Children's Home run by Restoration Care & Services Limited in Barking and Dagenham

Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 1 Registered provider: Restoration Care and Services 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

The home is privately owned. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care for up to five young people with social and emotional difficulties. The home and registered manager were registered by Ofsted in February 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 requires improvement to be 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: 7 February 2019

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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: 1269966 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 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 notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (3)(a)(e)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

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 (f))

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Requirement Due date

This is with reference to ensuring that all the outcomes for young people leaving the home are recorded and evaluated. 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

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 requirement is that— 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 4 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d)) Employment of staff

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the missing child policy’) setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to the missing child policy, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person; and

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Requirement Due date

have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the policy must give clear guidance to staff about confirming the location of young people via a named adult, where appropriate. 30/11/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the children’s guide contains contact details for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.19) Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people appear happy in their home. One young person informed the inspector, ‘This place is cool. Staff are calm.’ Young people quickly form positive relationships with staff and keep in contact with them after they move on from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress. This includes learning new skills, such as managing their own feelings and emotions. Such progress was recognised by one young person’s social worker who commented on the ‘marked improvement achieved by my young person’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate well for young people. Recently, staff encouraged a placing local authority to consider a family placement for a young person. As a result, she is now settled in the family placement following a positive and planned move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use regular, effective keywork sessions to remind young people of the risks posed in the local community. Staff offer increased support, such as escorting them to activities, when young people feel anxious.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from a broad range of activities, chosen by themselves. This includes access to a local boxing gym. Staff work hard to structure each young person’s day and encourage them to take regular exercise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Behaviour management is improved. Young people engage well in a points-based reward system. This allows young people to earn extra privileges such as time in a recording studio, through their positive behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to make progress in education. The home provides young people with good structures and routines, which helps them to improve their levels of self-esteem. Staff seek out additional learning and development opportunities, for example, by sourcing paid employment in a local beauty salon for one young person.

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

Managers take effective action when they feel that young people are at risk. This includes convening multi-agency meetings to share information and plan for young people’s safety. Recently, this included organising a holiday at short notice for a young person believed to be at risk.

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

Managers and staff work in partnership with local police to safeguard young people. This included sharing key information, which resulted in the prosecution of a local drug dealer. Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 6 The response to missing behaviour is improved. The home now tracks the provision of independent return to care interviews and ensures that any information gained from young people is incorporated into their risk assessments. However, the home’s policy for missing behaviour requires updating, to ensure that each young person’s location is verified by a named adult when they are away from the home.

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

Risk assessments are improved. They now incorporate the wishes and feelings of young people and are recorded more thoroughly.

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

Staff receive good levels of relevant training. Training is specific to the needs of young people in the home. Staff spoke of the recent training session that they attended on therapeutic practice and commented on the positive impact that this has had on their work with young people.

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

The children’s guide requires updating. It currently lacks the contact details for the Children’s Commissioner and the home’s complaints officer. This will ensure that young people have readily available information about how they can access advocacy and support services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not monitor the home sufficiently. For example, managers do not monitor outcomes for young people effectively. In addition, case recordings do not outline where young people move to after leaving the home. This limits the opportunity for managers to evaluate the effectiveness of the quality of care provided by the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Concerns remain regarding the notification of serious events. The home failed to inform Ofsted of a recent incident involving young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff recruitment practice requires improvement. Managers failed to seek one reference from an appropriate source for a new member of staff. This limited a full evaluation of the staff member concerned.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Admissions to the home are handled well. Managers ensure that a thorough assessment of the dynamics of young people already in the home is undertaken prior to considering new referrals. This means that managers can better match the needs of young people referred to the home alongside the needs of the existing group of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The management team has been strengthened by the employment of an experienced deputy manager. She has over 30 years’ experience of working in residential care and has been an important source of support and guidance to the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff morale is improved. Staff spoken with said that they feel valued and motivated. One staff member commented that the team is ‘more together and gelled’. Despite this, not all staff members have received an appraisal of their performance. Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 7

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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: 1269966 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Restoration Care and Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 53 Levine Gardens, Barking, Essex IG11 0UH

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Inspector

Barnaby Dowell, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1269966 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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Inspector

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