Children's Home run by Kent County Council in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 1 SC037282 Registered provider: Kent County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a local authority and provides short-break care for children with learning difficulties, physical disabilities and associated complex needs. The maximum number of children who can stay at the home at any one time is seven.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since 1 October 2021.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 3 December 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/12/2019 Full Outstanding 13/03/2019 Full Outstanding 07/03/2018 Full Outstanding 30/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 3

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Inspection judgements

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good.

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Inspection judgements

The staff understand the children’s needs well and support them to have a wonderful time when they visit. The staff’s systematic approach to routine helps the children to settle in a familiar and comforting way each time they stay.

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Inspection judgements

The staff take great care in preparing for the children’s visits. Preferred items and special chosen duvet covers are added to the children’s bedrooms and their personal belongings are lovingly put away and are well looked after. Storage cupboards are organised meticulously, which means that important and needed items are found with ease. This means the staff can meet the children’s needs quickly and competently.

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Inspection judgements

The children have a spacious and clean environment to explore when they visit. There is a large and fully kitted out sensory room, spa pool, music room and a newly refurbished soft playroom. This space gives the children a safe place to play and get creative in. The staff encourage the children to use all this space and support the children to enjoy a wide range of activities. The outdoor space is very clearly thought out. It gives the children a place to relax and be in touch with nature, as well as plentiful climbing and swinging opportunities. However, it does require suitable night lighting, so the children can continue their play in the darker evenings.

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Inspection judgements

The staff support the children with structured routines and familiarity. The consistent approach to boundaries and positive behaviour management means the children are making progress in their emotional and social skills. For example, the staff have replaced unpleasant sensory seeking behaviours for one child with messy and creative play. A social worker said, ‘The staff team are very confident in managing behaviours that challenge.’

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Inspection judgements

The children are making progress when they visit. The staff have recently supported one child to enjoy social inclusion during mealtimes. This has helped the child to build their confidence and self-esteem, while learning the benefit of friendships. A social worker said, ‘The children flourish from accessing this service.’

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Inspection judgements

The children’s parents are supported to contribute towards their children’s care plans. This joined-up way of working means that the children benefit from continuity and a like-from-like approach to their care. It also gives parents reassurance that their child is being cared for in a way that is agreed by them. However, this good practice was not consistent in all areas of care arrangements for some children.

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Inspection judgements

The staff are clear on how best to support the children’s ever-changing needs. However, the staff’s written care plans for the children, on occasion, are messy and are without review. This is impacting on the staff’s abilities to complete effective day and night plans for the children. Although these shortfalls have not affected the Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 4 quality of care delivered to the children, it does pose the potential to cause inconsistencies within the staff team.

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

Staff retention is excellent, and this is important to the children. The familiarity of faces helps the children to feel relaxed when they stay. It also allows for relationships to be built over a sustained period of time, which means the children are able to form trusting and protective relationships with the adults who care for them.

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

The staff understand the children’s individual vulnerabilities and the plans around them to protect them from harm. The staff are confident in processes to follow should they be concerned for a child’s safety or well-being. No children go missing due to the high levels of support and staffing numbers. The manager has a positive relationship with the local police community officers and receives monthly updates in crime statistics and neighbour prevention initiatives. The manager uses this information to feed into the home’s location risk assessment.

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

There is a methodical approach to medication management in this home. The staff are skilled, experienced and receive regular training and competency assessments for the safe handling of medications. The parents understand medication processes and are fully involved in the counting and stock availability for their child’s medication when their child stays. When there are changes in medication, the staff request a written agreement and consent from the child’s general practitioner. This helps to ensure the team around the child has the most up-to-date information and, as a result, medication errors are low.

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

The staff support the children’s families and carers well. When families need extra support, the staff and the manager are quick to listen and to help. One child is currently receiving additional overnight stays. This way of working means the children and their families receive direct and accessible care when they need it the most. In turn, this helps the children to stay living at home with their families for longer.

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

The staff have created risk assessments for the children, and these are reviewed annually or after a significant event. However, restrictive measures, such as the use of five-point harnesses, door guards and high-sided beds, have not fallen into this cycle of good practice. Although such measures are used by the staff with the intention to safeguard the children, the managers have not consistently reviewed this practice. Other shortfalls include the failure to obtain consent from parents and allocated social workers to use these measures. Consequently, the risks and ethical considerations of using such methods have not been derived from a multi- disciplinary approach. Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 5

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good

There have been several changes in the leadership and management of the home since the last inspection. The previous registered manager is now the responsible individual and the previous deputy manager is now the manager. The manager is aware of her responsibility to register with Ofsted and is in the process of completing her application.

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good

The decisions made and being considered by senior leaders are compromising the home’s identity and the staff team’s ability to fully operate as a short-break provision. The service is unable to deliver its full short-break packages to all the children and their families, who routinely use it, because of this. The manager and the responsible individual recognise the impact of one child living in the short-breaks home and have tried, where possible, to minimise this. However, there are no protective factors in place from the local authority to stop this type of accommodation for children happening again.

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good

Senior leaders have moved one child from a children’s home, operated by the same local authority, into this home on a temporary basis. Although plans were agreed verbally with the allocated social worker and the parents, there was no formal transition plan or placement planning meeting held by the managers. The inspector also found shortfalls in managers obtaining the necessary care planning documents for the child. Although this is not impacting on the progress the child is making in the home, it is a missed opportunity to gain valuable information and insight into the child’s history, education and funding opportunities.

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good

Although staff say they feel very supported by the managers and receive reflective supervision, the manager’s internal monitoring system shows significant shortfalls in the regularity of these meetings. This compromises the leadership’s ability to demonstrate that the staff are receiving the support, guidance, challenge and development opportunities they need to provide effective and well-informed care for the children.

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good

Other management shortfalls include irregular fire testing, monitoring and fire management in the home. Since he moved into the home, the staff have not provided one child with the opportunity to practise a fire drill, and his personal evacuation plan has not been reviewed. Consequently, this child’s response to an emergency situation is not known and may present avoidable risks. This omission is compounded by the management failure to complete actions identified in the home’s fire risk assessment within the recommended timescales. These significant shortfalls demonstrate insufficient leadership and management oversight and leave unexplored risks to the safety of the children and the staff.

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good

The use of management quality of care reviews has declined. The previous registered manager used this process to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home. However, these findings are not consistently being used as a development tool. Previous actions are not regularly reviewed, and it is unclear how the manager Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 6 plans to meet newly set actions and targets. This makes it difficult for the regulator to monitor the home’s development effectively in between inspections. The responsible individual recognises these shortfalls and has identified relevant external training that she plans to undertake. Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 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

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 20 February 2022

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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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager to ensure the home is fire compliant and the children have reviewed personal evacuation plans. 20 February 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and 20 February 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 8 have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c))

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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 6 months.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5)) 20 February 2022

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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 20 February 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 9 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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager to ensure the children have the relevant plans moving into the home, and that the children’s care plans are kept up to date, under review and clear for the staff to follow.

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Recommendation

◼ The manager should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive. Homes must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. In particular, senior leaders should consider installing outside lighting, so the children can continue to play outside in the darker months. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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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: SC037282 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kent County Council, Sessions House, County Road, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ

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Inspector

Kelly Monniot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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