Children's Home run by Coastal Quality Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 1 Registered provider: Coastal Quality Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to two children. The provider specialises in caring for children who have social, emotional and mental health needs.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since February 2021.

p.1

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.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child lives at this home. He has a secure and loving relationship with the adults who care for him. This is also recognised by his social worker who said, ‘I never thought he would ever be able to trust adults again and now he does. This is because he is cared for by people who love him and care about him.’ Because of this the child has grown in confidence and focuses on his aspirations for the future.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child now attends health appointments, which was previously a barrier. The adults who care for the child support him to exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. He is engaging with weekly individualised emotional well-being support in his home, which is a goal that has not been achieved previously. The therapist provides guidance to the adults who care for the child. As a result of this support, the child is benefiting from personalised care that meets his needs and helps him progress.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s plan does not capture the individualised support he is receiving and the specific targets he is being supported to achieve. This results in a lack of direction for the child and for the adults who care for him.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The adults who support the child have helped him make progress with his education. However, due to external complications he is currently not attending education. Managers have expressed their concerns about the child’s education plan, but the challenge has not had a positive impact on his life. There has been a lack of structure and resources relating to his education while he is at home. As a result, the child has missed out on educational opportunities to help him achieve his full potential.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported to maintain relationships with his immediate and extended family. The adults who care for him provide opportunities for him to have days out with his family. Managers have purchased new technology for the child, including a gaming device and a new mobile phone. He enjoys indirect time with his family through different forms of technology such as gaming and video calls. The child feels connected with his family and creates good memories with them.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has developed a variety of new life skills. There is a strong culture among the team to ensure that he is well equipped for adulthood. However, there is a lack of emphasis on the child understanding his own life story and identity. This could prevent him from understanding his history and developing resilience to past trauma.

p.3

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

There has been a decrease in incidents in the home. This is because the adults provide consistent, nurturing responses when the child is struggling with his Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 4 emotions. Following an incident, reflection takes place with everyone involved to ensure that relationships do not break down. The manager evaluates incidents to ensure that plans have been followed and learning takes place. This creates a learning culture to reduce the chances of similar incidents taking place in the future.

p.3

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

There have been occasions when internal rooms have been locked to manage escalating incidents in the home. This is not risk assessed and is not an appropriate strategy to de-escalate a situation. This strategy also prevents the child from having access to all areas of his home.

p.4

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

The adults caring for the child are aware of the risks in his life and how to manage them. However, the safety plan does not contain the individualised strategies that the adults use to reduce risk. There is an effective method of calculating individual risk to establish if it is high, medium or low. However, the child’s risk assessment contains historical information that is no longer a risk, which is stigmatising for him.

p.4

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

There are no incidents of the child going missing from the home. The adults who care for him are fully aware of the procedure to follow if he goes missing. However, the adults lack knowledge of the current safeguarding risks for children outside of the home. This is not having a direct impact on the child, but there is a risk that the adults would not be able to identify specific risk indicators because of this lack of knowledge.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers support the team well. One team member said, ‘I could not ask for better support and I feel that my managers have invested in me.’ The team receives regular supervision in line with the provider’s policy. However, the managers do not evaluate learning with team members within supervision sessions. This is a missed opportunity for the manager to ensure that learning from formal and informal training is embedded into staff’s practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have oversight of all events in the child’s life. The manager reflects with the child and the adults caring for him to understand triggers to incidents and focus on solutions to support the child. The manager has also completed a review of the quality of care. However, the review lacks evaluation and feedback from the child, professionals and family. This means that the manager’s review is not well rounded to identify areas of development and growth for the team.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The language used in the child’s records is not accessible and is at times stigmatising as well as institutional. The managers have created an aspirational, nurturing and empathetic culture within the home. However, the child’s records do not always reflect this, and his records are a key part of his journey.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has occasionally challenged other professionals when practice has fallen below a good standard. However, the challenge has not always achieved a positive outcome for the child, and the escalation process has not been used. The Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 5 use of escalation would create more opportunities for the child to receive the service and support that he is entitled to.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child is supported by a permanent team. All the adults caring for him are recruited safely. On one occasion, members of the team left their employment at short notice. The manager and the team ensured that the child continued to receive consistent care from adults he trusts. This prevented the child from being cared for by adults who may only be in his life temporarily. Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 6

p.5

Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the 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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

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;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.6

Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to risk assessments containing current, individualised strategies and ensuring that historical risks are removed if they are no longer assessed as a risk. Adults caring for children must have knowledge of contemporary safeguarding risks. Locks to be removed in communal areas to ensure that they are not used as a strategy to de-escalate heightened situations in the home. 31 October 2021

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every six months.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

p.6

Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

p.6

Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; 9 February 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 7 and

p.6

Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

p.7

Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to evaluating the quality of care, seeking feedback when completing the review and including an action plan.

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the adults caring for children have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. If a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff should seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the Virtual School Head, SENCO, learning mentor or teacher. The provider must challenge the child’s education or training provider if the child does not receive sufficient support to progress as outlined in their relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  The registered person should ensure that where children are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing

p.7

Recommendations

authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child’s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that the adults caring for the child work closely with health and education professionals to ensure that outcomes identified and progress made by children can be recorded and measured. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.4)  The registered person should ensure that records on each child represent a

p.7

Recommendations

significant contribution to their life history. Children and their parents should be supported to understand the nature of records kept by the provider and how to access them. The adults caring for the child should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. They should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 8 record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

p.7

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: 2619265 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Coastal Quality Care Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Bleasdale Avenue, Staining, Blackpool FY3 0DW

p.9

Inspector

Carly Quinn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2619265 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.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10