Children's home run by Jamores Limited in Bexley

Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 1 Registered provider: Jamores 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 home is owned and run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since May 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 18 December 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 27/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/09/2017 Interim Not judged 09/06/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers have failed to ensure that staff can meet the needs of children who come to live at the home. Placements are not always well planned, and the mix of children has not led to positive outcomes for those placed. As a result, children do not have consistently positive experiences while living in the home, and the progress of some children has been adversely affected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A child who was admitted to the home had gaps in their pre-placement information. The placement was not in line with the home’s review of premises or statement of purpose and put children at risk of harm. Available information made it appear that the child’s needs were extremely similar to those of another child already living in the home. This led to a placement breakdown after a matter of days, an increase in missing episodes for the child already placed and a complaint from a neighbour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Information regarding a child’s medical condition is not available in his file and, therefore, not available to staff. Managers trivialised the condition as being minor, despite there being no evidence of a consultation with medical professionals in his file. This medical condition has not been taken into consideration when evaluating which holds can be used if the child requires physical support to stay safe, potentially placing him at risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A child who has recently moved on after over a year in placement made strong progress, resulting in her being able to move to a foster family as planned. Although she did not attend formal education, she engaged with tutors provided by the placing authority. She also developed her understanding of situations in which she may be at risk and reduced her incidents of being missing from care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have struggled to engage in formal education away from the home. However, through liaison with the placing authority virtual headteacher, one child attended his new school for the first time during the inspection. The virtual headteacher said that the managers in the home have liaised well with him in order to secure the right school placement. Staff in the home have supported the child to develop his practical skills through gardening and decorating some rooms in the house. The child is very proud of these achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

An art psychotherapist has recently joined the team and has devised a comprehensive plan of support for children and programme of staff training. She has great enthusiasm and is aiming to ensure that children’s emotional well-being needs are fully met. Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 4

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

Managers and staff did not show sufficient professional curiosity in relation to patterns of children being missing from the home and concerns about unidentified adults in the vicinity of the home. A child is currently on a reward chart to reduce their episodes of missing. The chart suggests they have made positive progress. However, when this was explored, it was found that the child is still missing for short periods of unauthorised absence. There is no evidence, other than an updated child sexual exploitation risk assessment, that staff are linking the child’s short periods of being away from the home with their history and admission of substance misuse, gang activity and criminal exploitation. The local specialist police officer is aware of the child but is unable to engage them.

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

Investigations into suspicions of harm to children, including that caused by staff, are not thorough. There is no evidence of triangulation or exploration of allegations with other staff present. While concerns have been raised with relevant partner agencies, including the designated officer in the local authority and the police, the internal investigations are not sufficient to ensure that children are safeguarded and that learning is used to improve practice.

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

Children’s plans are not clearly updated when new behaviours are identified. This means that staff do not know how best to meet the children’s presenting needs. Additionally, while children’s risk assessments are updated and contain detail of new concerns they do not detail how to respond in order to reduce the risks and keep the child safe.

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

The home does not have an up-to-date fire risk assessment carried out by a suitably qualified person; nor does the risk assessment include updated information on risks posed by children engaging in fire setting behaviour.

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

Staff have been employed without the due checks required by regulations. The home’s employment application form does not prompt the applicant to include dates of education or employment. Gaps in employment since leaving education have not been followed up.

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

The new manager has identified several areas in the home which require redecoration, maintenance and repair. A tradesperson has been booked to remedy the issues in the coming weeks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since May 2017. The responsible individual has failed to put forward a suitable candidate to be registered with Ofsted. This is likely to have led to the wide-ranging and far-reaching failures identified at this inspection. A new manager is in post and has acknowledged that there are many areas for improvement. Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 5 Staff have had a wide range of online and at times face-to-face training. However, there is concern that their understanding and learning from the training have not been tested or implemented in day-to-day practice. This is evident in their lack of professional curiosity regarding children being missing for short periods of time, and in their failure to fully support children to understand the risk they are at while away from the home or associating with unknown adults locally.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervisions are sometimes infrequent and lack rigor and challenge. In particular, a new member of staff could only detail one formal supervision but had had meetings to help with her induction. Another was not effectively challenged or supported to address their lack of progress with their level 3 qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff who have minimal experience in working in children’s homes have been promoted to senior positions without completing their level 3 qualifications. This concern about promoting staff and giving them more responsibility without the necessary training, experience or skill base was raised at the last full inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have not consistently notified Ofsted about serious incidents in the home. Their interpretation of the regulation has led to this shortfall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not used reviews of the home to improve practice. The last review of the service in line with regulation 45 was completed in September 2018 and provided to Ofsted during the December 2018 inspection. The inspectors requested, but were not provided with, a more recent review.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The responsible individual has commissioned a new visitor in line with regulation 44, acknowledging that the current visitor is familiar with the home and therefore may not identify concerns as readily.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records are muddled, and it is not easy to follow information easily, in particular that about safeguarding investigations. Language is not consistently appropriate, and negative terminology is used across documents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The use of log books provides an overview of the way that the home is running, communication with external professional and parents, and the recording of children’s activities and locations and any significant discussions. Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 6

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; protect and promote each child’s welfare; treat each child with dignity and respect; provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect; help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)) 19/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans; understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health. 19/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 7 (Regulation 10 (2)(i)(ii))

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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 ─ 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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)) 19/07/2019

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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 that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(vi)) 19/07/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(f)) 19/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 19/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 8 registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; that arrangements are in place to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (*Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)) 19/07/2019

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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; full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (2)(a)(b)(3)(b)(d)) 19/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 19/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (4)(a)) 19/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

* This requirement is subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 9

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Recommendations

 Any registered manager placed in charge of a children’s home or staff member in a deputy or supervisory role such as ‘shift leader’ should have substantial relevant experience of working in a children’s home and have successfully completed their induction for the home in which they are employed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.21)  The registered person must challenge (under regulation 5(c)) any placing authority who asks them to accept a child in the absence of a complete and current relevant plan, as the expectation that a placement of a child without the necessary information would go ahead (in circumstances other than an emergency) is inadequate in relation to their role. It is essential that homes understand what will be required of them before they accept responsibility for a child’s placement, to avoid disruption and instability for the child in future and for

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Recommendations

other children in the home. For non-looked-after children, the home should ensure they have sufficient information from the child’s ‘placing authority’ (usually their parents/carers) and other relevant agencies to effectively assess whether they can meet the child’s needs before agreeing to the placement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.5)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 10

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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: 1234163 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Thames Innovation Centre, Studio 52, Veridion Way, Erith DA18 4AL

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Inspectors

Jennie Christopher, social care inspector Sarah Olliver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1234163 12 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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