Children's home run by CF Support Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 1 Registered provider: CF Support Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to two children who are unable to be accommodated in either mainstream residential care settings or a foster placement. The children may display unpredictable and harmful behaviours both to themselves and others and may be at greater risk of exploitation, school exclusion and offending.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2019.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 2 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website

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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 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

Date of last inspection: 11 November 2019

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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: 2532532 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently two children living at the home. Three children have moved out since the last inspection. The staff have continued to support these children as they settle into their new homes. This support has helped the children to feel confident and secure with their future plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have worked hard to develop trusting relationships with the children. They use a nurturing approach that encourages the children to share their feelings. The children regularly invite friends and family to visit the home and take their friends on holiday with them. Consequently, children are making good progress with their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff value the importance of children’s education. They work closely with teaching professionals to ensure that when issues arise, these are resolved quickly and the children are supported. This means that the children are making good progress with their learning. School attendance has improved for one child who did not previously go to school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to attend their health appointments. However, not all of the children’s health needs are detailed in their care plans. This means that the plans do not make it clear to the staff what actions they need to take to promote the children’s well-being. Despite one child struggling to develop a healthy sleeping pattern, the staff did not consider specialist sleep hygiene support. Consequently, this has limited the child’s ability to attend morning activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite recent efforts to make the home feel more welcoming, there are still parts that have an institutional feel. The kitchen door has a prominent unused front door lock code. The hallways have worn paintwork and the garden is overgrown. These features limit the staff’s capacity to create a family feel for the children.

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

The manager and the staff understand the importance of partnership working to address contextual safeguarding risks and child exploitation. They have developed strong links with the police and the children’s social workers and actively share information. The manager positively challenges professionals to ensure there is a coordinated approach to safety planning. This has led to effective actions being taken that increase the children’s safety.

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

When staff use physical interventions, these are proportionate and justified. Staff provide children with the opportunity to debrief and reflect on their behaviour. This reflection time helps the children to think about how they can respond differently in the future. Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 4 The children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans cover triggers and warning signs for the staff to be aware of. The staff also use linked key-work sessions to help children to understand how best to keep themselves safe. However, the details in some of the children’s risk assessments do not include enough clear guidance for the staff in regard to the actions. This means that some staff focus on the reactive actions to risk reduction instead of working in a preventative way.

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

Staff use praise and incentives to encourage children’s positive behaviour. However, there is a reliance on delays and deductions to children’s pocket money as a penalty for poor behaviour. The manager has not provided the staff with alternative options to consider. This means that the children may not always be given the opportunity to be supported to reflect on how they can behave differently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the responsible person have worked hard to improve the quality of care at the home. Consequently, the receive children good care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works alongside the staff and leads by example. She provides coaching and offers opportunities for staff to develop specialist skills in areas of interest. This has allowed some staff to take on champion roles in child exploitation and mental health. Consequently, the staff are motivated and happy in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last monitoring visit, the manager and the responsible person have reflected on the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They have put new systems in place that have improved the children’s experiences. The manager has ensured that the children have allocated staff to monitor the benefit of key-work sessions. This ensures that the staff are responsive to the children’s changing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible person has reviewed the recruitment systems and supported the manager to have better oversight of these. This ensures that all safer recruitment practices are in place and that the previous requirements have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive consistent supervision. In addition, the manager provides staff with monthly opportunities to explore practice with a clinical psychologist. This results in the staff working well together and being supportive of one another.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has failed to ensure that all of the objectives in children’s plans are specific and measurable with clear timescales. Staff may therefore not be aware of the urgency of the actions set.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has provided an internal review of the home. However, the action plan in the review does not specify objectives, how they are to be achieved and in what time frame. This therefore limits the report’s usefulness as a performance management tool. Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 5

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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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a) (2)(a)(i)) This particularly refers to ensuring that health plans address the children’s needs and that these are recorded in their care and placement plans. 4 January 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a welcoming and homely environment that meets the needs of the children, particularly in relation to decorating the hallway, removing the lock on the kitchen door and maintaining 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 any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature to help the children to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Recommendations

46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensure that all staff detail preventative measures and actions in the children’s risk assessments and support plans. In Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 6 addition, ensure that all objectives are specific and measurable with clear time frames. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: 2532532 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: CF Support Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C F Support Services, 11 Three Rivers Business Centre, Felixstowe Road, Foxhall, Ipswich IP10 0BF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Joanne Henderson

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Inspector

Leemya McKeown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2532532 8 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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