Children's home run by CareTech Community Services Limited in Hertsmere

Inspection report children's home: SC376211 1 SC376211 Registered provider: CareTech Community Services 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 provide care and accommodation for six children who have learning disabilities. The home forms part of a large private social care company. The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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: 28 January 2019

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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: SC376211 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2019 Full Good 15/02/2018 Full Outstanding 28/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC376211 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 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 ensure that staff —

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Requirement Due date

have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This is with regard to ensuring that all staff are trained in child exploitation and radicalisation. 28/02/2020

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Recommendations

 Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children with highly complex needs are happy here and benefit hugely from warm and trusting relationships with dedicated staff. They enjoy a welcoming, homely atmosphere, sharing home-cooked meals together with staff every evening. Their rooms are personalised and provide them with calm, safe spaces when they want to spend time alone.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can choose to play in the garden, ball pool and sensory room supported by staff. They have fun going on outings and holidays to the seaside with staff. Children Inspection report children's home: SC376211 4 engage in activities like swimming, leisure drives, and listening to music, which support their physical and emotional well-being. Children’s complex health needs are met, and staff encourage and support them to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel secure because they receive consistent care and clear routines and boundaries. Staff engage them in regular young people’s meetings where they contribute to planning menus and activities. Children express themselves confidently to staff in several ways, including verbally, using signs, using Makaton and using their body language. Highly skilled and perceptive staff, who are trained and experienced in autism spectrum disorder, understand each child’s communication methods. Staff encourage and enable children to communicate their views, wishes and feelings effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children rely on staff being aware of any issues that they may have. Sensitive staff know each child well and pay close attention to their moods and behaviours to ensure that their needs are recognised and met. Children have an independent advocate to ensure that they can contribute to discussions about issues that affect them. Children enjoy seeing their families with the support of staff and staff are aware of (and keen to support) any individual cultural or religious needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children receive highly individualised care. For example, staff have worked hard to support the teachers of one child to come into the home each day to teach him. This is due to difficulties he experienced at school. This has reduced the number of transitions that the child must make during the day and his anxiety levels have decreased, improving his daily experiences. Children make significant progress in their communication, managing their behaviour, their social development and their independence skills such as cooking and personal care.

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

Vigilant staff keep children safe and children demonstrate that they feel safe with staff. Parents and social workers are also positive about the care provided. Children benefit from having one-to-one staffing, which means that they are always supervised. Staff closely monitor their moods and look out for triggers to challenging behaviours. Staff understand that these behaviours are caused by children’s complex needs but are also affected by the environment and difficulties with communication.

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

Children do not go missing and they are not subject to child exploitation. Staff skilfully use de-escalation and redirection to reduce anxiety in children and avoid incidents. Staff use restraint only as a last resort and in keeping with each child’s individual support plan. The number and duration of restraints decreases over time. The routines and calm atmosphere in the home ensure that staff recognise and respond immediately to any behaviour or situations that can lead to incidents.

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

The registered manager regularly reviews risk assessments and behaviour support plans and ensures that staff have access to the information that they need to keep each child safe. Staff involve family members, children, school and social workers in risk assessments to ensure that they are relevant and effective. When planning trips out, Inspection report children's home: SC376211 5 staff access the location risk assessment, which is written in consultation with other agencies and local people.

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

Staff respond appropriately to safeguarding incidents and the registered manager reviews the incident reports to identify where practice could be improved. The registered manager responds quickly and appropriately to any safeguarding issues. She ensures that matters are investigated, learning is identified and that actions are taken to reduce risk in the future.

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

Staff talk to children about keeping safe in the home, using the internet, and being safe when they are out in the community. Children are made aware of stranger danger. Staff are not trained in radicalisation and child exploitation and this is an area for improvement. This has not had a negative impact on children. However, staff need to be fully aware of these issues, especially if children have unsupervised time in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoke highly of the registered manager, who is child focused and proactive. She knows the strengths and weaknesses of her team and uses regular team meetings and supervision to develop staff skills and confidence. The team members said that the registered manager is very supportive and listens to them. Staff work well as a team and strongly support one another. They promote the ethos of the home to nurture children and help them to achieve good outcomes. A new member of staff commented on how well she has been welcomed and helped by the team in her new role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff demonstrate very good knowledge of the children and understand their individual needs. Staff spoke about the children with warmth and affection. Staff listen to children and become increasingly skilled at understanding the way each child communicates and how their care and environment affect them. Staff know what is important to children with highly complex needs and are prepared to advocate on their behalf if their needs are not being recognised or met. Staff listen to children daily and in young people’s meetings and provide them with responses to their questions and requests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective managerial monitoring ensures that the registered manager is aware of staff practice, plans for children and feedback from other professionals and families. She uses this information to review practice and drive up standards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are consistent, and this is a strength of this home. There are enough staff in the team to meet the needs of each child without the use of unfamiliar staff. Staff are either suitably qualified or are undertaking the required diploma. Training and induction processes are relevant and support staff in their roles, but staff have had limited training in radicalisation and child exploitation. The registered manager is aware of this shortfall in staff knowledge and is keen to identify additional training for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work closely with a range of professionals including doctors, social workers and teachers. Feedback from professionals is very positive regarding the quality of care that children receive and the effective communication and collaboration that they experience Inspection report children's home: SC376211 6 with staff. One parent said that staff understand her child’s need and have gone ‘above and beyond’ to support his education.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well run. Children’s files are in good order and enable staff to access the information that they need. Staff demonstrate that they work with children effectively and engage them in the issues that affect their lives. However, staff do not always record all the work that they do with children, and this is another area for improvement.

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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: SC376211 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: CareTech Community Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC376211 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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