Children's home run by HAVEN CARE GROUP LIMITED

Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 1 Registered provider: Haven Care Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is run by a privately owned company and is one of eight homes in the organisation. The home is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have experienced adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children's home

The home has a newly registered manager. The manager is undertaking the level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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: 18 October 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: 1244350 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/06/2021 Full Inadequate 14/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/10/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection in October 2021, two children have moved into the home and three children have left. At the time of this inspection, no children were living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health and well-being is not always promoted by staff. Staff actively facilitated the purchasing of cigarettes for one child, helping to support their smoking addiction. Furthermore, children do not receive support with smoking cessation.

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improvement to be good

Care planning for children is not good. Managers do not obtain the relevant paperwork from the local authority in order to inform them of the children’s needs. For example, care plans and actions from care plan reviews are not obtained. As a result, it is not clear if children receive the necessary care to meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide children with a clean and welcoming environment. Children’s bedrooms are fully furnished to meet all needs. Books and board games are accessible in communal rooms such as the games room.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to attend education. When children face barriers with education attendance, staff and managers work in partnership with schools to support children to attend. Staff provide children with structure and education timetables to provide meaningful educational activities when they do not always attend.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy time with people who are most important to them. Staff support children to maintain positive relationships with friends and family. Children visit family regularly and have family members spend time in the home with them. Children see staff and their family working together and this enables them to receive coordinated care.

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improvement to be good

When children leave the home, staff and managers involve them in the planning for their move. Children enjoy leaving meals and parties to mark their moving on. This means that children have positive endings.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently respond to children’s risk-taking behaviour. For example, staff do not take appropriate action when it is known that children bring cannabis into the home and smoke in their bedrooms. The failure to respond effectively risks leaving children vulnerable to harm. Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 4 Weekly fire safety checks completed by staff have failed to identify that the fire detection system in an outbuilding that is used as the children’s games room does not work. Furthermore, the building is not included in the home’s fire risk assessment. This omission leaves children vulnerable and at risk. Managers have provided Ofsted with assurances that the outbuilding will not be used until the fire detection system is in full working order.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, five new staff members have joined the home. Relevant checks are undertaken. However, when concerns are highlighted with references around conduct, managers have not taken appropriate action to follow this up. This has the potential to result in staff working in the home who are not suitable to do so.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint. There have been no formal complaints since the last inspection. However, a concern raised by one child was managed in accordance with the complaints procedure, and this ensured that the child felt listened to.

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improvement to be good

Responses to children who go missing from care and harm themselves are good. Following incidents of children being missing from care, they are provided with the opportunity to speak with an independent person. This allows children to share any concerns with a person independent from the home. Subtle and non-judgemental responses to children’s struggles help them to reflect and consider future decision- making.

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good

A suitably qualified registered manager leads the staff team. The manager does not monitor and review all behaviour incidents effectively. This lack of effective oversight prevents managers from being able to clearly identify and act on shortfalls in staff practice, identify patterns and trends and make improvements to the way staff manage children’s challenging behaviours.

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good

Managers and staff do not challenge professionals from children’s placing authorities when needed. For example, one child was without a care plan for four months. In another example, managers failed to escalate concerns about a professional practice.

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good

The manager completes a six-monthly review of the quality of care in the home. However, this review does not provide an analysis of how the care is helping to improve outcomes for the children. This limits the value of the review in informing service improvement.

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good

Staff report that they enjoy working in the home and are positive about the support they receive. Regular supervision takes place in line with the organisation’s policy. Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 5 Supervisions are of good quality and provide staff with the opportunity to develop within their roles.

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good

Most staff hold the required level 3 diploma. One staff member is currently working to achieve this qualification in the required timescales. Staff are provided with a wide range of training that informs their practice and helps them to meet children’s individual and diverse needs. This provides staff with some of the skills and knowledge for their roles. Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to receiving statutory documents for each child. Also, relates to managers challenging authorities when inappropriate requests are made. 30 September 2022

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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.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and 30 September 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 7 well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to supporting children with smoking cessation.

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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

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; and

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff and managers acting upon concerns highlighted by children. 30 September 2022

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Requirement Due date

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 aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 30 September 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 8 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager using effective monitoring and review systems to identify potential shortfalls in the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the outbuilding to the home is included in the home’s fire risk assessment and has a working fire alarm system. 2 September 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice. The registered person should ensure that the recruitment procedures minimise the risk of unsafe adults working with children. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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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: 1244350 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Haven Care Group Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Haven Care Group, Unit 6, Barberry Court, Parkway, Centrum One Hundred, Burton-on-Trent DE14 2UE

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Inspectors

Kev Brammer, Social Care Inspector Neil Beaumont, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1244350 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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