Children's home run by CF Support Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 1 Registered provider: CFSS 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 privately run home provides care for up to two children who are in the care of the host local authority and who are unable to be accommodated in either mainstream residential care settings or a foster placement. The children may display unpredictable and harmful behaviours to both themselves and others and may be at greater risk of exploitation, school exclusion and offending. The manager registered at the time of the home’s registration in July 2019. She is working towards a suitable level 5 qualification in leadership and management in children’s residential care.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 November 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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 2

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Recent inspection history

This was the first inspection of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, implement the actions in children’s written risk assessments in respect of children smoking. 13/12/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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(1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, assess the need for room searches following incidents of self-harm. 13/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(a)) 13/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring 20/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 4 or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24(1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Recommendations

 For some children who have experienced severe trauma, have mental health difficulties or have been excluded or out of education for significant periods, it may be necessary to address and work through their past experiences and present needs before they can positively participate in learning activities and formal education. Staff in children’s homes will play a key role in supporting these children in line with their personal education plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.3) In particular, ensure that children are helped to engage in educational activities that enhance their learning.  Each child should have permission for staff to administer first aid and non- prescription medication from a person with parental responsibility for them recorded in their relevant plans. For looked-after children, this permission should be sought and provided by the child’s social worker. When appropriate, the child’s

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Recommendations

family should be involved in supporting their child’s health needs as well as providing permission for treatment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.14)  The workforce development plan or training matrix should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides good-quality care to children who have complex histories. Children benefit from a period of stability in a nurturing environment while assessments take place to plan their future. Staff work closely with families and social workers to help the children to make progress and to improve their well-being. Arrangements for settling children into the home are well organised. Children receive a warm welcome and interactions between staff and children are relaxed. Children benefit from clear routines and they know how to ask for support. Staff help the children to personalise their bedrooms soon after arrival, which helps the children to feel at home. Positive relationships between staff and children are built at an early stage. A good range of activities are available, including gym membership and cinema trips. One child, who enjoys baking, is encouraged to experiment with new recipes. Carefully planned key-work sessions mean that children receive support from a

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

consistent adult who knows them well. Staff make time for children to talk through their feelings. This empowers the children to develop skills to better manage their emotions and improve their relationships with others. A staff member talked about the benefits of direct work for one child. They said, ‘[The child] engages so well and asks for more support with his anger. He is so much more self-aware.’ Education is valued by children and staff, and children’s attendance in education increases. One child is attending education full-time and another child, who was not previously in education, is now engaging positively in lessons. Staff liaise with schools to support plans. However, staff at the home could do more to support children’s learning by providing educational activities for them. Staff help children to make positive transitions. One child has moved to foster care, while others have successfully returned to their families. Staff work closely with parents and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

professionals to involve parents in decision-making and ensure that there is continuity of care.

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

Children receive high levels of support from staff to keep them safe. Some children arrive at the home in crisis and may present a risk to themselves or others. Staff act quickly to gain relevant information from professionals to inform the actions that they need to take to protect children from harm. There are well-coordinated responses to children who go missing. Staff are proactive in locating any child whose whereabouts are not known. Families and relevant professionals are informed of incidents. Staff warmly welcome children back to the home and ensure that social workers undertake return interviews. Missing episodes have reduced for one child since coming to live in the home. Staff use de-escalation techniques and positive reinforcement to manage behaviour. Restraint is only used as a last resort to prevent injury to staff or children. Steps are taken to minimise hazards at the home, but staff do not routinely assess the need to

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

Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 6 carry out room searches following incidents of self-harm. Detailed risk assessments give staff clear guidance on the action that they need to take to keep children safe. However, the staff have not followed some of the actions set out in risk assessments. For example, the locality risk assessment states that the gates to the home need to be kept locked, but they were open during the inspection. The risk assessment for a child who smokes states that lighters should be handed in to staff, but the child keeps them in his possession. This leaves children and staff vulnerable to the risk of fire. The manager has recently introduced door alarms to monitor children leaving their rooms during the night. Although this has been implemented to safeguard the children, the manager has not obtained written agreement from the social workers and there is no written assessment of the need for the alarms. The rationale for the use of the alarms

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

and plans to review the need for them are therefore not clear.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is well supported by the deputy manager to lead the staff team effectively. The staff benefit from good oversight of their practice through supervision and managers shadowing shifts and sharing their observations with the staff member. Social workers fed back that the staffing ratios are very good, which means that children benefit from close support when they need it. These social workers said that the staff are responsive to the children and that the good relationships have enabled the children to make progress. This is because the children feel safe enough to talk about their worries and have enough respect for the staff to listen to them and accept their guidance. The manager and the staff understand the progress that the children are making. Social workers and parents receive regular updates on the children and benefit from good communication with the staff team. The manager and staff clearly have children at the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

centre of their practice. The manager understands the strengths of the home and areas to develop. The manager and the deputy manager consider feedback from parents and social workers and use the action points in the independent visitor’s reporting to drive improvement that benefits children. The staff either hold or are working towards a relevant level 3 qualification within the required timescale. They access a range of training that is relevant to their roles. The manager uses a training matrix to track the training that the staff have had and the training that they need. However, this matrix is not up to date, which makes it difficult for the manager to retain an accurate overview of the staff’s knowledge. The provider has recognised this and made some system changes, but these are yet to be embedded. Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 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: 2532532 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 11, Three Rivers Business Centre, Ipswich, Suffolk IP10 0BF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Joanne Henderson

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Inspectors

Angela Weston: social care inspector Louisa Bayley: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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