Children's Home run by Solent Child Care Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 1 Registered provider: Solent Child Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to two children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is in a rural location within easy reach of local community services. The manager was registered in April 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 3 December 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/12/2018 Full Outstanding 19/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 31/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 3

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outstanding

Leaders, managers and staff, known collectively as adults, are skilled and insightful with good knowledge and understanding about the impact of early childhood trauma. They provide very good-quality support to children. The adults’ consistent and thoughtful use of the home’s preferred approach has a very positive impact on children and the progress they make. Children can explore their previous traumas and experiences in a caring, safe and secure environment. This allows children to develop positive ways to express and explore their anxiety, emotions and feelings.

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outstanding

Children develop trust and build secure relationships with the adults who look after them. Adults provide a high standard of individualised child-focused care which meets children’s needs. Children are encouraged to participate in a wide variety of activities and clubs, which promotes their self-confidence and self-esteem while building friendships and essential new life and social skills. Adults use easily understood language alongside the use of consistent routines and boundaries. This helps children to understand their plans and what is being asked of them.

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outstanding

Adults support each child to engage in full-time education. They support children to overcome their fears and anxieties about going to school and learning. Adults speak daily with teachers, which ensures that all teachers are consistent and are aware of how best to support children in their daily activities and plans. Each child has made very good academic progress within their individual capabilities.

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outstanding

The impact of the children’s voice is apparent in the home. Adults actively explore children’s views and opinions about their care. Children are given lots of opportunities to talk and to share their thoughts about their plans and their day-to- day life experiences through the family conversations around the table. Adults ensure that each child has access to, and the support of, an advocate.

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outstanding

Adults ensure that each child’s physical and emotional health needs are met. Staff continually work to support children to make sense of and explore their previous experiences, and to refer to and source specialist support and advice when needed.

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outstanding

Children have lived at the home for considerable time and they describe it as their ‘home and family’. It is apparent that children have continued to progress and to sustain the development they have made in the time they have lived at the home, while positively moving forward in their individual life journeys.

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

There is a positive culture of safeguarding in the home. All adults have a good understanding and knowledge of risk and what is needed to protect children’s welfare and keep them safe. Children are encouraged and supported to take age- Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 4 appropriate risks in and out of the home, through well-considered and planned activities. Adults are quick to raise concerns and refer to others when needed. Adults follow very detailed and considered plans and risk assessments which provide good- quality practical advice and information. These documents are regularly updated and reviewed, and this assists adults in managing and minimising risk. No safeguarding concerns have arisen in the home since the previous inspection, however adults have planned and considered, through collectively agreed protocols, how to respond to concerns as they arise.

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

Adults are all trained in the home’s preferred approach to behaviour management and they use a wide variety of known de-escalation strategies that assist children to calm. On occasions, as a last resort, they do use physical intervention to manage situations of risk and crisis. When intervention is used, it is used in its lowest form for as short a time frame as possible. Children and adults all take part in good- quality, meaningful debriefs which enable all to review what happened, and what they may do differently next time. Children are given consequences which are generally linked to the incident that led to the intervention. Following these consequences, adults explore with children how they felt about it.

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

The home is well maintained and presented, with all adults and children taking pride in it. There are secure measures in place to ensure that children are safe while using the internet.

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

All staff who have been recruited since the previous inspection have been through thorough and robust recruitment and vetting processes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Adults are inspirational, and all strive to achieve their very best while providing individualised high-quality care and support to children, which helps children to be happy and reach their full potential. Adults have a very good understanding and knowledge of the children they care for and their needs. They have developed very good, positive relationships of trust with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The adults utilise all available opportunities to reflect on, review and amend their practice accordingly. Adults have good insight and understanding about children’s needs and experiences that may influence their communication and behaviour. Specialist clinical oversight provides regular advice and guidance to adults about children’s behaviour, possible causes, strategies and support methods and they are well supported to manage their emotions and the personal impact of caring for children with high levels of need. This enables them to be alongside children and to show acceptance and understanding of children’s feelings, emotions and anxieties in a safe way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers have a clear understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. These are explored in the detailed home development plan which considers areas to develop and improve. However, some targets do not have clear deadline dates Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 5 recorded. The plan is regularly reviewed and updated, alongside the effective regular independent visits to the home which apply an additional layer of robust scrutiny and challenge. Adults have developed and improved their monitoring and review processes to allow them to have a better understanding of changes in children’s behaviour and influences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The views of others outside of the home are regularly sought, and the impact of this is evident in the home’s development and workforce plans. Effective relationships are maintained through regular reviews and meetings with key people involved in children’s networks. This has a positive impact on the quality of children’s short- and long-term plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All adults are provided with regular, effective supervision, and their practice is appraised at least annually. There are many development and training opportunities available to adults which ensure that they are well equipped to meet children’s needs and provide a very good standard of care. New adults to the home are well supported through learning and development opportunities alongside more frequent supervision and the probation review process. Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 6

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Recommendations

 The children’s home must produce a children’s guide. The children’s guide must be made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed (or on arrival at the home if the placement is made in an emergency) and must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The

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Recommendations

whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that deadline dates for tasks to be achieved are detailed within action plans.

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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: 1247384 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solent Child Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 9 St. George’s Yard, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7LW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Charlotte Tanner

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Inspector

Amanda Maxwell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1247384 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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