For Families Ltd

Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 1 Foundations for Families 17 Longford Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex PO21 1AA Monitoring visit

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

The aims of the centre are to undertake assessments of parents’ capacity to care for their children. All assessments are commissioned, usually by a local authority or court. The centre can accommodate up to four families. The manager was registered by Ofsted on 21 November 2019.

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Information about this residential family centre

The registered manager has been in post since 21 November 2019.

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Information about this residential family centre

Date of previous inspection: This is the first inspection of the residential family centre since registration.

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This monitoring visit

The leadership and management team has developed a good balance between providing parents with support and assessing their capacity to care for their child. One social worker wrote to the inspector:

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This monitoring visit

‘The… [staff from the residential family centre] are able to balance the potential risks to the baby whilst ensuring this is proportionate, …this has been possible because all staff have worked as a team to ensure they have made and maintained a good working relationship with the mother.’

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This monitoring visit

From the moment when a family arrives, staff take time to welcome them and to help them understand what will be expected of them and what they can expect from staff. Parents said that they particularly appreciate the small touches staff took to make them feel welcome such as providing them with a welcome basket of essential items and an easy-to-understand parents’ handbook. Parents also have a private meeting with managers when they arrive. Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 2 Staff take account of the stresses that new families coming in to the service may be under. They provide a personal and caring approach to new families in order to assist them to settle quickly. This provides a foundation for parents to feel involved and helps them to engage in the assessment from the beginning. One parent said, ‘They go that extra mile to help you feel settled.’

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This monitoring visit

Decisions about which families come to live at the centre are well considered and balance carefully the needs of a potential family and those of families already living here. The assessment form that the provider uses to ensure that families are well matched does not, however, consider whether staff have the skills and knowledge to meet a family’s particular needs.

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This monitoring visit

Parents reported that they feel confident that staff listen to their views and act promptly in response to their concerns. One parent said, ‘You can always speak to someone and go for a private chat. They have always got time for you.’ Parents confirmed that they read their weekly reports and can see their daily reports if they want to. This helps parents to develop trusting, positive relationships with staff and helps them to keep informed about how their assessment is progressing.

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This monitoring visit

Only babies and one toddler currently attend the centre. Daily logs provide lots of examples of how these non-verbal children make their views known.

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This monitoring visit

Care plans and risk assessment are well written and clear. The care plans reflect the commissioning local authority’s or court’s instructions well. Parents are involved in developing these plans and they know what the plans contain. Managers confirmed that, where necessary, care plans would be written in ways to make them accessible to parents who may have learning difficulties and disabilities.

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This monitoring visit

The quality of the guidance to staff about how to support families and manage identified risks is generally good but at times lacks sufficient detail. For example, one care plan states the staff should make sure that a parent is taking her medication. There is no reference to where staff can find out what this medication is, when it should be taken or the dose the parent is meant to take. This means that staff may not be able to monitor this part of the care plan effectively.

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This monitoring visit

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and clarity about the professional boundaries that they need to work to. For example, they do not give health advice to parents but refer the parent to an appropriate health professional for advice. Managers work openly and collaboratively with safeguarding agencies if a concern arises. Professionals raised no concerns about safeguarding practice, and parents confirmed that they feel safe at the centre.

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This monitoring visit

The quality of assessment reports is good. The reports are clearly structured and underpinned by research and evidence. A recent court report submitted by the provider outlined a vivid picture of the parent’s strengths and weaknesses and took good account of the parent’s life story and contextual information. For example, the Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 3 report considered how the parent’s childhood affected her capacity to parent the child at this time. The report summary recommended steps which took account of the parent’s needs while putting the child’s needs at the heart of the assessor’s recommendations. One local authority reported that they have made this service their preferred provider because of the excellent quality of the centre’s assessments.

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This monitoring visit

The leadership and management team has a strong vision for the services that they want to provide to families. As a new family centre, managers have appropriately focused on developing staff’s knowledge and skills. Supervision records demonstrate that they are developing staff’s reflective practice, setting achievable development goals and supporting staff to manage the boundaries between the assessment and support elements of their practice. This has resulted in a motivated and supported team that can articulate how they are able to meet families’ needs. They reported that they feel well supported by leaders and managers.

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This monitoring visit

The emotional impact on the staff of working so closely with the families who are being assessed is well understood. Managers enable the staff to talk through any concerns and worries that they have. They also celebrate staff’s successes. Staff challenge each other’s practice and, where necessary, managers take prompt action in response to poor staff performance.

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This monitoring visit

The manager’s review of the quality of care for the service does not effectively cover all areas of the centre’s work. For example, the quality of the home’s first six- monthly review lacked analysis and evaluation and did not clearly identify what needs to improve. Where a development plan was in place following an incident last year, managers had not carefully monitored and updated the plan. Managers had not assessed that any staff qualifications gained before employment were equivalent to a level 3 children and young people’s workforce diploma.

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This monitoring visit

Plans for staff core training are well developed, and staff confirmed that their understanding and knowledge from each training session are reviewed by managers. However, several families who have come to the centre for an assessment have been known cannabis users. Although some staff have received substance misuse training, other staff have not. This means that managers have not ensured that all staff have the necessary knowledge to intervene and to support parents who may misuse substances. Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 4

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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 registered person shall not employ a person to work at the residential family centre unless that person is fit to work at a residential family centre; or allow a person to whom paragraph (2) applies, to work at the residential family centre unless that person is fit to work at a residential family centre.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work at a residential family centre unless he has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary for the work he is to perform. (Regulation 16(1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that if they identify a parent or child’s need about which staff have not had training, this training is undertaken without delay. 31/07/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall establish and maintain a system for reviewing at appropriate intervals; and improving, the quality of care provided at the residential family centre. (Regulation 23(1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that analysis and evaluation which includes the views of parents, children and professionals is used to inform the review.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must also ensure that the review provides clarity about how the conclusions will inform the development of the services provided. 31/07/20

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Recommendations

 Staff complete a written family placement plan, in consultation with the placing authority and agreed, so far as may be practicable, with the parent(s) and, if age appropriate, the child. The plan should specify the objectives and intended outcomes of the placement, details of training, assistance, assessment, supervision and protection to be provided at the centre, and how the child’s welfare will be promoted. (National Minimum Standard 9.2 of the ‘Residential Family Centres National Minimum Standards’) Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 5 In particular, the registered person should review whether all plans provide sufficient guidance to staff about how they are to care support and manage risks to parents and children.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the progress of the residential family centre since its registration with Ofsted on 21 November 2019.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: Foundations for Families Ltd

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: 17, Longford Road, Bognor Regis PO21 1AA

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Residential family centre details

Responsible individual: Rachel Richardson

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Inspector

Ruth Coler: social care inspector Inspection report for residential family centre - monitoring visit: Foundations For Families 6 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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