Children's home run by Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group

Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 1 Registered provider: Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children who may have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. The manager was registered with Ofsted in June 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

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2018

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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: 2483691 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children who live in this home are making very good progress in all aspects of their lives. Having experienced significant trauma previously, the consistent, nurturing care provided has helped children to settle and form positive and trusting relationships with staff members, who they refer to as ‘adults’. Children know that adults in the home really care about them, and their lives stabilise. A young person who recently left but continues to keep in touch with adults in the home reflected: ‘Living at this home was really good. It helped me so much. The adults were always there for me; they have helped me change my life so much.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children participate in education plans bespoke to their individual needs. For some children, who have previously not consistently attended school, this is significant progress. Staff actively support children with their education and work closely with education providers to give children the best opportunity to learn and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff meet children’s physical and emotional health needs well. Healthy diets, the promotion of regular exercise and activities, and attendance at core health appointments promote good physical health. Access to and support from specialist therapists and external mental health services are helping children to make sense of their past experiences, to start to trust and to form positive relationships with others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In addition to this, through the recently implemented use of ‘whole family chronologies’, staff develop a deep and accurate understanding of children’s past experiences and the reasons behind particular behaviours. This is enabling staff to better support children to validate their experiences, overcome their difficulties and learn how to regulate their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to share their achievements, feelings and worries in daily group meetings. This is helping children to develop understanding, tolerance and empathy for one another and means the atmosphere in the home remains calm, happy and warm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are central to the running of the home. Children learn that they can and should have their say. By formally responding to children’s suggestions, the manager ensures that children feel heard and respected. This provides children with a sense of value, and increases their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain and enhance relationships with family members and those important to them when it is safe to do so. Work undertaken with one child and their family has recently resulted in a successfully planned transition back home. Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 4

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

The positive relationships children have with a core group of staff help them to feel safe and secure. Children report feeling safe because there is always an adult in the home who they feel they can trust and talk to.

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

Detailed, individualised and regularly updated risk assessments and risk management plans implemented by staff help to keep children safe.

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

Some children have a significant history of going missing and of being at risk of exploitation, but as positive relationships develop, and children settle, incidents of going missing become rare and even stop, resulting in reduced risk for children. One child said: ‘Adults have helped me understand the risks about going missing. Before, I did not care about myself. I have now learned to care about myself and what is right and wrong. I can now see why I needed to move away from home and I now know who my proper friends are.’

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

Staff regularly undertake direct work with children in relation to their specific vulnerabilities, to enhance their safety, well-being and social development. For example, work relating to healthy relationships and e-safety has resulted in some children now safely and sensibly enjoying the use of a mobile phone and increasing amounts of free time. However, increased management oversight of direct-work sessions would better enable the registered manager to monitor the full impact of direct work undertaken with children and help her to better support staff to continually develop their direct work with children.

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

The home is warm and welcoming. It is physically safe and secure. Regular health and safety checks and fire drills help to promote children’s safety. Motion sensors are used during the night to monitor when children leave their rooms, and sound- activated audio monitors are sometimes used during the day to monitor activity on the landing. All placing authorities have agreed at the commencement of placements that such additional safeguarding measures are required. However, this is not reviewed thereafter. As a result, it is difficult to know whether the use of such safety measures remains proportionate as children progress and their needs and levels of risk change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A passionate and aspirational registered manager, who is well supported by her senior leaders, knows the children living in the home extremely well. She has high ambitions for the children. She leads the home by example, and is highly respected by the children, her staff team and other professionals. She is experienced and is working towards the required management qualification within the timescales stipulated in the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Over recent months, the registered manager has had some challenges in relation to staffing, due to the deputy manager’s post becoming vacant and some further staff turnover. She has managed these changes well and minimised their impact on the Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 5 children. Despite the turnover of staff, the registered manager and a core team of committed and experienced staff have remained consistent for children, providing them with stability and security. However, in the absence of a deputy manager, some aspects of paperwork have not been kept up to date. The home’s statement of purpose has not been updated for over a year. This means that placing authorities and families do not have an accurate and up-to-date description of, for example, the current staff, their qualifications and the training they have undertaken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The therapeutic approach used in the home is having a positive impact on the quality of care provided to children. All staff have either completed a diploma in therapeutic childcare or are in the process of doing so. A comprehensive induction programme, day-to-day support from the registered manager and experienced staff members, and regular group sessions with in-house therapists are helping the newer staff to develop insight into the chosen model of practice. This is helping to ensure that children receive the consistent, nurturing, therapeutic care they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In addition to the above, staff receive regular supervision and undertake mandatory training and additional specialist training. This is helping staff to develop their understanding of the children living in the home, and to be alert to issues that could affect the children now or in the future, such as contextual safeguarding issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Before admitting new children into the home, the registered manager very carefully considers whether her staff team has the right skills to meet the specific needs of each child and whether a new admission will be a suitable match with children already living in the home. As a result of this scrutiny, followed by very carefully planned transitions into the home, new children settle quickly, and they are made to feel very welcome.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is a strength. Professionals and family members spoken to during the inspection were unanimously positive about levels of communication. A family member commented on how they, the registered manager and staff work together ‘as a team’. This effective partnership working is helping to ensure that children’s plans are progressing and that children continue to make good progress. Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 6

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Recommendations

 Homes are required to develop and keep under review a ‘Statement of Purpose’. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5) This is in relation to the need for the statement of purpose to be updated to provide absolute clarity about the current staffing of the home and up-to-date information about the qualifications and training undertaken by the current staff team.  Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under review. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) This is in relation to regularly risk assessing and reviewing the need for the use of

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Recommendations

motion sensors during the night and sound-activated audio monitors on the landing at other times.  The registered person should oversee the welfare of children in their care through observation and engagement with: each child; the home’s staff; each child’s family/carers where appropriate; and professionals involved in the care or protection of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23) This is in relation to improving the level of management oversight of direct-work sessions with children, in order to promote staff development and learning and to facilitate the manager’s overview of the impact of work undertaken with children.

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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: 2483691 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 58a Livingstone Road, Hove, Sussex BN3 3WL

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 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 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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