflect children‟s needs. A traffic-light system helpfully provides a visual representation of how risk alters over time. The staff can easily identify the current risk levels and whether there are any trends and patterns to risks.

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

Promoting good behaviour is at the heart of staff‟s practice. Currently, they are increasing the ways in which they use restorative justice and positive rewards for doing the right thing. For example, staff are using rewards for children who find attending education difficult, rather than using sanctions for non-attendance. These changes are in their infancy yet are having very positive effects.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers continually assess, review and plan how they can best meet children‟s needs. They have a strong vision, which the staff share, for the home. Staff have a strong, positive commitment to the children and to each other. They understand that their working relationships need to be open, supportive and challenging. This creates in the home a good culture which the staff are exceptionally proud of.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Six-monthly reports reflect on the difference that staff make to children and what the staff team should focus on next. There is, however, little detail on children‟s views or what others, such as children‟s families and professionals, think about the issues that the managers have reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff support is well organised, and it flexibly meets staff‟s needs. Team meetings and supervisions are regular and cover a range of subjects. To ensure that supervision continues to improve, the managers are consulting the staff about how it meets their needs and ideas that they might have for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A varied and thoughtful staff training programme encourages staff to develop and grow, Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 8 both personally and professionally. Two members of staff were very positive about how managers had supported their development and the difference that this had made to their aspirations and confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are further developing the therapeutic approach by increasing their knowledge in this area so that they can consider how staff practice can be more effective. Staff have completed report writing training in the last six months, but managers acknowledge that this remains a focus for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement from the last inspection, to ensure that the staff who had not achieved a relevant qualification in the necessary timescale, has not been met. There was no record available on when the staff would achieve their qualification or how well they were progressing with their studies. The managers have changed provider so that this does not occur in the future. The requirement is repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good working relationships with outside agencies are valued and cultivated well. Social workers are very positive about how the staff work with them to meet children‟s needs. They receive regular updates and are quickly told of concerns, additionally receiving a detailed account of what occurred. The staff chase any agency for outstanding information and have recently undertaken a review of the savings savings that the provider holds for children who left some time ago. This has resulted in the money being forwarded to the correct address, in 75% of the cases. The managers continue to work to return all other savings as soon as possible. Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 9

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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 difference 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: SC487196 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Room 8, Worth Corner, Turners Hill Road, Pound Hill, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 7SL

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Inspector

Ruth Coler, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC487196 11 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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