Children's home run by Archways Care Limited in Wolverhampton

Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 1 SC429918 Registered provider: Archways Care Ltd

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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 part of a private organisation that runs three children’s homes and a fostering agency. The home accommodates up to four children who have complex needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties as a result of past trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is experiencing a period of unstable management. The registered manager left at the end of March 2019, having been in post for nine months. His replacement left at the beginning of July 2019, having been in post for four months. The responsible individual is overseeing the day-to-day management of the home until a new manager is appointed.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 to 31 July 2019 and 28 August 2019

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/02/2018 Full Good 29/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(a)(c)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who— develop positive relationships with them; engage with them; and take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. (Regulation 7(1)(a)(b)(c)2(b(i)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well- being. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10(1)(b)(2)(a)(ii)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 07/10/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 4 registered person to ensure that staff— meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(i)(vii)) 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

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Requirement Due date

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; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)) 07/10/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(h)) 07/10/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the 07/10/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 5 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. (Regulation (14)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 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; ensure by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably

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Requirement Due date

practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation (25)(1)(a)(d)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

A responsible individual must have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26(7)(b)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that— the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(b))* 07/10/2019

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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; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(b)(c)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which— is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular— provide for liaison and co-operation with any local authority which are, or may be, making a child protection enquiry in relation to a child accommodated in the home; provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located; provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response; 07/10/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 6 describe the measures which may be necessary to protect

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Requirement Due date

children following an allegation of abuse or neglect; and describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 34(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(d)(e)(f)) The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e)) 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

* This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘ Guide to the children’s s homes regulations including quality standards’, , page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that debriefs are detailed and that management oversight of documents is completed and provides good oversight in relation to the appropriateness of the restraint and states whether measures were proportionate.  Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of the information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. ( ‘Guide to the children’s s homes regulations including the quality standards’, , page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Ensure that as set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. In particular, ensuring the

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Recommendations

safer recruitment of agency staff. ( ‘Guide to the children’s ho s homes regulations including quality standards’, , page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Inspection judgements

Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have experienced an unsettled period over the past few months, as a result of managers and staff leaving. This has had an impact on the quality of care provided to children due to care being provided by different staff, including agency staff. Children received inconsistent care, which has made it difficult for them to develop meaningful and trusting relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Three children have experienced unplanned placement endings. This was due to staff not being able to manage children’s behaviours well and a failure to manage risks effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers admitted a new child to the home during a period when there were staffing shortages. In addition, they do not always ensure that new children are well matched with those already living at the home. Matching and impact risk assessments lack detail and do not clearly explain why matching decisions are made. At times, new children’s challenging behaviours have adversely affected children already resident. As a result, children’s experience of care has not been positive and they have experienced further instability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not promote children’s health needs well. For example, staff do not support children to understand the impact and dangers of smoking and substance misuse and help them to stop. Furthermore, staff do not promptly liaise with external health services to promote children’s health and emotional well-being. As a result, children miss out on getting the help that they need in line with their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Although staff provided some support to one child to explore concerns about a harmful relationship she was in, this support did not go far enough. They did not escalate their concerns about responses from the child’s placing authority, when these were poor. As a result, the child continues to engage in a relationship which staff consider harmful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are offered opportunities to express their views about their care and home through weekly meetings. However, these meetings have not been taking place regularly. As a result, children do not feel they can have regular opportunities to provide feedback about the home and the support they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inconsistent key-working and individual support does not fully promote children’s progress, welfare and safety. Although there are examples of good work being undertaken with children to help them to understand their heritage and identity, children are not provided with opportunities to explore issues such as going missing, sexual health, healthy relationships, substance misuse, internet safety and how to keep themselves safe. As a result, staff do not provide children with sufficient opportunities to understand and manage the impact of their past experiences or current issues that are a cause for concern. This means that children continue to have difficulties in finding alternative ways to express how they feel and continue to make negative behaviour choices. Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 8 One child left the home in a planned way and moved to semi-independence. Staff managed her transition well. In preparation for leaving the home and to help with her

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

transition into adulthood, staff enabled this child to develop age-appropriate independent living skills. For example, she learned how to manage a budget, cook her own meals and complete household chores, such as doing the laundry and cleaning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home’s education coordinator helps children to attend and achieve in education. For example, she liaises with children’s schools and colleges. In addition, the education coordinator supports children with sitting exams, finding work experience, completing their curricula vitae and summer activity programmes. This good work promotes children’s learning and may improve their chances of finding gainful employment or going on to further education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is currently going through extensive redecoration throughout. This will help improve the look and feel of the home, making it more welcoming and homelier.

