Children's home run by Southern Adolescent Care Services Ltd in Crawley

Inspection report children's home: SC038522 1 SC038522 Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private organisation. It provides care for up to five children who are experiencing social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in 2018.

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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 inspection of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 16 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Inspection dates: 23-24 June, and 29 July 2021

Following full inspection on 23 and 24 June 2021 and subsequent internal quality assurance process, Ofsted invoked the incomplete inspection protocol and returned on 29 July 2021 to secure the evidence base.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress. Inspection report children's home: SC038522 2 Date of last inspection: 7 January 2020

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: SC038522 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Good 22/01/2019 Full Good 13/12/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC038522 4

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inadequate

Children have no guarantee of placement stability in this home. The registered manager keeps one child’s placement on a rolling two-week review. Her reason for this approach was to prevent a placement breakdown. However, there were no firm plans regarding how to safely care for the child. Since September 2020, there has been a disproportionate number of children leaving the home in an unplanned way. This has severely disrupted children’s lives. The registered manager does not ensure that there is learning from placement breakdowns and the risk of poor placement matching remains high.

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inadequate

Care planning for children is of poor quality. The manager has admitted a child with a learning disability to the home with no clear rationale as to how they will meet this child’s needs. For some children recently admitted to the home, there are no detailed care plans to guide staff as to how to care for them and no records of placement planning meetings with the wider professional network.

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inadequate

The poor quality of care planning and the lack of effective communication systems in place mean that errors occur with regard to staff understanding children’s health needs. In one example, staff believed that a child had a certain health condition when in fact, the child does not have this diagnosis. Staff do not always act on information relating to children’s health and well-being. In one example, staff did not seek guidance from health care professionals in response to a child raising concerns about possible mental health needs. This means that children may not receive the help and support that they need to promote their physical health and emotional well-being.

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inadequate

Children are not supported to achieve in education. Arrangements for children’s education are not always agreed at the point of referral. Children’s attendance at school and engagement with the home tutor are limited.

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inadequate

Staff listen to children with regard to their wishes and feelings about their family relationships. Staff support children to maintain and develop relationships with their families.

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inadequate

Staff support children to learn independence skills. Children learn to undertake household chores, how to travel to college independently and how to manage a budget.

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inadequate

Children enjoy a range of activities suited to their individual preferences. These include cultural cooking themes, and visits to popular attractions such as local theme parks and museums. Inspection report children's home: SC038522 5 Children live in a home that is presented and maintained to a good standard. Senior leaders have plans to remove the CCTV that is inside the home, in the immediate future. This is to create a less institutionalised feel to the home and to protect children’s privacy. Children keep their personal living spaces clean and contribute to the daily upkeep of their home.

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

Staff demonstrate a limited understanding of how to keep children safe from child sexual exploitation. Staff do not provide children with sufficient structure or routines to keep them at home and to distract them from activities that may put them at risk. They do not explore who children associate with, nor their travel arrangements. For example, staff failed to act on reports that children are at risk when using social media and concerns that children were associating with inappropriate adults. The failure to act and the lack of professional curiosity, with regard to what children are doing, place children at immediate risk of harm.

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

Risk assessments lack sufficient detail to inform safe care. Safety plans do not always match the assessed risks for children. Agency and bank staff do not have access to the most up-to-date electronic version of the necessary care plans and safety plans. This means that staff are unclear on how to keep children safe. For example, staff were unaware as to how much free time children should have or when to report children missing to the police. Staff were also unclear about whether children are allowed ‘money in hand’, and they were unsure about ligature management plans if children self-harm. This places children at immediate risk of harm.

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

Staff fail to act on safeguarding concerns. For example, key workers do not discuss with children the dangers relating to child sexual exploitation. Staff did not put in place strategies to prevent a child from going missing when the child clearly stated that this was their intent. Adult males who are deemed to be a potential risk to a child are not clearly identified or described in risk assessments. One such adult is not listed as a potential person of concern in the child’s missing-from-home protocol. This poor safeguarding practice places children at risk of significant harm.

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

Staff do not learn from significant incidents. For example, a child described a possible reason why he had tied a ligature to harm himself. Staff took no action to address this, and the potential for a repeat incident is high.

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

Staff are generally effective at managing and de-escalating tensions within the home. They use physical intervention infrequently and only when this is necessary to prevent harm. When physical intervention is used, it is recorded appropriately and within required timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Less than half of the staff team have the necessary experience, skills and qualifications to meet the complex needs of the children in their care. They are not Inspection report children's home: SC038522 6 trained in the therapeutic approach that is set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Staff do not have the necessary counselling training, as defined in the home’s statement of purpose. Four children have been subject to unplanned moves from the setting since September 2020. The registered manager has not reflected on the safeguarding issues or the emotional impact related to the disruption in these children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure that staff are suitably trained in meeting the specific needs of children, such as ligature management for children at risk of self-harm. For example, a staff member removed a ligature from a child using cutters that she was not trained to use. The registered manager does not act on serious concerns. For example, no action was taken in response to an incident where a child reported that another child, resident in the home, had removed a ligature from them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

It is of concern that the widespread shortfalls that were evident during this inspection, with regard to safeguarding practice, were not picked up or challenged by the manager. This demonstrates a lack of effective monitoring, oversight and professional curiosity. This means that no learning takes place in response to safeguarding concerns and this places children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Communication within the staff team is poor. Agency and bank staff do not have access to the most up-to-date documents to guide them in their practice. The registered manager did not follow up a significant safeguarding concern that a child told the home tutor. She did not pursue, with other professionals, strategies to keep a child safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Incident forms do not give a clear timeline of events or identify the actions that are taken. Staff are given the opportunity to debrief and discuss the impact of challenging events. Children are not given the same opportunity. This means that there is insufficient attention given to the experiences of children to inform care practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager did not provide accurate information to Ofsted to inform the inspection. She does not identify the risk to a child living in the home who is clearly vulnerable and at risk of sexual exploitation. She has not ensured that staff follow up on health needs. She has not ensured that the statement of purpose is an accurate description of the care provided to children in the home. This is potentially misleading for social workers when they are considering placing children in the home. The manager does not model good practice in relation to safeguarding. This, together with poor oversight of care practice, means that children are not adequately being cared for and are at risk of harm. Inspection report children's home: SC038522 7

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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

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)) 12 September

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(b)) 12 September Inspection report children's home: SC038522 8 The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(x)) 12 September

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 12 September

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)) 12 September

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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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 12 September Inspection report children's home: SC038522 9 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC038522 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Second Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Shasheen Norton-Laver

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Inspectors

Paul Thomas, Social Care Inspector Keith Riley, Social Care Inspector Helen Simmons, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC038522 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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