Jennens House

Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 1 Jennens House J.A.C.S Specialist Limited 66-68 Wednesbury Road, Walsall WS1 3RR Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

This residential family centre is privately owned and run. The primary purpose of the centre is to support local authorities, courts, parents and children in the provision of fair and evidence-based parenting assessments.

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Information about this residential family centre

The centre is registered to accommodate up to seven families. Families usually stay at the centre for 12 weeks. A range of assessment methods are used.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and parents, taking into account inadequate

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and parents are helped and protected inadequate

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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Overall experiences and progress of

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and parents are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and parents are poor.

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2022

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

On 19 January 2022, Ofsted undertook a full inspection and judged the residential family centre to be inadequate. Ofsted issued compliance notices under regulation 10, regulation 11, regulation 12, regulation 13 and regulation 13A of the Residential Family Centre Regulations (England) 2002. Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

This is the residential family centre’s second inspection since it was registered in October 2021. The inspectors identified serious and widespread concerns across all areas of care for children and their parents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

The manager has not fully assessed the family’s needs before they move in. This has meant that families are not well matched and there are safeguarding concerns about families spending time with each other. To manage these risks, restrictive measures have been implemented on a regular basis at the centre. This includes not allowing families to spend time in the communal areas. The centre is not providing parents with an environment in which they have the best opportunity to demonstrate their ability to meet their children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

The poor matching of families means that planned group sessions for parents to enhance their parenting skills have not taken place. This is because the manager is concerned about the parents socialising together. The opportunities for parents to learn how to care for their children is restricted because of the poor matching of families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

Families do not always have a placement planning meeting when they arrive at the centre or receive a copy of their placement plan. This means that families are not provided with a clear understanding of the expectations or aims of their assessment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

The registered manager’s weekly review of families’ placements is ineffective because it does not identify relevant shortfalls in the care provided to children. One child has asthma and needs to use inhalers, another child has recently been prescribed new glasses. This information is not included in the children’s plans. As a result, staff are not given clear guidance to promote children’s health needs or assess whether parents are able to meet children’s health needs as part of their ongoing assessment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

Parents’ capacity to respond to the children’s needs and to safeguard their welfare is not adequately assessed by a suitably qualified person. A registered social worker is employed to work in the centre to complete parenting assessments. However, their assessment of parents does not adequately consider all available information. This means that the assessments completed may not accurately reflect the skills of parents in being able to safeguard their children and meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: inadequate

Some aspects of the centre are poorly maintained. One family’s bedroom was dirty and had broken furniture. One parent told the inspectors that her room was dirty when she and her children arrived. Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 3 Parents spoken to during the inspection provided mix responses. One parent told the inspectors that the centre was great, whereas another parent said that the lack of communication from staff meant that she did not always know how her assessment was progressing.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

Families do not receive safe and effective care. Managers and staff fail to provide families with sufficient levels of supervision. Four families live in the home, and each is required to be supervised on a one-to-one basis. However, at times, there are only three staff on duty. This means that the required level of supervision is not consistently being provided. This puts very vulnerable families at risk of harm.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

The centre uses closed circuit television cameras to monitor families. However, the lack of staff means that the cameras are not monitored effectively. Cameras are not watched when staff are en route to visit the families in their rooms. This provides a window of opportunity for an incident to occur without staff knowledge. It is planned that portable devices will be used to address this issue, however, these have yet to be introduced. There have been occasions where administrative staff have monitored the cameras. These members of staff have not been trained to undertake this task. This means that they do not have the necessary skills to recognise and act upon signs that children and families are at risk of harm.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

The manager has not ensured that risk assessments are of a consistent quality and reflect known risks. One parent has been assessed as being a low risk of using substances, despite this being a significant feature of her lifestyle before her coming into the centre. This means that staff have not considered what support the parent needs to address her substance use or assessed how the substance use may affect her parenting skills and capacity once she leaves the centre.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff are not fully aware of how to deal with risky and difficult situations. They do not fully understand their safeguarding roles or responsibilities. The inspectors noted that there had been an occasion when a parent had used derogatory language toward her child. This was not challenged by staff and the managers were not aware of the incident, therefore no subsequent work was completed with the parent. This lack of challenge meant that the child was placed at risk of emotional harm.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

The manager’s oversight of medication administration has been ineffective. The inspectors identified that the record of controlled medication did not match what was being stored. In another example, staff wrote on an envelope to document what medication had been administered to families. This does not demonstrate an effective or robust approach to the administration of medication.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

The manager has failed to ensure that the appropriate fire safety measures are in place. During the inspection, the inspectors observed staff using door wedges to hold open fire doors. This increases the risk of harm should there be a fire. In addition, some of the windows on the first floor of the building are not fitted with Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 4 window restrictors. The manager and director said that this was because this was an escape route should there be a fire. The fire risk assessment does not reflect that this is a designated fire exit.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: inadequate

