Children's Home run by Abundantia Care Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 1 Registered provider: Abundantia Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private provider. If offers care for up to two children with emotional and/or social difficulties. It was registered in July 2021; the manager registered at the same time. This is the home’s first full inspection since registration.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with others to understand the vulnerabilities and behaviours of children and use this to deliver personalised care. This has resulted in children starting to make progress in all areas of their life. Staff and children have trusted relationships, which result in children feeling able to seek help and support from staff in relation to their mental and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When a full-time place at school or college is not available to children, then alternative, interim arrangements are made to enable children’s continuous learning. Alongside this, plans are made by staff and their colleagues in education to ensure that children have the opportunity to attend college when they are ready to do so.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff hold regular and effective focused conversations with children to help them understand their feelings and behaviour. Staff frequently consult children about how they are looked after to ensure that this aligns with their wishes. As a result, children feel valued and nurtured by staff. The conversations are documented to a good standard and are thoroughly reviewed to ensure that staff are supporting the child to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of family relationships to children and support them to keep in touch when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Because of court-imposed restrictions on children, they are sometimes unable to have typical peer friendships. Staff partly compensate for this by offering children a variety of activities and experiences. Despite this, children can experience feelings of isolation. Staff, therefore, work with children to increase their understanding of risks which, in time, enable restrictions to be lessened.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social care, education and health professionals speak highly of managers and staff. Although there have been a small number of problems during the first few months of the home’s operation, including a complaint, professionals are happy with the way these have been responded to. The established professional network results in a regular and frequent exchange of information, and promotes consistent and complementary support of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are central to the care that is provided. When a child’s wishes cannot be met due to them being incompatible with steps taken to safeguard the child, this is explained sensitively and clearly. Decisions taken in this respect are kept under review, which results in the least-restrictive care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a warm and comforting feel, and children choose things for the home which makes the space feel personal to them. Children have been encouraged to paint a mural on the living room wall, which celebrates their creativity and allows them self-expression. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 4

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

Risks to the children are understood, properly assessed and documented. There have been occasions when the measures set out in court orders and care plans which mitigate risks have not been adhered to sufficiently. This has sometimes been due to managers and staff testing out children’s abilities to manage slightly increased freedoms. Occasionally, this has resulted in children being exposed to risks with the intention this is done in a managed way. Staff have sometimes needed to tighten restrictions again when children have not coped with increased trust and fewer controls. Examples of this are when harmful items have been obtained by children, or the level of supervision has not been sufficient to prevent potentially harmful phone contact with others. In these instances, there was effective review and good management oversight. This resulted in changes to the children’s care plans, and sometimes the reintroduction of closer supervision, or removal of items

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

There has been significant progress in that children have not been missing since moving to the home. Where children are vulnerable to exploitation, there is an established multi-agency network of specialists to assess and manage risk going forward. This promotes children’s safety in this regard.

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

There have been several incidents when children have tried to harm themselves, although health professionals advise that the frequency is lower than when children lived elsewhere. Staff are again working with others to understand and manage this risk. They follow plans and are vigilant to risk, which promotes the children’s safety. The relationships that staff have with the children should also provide opportunities to reduce this further in the future.

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

When staff hold children to keep them or others safe, this is done appropriately by trained staff. Incidents have sufficient oversight and reflection to ensure that they are necessary and promote the children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear vision for the type of care she wants children to experience. This is one of therapeutic and nurturing care which promotes the well- being and safety of the children. Staff are trained to deliver care which aligns with this vision, and this approach is modelled and promoted at every opportunity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision which is well recorded, and have received both mandatory and additional training. Much of the training has been online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduces the opportunity to learn from peers’ reflections and experiences. This also prevents adapting the training to the specific home and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff appear to have a broad general understanding of their role, despite their sometimes lack of relevant previous experience. However, some staff demonstrate only a rudimentary knowledge of safeguarding, whistleblowing, trauma and Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 5 attachment, and therapeutic interventions. This hinders their ability to have the fullest insight into the behaviours of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and take decisive and effective action to address identified shortfalls. However, part of the evaluation of the home’s effectiveness is informed by the findings of the home’s independent visitor. These visits did not start in line with the date of the home’s registration. This missed an opportunity for additional oversight of the quality of care during the first few weeks of operation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partly due to staffing challenges caused by sickness and the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been occasions where there have been insufficient members of the core team on shift. On some occasions, there have been only bank staff caring for children. However, the manager and responsible individual have both formed part of the day-to-day workforce to try and minimise these occasions, and there is no evidence it has significantly impacted on the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has formed a good network with local agencies and the care team around the child and there is evidence of regular and effective liaison and communication. Clinical support for the team is in place but has yet to be embedded, which means children are not yet benefiting fully from the clinician’s advice and instruction.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff demonstrate understanding of the impact for children in being removed from the care of their family. However, some documents on the children’s records contain language and vocabulary which could be interpreted as judgemental or value laden. This does not promote high self-esteem for the child, nor does it reflect the nurturing and accepting culture that the manager seeks to promote. This is especially important given that, on at least two occasions, the child has inadvertently had sight of sensitive documentation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In summary, despite some initial problems, children receive consistent and individualised care. This has resulted in children experiencing an unprecedented level of stability and increased emotional regulation. Risks around exploitation are also reduced at present, which augurs well for the future. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 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 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring that relief/bank/agency staff do not outnumber core staff when providing care for the children. 28 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

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Requirement Due date

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

This refers to delivering care that does not deviate from the measures set out in care plans and court orders. 28 February 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 7 The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. (Regulation 44 (1))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring that the visit is conducted monthly to align with the regulation. 28 February 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This refers to offering further training on whistleblowing, safeguarding, trauma and attachment and therapeutic interventions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  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

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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 for children’s home: 2638239 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Abundantia Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Repton Manor, Repton Avenue, Ashford, Kent TN23 3GP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Reynolds

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Inspector

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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