Children's Home run by Anderida Adolescent Care Ltd in East Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 1 SC028536 Registered provider: Anderida Adolescent Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to 2 children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 9 July 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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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/08/2019 Full Good 05/09/2018 Full Good 13/07/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 3

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outstanding

Children make great progress at the home, supported by caring, motivated and reflective staff. Staff work to a well-researched and deeply embedded therapeutic model of care. This has enabled some highly complex work, including reunification of families, working in partnership with mental health services to deliver specialist care for children with mental health issues, and supporting children to change behaviours that have destabilised their accommodation in the past.

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outstanding

Staff celebrate children’s progress and achievements. Children who were previously disengaged from education have been supported into college to work towards future careers. Staff supported a child in hospital to successfully complete a college course, patiently writing up dictated course work when the child was unable to do this themselves.

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outstanding

The members of the team are exceptional role models for children, helping children to learn how to communicate in a caring, empathic and open way. As a result, children form strong bonds with staff whose members one child described as ‘like family’.

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outstanding

Staff excel in bringing professionals, family, carers, and children together as a team that shares common goals. One family member talked about the high levels of support that she had received, which included counselling support. This has led to a rebuilding of relationships and long-term plans for a child to return home.

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outstanding

One social worker spoke of the fantastic transition support for children as they come to the home, and again when they move out. Staff follow care plan requests from mental health teams and social workers closely when children move in. Staff were praised by professionals for fantastic communication and detailed progress reporting.

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outstanding

Staff are proud of the transformations children make at the home. One child has been supported, through life story work, to recognise the impact of early trauma on their behaviour. As the child’s understanding developed, staff witnessed huge progress in their approach to relationships, in becoming courteous, in being genuinely interested in others, and in building positive peer relationships in the community.

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outstanding

Staff also provide stability and consistency for children. Children who have often moved through numerous placements before coming to the home have been able to settle and, in doing so, have a chance to work on challenges and obstacles they have faced in the past. Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 4 If children struggle to settle when they first arrive, staff work patiently and skilfully to develop children’s connectedness to the home. Staff place emphasis on positive engagement in education, supporting children to develop positive peer relationships and strengthening their sense of being part of a wider community.

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outstanding

Staff provide a supportive environment for children that encourages them to make the changes they need to keep themselves safe. Only one child has had any missing episodes in this inspection year. These have been managed well, with one parent saying that staff frequently go above and beyond expectation to ensure that missing children are returned to the home quickly and safely. A child who was previously exposed to criminal exploitation has not been involved in any incidents since they moved into the home, and has significantly reduced behaviours that made them vulnerable to exploitation in the first place.

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outstanding

Children are supported to recognise their own vulnerabilities when in the community. Staff also go out of their way to form good links with children’s families and peer groups so that they can quickly identify the whereabouts of children if they do not return home at agreed times.

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outstanding

Allegations and disclosures have been managed promptly and to a high standard. Children have made disclosures of historic abuse that they have not been able to share with care givers before. Incidents of this kind show clear recording alongside sensitive and skilful support for children.

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outstanding

Staff ensure that children have a good knowledge of the risks they face in the online sphere. They are also supported to understand how to behave appropriately towards others online. After an incident that involved abusive social media messaging, staff skilfully turned this into a positive and developmental learning opportunity for children. This also prompted some excellent work around the impact of abuse and domestic violence and culminated in a child taking part in a local vigil raising awareness of the impact of violence against women.

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outstanding

Staff rarely use physical interventions. However, when children present significant risks around self-harm, staff will use restraint to prevent serious self-injury. One child spoke of how well supported they were during a very difficult stage in their placement. The child described staff interventions as ‘lifesaving’. Records of these incidents highlight that support comes from a place of deep care for children’s well- being.

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outstanding

Support for staff during and after incidents is excellent, and debriefs with children are constructive and full of compassion.

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outstanding

Staff experienced an extremely challenging and difficult placement this year. Safeguarding practice was exceptional. Staff shared frank reflections of the emotional and physical challenges they faced, but not once did they flag or cease Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 5 providing children with the high levels of support that they needed to keep safe. Staff also went to great lengths to provide continuity of care for a child when in hospital for several months. Staff stayed at the hospital round the clock, providing waking nights to support the health care teams around the child.

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outstanding

Staff employ carefully considered behaviour management strategies that centre around reflection, learning and personal growth. The outcome of these interventions can be seen in the strength of relationships children share with staff.

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outstanding

Recruitment practice was very good. One potential employee had worked in three separate international locations. Each country had been successfully approached to provide disclosures to support safe recruitment of the candidate.

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outstanding

A child mentioned that risk management strategies did not always reflect the current risk levels presented by children in the home and could feel obstructive. For example, a catering student was having to ask for knives to come out of secure storage every time he wanted to cook.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has made excellent progress since registering with Ofsted last year. She commands the loyalty and trust of staff. Staff praise her compassionate and caring support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Throughout the inspection, the registered manager provided highly reflective responses, which demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the needs of children. The registered manager describes the experience of leading the home as hugely developmental on a professional and personal level.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager appraises the strengths and weaknesses of the home well. She has ambitious plans for the continual development of the home and the professional development of staff. This includes continued strengthening of the therapeutic base for staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager creates an open culture in which children and staff feel valued. The registered manager is able to identify key achievements and celebrates progress for children and staff alike. The registered manager creates a sense of shared ownership in everything they do, and staff and children both said, ‘It feels like our opinions really do matter.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Emotional support for staff during challenging times at the home has been prioritised. Staff highly praise the support of the registered manager and responsible individual. They feel their emotional and practical needs are recognised, and, across the board, staff feel that support from the organisation has been second to none.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

One staff member said, ‘Supervision, training and clinical support are just incredible.’ Staff describe a culture where everyone looks out for each other and knows when Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 6 staff are struggling or challenged. When this is the case, everyone rallies around and supports individual staff members to make sure that they are OK.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff also gave examples of care packages arriving from homes across the provider group to support staff when they were facing significant challenges with a child in placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has had to cope with the challenges of COVID-19 on staff sufficiency. However, through a determined effort, staff have managed to maintain consistent care for children. Core staff have stepped in to work extra shifts, and staff from other homes also provided cover. As a result, there has been no use of temporary staff during this inspection period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children’s views are highly valued, and staff work hard to ensure that children’s voices are at the centre of decisions that impact their lives. Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 7

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards 2015, p.42, paragraph 9.5) In particular, staff should review generic risk management strategies to ensure that they are commensurate with risks presented by the current children in the home.

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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: SC028536 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Anderida Adolescent Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Anderida Adolescent Care Ltd, Neville Mews, 6a Neville Road, Eastbourne BN22 8HR

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Inspector

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC028536 9 regulates and inspects 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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