Children's home run by Juventas Services

Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 1 Registered provider: Juventas Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children aged between 11 and 17 who may have experienced trauma, a sense of rejection, neglect, abuse and exploitation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 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 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: 8 December 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/12/2021 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. Children build positive relationships with staff and enjoy spending time with them. This has enabled children to make some progress in different areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. Children have been helped to access therapeutic interventions to support their emotional well-being and staff have advocated for children to receive these services. One child has been helped to access services in relation to healthy eating. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the issues relating to this, which has helped the child become more confident in accessing support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to maintain positive relationships with their family members. When staff have had concerns in relation to whether such relationships are positive for children, they have worked with the children and their social workers to explore how these relationships can be better supported. Consequently, family relationships are more positive for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational progress has been mixed. One child’s engagement in education has significantly increased in recent months. Staff have helped the child settle into a new provision, which they are enjoying. However, attendance at school for two other children has decreased. Staff actively encourage them to attend school. When they are not at school, staff encourage children to undertake educational activities at the home. The manager has worked with some education professionals to try to help children return to regular education. However, the manager has failed to escalate the concerns about children’s education to the virtual school head. This is despite one child having had very low attendance for several months. This means that not all routes to support children’s education have been fully explored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s placement plans are not always kept up to date and targets are not regularly reviewed. One child’s plan did not contain information relating to their cultural and identity needs. Poor oversight of children’s plans means that these are not being used as an effective tool to help improve the quality of care for children. Additionally, plans do not clearly evidence how children’s needs are being met.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the risks that children are subject to. Children’s safety plans and crisis-management plans are individualised and contain clear strategies to support children. One-to-one sessions are used with children to help them understand different risks, such as those relating to online safety and alcohol misuse. Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 4 Staff encourage positive behaviour through rewards and achievement logs. This helps children take pride in their achievements. When children display unwanted behaviours, a restorative approach is taken to applying consequences to help children learn from such incidents.

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

Staff work with children to help them manage their relationships at the home. There have been some incidents between children. These have been managed effectively by staff in ways that help children to calm. After such incidents, staff work with children to help them think about how they can manage their peer relationships appropriately and discuss strategies to do this. This has helped to reduce incidents between children and has encouraged more positive relationships.

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

Two children have been reported as missing from the home on some occasions. Staff respond to these incidents proactively. They actively search for children and contact family members. Managers ensure that return home interviews are completed after children return home, and one-to-one sessions are used to help children understand risks that these incidents may present. The manager communicates clearly with staff about how to respond to incidents, which ensures that children benefit from a consistent approach.

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

Staff have a good understanding of how to raise safeguarding concerns. However, one incident, in which a child made an allegation against staff and another child, was not appropriately investigated. Although the child was spoken with by someone independent of the home, there is no record of the outcome of this discussion and no referral to the local authority designated officer was made. This meant that the allegation was not dealt with in line with the home’s safeguarding policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are well supported by managers and can go to them to seek advice and share concerns. Staff receive regular supervisions, which provide them with a forum in which they can consider the needs of children and develop their skills. Consequently, children receive good-quality care, and their needs are better understood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff participate in regular team meetings in which they discuss children’s needs and how children are progressing and reflect on incidents at the home. These discussions develop staff’s understanding of and ability to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are competent in their roles. New staff are supported well through a good induction programme. Staff undertake core training. Managers ensure that staff can access more targeted training in relation to mental health and self-harm. This training ensures that staff are well equipped to care for children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have established good working relationships with professionals and parents. A social worker said that staff communicate with her well and share information about their child. A parent said that she has good relationships with staff and that they work together for the benefit of her child. Good relationships with other people Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 5 involved in the children’s care help to ensure that everyone is working together in the children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. There are systems in place for internal monitoring of the home. However, the quality of the independent person’s reports has been poor. Managers have now taken steps to address this and a new independent person has been appointed. However, reports lack feedback from external professionals and children. Consequently, there is a lack of evidence to evaluate how well children are safeguarded and their well-being is promoted. Poor-quality external monitoring means that its effectiveness as a tool to develop the care that children receive is limited. Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 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 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all safeguarding concerns and allegations against staff are managed in line with the home’s safeguarding policies and referred to the local authority designated officer. 15 April 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s placement plans are up to date and include all necessary information relating to their care. 2 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires. 6 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 7 The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(b) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that reports include feedback from children and external professionals, that visits are in person and that evaluations relating to how children are safeguarded and their well-being is promoted are clear.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, if a child’s education progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the virtual school head. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff act as effective advocates for or on behalf of a child who may be experiencing difficulties with education, as a good parent would do. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.12)

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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: 2566488 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Juventas Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Yare House 62-64, Thorpe Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1RY

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Inspectors

Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2566488 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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