Children's home run by Future In Mind Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 1 Registered provider: Future In Mind

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider operates this home. This is the home’s first inspection since opening in October 2019. The provider provides care and accommodation for up to two children or young people who have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex emotional and social difficulties.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2507393 2

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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 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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(vii)(c)(i)) 21/02/2020

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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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons 21/02/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 3 for decisions in relation to the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)) 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

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 21/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

with 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(iv)(b)(i)(c)) 21/02/2020

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s records must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In particular, risk assessments need to be updated and hold accurate information. Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the home’s first inspection. After having one young person in the home for a short period, a decision was made to move in a second young person. Overall, this move has been managed well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person has excellent school attendance and is making good educational progress. The other young person is new to the home. The manager and staff are liaising with all agencies to secure an appropriate school placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently support young people to attend routine health and medical care appointments. This ensures that young people’s health needs are met and their welfare is not compromised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are passionate and enthusiastic in helping young people to make progress despite the challenges they face. This helps young people to build resilience and form positive relationships with staff. For example, the relationship between one young person and staff is trusting and appropriately affectionate. The young person told the inspector that she trusted her key-worker and felt she could share her feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have plenty of opportunities to participate in activities that support their interests and hobbies. This can include going swimming, trips to the cinema and baking. These experiences and activities help to promote young people’s self-esteem, confidence and help them to develop new life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in encouraging and supporting young people to maintain significant relationships. The staff recognise the importance of young people being able to spend good quality time with their families. As a result, young people have a sense of identity and maintain meaningful relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult young people through house meetings and key-work sessions to help them to express their wishes and feelings. However, this is not always effective. For example, one young person had expressed to staff that she felt unsafe, however records made by staff do not show that they explored this further with the young person. As a result, it is unclear whether the young person’s concerns were fully addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although the young people’s bedrooms are personalised and comfortable, other areas of the home need to be better maintained. This has the potential to compromise young people’s comfort and well-being.

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

The registered manager ensures that risk assessments reflect the level of risk that the young people can face. For example, young people’s risk assessments cover risks of self- Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 5 harm and substance misuse. However, sometimes staff do not notice conflicting information captured in these assessments. This means that there is a potential risk that advice designed to help staff to manage young people’s vulnerabilities can be inaccurate.

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

When young people do go missing from the home, staff are swift in trying to locate them. Staff work in partnership with the police and the placing authority so that additional safeguards are brought in.

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

The number of incidents involving physical restraint is low in the home. This is because staff have a good understanding of how to apply de-escalation techniques that help to distract and manage young people’s behaviours before they escalate.

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

Young people benefit from a balance between incentives and rewards. This promotes positive behaviour.

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

All staff are safely recruited and receive well-planned inductions into the home. This helps to ensure that only suitable assessed and trained staff work with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager is passionate and enthusiastic about the care young people receive. However, the registered manager does not always use the home’s monitoring and review systems effectively to help her to have a good oversight of the home and to assess young people’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has not ensured that when physical intervention has occurred records contain full and accurate information. For example, the registered manager has not picked up that young people are not routinely offered a debrief after they have been physically restrained. This represents a missed opportunity for the registered manager to review staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

On one occasion, a young person was able to access the staff office, which had been left unlocked. The young person was able to take her laptop and access social media. This was not picked up until the following morning. Once managers were made aware of what had happened, appropriate action was taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

All staff have regular supervision and receive a range of training opportunities to help inform their practice and ongoing development. Most staff are qualified with the level 3 diploma in residential childcare, and those who are not are within the timescale for completion. As a result, staff have the knowledge and skills to provide consistent, good care.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 6 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: 2507393 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 65 Market Street, Hednesford, Cannock, Staffordshire WS12 1AD

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Inspector

Patrick McIntosh, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2507393 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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