Children's Home run by Anna House Limited in Havering

Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 1 SC058603 Registered provider: Anna House 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 children’s home provides long-term care and short breaks for up to six children who have learning and physical difficulties. Two children and two young adults over the age of 18 years currently live at the home.

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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

Date of last inspection: 20 December 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/12/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/06/2018 Full Good 06/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 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

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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)) 01/05/2020

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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

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the registered person monitors and improves the quality of records. These relate to key-work sessions and monthly summaries which do not detail work conducted with children or highlight the progress children are making. Managers 01/05/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 4 should ensure that debrief discussions following staff’s use of restraint are recorded. 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, that staff understand the action that they must take in the event of a child making an allegation against a senior member of the staff team. 01/05/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (7)(b)) 01/05/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff supervision records are appropriate in addressing the learning needs of staff. 01/05/2020

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be 01/06/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 5 inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

and seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the registered person works in effective partnership with the placing authority to facilitate the appropriate transition to adult services of the 23-year-old adult currently living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people achieve good outcomes and their experiences are positive. They share a good relationship with most staff and staff encourage children and young people to share their views and opinions. Staff achieve this by using a range of communication methods. Children and young people receive individualised care that meets their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people receive information about making complaints. This is available in differing forms of communication. However, managers must consider obtaining independent advocates for children and young people who express dissatisfaction with the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people live healthy lives. Staff ensure that children and young people receive appropriate medical care, advice and treatment. Children and young people access specialist support as required. This ensures that their health needs are well met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people receive support with their emotional, social and psychological well-being. For example, staff offered excellent support to the brother of a former resident of the home who died last year. Both boys lived together at the home. Staff’s care and support of this child and his family were exceptional in promoting the family’s emotional well-being.

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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 regularly and there is good communication between staff and school personnel. This ensures that there is a shared understanding of children’s learning targets and how best to support children and young people to achieve these. Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 6 Children and young people enjoy a good range of social and recreational opportunities and they have fun. Recent activities included a trip to an amusement park, and all children and young people enjoyed a summer holiday away last year. Staff work hard to ensure that all children and young people have new, fun experiences and that their disability does not act as a barrier to this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have opportunities to develop their practical skills. This is to help them to live their lives more independently. Staff support them with household chores, such as travelling safely in vehicles, making snacks and taking care of their own personal hygiene.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people benefit from staff’s effective working relationships with other professionals. This is particularly the case with local authority social workers and health and educational professionals. This ensures the careful coordination of children and young people’s care which comprehensively meets their needs.

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

Children and young people are protected from harm and abuse. Risk assessments provide staff with strategies that help to reduce risk-taking behaviour.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been several incidents of children and young people being restrained by staff. Records are appropriately detailed and show that in each case the intervention was necessary to prevent the harm of children, young people and others. However, records do not always include debrief discussions with either the children, young people or the staff involved. This is to ensure that both parties are offered an opportunity to reflect and share their views of how the incident was handled.

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

Staff receive training in child protection. However, some staff do not demonstrate a good understanding of the action they must take if a child or young person makes an allegation against a senior member of staff. This shortfall does not help to keep children safe.

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

The recruitment of staff is not always in line with safe recruitment procedures. This was found to be the case for one staff member who is also a director of the organisation. Staff recruitment procedures do not confirm that all staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children and young people.

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

Managers deal with complaints sensitively and in line with the home’s complaints procedure. Records contain details of complaints and how these are resolved.

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

Staff are consistent in promoting positive behaviour. Incidents of children and young people going missing or being absent without permission are rare. Behaviour management plans are largely effective. In recent months, children and young people’s challenging behaviour has reduced. Staff’s use of sanctions is appropriate and encourages children and young people to reflect on their behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 7 Managers and staff have effective links with the local authority and safeguarding professionals. Managers and staff are consistent in their communication with other professionals about safeguarding concerns. Managers conduct thorough investigations of any allegation made against staff. This helps to keep children and young people safe.

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

The home’s physical environment is appropriate to accommodate disabled children. The premises are safe and secure and there are no health and safety concerns. Children and young people make use of adapted equipment such as hoists and beds. This ensures that staff can care for them safely, especially when taking care of their personal care needs.

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

Leaders and managers do not monitor children and young people’s progress effectively. Staff records are sometimes of a poor quality and do not clearly highlight the progress children and young people are making. Key-work sessions and monthly summaries are largely descriptive and repetitive. Key-work sessions are not always linked to care plans or placement objectives, and so it is difficult to chart the progress that children and young people are making.

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

Staff training lacks sufficient focus on disability issues. The staff training programme is broad, with subject matters that are often repeated. Some staff who have worked at the home for a long time are yet to complete the required formal training. There is limited opportunity for staff to engage in new learning to help enhance the quality of care provided.

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

Managers and staff receive supervision. However, the frequency and quality of supervision are variable . Senior staff do not consistently provide reflective supervision, conduct a review of staff’s care practices or explore staff’s development needs.

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

Leaders and managers do not challenge placing authorities effectively when placements are no longer suitable. For example, managers have not sufficiently challenged the length of time one local authority has taken to move a 23-year-old into adult provision. This is unacceptable. There is a significant role for managers to play in working with the young person, her family and the local authority to support this young person’s transition.

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

Leaders and managers have an ambitious vision for the service and have high expectations for what children and young people can achieve. The registered manager is well qualified and experienced to manage the team.

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

Staffing levels are appropriate to meet the needs of children and young people. Managers’ recruitment of permanent staff has been successful. Staff said that they feel supported, valued by managers and listened to.

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

Children and young people benefit from staff’s close working relationships with the professionals that are involved in their lives. An independent advocate said, ‘The staff Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 8 have been effective in email responses, sharing information and responding in a timely manner. They are always welcoming and interact with the young people. The atmosphere is homely.’

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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: SC058603 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 207 Chase Cross Road, Collier Row, Romford RM5 3YJ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Margaret Akullo-Odiya

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Inspectors

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Jayshree Pillay, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC058603 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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