Children's Home run by Keys Child Care Limited in Halton

Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 1 SC487488 Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of several homes owned and managed by a limited company. The home provides care and accommodation for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The registered manager has been in post since 28 January 2015.

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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: 18 September 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: SC487488 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/09/2018 Full Good 08/05/2017 Full Good 31/01/2017 Full Good 27/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person very much sees this as her family home. She is relaxed and comfortable with the staff, who have a deep understanding of her needs and preferences. The young person’s social worker is complimentary about the home and the good levels of support that the young person receives. The social worker said that the change in the young person is wonderful to see. The young person enjoys a very positive relationship with the staff and enjoys spending time with them, completing puzzles, watching movies or cooking. She happily brings friends to the home to spend time with her there, just as any teenager would. Education attendance has significantly improved for the young person. Her bespoke timetable is steadily increasing in hours and she is now enjoying school. The manager and staff continue to work diligently with education providers to ensure that the young person continues to make progress. Staff provide a nurturing and caring environment. They recognise that routines and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

boundaries provide stability and security for the young person. As a result, she is becoming increasingly confident in her own abilities. Staff monitor the young person’s health and provide the necessary support to ensure that routine appointments and checks are up to date. This ensures that the young person’s health needs are met. Staff work in partnership with the home’s therapist and other professionals to support the young person’s emotional health and well-being. Staff understand how past traumatic events have affected her and are supporting her to move on from these. Consultation with the young person is a strength of the service. The young person’s input is sought in all aspects of the work undertaken. The young person said that they value this and feel listened to. The home presents as a lived-in family home. It is warm, welcoming and comfortable. The quality of furniture and decoration is good.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aware of the impact of living so far away from home and encourage the young person to keep in touch with those people who are important to her.

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

Staff understand their responsibilities in regard to keeping the young person safe and know how to carry these out. Staff are aware of the individual risks associated with the young person and take active steps to reduce these. However, staff would benefit from training in relation to child criminal exploitation, knife crime, self-harm and suicidal ideology. Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 4 There has been a recent safeguarding concern about a member of staff. This has been reported to the appropriate agencies. However, the registered manager’s records of the action taken are poor and do not reflect all of the action taken. Furthermore, a negative comment made by a young person about staff in an incident report has not been explored or considered as a potential safeguarding concern by the managers. The young person does occasionally go missing from care. These incidents are becoming less frequent, but can have a significant impact on the young person.

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

However, she is able to report any concern she may have to staff who take immediate action to support her and protect her from harm. Staff have a calming influence when young people become anxious or struggle to manage their behaviour. Behaviour management plans have useful de-escalation strategies that support the young person. The young person is much more aware of her stress and anxieties which can lead to incidents of poor behaviour. She is now able to talk to staff about this and put forward suggestions as to how to relieve these instances, such as going to the home’s caravan. Staff take photographs of the young person, and these show activities and day-to- day achievements. Photographs adorn the walls of the home and are used as a reflective tool with the young person. The young person has created her own book of memories and is proud to show these to staff and visitors. She wrote, ‘The best thing about this home is not the activities, it’s the unreal special important people

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

you meet and the memories you walk away with.’ The young person lives in a family-style home. Her bedroom and art room reflect her personality and interests, such as learning to play the piano. However, her bedroom window would benefit from some additional window dressing to maintain her privacy. The self-closing device on the office door requires attention to ensure that it closes safely. Immediate action was taken to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In February 2020, the registered manager decided to voluntary cancel his registration for this home and a new manager was appointed in January 2020. Both managers have been working together to provide a smooth transition for the young person, professionals and staff. Effective staffing arrangements ensure that there are enough suitable, experienced and qualified staff available to meet the young person’s needs. Staff work together well, and the day-to-day care of the young person provides them with good levels of support. Staff are provided with one-to-one supervision, which helps them to reflect on their practice. The workforce development plan has been updated but does not provide insight into the training needs of staff. Staff rotas provide a clearer insight into the actual staff on duty and the hours that they work. A separate log records when the registered Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

manager is in the home, as he was managing two homes during this inspection period. There is evidence of collaborative working with other professionals who are involved in each young person’s care to support positive outcomes for them. Feedback from professionals is positive, praising the management and staff’s commitment to the young people and the progress that they make. A social worker said, ‘We couldn’t match what she has here, it’s fabulous and she is happy.’ There have been some improvements in the quality of record-keeping in the home, for example conflicting information has been removed. However, the quality of record-keeping is inconsistent. Key-worker records do not always reflect the actual discussions taking place with the young person or the decisions that have been agreed. Care plans and risk assessments would benefit from the removal of historical information to make them more manageable. Records also need to be signed by the author of each entry.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring of the home by the independent person is improving and is helping to make changes in the home. The manager’s six-monthly monitoring report does not provide a critical analysis of what the home does well and areas for development. This is because the report is too descriptive about what the home does rather than what it has done and does not reflect the views of young people, staff and professionals. Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 6

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 03/04/2020

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Recommendations

 Homes must seek to meet the child or young person’s basic day to day needs and physical necessities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) In particular, consider additional window dressings on the young person’s bedroom window and repair the self-closing device on the office door.  The registered person should have a workforce plan, which can fulfil the workforce- related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, consider the staff’s training needs in relation to knife crime, criminal

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Recommendations

exploitation, suicidal ideology.  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)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understanding of careful, objective and clear recording. Information should always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child now or in the future. The home’s records on each young person represent a significant contribution to their life history. (‘Guide to the Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 7 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.4 & 14.5)  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of care provided by the home, the experiences for the children living there and the impact that the care is having on the outcomes and improvements for the children. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.2) In particular, that the review scrutinises the available information and provides an analysis of the care provided and considers the views of the young people.

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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: SC487488 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Chris Scully, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC487488 9 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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