Children's Home run by Children & Adolescents Placement Provisions Ltd in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 1 Registered provider: Children & Adolescents Placement Provisions Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned by a small private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have emotional and social difficulties. The home was registered in February 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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

Date of last inspection: 15 November 2021

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/09/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 3

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improvement to be good

The home continues to offer stable care for three children. These children, who have complex needs and care arrangements, have lived in the home for almost a year. Their progress overall is good, but has been affected by many external factors, including changes to the provision of emotional health and well-being support. This is an area of concern for the children and those caring for them, as the children feel that they have had little input into decisions made about their therapeutic support.

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improvement to be good

Changes in circumstances have impacted on the children, contributing to their low mood, meaning they have missed school more often. Despite this, the children have still made progress academically. School and care staff have a positive working relationship. Staff remain on site when the children attend school. A teacher described this input as ‘transformative’. It allows the children to feel supported throughout the day, and care staff are on hand to respond to any difficulties the children may encounter during the school day.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children have expressed negativity regarding the home and there is a correlation with how they feel generally. The children are sometimes not willing to engage in activities arranged by staff, even when these are activities specifically asked for. Staff continue to try to engage the children in positive extra-curricular activities.

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improvement to be good

The children’s views and opinions are often gained through informal discussions, as they are reluctant to participate in formal key-work or house meetings. The children spoke about organisational issues, in that they are not always advised of scheduled meetings, or the purpose of specific meetings. Recently, the children did not attend their statutory looked-after reviews. The children, and family members, advised that they were not informed of these meetings. There was no evidence of work carried out to gain the children’s views in advance of these review meetings to counter this claim. Children are able to express their feelings and they have spoken to the manager about their concerns and worries. However, the children have said that some staff lack empathy.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to maintain relationships with their family. Some family visits take place in the local area and others take place in the children’s home area. This works well as it minimises travel for all parties.

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improvement to be good

The children have experienced a number of changes in the time that they have lived at this home, and this has been unsettling. The children’s behaviour can be Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 4 adversely affected when they are unsettled, and there are some instances of behaviour that can challenge during periods of emotional difficulty.

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improvement to be good

There has been an increase in the children’s use of illegal substances in the community when they are away from the home. Staff are addressing this through direct work with the children. Referral to specialist teams for substance misuse is being considered as part of the overall therapeutic input. As the children’s situations change and they have more freedom, there has been an increase in pushing boundaries. Staff are working to help the children make safe choices while gradually increasing the amount of unsupervised time out they can have. After months of increased supervision, the children feel happier that they are trusted to have time alone in the community.

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improvement to be good

When incidents have occurred, the follow-up actions identified have not always taken place. An example of this is the decision to carry out daily room checks following banned items being found. These room checks did not start for several days. This impairs the effectiveness of the measures agreed and fails to safeguard children. It also allows for a repeat of the original concern.

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improvement to be good

The children perceive that there is inconsistency in the approaches used by staff to manage behaviours. To address this, the manager has introduced more frequent staff meetings and staff discussions.

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improvement to be good

Children alerted the manager to the fact that agency waking-night staff were sleeping while on duty. This is despite these staff being employed to ensure that children are safe during the night. The manager took appropriate action, and these staff no longer cover shifts. The manager recognises that children still struggle with some night-time members of staff. However, there is a lack of consideration that children may feel unsafe at night, given their past trauma and more recent experiences. There has been a lack of exploration of things that might act as triggers for the children in feeling unsafe and/or unsettled.

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good

Leadership arrangements in the home have been strengthened and continue to improve. The organisation has created a head of care role. This person provides an extra source of support and guidance for the home’s registered manager. The manager now feels better able to fulfil her management role both here and at the other children’s home she is manager for. Staff say that they find the manager approachable and supportive. The manager prides herself in being readily available to the children and staff.

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good

Issues persist regarding access to information and the manager being able to find what she needs. Information is held in different places, has omissions and is sometimes wrongly filed. This fails to ensure that staff are working with the most up-to-date information. Leaders and managers are aware that recording remains an issue. The need to address this shortfall is being restated for a second time. Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 5 Leaders and managers are finalising the arrangements to move to an electronic recording system. The aim is to enable better tracking and monitoring of information.

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good

The manager’s quality assurance checks and independent person reports help to drive improvements. The manager’s quality of care report sets targets and goals for the following period. Team meetings are taking place more frequently to ensure that all staff are working in a consistent manner. The aim is to provide children with more consistent care and more consistent responses.

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good

The manager uses individual and group supervision to provide guidance for staff. It is also used to address staffing issues and performance-related matters. For example, when there was a medication error, appropriate action was taken. A full team discussion was held and refresher medication training arranged. Extra measures are now in place to limit the possibility of a reoccurrence.

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good

The manager escalates her concerns when she feels that professionals’ responses are delayed or ineffective. She is now better at recording this information. This is supporting children to access the services they need to make progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children are encouraged and supported to participate in their statutory reviews and relevant meetings where their views are required. 19 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 19 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 7 that staff —

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ix))

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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

that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that follow up actions, identified as part of incident debriefs, are completed.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to improving file management and ensuring that records are completed fully, with attention to detail and accuracy, and filed correctly. Additionally, children and their families should be made aware of meetings and appointments where their attendance is required.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 19 June 2022

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 8 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: 2625585 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Children & Adolescents Placement Provisions Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 40 Harpur Street, Bedford, Bedfordshire MK40 2QT

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Inspector

Sonia Hay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2625585 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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