Children's home run by Fair Ways in Southampton

Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 1 SC385809 Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) 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 registered to accommodate up to three young people. It also has its own educational facility nearby. The home is operated by a company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of a registered charity. The registered manager has been in post since October 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: 26 September 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/09/2018 Full Outstanding 12/07/2017 Full Good 14/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 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 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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)) 30/10/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for

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Recommendations

maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  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 Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 4 should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive views about the staff and the home. Children know how to raise concerns and feel involved in some decisions about how the home looks and feels. Professionals have positive views about the staff team and how the children have been supported. Children’s care is well planned and delivered. Care plans reflect the wishes of both the child and of the placing local authority. Staff have completed some excellent work around supporting children to develop their self-identities. For example, staff supported children with attending a local PRIDE event and with regular attendance at a LGBTQ+ youth club. Health needs are not always quickly addressed. For example, a child’s orthodontist appointment had not been actively followed up and this had led to some drift and delay. Children enjoy tending to the home’s chickens, accessing sporting clubs and also developing their interests in how things work. Staff are attentive to these hobbies and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

are genuinely interested in the children and their lives. Regular meetings between the children and staff ensure that any concerns are explored and acted on. Staff provide good-quality key working to children and records of these discussions are clear, objective and inform detailed reports to the children’s social workers. Staff manage children’s moves well. This is achieved by providing children with clear plans that set out the key events in children arriving at, and leaving, the home. All children have clear plans for education, although attendance can be mixed for some children. However, the support from staff, including their tenacity in finding new placements or resolving issues, is consistently good. A teacher commented that, ‘Staff are conscientious, supportive and very keen to work collaboratively.’ Children also benefit from access to the organisation’s therapy team and, where required, staff ensure that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

access to specialist mental health services is arranged. Staff work hard to maintain a clean and comfortable environment in the communal areas. However, one child’s bedroom is in need of attention. A window covering is missing and, as a result, the child is not afforded sufficient privacy. Electrical extensions are potentially overloaded. A TV point is loose and an ethernet box is in need of repair. Broken items are also on the bedroom floor. These shortfalls potentially affect the child’s safety and detract from an otherwise homely feel. Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 5

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

Children say they feel safe at the home. Incidents of children going missing are reducing and the mix of children has been carefully considered prior to new children arriving at the home. Despite the shortfalls in one child’s bedroom, the home is otherwise safely maintained. All required checks are in place and kept up to date. Routine, and regular, fire safety checks are also in place. This includes regular fire evacuation practices. Where shortfalls are identified, they are quickly and effectively resolved. However, records of fire drills could be further improved to make clear who was, and who wasn’t, in the building at the time of the drill. Staff, including agency staff, are subject to appropriate checks before their employment starts. However, there is not yet a clear process in place to check why agency staff may have left jobs working with children or vulnerable adults. Staff actively search for any missing child and follow the individualised protocols. Great

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

care is taken to locate children. A social worker commented that staff go ‘above and beyond’ to find children. However, there has been an occasion where an opportunity was missed to fully discuss a child’s safety and welfare following their return to the home. Incidents of challenging behaviour are appropriately managed. Staff use various techniques to support children who may be struggling to articulate their emotions. Restraint is used sparingly and appropriately. Effective debriefs with children and adults ensure that there is opportunity to reflect on behaviours and approaches. Sanctions are appropriately applied to help children understand that negative behaviour has consequences. Children’s positive behaviour is recognised and rewarded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a rise in serious incidents at the home. This coincided with children moving into the home. Placement matching was effectively completed, and the registered manager ensured that all known information was fully considered. However, some placements ended sooner than anticipated. This cannot be attributed to any shortfalls in how care was provided by staff. The registered manager has reviewed all placements and, alongside the responsible individual, is committed to not admitting any further children at the current time. The registered manager ensures that staff complete the organisation’s mandatory training. This includes fire safety, child protection, physical intervention and first aid. However, the registered manager has not ensured that staff are routinely accessing further training opportunities. For example, staff have access to training in self-harm and substance misuse awareness, attachment disorders and the organisation’s chosen

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

therapeutic model of care. These training opportunities are yet to be fully taken up by the staff team. The registered manager acknowledges that staff skills could be improved should this training be accessed. The quality of monitoring and review has not always been consistent. This has coincided Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 6 with a turbulent period in the home. The organisation has been quick to put in place further support. However, there have been missed opportunities to make improvements, such as the recording of fire drills. Monthly visits by an independent visitor are effective in identifying areas to improve and provide some challenge to the registered manager. However, the effectiveness of these visits is diluted because children are not always consulted as part of these visits. For example, there was either no or limited consultation with children in March, April, May, June or July 2019. This corresponded with a challenging time in the home and was a

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

missed opportunity to seek the views of children about their experiences. Staff are committed and enjoy working in the home. They are enthusiastic about helping children to succeed and skilled in recognising where there may be barriers or concerns.

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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: SC385809 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fairways Care, Fairways House, Alpha Business Park, Mount Pleasant Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 0QB

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Inspectors

Pete Hylton, regulatory inspection manager Daniel Healy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 8 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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