Children's Home run by Reflexion Care Group Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 1 Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to three children who have suffered adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours. Children may have learning disabilities. The home is privately owned and forms part of a large social care organisation, which offers an education service and therapeutic support.

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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.

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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: 24 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/08/2019 Full Good 12/02/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. Two children have lived there for two years and one child for 10 months. Careful matching and well-managed moves ensure that children have stable long-term placements. As a result, the three children currently being cared for are settled. They say that they like living in the home and they like the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive excellent support to help them prepare to live independently. Bespoke independence plans set practical, gradual targets to enable children to practise budgeting, shopping, cooking, and using public transport. Regular meetings help children to review their progress and enable staff to adapt the programme and their support accordingly. This individualised support develops children’s self- confidence as well as their practical skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child, who lived at the home for three years, has moved into semi-independent accommodation. Staff worked closely with the placing authority and involved the child in decisions. They helped the child to personalise his new home and visited him after the move. This individualised support helps children to feel confident and to settle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the home is well maintained and has a homely feel. Staff help children to personalise their bedrooms and display photos of family. The dining room is the hub of the home where children and staff sit together to eat an evening meal and talk about the day. However, there are areas that look tired and need attention. Some windows need cleaning and are without curtains or blinds. This detracts from the otherwise homely feel of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s physical health needs are met by registering them with local health services. The manager and staff work closely with the company clinician to understand children’s emotional health needs. Staff then talk with children and help them to develop strategies to manage their emotions. This means that, over time, children’s physical and emotional health improves and children develop strategies to manage their behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their education. This is because staff understand children’s barriers to learning and are creative in helping children to overcome them. Staff and managers are not afraid to advocate for a change when they feel this is needed to ensure that children’s individual needs are met. This resulted in a change of college provision for a child who was unhappy and not progressing in his provision at the time. All three children attend full-time education and are making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have clear routines and firm boundaries. Children have individualised bedtime routines, which include staff spending time with children Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 4 talking and reading stories with them. Staff therefore nurture children in the way a good parent would.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children’s hobbies and interests, and they arrange for them to attend clubs in the local community. Children also enjoy a range of activities with staff that are captured through photographs and memory books. Staff plan activities with the children, such as gaming challenges, to raise funds for charity. Creating opportunities to spend time with children means that staff and children develop meaningful relationships based on shared interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Records are not always written in a way that helps children to understand their life story. Staff complete children’s records in a way that is impersonal and jargonistic. This means that children do not have a balanced record of their time in the home that they can look at in the future and which may help them to build resilience.

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

Some risk assessments are completed without sufficient information about children’s behaviours. Also, causes for some children’s complex and challenging behaviours are not always identified. Children’s views about their own triggers and strategies that staff can use to de-escalate these behaviours are missing. Although staff are knowledgeable about the children, this shortfall leaves a gap in staff knowledge to successfully manage all known risks. It compromises the ability of new and cover staff to quickly understand children’s behaviours and how to manage them.

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

On one occasion following a restraint, managers did not ensure that records contained full and accurate information. They did not identify that staff were not offered a debrief within regulatory timescales after they have restrained a child. Following the debrief, managers did not discuss with staff how their behaviours may have escalated a child’s behaviours. This represents a missed opportunity for managers to review and reflect on staff practice in a timely way.

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

Although children do not go missing from the home, protocols are in place which tell staff what to do should they go missing. Information has also been shared with the police. On the rare occasion that a child leaves the home in an unplanned way, staff keep the child in sight and use their skills and their strong relationship with the child to calm the situation and bring the child home.

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

Vigilant and highly skilled staff understand the risks that children face online. Staff constantly talk with children about these risks and use research to educate them. This means that children learn how to be increasingly safe online.

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

Staff talk with children about bullying, using bespoke resources in planned conversations. They praise and reward children’s kindness to one another and their positive behaviours. As a result, children say they feel safe in the home and that bullying does not happen. Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 5 When children make allegations, they are taken seriously. Managers work in partnership with children’s social workers and the local authority designated officer. They carry out thorough investigations, which include listening closely to the views of children. Children therefore feel confident to talk with managers and staff about any worries or concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2020 and is appropriately experienced and qualified to manage a children’s home. The manager maintains good oversight of the home, using a range of review and monitoring systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children exceptionally well. She spends time with them and talks proudly of the progress they have made. The manager listens to children’s views and is a strong advocate for them. Careful matching ensures that children’s progress and positive experiences are not compromised. Children are extremely settled in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been significant changes to the staff team since September 2020. Six members of staff and a therapist have left the company and eight have joined. Great effort has been made to ensure that children’s care has not been compromised. This includes the manager and the home’s core staff working additional shifts, and the use of bank staff who are known to the children. These efforts have helped to sustain some consistency and stability for the children. However, despite these efforts, the manager acknowledges that the children’s willingness to form relationships with staff has been affected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective partnership working ensures that children receive well-coordinated care that promotes their safety and well-being. Feedback gathered from professionals during the inspection was extremely positive. A social worker described a child’s regular school attendance as ‘a huge milestone’. A social worker praised staff for being flexible and working in partnership with a child’s family. The social worker said that time spent with family is led by the child and had maintained the child’s identity. This demonstrates the partnership working and child-focused approach that the registered manager and staff deliver through their care of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive an in-depth, good-quality induction that includes face-to-face training in supporting behaviour and the company model of care. Staff told the inspector that they feel supported by the manager and that this helps them to develop their practice. This is reinforced through regular supervision and an annual appraisal that is focussed on staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers do not keep staff rotas in accordance with regulation. This shortfall means that the rotas remain unclear about when staff have been in contact with young people, should this information be needed in the future. Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from—

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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. (Regulation 7 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers seeking children’s views to inform their risk assessment and behaviour management plans. 9 January 2021

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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— that staff—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that risk assessments and behaviour management plans include sufficient information for staff to fully understand risks to children. 9 January 2021

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the child; 9 January 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 7 details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers ensuring that they always provide staff with a debrief within 48 hours following a restraint.

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Requirement Due date

It also refers to managers ensuring that they effectively evaluate the actions of staff in the restraint.

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; 9 January 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 8 ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that managers keep accurate records of the times that staff have worked in the home.

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Recommendations

 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. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. The home should be a well- maintained and attractive place for children to spend time in. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 13.9)

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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: 1256638 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fitzroy Academy, Cruckton, Shrewsbury SY5 8PR

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1256638 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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