Children's Home run by Jasmine Gardens Private Limited in Hertfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 1 Registered provider: Jasmine Gardens Private Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides long-term care for up to two children with behavioural, emotional or social difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2020.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 1 December 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children have moved into the home and three have left since the last inspection. Two children left in an unplanned way. Due to the staff not being able to keep these children safe, despite a reduction in some unsafe behaviours, the children moved to more appropriate placements.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child has successfully moved into their own accommodation. Staff worked with the child to support the move and they stay in regular contact the child. There is currently one child living at the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported and encouraged to develop their independence skills in line with their care plan, age and understanding. Children develop independence plans with staff which they review together every three months. This helps children to understand the progress that they are making.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have significantly improved their education attendance since they moved into the home. Staff actively support children to attend education and ensure that it is part of the children’s daily routines. Two children have successfully held part-time jobs alongside attending college. This means that children build independence and a good work ethic.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff fully support children to develop and maintain positive relationships. Staff wel- come children’s friends into the home and build relationships with them. The staff support family visits, and the manager has successfully advocated for a child who requested visits and overnight stays at their parent’s home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Regularly reviewed individual and informative care plans guide the staff to work with the children consistently and in line with the social workers’ care plans.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have regular house meetings. However, the staff do not provide feedback after the meetings and, therefore, the children do not know whether their views and wishes have been acted on. This does not encourage children to express their views.

p.3

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

The child who lives at the home currently said that they feel safe there and that they can talk to staff if they are worried or upset. The child likes spending time with staff, who he described as ‘chilled’. Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding and have attended all relevant training, which equips them to work safely with children.

p.3

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

Sanctions are fair and proportionate. However, these are not recorded as a sanction, the children do not have the opportunity to comment, and the manager does not comment on or evaluate the sanction. This does not provide a fair and open approach. Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 4 The children have individual missing-from-care protocols for staff to follow. The staff actively search for children when they go missing from the home and contact the child’s friends and family. The staff work closely with the police missing-from-care officers and the local child exploitation team. This ensures that safeguarding information is shared and strategies are put in place to keep the children safe. However, despite the manager emailing social workers, return home interviews by an independent person are not taking place. This means that opportunities are missed to understand why children went missing from the home.

p.3

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

There have been two occasions when staff have not had all their recruitment checks completed and verified before they began working at the home. This does not consistently ensure that staff are suitable to work with children before they commence their roles.

p.4

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

Staff challenge unwanted behaviours and reinforce boundaries. They have reflective conversations with children after an incident to help the children to understand their actions, and to find more appropriate ways of managing their thoughts and feelings.

p.4

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

Children have comprehensive individual risk assessments which are regularly reviewed and updated after an incident. Children understand the risks that they face and work with staff to reduce these.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has the relevant qualifications and experience to manage the home and strives to help children to progress in all aspects of their lives. She confidently raises issues with the external professionals if she feels that actions, or proposed actions, are not in the best interest of the children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager undertakes impact risk assessments as part of the referral process for children. She challenged the placing authority for one child, because the authority had not provided relevant information to inform the impact risk assessment and ensure that the home would be suitable for the child. The manager has since amended the referral policy informing social workers of their responsibilities.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensured that the home was adequality staffed throughout the COVID- 19 pandemic, despite some staff having to self-isolate and the impact that this had.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although staff receive supervision, there are some gaps. This does not support staff to work effectively with the children or give consistent formal opportunities for staff to discuss their professional development.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has updated the statement of purpose. However, she has not sent a copy of the updated version to Ofsted. Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 5 The manager notifies Ofsted of significant events at the home. However, some of the notifications have not been sent promptly. This prevents Ofsted from having timely oversight of safeguarding concerns at the home.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has met the two requirements and one of the two recommendations that were raised at the last inspection. One recommendation is repeated. Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 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, 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

p.6

Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

p.6

Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in rela- tion to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Requirement 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)) 20 December 2021

p.6

Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send a copy of the re- vised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 26 November 2021

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.6

Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional develop- ment; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 20 December 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 7 The registered person must ensure that—

p.6

Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

p.7

Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confir- mation that they have spoken to the child about the meas- ure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 25 November 2021

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)) 26 November 2021

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice and that all checks are completed before staff begin to work at the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care, or away from the home without permission, that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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: 2526987 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Jasmine Gardens Private Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Talent Chirandure

p.8

Inspector

Trish Palmer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2526987 9 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.8

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.9

Inspector

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

p.9

Inspector

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

p.9