Children's Home run by Footsteps Care Limited in Waltham Forest

Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 1 SC481293 Registered provider: Footsteps Care 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 owned home provides care and accommodation for up to eight children who have a learning disability. Some children also have physical and significant health needs.

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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 inadequate

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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: SC481293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/10/2018 Full Good 30/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/07/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the registered person devises and implements a development plan that outlines strategies to improve the home. 01/03/2020

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation13(1)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the registered person ensures that staff’s recording of information is of a high standard. This relates to records of the assessment of children’s independent skills, key- work sessions, care plans, risk assessments, body maps and progress summaries. 01/03/2020 Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 4 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 3(a)(b)) 01/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home. (Regulation (7)(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(b)) 01/03/2020

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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

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that accurate medication records are maintained. 01/02/2020

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 01/03/2020 Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 5 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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the registered person ensures that staff make wider use of symbols and pictorial formats when working with children. 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff understand action to take in the event of a child making an allegation against a senior member of the staff team. 01/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that children’s bedrooms are kept clean and appropriately decorated, and that bedroom windows are appropriately covered. The sensory room requires quality sensory equipment. 01/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 01/04/2020 Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 6 undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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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)(a)(b)) The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5)) 01/03/2020 Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people settle in well when they first arrive at this home. They share trusting relationships with staff, feel secure, make good progress and have good experiences. A young person told inspectors, ‗Things have gotten better in the home; there‘s new furniture, different designs, lights and the sensory room has been done – it‘s better than before.‘

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people said that they feel listened to. They do not make complaints about the home but prefer instead to share any concerns with staff directly. There are no records of the children and young people making complaints. However, managers are yet to provide information about making complaints in varying modes of communication other than the written word.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people receive personalised care and they make steady progress. This is in relation to their physical health and their emotional, social and psychological well-being. However, staff‘s recording of the administration of medication is of concern. Medication records are not consistently accurate, and recording errors are noted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of the children and young people‘s communication needs. However, staff do not make extensive use of alternative methods of communication other than speech and the written word. For example, menus on display in the kitchen are written and do not contain pictorial information. This is despite most of the children and young people being unable to read.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people‘s learning outcomes are good. They attend school very regularly and as a result, their learning outcomes are positive. Staff pay attention to the children and young people‘s identity needs and these are appropriately met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people develop practical living skills with the support and supervision of staff. This helps them to prepare to live more independent lives. One young person, a wheelchair user, described how staff had supported him to travel safely alone in the community. Staff were helping another young person to better manage her anger.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people keep in touch with their families and friends when it is safe for them to do so. Visits to the home by family members are frequent. Where risks are posed, staff ensure that contact is supervised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people benefit from staff’s close working relationships with other professionals. A local authority social worker said, ‘The communication between myself and the home is very positive. Every Sunday, they send me an email with an update, especially regarding contact. The home is always available to meet, to talk, and for me to do my visits. I am very pleased with our communication.’ Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 8

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

Children and young people said that they feel safe and happy. Staff protect them from harm, abuse and neglect. Children and young people benefit from staff’s understanding of the impact that their disability has on their daily lives.

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

Staff receive training in child protection and this features in staff inductions and team and management meetings. However, some staff do not demonstrate good knowledge of the policies and procedures relating to the management of allegations against staff.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour and restrain children and young people only when risks are posed to children, young people and others. There have been a number of restraint incidents since the last inspection. Records of these are clear and justify the intervention. However, staff must ensure that when children are injured, the information is sufficiently detailed and includes the completion of a body map.

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

In recent months, the building has undergone a programme of repair and redecoration. Some areas of the home still require attention. For example, one young person’s bedroom had no curtain, blinds or frosting on the window. This same room had dried nail polish on the floor. Staff accepted that while improvements had been made to the sensory room, there remains a need for more creative sensory equipment.

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

Staff understand the risks posed to the children and young people. Risk assessments include strategies that help to curb risk-taking behaviour. These strategies are largely effective as very few critical incidents occur.

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

Staff ensure that children and young people are supervised at all times. Staff’s vigilance is good. This means that there is little opportunity for critical incidents to occur. There have been no instances of going missing, bullying, suspicions of child sexual abuse or any child’s involvement in criminal exploitation.

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

Since the last inspection, a number of allegations have been made against staff. These have mainly been generated by one young person. Managers are aware of this young person’s tendency to make allegations against professionals. Staff manage all allegations appropriately and the designated officer is routinely involved. Subsequent internal and external investigations are thorough. This helps to keep all of the children and young people safe.

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

Staff recruitment practices are comprehensive. These confirm that staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of the home is poor. The registered manager left the service a few weeks prior to this inspection. One of the deputies has very recently been appointed as the home’s manager. This individual is appropriately experienced and qualified to manage the home; he is in the process of being registered with Ofsted. Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 9 The quality of the home’s monitoring systems is poor. The quality of case records is a cause for concern. One young person’s file contained no key-work sessions records or monthly summaries. Managers were unaware of this. Care plans and risk assessments are adequate. However, some care plans failed to explicitly highlight how placement objectives were to be achieved. Some risk assessments are vague.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff’s documentation of medication records and fridge and freezer temperatures are inconsistent. Managers were unaware that one young person’s bedroom window remained without curtains for some time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and leaders have failed to address the majority of the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. Managers were unable to produce an updated quality of care review report as required. The failure to do so is a missed opportunity to review the quality of the service overall and to make necessary improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The supervision, appraisals and training for some staff are inconsistent. Staff meetings are infrequently held. This does not provide staff with a consistent level of support and guidance. This is important to help to enhance staff’s knowledge and skills in working effectively with vulnerable children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The children’s guide is only available in the written word, therefore not all children and young people can access its information. The statement of purpose document has been revised. However, this is yet to be forwarded to Ofsted for review as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing levels in the home are high. This ensures that the needs of the children and young people are well met. Staff are passionate about the work that they do. They invest their personal time and are committed to ensuring that the children and young people make progress and have positive experiences. A long-serving staff member said, ‘What keeps me here? The kids. I really enjoy working with children who have complex needs. For me, the more complex, the better.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff said that they feel well supported by the manager and that the departure of the former registered manager has had minimal impact on services provided to the children and young people. In spite of significant shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home, this has had little impact on the progress and experiences of the children and young people. Their outcomes remain very positive.

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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 Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 10 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: SC481293 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Orchard, Ashmead Drive, Denham, Uxbridge, Buckinghamshire UB9 5BA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anslim Narinesingh

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Inspectors

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Jayshree Pillay, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC481293 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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