Children's home run by Pathways Care Group Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 1 Registered provider: Pathways Care Group Limited 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 a 12 to 15 month full-time treatment programme for children who have encountered a traumatic experience, have behavioural or mental health difficulties and/or have experienced or are at risk of sexual exploitation. The home was closed for a period of time and reopened on 11 September 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since September 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress, taking into account their starting points, across most aspects of their social, emotional and behavioural development. The children benefit from a manager and staff team who care about them and meet their needs, and from support that contributes to change and improvement in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from carefully planned introductions and visits to the home. The managers and staff team make a great effort and give particular attention to detail for each child’s transition plans. Consequently, the children’s individual needs are well met and they soon settle into their new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children, who have had emotional difficulties, have formed strong and resilient relationships with the staff and one another. The children call this their home. Relationships between the staff and the children are warm and friendly. One child said, ‘I am really happy living here. The staff are amazing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education forms an important part of their time living at the home. The staff support the children in their education through maintaining good routines, providing educational activities and fully participating in reviews of services and multi-agency meetings. However, one of the children currently refuses to attend their education provision. This child is therefore not fulfilling their potential or being adequately prepared for adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning processes, in which the children’s diverse needs are evaluated and understood, fully recognise and incorporate their individual traits and personalities. Children who find it difficult to manage their emotional well-being are supported through consistent and visible strategies to help them to control their emotions and through therapy sessions with the appointed psychologist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and tidy throughout. However, the children’s bedrooms and the communal areas of the home lack warmth and colour. Rooms are clinical in their appearance and lack accessories and appropriate furniture. For example, the sofas are small, hard and uncomfortable and the televisions are in cabinets, which prevent the children from hearing them. The children have found a remedy to this by placing bottles of toiletries to wedge open the front glass. Some rooms are empty or sparse and parts of the home are cold. Overall, the home does not present as a warm and welcoming family home.

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

The children spoke about their safety with confidence and understanding. They learn how to understand risks and how their behaviour can increase or reduce risks. Although some of the children do not always agree with the procedures that the staff have put in place to protect them, they understand that risk assessments and arrangements are in place to keep them safe. One child gave examples of their Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 4 previous and current behaviours and how they have reduced risk-taking with support from staff. The children said that they feel safe.

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

Behaviour management strategies are regularly reviewed and reflect the children’s triggers and behaviours. The staff know how to manage these. Some of the children engage well with behaviour management strategies. The staff and children fully appreciate the impact of physical interventions and sanctions. The staff spend time working with the children during support sessions to discuss any incidents. This has been successful in some instances and has resulted in a reduction of incidents and episodes of children going missing from the home. However, not all records are completed and return-home interviews following episodes of children going missing have not always taken place.

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

Sound recruitment procedures mean that all of the necessary background checks are carried out before a member of staff commences work. This helps to ensure that only suitable adults are employed to work with the children. However, leaders did not ensure that a clinician’s recruitment file was available at inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good insight into the children’s strengths, vulnerabilities and progress from their starting points. He offers good support to the staff through his daily presence at the home. The manager leads a staff team that is dedicated and experienced in caring for children who have complex needs. He is accessible and approachable and, when necessary, offers practical support to the staff. Regular team and clinical meetings ensure that the children are discussed in detail and that they remain the focus of activities at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions, both formal and clinical, cover a wide range of topics appropriate to the individual staff members’ needs. Appraisals occur annually, and training is of a good standard. Staff have undertaken all the organisation’s mandatory training, including safeguarding, ligature awareness and managing self- harm. However, some staff are at different stages in relation to the therapeutic model delivered by the psychologist, which can cause confusion when moving from theory into practice. Staff inductions are not sufficiently tailored to the therapeutic approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring visits by independent visitors are of a good standard. The monitoring reports make suggestions about how the home may improve, and the manager adapts the care provided accordingly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager notifies external agencies and Ofsted of significant incidents at the home. When notifications are made, the information is concise and clear and details the actions that the manager has taken in response to the incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has met the seven requirements raised at the last inspection, to good effect. Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 5

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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

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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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

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii)) 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(d)) 20/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 20/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 6 ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction;

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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. (Regulation 33(1)(a)(4)(a))

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child’s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 15.5)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an

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Recommendations

opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. 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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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 1241897 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathways Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Minton Place, Victoria Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1EG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Olubunmi Fabusuyi

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Inspector

Cathy Russell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1241897 8 to 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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