Children's home run by Footsteps Care Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2540285 1 Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for up to eight children. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home cares for children who have learning disabilities, and/or physical disabilities, and/or social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2540285 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2540285 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have excellent experiences and make good progress. They receive individualised care that meets their needs. Staff have a strong focus on target setting and helping children to meet agreed goals. This enhances their general development, social interaction and level of independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop strong and trusting relationships with staff. This is important as most of the children are non-verbal and are reliant on staff understanding their needs. Children engage well with the staff team and clearly enjoy spending time with them. In turn, staff are attentive and skilled in interpreting what children are conveying.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s identity needs are well met. These include supporting faith practices and children’s access to music and television programmes in languages other than English. Staff encourage children to share their views and make day-to-day choices. However, the children’s guide and records of house meetings are not fully available in symbol or pictorial formats. This does not provide children easy access to key information.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s healthcare needs are very well met. Many of the children have complex health needs. These are understood by staff who manage children’s healthcare and treatment plans safely. Staff receive training in relevant healthcare issues such as epilepsy, sickle cell and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeds. They manage children’s medication safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s learning outcomes are good. Staff’s communication with schools and other professionals is consistent. This ensures that children’s learning and development needs are well coordinated and met. Staff have considerable success in developing the speech of some children who previously had very limited or no speech at all. Children’s achievements are regularly celebrated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good opportunities to develop daily living skills which enhance their independence. Typically, this is focused on children’s communication, the completion of personal care tasks and helping with daily chores.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive good support that prepares them for adulthood, and they successfully move on to adult provision. Staff are instrumental in ensuring that this transition is carefully coordinated, progressing at the young person’s pace and in full consultation with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have fun and have access to play and sensory equipment. Staff offer children innovative and creative play and make good use of the home’s premises and equipment to provide meaningful activities. At a time when face-to-face contact Inspection report children's home: 2540285 4 was prohibited, a temporary front entrance fence was erected. This allowed parents to see their children at play from a safe distance.

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improvement to be good

Children feel safe at the home and are at ease with the staff team. Managers and staff have learned from incidents where children have had injuries. Managers implement robust, newly developed safe care protocols and policies to prevent similar occurrences.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from clear child protection policies and procedures, with which staff are familiar and adhere to. Staff are skilled in caring safely for children with profound and complex disabilities. There have been no episodes of children going missing, imposed sanctions or bullying.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to adhere to boundaries that help keep them safe. Children’s behaviour is sometimes challenging. Staff’s management of such instances is measured and appropriate.

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improvement to be good

Staff’s use of restraint is rare. In each case, restraint techniques are used to prevent harm to children and others. Behaviour management plans support staff’s practice in reducing challenging behaviour. Staff make good use of praise, rewards and incentives to promote positive behaviour. This approach is effective.

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improvement to be good

Complaints about the home are also rare. When complaints are made, managers take them seriously and are swift in resolving the issue effectively.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments identify known and anticipated risks for individual children. Staff keep these up to date. Risk assessments detail strategies that reduce risks and help to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

The home’s premises are physically safe and appropriately secure. Staff routinely conduct health and safety checks and there are good fire precautions in place. However, staff must ensure that all radiators are kept at a reasonable temperature.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment and vetting practices are thorough, and all required checks are in place. This is to confirm that all staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership and management of the home is strong. Since the last inspection, a new registered manager has been appointed. The registered manager has good experience, qualifications and skills to manage a home for disabled children. The registered manager employs a sufficient number of staff to meet children’s needs. Inspection report children's home: 2540285 5 The home is meeting the aims and objectives as stated in the statement of purpose. Most of the shortfalls identified at the home’s last inspection have been resolved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s monitoring systems are robust. Managers undertake regular monitoring exercises. These explore most aspects of the home’s functioning and offer some insight into the quality of the service. Monthly independent monitoring visits help to highlight the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Monitoring reports offer action points which help to improve the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The last inspection highlighted shortfalls in the quality of staff’s recording. This has significantly improved. However, some records require further attention. These include staff’s recording of key work sessions, body maps and practical skills development. Managers must ensure that they complete notifications to Ofsted when required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide good support to the staff team. The induction of new staff is effective, and staff receive annual appraisals. However, staff’s supervision requires improvement. There are gaps in the frequency of some staff’s supervision. This does not support the effective development of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training opportunities are good and include a range of issues that allow staff to provide children with individualised care. A member of the staff team said, ‘The home is a place where our children have an enjoyable childhood in a loving environment that can meet their needs. All members of staff are supportive and work hard in order to provide the best care for children.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff share good working relationships with other professionals. This ensures that all parties are aware of placement issues and developments. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘There is good communication. A member of staff who knows the young person always attends his childcare reviews and the placement always provide a report. They have a good understanding of his needs.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home provides high-quality care to children living with significant disabilities and, as a result, their outcomes are very positive. Inspection report children's home: 2540285 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children's home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) In particular, that the registered person monitor and improve the quality of key documents. These include key work sessions, body maps and records of practical skills development. 31 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The children's views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children's care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child's views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child; and 31 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2540285 7 ensure that each child—

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home's children's guide, and the home's complaints procedure, when the child's placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child's stay in the home. (Regulation 7(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iii)(b)(ii)

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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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)). In particular, that radiators are kept at an appropriate temperature. 14 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 30 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 31 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2540285 8

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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: 2540285 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: The Orchard, Ashmead Drive, Denham, Uxbridge, Buckinghamshire UB9 5BA

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Anslim Narinesingh

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2540285 10 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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