Children's home run by Kids

Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 1 SC454707 Registered provider: Kids

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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 short-break children’s home is operated by a national charity. This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for no more than seven children and young people at any one time. In practice, up to five children and young people stay at the home on any given day.

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Information about this children’s home

The children and young people may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. A small number may have life-limiting illnesses. The home accepts children and young people on an emergency basis, subject to risk assessment.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered on 11 July 2019.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/07/2018 Full Good 21/09/2017 Full Good 10/10/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff 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; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi) and (vii))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular reference to ensuring that the staff respond to any allegations promptly and appropriately, including reporting allegations to the designated officer and keeping a clear chronology of the event. 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a) ─ (e)) and ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered person has a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people, including Ofsted. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. Notification must include details of the action taken by the home’s staff in response to the event. 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 4

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person provides children with nutritious meals suitable for each child’s needs (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 15, paragraph 3.8). In particular, continue to encourage children to choose healthy meal options.  Ensure that children’s homes provide nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of the children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 15, paragraph 3.9). This is with particular reference to ensuring that the upstairs bathroom and lounge facilities are refurbished to the same standard

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This short-break children’s home provides high-quality care for children and young people who normally live at home with their parents. There was a period over the summer when one young person looked after was accommodated in an emergency. For safety reasons, this young person had to be the sole resident for several weeks. He has now moved to his new long-term home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between the children, young people and staff are extremely positive. The staff worked very hard to form a relationship with this young person and meet his needs. As a result, he made good progress. The staff helped to prepare him for moving on, which was an important and essential piece of work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When staff were unable to provide overnight stays for the home’s regular visiting children and young people, some parents were naturally disappointed. The manager explained the situation to them, and the staff made special efforts to take their children and young people out on activities to give them and their parents a break.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The activities in this short-breaks service are exceptionally good. The staff find a wide range of interesting and inclusive places to visit. They also take the children and young people to shops of their choice, to spend their own money and develop their independence skills. One young person thoroughly enjoys this, because the only time when she can access the community is during her visits to this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector met with a parent whose older teenager is gradually being reintroduced to the home after an absence. The manager and staff ensure that his reintroduction is a sensitive and supportive process. Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 5 Parents are very complimentary about the staff and manager of the home. They said that without the service provided it would be very difficult to cope with the continuous care of children and young people who have highly complex needs. A visiting social worker was also very impressed with the changes to the home since it was refurbished recently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people are encouraged to participate in meal preparation. There is now an adapted kitchen which is suitable for use by wheelchair-users. This is a major improvement; before the refurbishment, children and young people with restricted mobility found it difficult to use the kitchen. Now that they can access the kitchen, they can learn new skills for daily living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are some examples of good progress with children and young people’s diets. The registered manager said that the staff work hard to encourage those who eat a limited range of foods at home to try healthier options. At least one young person would only eat pizza and chips when he first came to the home and, by the end of his stay, he was accepting a better-balanced diet

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The menu could be further improved to include a higher proportion of balanced and healthy meals. Over the past six weeks, approximately one third of the meals have been well balanced, such as roast dinners with vegetables, tuna and salad and other home- made dishes. The remaining meals included a lot of high-fat foods such as sausages, burgers, chips and take-aways.

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improvement to be good

In March 2019, an allegation was made about a member of staff in the home. The acting (now registered) manager was on special leave. In her absence, the allegation was not identified or recorded as a safeguarding matter.

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improvement to be good

As a result, leaders and managers made incorrect decisions about how the allegation was recorded, investigated and reported. The designated officer was not informed of the allegation until the manager returned, some weeks later. The matter was also not notified to Ofsted as required.

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improvement to be good

In addition, the managers present in the home at the time initiated an internal investigation but did not keep a chronology of their actions in relation to the incident. This made it difficult for the registered manager to establish an exact sequence of events when she returned from leave. Two requirements have been made about safeguarding practice and notifications.

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improvement to be good

Although these omissions were potentially serious, in this instance, the designated officer took no further action and there was no impact on the children and young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 6 The manager’s recording and handling of another incident show that she has a good understanding of safeguarding practice.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager has managed two very challenging situations since the last inspection, both of which resulted in damage to the home and, on occasion, injuries to staff. One young person who had regular short breaks became distressed by events outside the home. The manager is now working together with staff and parents to help this young person to have a phased return to his planned breaks.

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improvement to be good

Another young person came to stay in the home full time for a period, following the closure of his previous home. This young person caused a considerable amount of damage. For example, in the upstairs lounge, the television has been damaged and removed, and the aerial cable is still dangling from the ceiling. Other damage has been repaired promptly. The manager has made arrangements for these remaining matters to be remedied.

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improvement to be good

During this young person’s placement, the registered manager kept in touch with Ofsted regularly. This enabled the regulator to monitor the young person’s progress and review the continuation of the placement.

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improvement to be good

The home has sound risk assessments in place, and all aspects of health and safety are well managed. When adverse events take place, the manager ensures that there is learning for the staff team to help staff to respond appropriately to any future incidents.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people do not go missing from this home. Restraints are rare and, when they do take place, they are minimal and appropriate. Restraint recording is much improved from the last inspection, and there is now good-quality information to monitor the staff’s responses to the children and young people’s behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment is safe and well managed. All staff files examined contain the required information to show that staff are checked for suitability before appointment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The service is managed by a competent, experienced manager. She is well supported by her regional manager and an able deputy. The manager holds a qualification at level 5 in leadership and management. She is continuing her professional development by working towards a level 6 leadership course. The deputy manager is now undertaking her level 5 award, which shows that the company invests in managers’ professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During the period of several months when the former registered manager was promoted to a regional role and the present manager was registered, there was sufficient oversight of the home. The former registered manager continued to be based there. The present registered manager was previously the deputy manager. This means that there was continuity in the leadership and management arrangements and there was minimal impact on the children and young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 7 The home is fully staffed. Staff are motivated and dedicated and feel well supervised and supported. Although a small number of staff supervision meetings could not be held during the time when the home had a full-time resident, once he moved on, these were brought back on track very quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good systems in place to monitor the children and young people’s progress, supervision and staff development. Close monitoring enabled her to identify a medication administration error promptly and respond appropriately. For example, the staff were provided with additional support and supervision. This was effective, and there have been no other medication errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has not received any complaints. Regulation 44 reports have much improved since the previous inspection. They are sufficiently rigorous to help the manager to identify and act on any areas for improvement. The requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff record the children and young people’s daily lives clearly and effectively. There were a small number of minor errors in medication recording, but these were corrected during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has led a plan of refurbishment for the home, involving complete redecoration of the ground floor and all the bedrooms. She acknowledges that there is still some work to be done. For example, the upstairs bathroom has signs of mould and marks on the tiles. The carer door around the shower needs to be replaced. This bathroom needs to be brought up to the same high standard as other bathroom facilities in the home. As the manager has included these works on her development plan and has a date for the work to start, a recommendation has been made. Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 8

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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: SC454707 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 7 ─ 9 Elliotts Place, London N1 8HX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Caroline Stevens

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Inspector

Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC454707 10 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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