Children's Home run by New Forest Care Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 1 SC363268 Registered provider: New Forest Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. Its statement of purpose specifies that it will provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have social and/or emotional difficulties. The home has not had a registered manager since September 2018. There is currently an application in progress for a registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 18 to 19 December 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 requires improvement to be 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: 24 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/01/2018 Full Good 14/11/2016 Full Good 29/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/11/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 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 The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— assess whether each 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 01/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

Fitness of workers (1) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety. (2) The registered person may only— (a) employ an individual to work at the children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). (3) The requirements are that— (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. In particular so far as reasonably practicable to ascertain the reasons why previous employment or position ended when working in a role with children or vulnerable adults. The requirements are that— 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

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Requirement Due date

considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. 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. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(3)(d)(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 01/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 4 Behaviour management policies and records 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— details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (a)(v)) 01/03/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child‟s assessed needs as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The relevant plan may include a strategy for a particular type of care, treatment or intervention (for example therapy relating to neglect or abuse). The care staff will need to understand the purpose of any such care and the way in which the past experiences of abuse or neglect may manifest itself in the day-to-day life of the child. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 16, paragraph 3.15)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the

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Recommendations

manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Nurturing and caring staff form good relationships with children. Staff are child-focused and plan activities and events which they know children will enjoy and benefit from. Staff aim to create a family and homely feeling in the home. Everyone sits together each day to share a meal, while talking about their individual day‟s activities and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress while living in the home. They benefit from the support and care that is provided to them. Children have successfully been supported to return home and others are developing positive and essential skills. All children attend full-time education. There is good communication and information sharing between the home and Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 5 school. This benefits children and supports consistent care across the settings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children on a one-to-one basis. They spend quality time alongside children, playing and encouraging them to develop their hobbies and interests. Each child is engaged in a community-based activity. A favoured activity is feeding the animals on the neighbouring farm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to address their physical and emotional health and well-being needs, but individual plans do not evidence that children are engaged in therapy or how staff can best support them with this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are involved in making decisions about the home. They are very vocal and influence many decisions made. They choose activities and are involved in the staff recruitment process. They have been involved in the planning process of major adaptations to the home. Children are also prepared, and spoken to, about new arrivals to the home. The daily chat on the sofa encourages each child to talk about their day, how they are feeling and any other topic or issue that they want to talk about.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to establish and maintain positive and safe relationships with family and friends. They support children to manage any anxieties, upset and disappointment that they may feel.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer child-centred individual support, but this is not reflected in written plans. The home has recently implemented a complete electronic recording system and the previous paper system for targets has not been embedded into new systems.

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improvement to be good

There is a positive safeguarding culture in the home. Staff have good knowledge and understanding about how to keep children safe. They report, record and refer concerns when they arise. The records in the home provide some detail about what has occurred, but these are not explicit and do not provide a clear evidence trail from instigation to outcome. The information is stored in several places.

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improvement to be good

Children feel safe and each have adults they trust and confide in, seeking their support when worried or anxious.

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improvement to be good

Staff are trained in the home‟s preferred behaviour management approach. Staff avoid the use of physical intervention and use a variety of de-escalation and distraction strategies. Some records provide clarity about what occurs prior to and during an incident, but this is not consistent across all records and other records lack clarity to enable the reviewer to fully understand what occurred. All children are offered a debrief following an incident to explore how they feel about it. Staff rarely use sanctions, but when they have been used, they are appropriately linked to the cause of the behaviour. Staff amend plans if it is felt that a child is not able to manage an activity safely Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 6 following a period of anxiety or distress.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete risk assessments for activities and behaviours that present risk. They do not fully explore, consider or detail how staff practically manage risk. Staff have not updated risk assessments or ensured that information is consistent across documents. Staff talk with children about the impact of their risk-taking behaviours. Staff have not formulated individual plans and risk assessments to manage self-harming behaviours and so staff may respond differently to this.

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improvement to be good

Managers meet to consider the needs and compatibility of new children admitted to the home, but they do not fully explore all known risks and how these will affect those already living at the home and they do not consider if staff require additional training and support to meet the children‟s needs.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment processes do not provide clear evidence to show that when a person has previously worked in a position involving children or vulnerable adults, the reason why their employment has ended has been sought.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has been without a registered manager since 1 September 2018. The home‟s current manager applied to Ofsted to become the registered manager on 21 September 2018. She has some simple and effective systems and processes to monitor and evaluate the quality of care provided by the home. The manager has quickly established herself in the home and this has had a positive impact on staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing in the home is stable and this is positive. Staff provide consistent support and care to children, who have established positive relationships with staff. The care provided in the home is as described within the home‟s statement of purpose. The home has a small family feel to it, which staff and children are proud of and invest in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported. They receive regular supervision and their practice is appraised at least annually. Some supervision sessions focus on incident reflection and debrief and so do not explore all the beneficial topics required to promote and support positive practice. The supervision notes of newly inducted staff are recorded in their induction booklets and these are not always available in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good progress has been made to ensure that all staff will achieve the required qualification. A monitored action plan provides evidence of progress made and deadlines for individual aspects to be achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Newly appointed staff complete a thorough induction process. The induction booklet evidences reflection, training and learning about a wide variety of topics that prepare and support them with their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers acted on the previous requirements and recommendations made. They have Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 7 made some changes and improved in areas, but further work is required to sustain, embed and fully implement these changes. The home‟s development plan details some areas of weakness but does not detail deadlines.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager advocates on behalf of the children. This is evident through the persistent requests made to others to provide reports following children‟s reviews. She has also developed positive relationships with others, which benefits the children.

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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: SC363268 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Forest Care Limited, West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Amanda Maxwell: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC363268 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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