Children's Home run by Action for Children in Hertfordshire

Assurance visit report: SC426172 1 SC426172

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a large charitable organisation. The home provides short breaks and emergency placements for up to six children who have a range of diagnoses, including learning disabilities, physical disabilities, emotional difficulties and behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2015.

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership.

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Information about this visit

This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assurance visit report: SC426172 2

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Findings from the visit

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit.

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The care of children

The staff provide short-stay care for children with a wide range of complex health needs and diagnoses. Parents benefit from thoughtful and planned transitions into the service. The staff work alongside parents and social workers to understand the children’s practical needs and their routines.

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The care of children

The staff work hard to ensure that the children’s views are central to their practice. They use pictorial activity walls to support children who are unable to verbalise their choices. These communication aids enable the children to choose activities and express their preferences and feelings.

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The care of children

Each child is supported to work towards developing their life skills. The staff set the children targets. The staff celebrate the children’s achievements through certificates and prizes. This builds the children’s self-esteem and confidence.

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The care of children

The staff recognise the importance of the school in promoting continuity of care and the children’s learning. The staff regularly share with the school staff updates on the children’s stays, useful strategies and current targets that are then followed through at school.

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The care of children

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been excellent. The staff follow a thorough cleaning regime and have supported the children to increase their levels of personal hygiene, such as washing hands and showering. Furthermore, the managers have adapted a self-contained area at the home, to support children who may have been exposed to the virus and need a safe space to self-isolate.

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The care of children

The staff continue to ensure that the children’s health needs are met. Regular meetings and training with the community nurse team have continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that staff can seek specialist knowledge when necessary and respond to the children’s individual health needs well.

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The care of children

The home is spacious and comfortable. There are different areas for the children to enjoy, such as a soft play and sensory room. However, the garden area is unkempt with a large amount of leaves. This limits the children’s ability to play outside safely.

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The safety of children

The staff provide high levels of supervision due to the children’s specific vulnerabilities. Placement plans provide details of how the staff meet children’s individual needs and routines. For some children, these are comprehensive and thorough. However, for other children with cognitive disabilities their placement plans are less clear. One child’s placement plan did not detail the type of care that Assurance visit report: SC426172 3 he needs. Therefore, the staff are not fully aware of how best to support the child in different situations and how much one-to-one supervision to provide.

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The safety of children

The staff are trained in managing the children’s complex physical needs and diagnoses. However, the manager has failed to provide the staff with specialised training in how to care for those children who have cognitive disabilities such as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. This means that the staff do not fully understand these children’s behaviours and do not know how to manage their individual risks.

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The safety of children

The manager takes a proactive approach to safeguarding. She uses team meetings to enable the staff to work through various safeguarding scenarios. This helps the staff to understand their roles in managing safeguarding situations effectively. There are very few incidents at the home. This reflects the stable home environment.

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The safety of children

The staff communicate effectively with each other. They share information and have built a strong teamwork ethic that helps them to provide consistent care for the children.

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The safety of children

The staff use audio monitors so that they can be quickly alerted when a child has an epileptic seizure. Parents have signed consent forms for the audio monitors to be used. However, the manager has yet to obtain written consent from all of the placing authority social workers. This does not ensure transparency and partnership agreement in care planning.

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Leaders and managers

The manager has worked at the home since 2015. She is committed to ensuring that the children enjoy their stays and have a sense of achievement.

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Leaders and managers

Central to the manager’s practice is her strong focus on staff welfare. The manager provides the staff with regular supervision that enables them to reflect on their practice and well-being. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the manager has ensured that staff have had the opportunity to discuss their worries and be part of COVID-19 recovery plans for the home. The manager has ensured that the staff are able to access resources to support their mental health. This has created a stable, resilient staff team that has been able to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic well.

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Leaders and managers

The feedback from the children’s parents and social workers is good. They can see how much the children look forward to their stays. Parents have shared how the manager and the staff try and accommodate changes to the children’s visit times to support them as a family. Parents said that this caring and empathetic approach has made a positive difference to their lives.

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Leaders and managers

The manager has strong reviewing and monitoring practices in place. She regularly provides Ofsted with internal monitoring reports. She uses these reports to evaluate the service provision and consider improvement actions for the home. In addition, Assurance visit report: SC426172 4 the manager holds critical reflection sessions with staff to consider how they can improve their practice. This enables a continual learning culture at the home.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the risk assessments explore all the children’s risks and vulnerabilities and provide clear guidance on how to mitigate associated risks to keep children safe.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, ensure that the staff receive specialised training to meet the children’s identified needs, namely foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. 1 February 2021 Assurance visit report: SC426172 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should promote a nurturing environment that is welcoming. This relates to cleaning up the leaves and rubbish in the garden area. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that when using closed-circuit television (CCTV) or other monitoring equipment consent has been gained from the placing authority in writing. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Action for Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 The Boulevard, Ascot Road, Watford, Hertfordshire WD18 8AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Shelagh Frankcom

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Inspector

Leemya McKeown, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC426172 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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