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

When children have made disclosures of alleged abuse, managers and staff have not always shared this information with the placing authority. As a result, on one occasion, a child’s disclosure has not been fully investigated and the child has not received adequate support. In addition, all actions staff take in response to safeguarding concerns, and subsequent outcomes, are not always clearly recorded by staff. This poor practice does not keep children safe.

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

Staff undertake training in the use of physical restraint and use this measure of control as a last resort to maintain children’s safety. However, when such incidents occur managers fail to scrutinise and reflect on staff’s practice during the incident. They do not record whether the use of physical restraint was proportionate. This is not good practice and has the potential to compromise children’s welfare.

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

Staff do not always respond effectively when incidents happen. For example, one child accessed inappropriate content on the home‘s laptop and shared this with a younger resident in the home. Staff reviewed the child‘s risk assessment and an agreement was put in place for the children to use the home‘s laptop on a supervised basis. However, staff did not take sufficient steps to address potential risks around the child still being able to access the internet on her mobile telephone. This left the child and other children at potential risk of harm.

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

On one occasion, a child‘s disclosure of a serious incident was not responded to promptly and effectively. As a result, the child did not receive the help and support she needed, and the matter has not been fully investigated. In addition, managers and staff did not notify Ofsted about this disclosure in line with regulation. This leaves the regulator without essential information about how serious incidents are managed in the home.

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

The home is not a safe environment for children, staff and visitors. The emergency lighting has been faulty since January 2019. A fire risk assessment recommended, in May Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 9 2019, that the emergency lighting be repaired and new fire doors fitted. Repairs to the emergency lighting were not undertaken until August 2019, and at the time of the inspection on 28 August not all of the fire doors had been installed. A lack of prompt action to address fire safety concerns leaves children, staff and visitors at potential risk of serious harm in the event of a fire at the home.

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

Managers and staff lack the skills and knowledge to act on children’s escalating risks and behaviours. For example, a child’s sexualised behaviours had been escalating since January 2018. The risk was known and had been documented in the risk assessment, which was updated with each new incident. It was not until September 2018 and after a significant incident occurred that managers began to escalate these concerns and try and seek additional support. Because staff could not manage these risks safely and adequately, the child’s placement ended.

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

When children go missing, staff do take some action to try and locate them and help them return safely. However, when children return to the home, it is not clear whether they are always offered the opportunity to talk to someone independent. This is a missed opportunity to understand why children go missing from home and what happened while they were missing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been considerable changes in staffing, including managers, since the last inspection. The registered manager resigned in March 2019, and another manager was appointed. However, following concerns around his practice he left in July 2019. In addition, six permanent staff have left. The lack of consistent leadership and staffing arrangements has compromised the continuity and quality of care children receive. Furthermore, there was a lack of prompt and effective oversight of the management of the home to prevent the deterioration in standards of care. In July 2019, the responsible individual took greater responsibility for the oversight of the home and things have since started to improve in some areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most staff are new to the home. Four out of seven permanent staff have been employed for less than six months. Staff said that they have felt unsupported at times, though this has started to improve of late.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Delays in staff receiving their induction and training means that staff lack the skills and knowledge to care for children adequately. Staff have not always had regular, good- quality supervision and an annual appraisal. Although progress is now being made, the impact of this has yet to be fully realised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers fail to ensure that suitable recruitment checks for agency workers are undertaken. As a result, this leaves children’s safety compromised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children’s care files do not contain all relevant documentation in one place. For example, some records are held electronically, and some are in paper format. This has the potential to limit the manager’s monitoring of children’s progress and the quality of care Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 10 in line with relevant plans.

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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: SC429918 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hill Farm, Shawbury Lane, Shustoke, Coleshill, Birmingham B46 2RN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Aristidou

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Inspectors

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick, social care inspector Shazana Jamal, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC429918 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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