Managers have not ensured that all staff have been safely recruited. Managers were unable to evidence that all written references have been received and gaps in employment have been explored.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following the previous inspection, there have been some significant changes to the management structure. The registered manager left her role and the operations manager for the service has taken over as the manager. She is in the process of submitting her application to Ofsted to be registered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers fail to lead and manage the residential family centre in a manner that is consistent with the aims outlined in its statement of purpose. Managers cannot demonstrate that the care provided meets the individual needs of children and parents or promotes their safety and welfare effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management monitoring systems are not effective. The manager has not identified and/or acted on the quality of the case recordings. Supervision logs and observation logs do not correlate with each other or provide a clear and accurate account of events. This has the potential to undermine the quality of evidence on which assessments are based.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s relationship with the registered social worker is strained and they do not always communicate with each other about relevant information related to parent’s assessments. This means that the manager cannot fully consider the quality of the social workers assessments or the conclusion and recommendations being made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A quality assurance manager has been appointed to provide oversight and scrutiny of the assessments. However, the quality of her monitoring is poor and she has not identified the shortfalls in assessment practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new independent person has been appointed to carry out visits. However, only one report under regulation 25 has been provided to Ofsted. The quality of the report is poor and does not provide an analytical overview of the service. This hinders the manager’s monitoring of the service. Furthermore, the manager has not undertaken a six-monthly monitoring report. Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 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, Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall compile in relation to the residential family centre a written statement (in these Regulations referred to as "the statement of purpose") which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6) the registered person shall ensure that the residential family centre is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 4 (1) (5)) 11 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall make arrangements for the recording, handling, safe keeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the residential family centre. (Regulation 11 (2))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the staff following the medication policy. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall, before providing a family with accommodation in the residential family centre, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as soon as possible thereafter, draw up in consultation with the placing authority a written plan (in these Regulations referred to as "the placement plan") setting out, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

the facilities and services to be provided during the course of the placement;

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Requirement Due date

the objectives and intended outcome of the placement.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall keep under review and revise the placement plan as necessary.

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Requirement Due date

In preparing or reviewing the placement plan the registered person shall, so far as practicable— 11 September Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 6 seek and take account of the views of the members of the family;

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Requirement Due date

take account of any relevant assessment or other report relating to any member of the family which may be provided by the placing authority. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s and parents’ placement plans are reflective of their needs.

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must ensure that the parents’ capacity to respond to the children’s needs and to safeguard their welfare is monitored or assessed by a suitably qualified person in accordance with the requirements of this regulation.

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Requirement Due date

All assessment or monitoring of parents’ capacity to respond to the children’s needs and to safeguard their welfare must be carried out in accordance with appropriate and generally recognised methods for such assessment and, in particular, having due regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State relating to the assessment of children in need (7) and their parents under section 7(1) of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970(8).

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Requirement Due date

The methods of assessment or monitoring must be capable of evaluating the parents’ capacity to change.

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The registered person must ensure that conclusions or recommendations are made as a result of the assessment or monitoring and that—

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such conclusions or recommendations are objective and based on verifiable evidence; and

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the evidence on which they are based is capable of being presented in a manner that is clear, accessible and appropriate to the persons who will need to consider them. (Regulation 13A (1) (2) (3) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to parents receiving evidence-based assessments. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person shall ensure that there is, having regard to— 11 September Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 7 the statement of purpose of the residential family centre, its size and the numbers and needs of its residents; and

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Requirement Due date

the need to safeguard and promote the health and welfare of residents,

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Requirement Due date

a sufficient number of suitably qualified, competent and experienced persons working for the residential family centre. (Regulation 15 (a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the residential family centre has a sufficient staff team to meet the needs of the families.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work at a residential family centre unless—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to him in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 2. (Regulation 16 (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff are safely recruited. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall maintain in respect of each family accommodated in the residential family centre a record which—

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is kept up to date. (Regulation 19 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to parents’ and children’s records being clear and up to date. 11 September

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The registered person shall ensure that—

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the physical design and layout of the premises to be used as the residential family centre meet the needs of families;

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the premises to be used as the residential family centre are of sound construction and kept in a good state of repair externally and internally;

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all parts of the residential family centre are kept clean and reasonably decorated; (Regulation 21 (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring the physical environment is safe for families. 11 September Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 8 *The registered person shall after consultation with the fire authority—

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Requirement Due date

for detecting, containing and extinguishing fires;

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Requirement Due date

for reviewing fire precautions, and testing fire equipment, at suitable intervals (Regulation 22 (1)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the centre having appropriate fire safety measures in place. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall establish and maintain a system for—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided at the residential family centre. (Regulation 23 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered manager has an effective monitoring system in place. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

Where the registered provider is an individual, but is not in day to day charge of the residential family centre, he shall visit the residential family centre in accordance with this regulation.

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Requirement Due date

The person carrying out the visit shall—

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Requirement Due date

interview, with their consent and in private, such of the residents and persons working at the residential family centre as appears necessary in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the residential family centre. (Regulation 25 (1) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the quality of visits by the registered provider improves, including improving the written report. 11 September

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 9

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and parents 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 Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 1

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: J.A.C.S Specialist Ltd

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: 66-68 Wednesbury Road, Walsall WS1 3RR

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Residential family centre details

Email address: jennenshouse@jacsspeccialists.co.uk

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Inspectors

Lydia Isaac, Social Care Inspector Mazviita Makiyi, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: Jennens House 1 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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