Children's home run by Good Foundations Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 1 SC065789 Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/08/2019 Full Good 07/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/06/2018 Full Good 27/02/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 3

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improvement to be good

There are currently three children living at the home. Since the last full inspection, one child has left the home; one child moved into the home in September 2021.

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improvement to be good

The home environment presents as tired and in need of maintenance. In the hallway and landing areas, there are cracks to the ceilings and the carpet is worn. One child’s bedroom has damaged walls, and there is not enough adequate storage for his clothes. There are patches of damp in the office and one of the bedrooms. Consequently, children are not supported to live in a well presented, comfortable and healthy home.

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improvement to be good

Two of the three children living in the home are not attending education. There are plans in place to engage the children in education. However, the plans lack creativity and the strategies contained within the plans are not effective. Staff do not provide those children who are not attending education during the daytime with structured activities to complete. As a result, not all children are making meaningful educational progress.

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improvement to be good

The children are offered a range of activities. However, staff are not always creative in ensuring that the activities reflect the children’s likes and interests. As a result, one child went missing, preferring instead to take part in a different activity he enjoyed.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are being met. Staff ensure that they register children with the relevant health professionals, and that children’s health appointments are up to date. Medication recording procedures do not clearly record all relevant details, such as the time that medication is taken.

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improvement to be good

The staff encourage and support children to keep in touch with their family and friends. The staff facilitate visits to family and ensure that support is available. This helps children to maintain a sense of their identity.

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improvement to be good

Serious incidents in the home are infrequent. However, when serious incidents happen, the records do not provide sufficient information for a review of the incidents or of staff’s safeguarding practice. This also demonstrates weaknesses in the manager’s oversight and evaluation of these records.

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improvement to be good

Some staff do not understand their roles or responsibilities in protecting children. Despite individualised risk assessments being in place, these are not consistently Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 4 used in practice, specifically regarding children’s access to the internet. This has resulted in one child accessing social media inappropriately and potentially placing themselves at significant risk. This does not keep children safe from online grooming or inappropriate internet content.

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improvement to be good

Missing-from-care protocols are in place for all the children. However, these have not been updated following incidents of children going missing from care. Strategies contained within some of the assessments were not specific, and staff were not consistently implementing them. As a result, staff are not ensuring the safety of children when they are away from the home.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff implement a restorative model of behaviour management. There have been no incidents of physical intervention. The staff are trained in using de-escalation techniques, and this works well for the children who develop a positive sense of well-being and respect.

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good

The home is run by a suitably qualified manager. Less than half of the staff team is qualified in line with regulations. There has been a significant delay in some of the staff completing the necessary qualifications. The manager has lacked oversight of this and has not been proactive in ensuring that staff are adequately qualified.

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good

The manager lacks professional curiosity. Following incidents, the manager was unable to demonstrate that she had gained a good understanding of the event. There was limited evidence of management oversight recorded within documents. Therefore, she was unable to demonstrate what had been learned from incidents, or that changes and strategies were introduced to reduce future risk.

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good

There has been a change in the independent visitor to the home. This has vastly improved the quality of the monitoring visits. The independent monitoring visits support the manager to make continuous improvements in the home.

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good

The manager has supported the staff team to meet the needs of children flexibly during the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. This included covering shifts to ensure that the children living in the home at that time received support from staff who knew them well.

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good

Staff receive all the necessary training to meet the needs of the children. The manager has a system in place to ensure that all staff attend training and development to support them in their roles. Furthermore, all staff receive regular supervision and performance appraisals. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 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; and

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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

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

This relates to the registered manager ensuring that all maintenance work is completed, enabling the children to live in a home that is of a good standard. All children must be provided with adequate facilities to store their clothing in. 24 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; 24 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 6 understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; and

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered manager and staff being proactive and creative in their strategies to engage children in education. Children should be engaged in suitable structured activities if they are not attending education.

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to having robust risk assessments in place which are updated following all incidents. All incidents must be recorded and evaluated by the registered manager to identify arrangements to reduce the risk. 24 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 24 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 7 The requirements are that—

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) 5(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that all staff have completed appropriate qualifications by the relevant date.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the manager and staff are aware of the local offer setting out the support available for children with special education needs or disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)  The registered person should ensure that they make suitable arrangements to record the time medication is given to a child, and that records clearly reflect when medication is given to a third party to administer. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15) Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 8

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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: SC065789 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Good Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 6 Tower Quays, Tower Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 1BP

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Inspectors

Rose Maddocks, Social Care Inspector Marina Tully, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC065789 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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