Children's Home run by Impact For Change Ltd in Somerset

Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 1 Registered provider: Impact For Change Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home offers medium- or long-term placements.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2020. However, the manager has resigned from the post and during the inspection was working his notice period. Three children are currently living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State 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 inspection on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 9 and 10 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 14 January 2020

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/02/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 3

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inadequate

The care that children receive is inadequate and, consequently, their experiences are poor. Neither the registered manager nor staff have a sufficient understanding of safeguarding. As a result, children have not been sufficiently protected. Concerns about a child at risk of harm and exploitation are not always recognised by staff. Another child has repeatedly told staff he does not feel safe. Staff have not taken his concerns seriously or acted on them to help him to feel safe.

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inadequate

Frequent changes in the staff team are having a negative impact on children’s ability to build trusting relationships with staff. Children told the inspector that this worries them. Although COVID-19 has presented challenges for children and staff alike, there has also been an increase in staff choosing to leave the home. This increase in staff departures has had a greater impact on instability of staffing in the home.

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inadequate

Staff interactions with children are sometimes poor. For example, one child told the inspector that staff frequently mock him. He said staff tell him to ‘man up’ when he is distressed and does not feel safe. Two children told the inspector that they do not feel listened to, and that their concerns are not taken seriously. Complaints made by children are not resolved swiftly and, on occasions, not at all. A senior leader acted during the inspection to support the children in relation to these specific complaints. During the inspection, some staff prioritised the completion of paperwork over spending time with children and providing them with good-quality care. This lack of engagement means that children do not have confidence that the staff care for them and will prioritise their welfare.

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inadequate

Most areas of the home are well maintained and welcoming. However, staff have failed to provide one child with the necessary support to keep his bedroom clean. This child’s room is unkempt and dirty.

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

Children do not always feel safe living in this home. This is because staff and the registered manager fail to recognise and take appropriate action in response to safeguarding concerns. Child protection processes are not followed consistently.

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

Managers and staff do not recognise all signs that children may be at risk of harm and exploitation. Incidents of children going missing from the home have increased, and children have not been consistently protected from exposure to the risks of drug and alcohol misuse. On their return to the home, children are not routinely asked about their experiences when they have been missing. Staff have not found creative ways to help children to engage with external substance misuse and exploitation support agencies. This means that opportunities to explore the risks with children and find ways to keep them safe are missed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 4 On occasions, some staff’s responses to children telling them they feel unhappy are flippant and even offensive. A child’s concerns about feeling unsafe were dismissed on several occasions, and a disclosure about peer-on-peer abuse was not referred to

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

external agencies as it should have been.

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

Safeguarding records are consistently inadequate. Safeguarding concerns and other incidents are not recorded effectively and fail to contain all the required information. Actions taken in response to these concerns are not always recorded and therefore cannot be confirmed. Leaders and managers do not maintain a system to enable them to track and monitor safeguarding concerns. As a result, they do not have an accurate understanding of trends and patterns. This limits their ability to respond to safeguarding concerns effectively and to actively promote children’s welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management of this home is poor. The registered manager is not meeting the conditions of his registration because his oversight of the quality of care that children receive and the operation of the home is ineffective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not provided with the support and training they need to fulfil their role in protecting and meeting the individual needs of children. Not all staff have completed the required mandatory safeguarding training. For example, some staff have not completed training in supporting children who misuse drugs, children at risk of exploitation, restraint, first aid and managing concerns about self-harm/suicide. Consequently, children are being cared for by some staff who do not have the skills and knowledge to safeguard them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders have not ensured that the registered manager and staff team have sufficient formal supervision. Opportunities for staff to reflect on their practice to improve the quality of care are missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not have robust oversight of the day-to-day running of this home. Independent and internal monitoring is ineffective. The lack of effective oversight and challenge by leaders and managers results in a poorly run home with systems and practices that do not ensure or promote children’s welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

As a result of this inspection, Ofsted has issued two compliance notices requiring leaders and managers to take urgent action to protect children and operate the home effectively. Leaders have told the regulator that they intend closing the home temporarily to enable them to rectify the poor safeguarding practices found at this inspection. Ofsted will continue to monitor this home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 5

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(c)(i)) 25 February 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 6 In addition, ensure that children are provided with continuity of care from adults who have the training, skills and experience to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers should ensure that all children are supported to maintain a clean and hygienic bedroom.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are provided with support from external agencies that will reduce the risk of exploitation and drug misuse. 25 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. *(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)) 11 February 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 7 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 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(a)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 11 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. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 25 February 2022

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 8

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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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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: 2484443 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Impact For Change Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Canns Down Press, Beaford, Winkleigh, Devon EX19 8LZ

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2484443 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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Inspector

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