Children's Home run by London Borough of Hounslow in Hounslow

Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 1 SC062128 Registered provider: London Borough of Hounslow Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The London Borough of Hounslow operates the home. The home’s statement of purpose states that it aims to meet the needs of young people with a range of challenging behaviours, which make it difficult for them to live with their families. The home provides care for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2022.

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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: 21 October 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/07/2021 Full Inadequate 18/02/2020 Full Good 20/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build trusting relationships with those who look after them. This has been achieved through staff being consistent in their parenting and perseverance, despite the challenges presented. A core group of staff have worked in the home for many years, and this contributes to children settling in well and having a planned transition when they leave the home. The independent reviewing officer of a child said, ‘Prior to living at the home, [the child] experienced a number of placement breakdowns and was very unsettled. Having been at the home for two years demonstrates that this environment and home has worked well for her.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to participate in the decision-making processes regarding their day-to-day care and longer-term plans. When asked about whether their views were listened to, one child said, ‘I can give my views and meetings are very focused on me and I am being heard.’ Children can also communicate their views through a suggestion box in the home and key-work sessions. Staff have worked hard to encourage children to attend children’s meetings, but notes from these meetings do not indicate clearly what actions have been agreed and who will be responsible for completing them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the barriers that children face in attending school, and strive to ensure that these barriers are eliminated through effective consultation with schools and colleges. Children are provided with tutorial services if they are not attending mainstream education. Three children have completed their GCSE’s and are awaiting their results. The same three children have also been offered college courses for the coming academic year in their subject of choice. There is a strong emphasis on educational attainment and celebrating children’s achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities in the home and community, including cooking, movie nights, ice skating, go karting, trips to a theme park and bowling. At the time of this inspection, two children were experiencing a five-day holiday to the Isle of Wight. Staff ensure that pictures are taken of children’s achievements and engagement in activities. This contributes to children’s life stories and provides positive memories for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that children attend essential medical appointments and key-work sessions are used to talk with children about maintaining good health. Children are encouraged to cook their own meals, and staff offer support in terms of making sure that children consider the nutritional value of the meals they make. Staff have recently completed medication training and managers intend to review the process of administering medication to ensure that this remains in line with agreed practice and protocols.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers hold initial meetings to discuss and consider the needs of new children moving in to the home and the potential impact on children already living in Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 4 the home. Children are helped to settle into the home. Children receive a good induction when they move in the home. The children’s guide has been revised, providing key information for children about the home, rules, routines, respecting others, and how staff will help children. Staff invest time in children and understand the importance of positive endings, whether these are planned or unplanned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff work hard to support children to manage their own negative feelings about themselves and others in the home by providing clear boundaries. The number of occasions of police being called to the home have reduced and this demonstrates that children are more able to manage their own emotions. Staff acknowledge positive behaviour, most notably by writing in each child’s ‘This is what makes [the child’s name] great’ diary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers view children’s relationships with family members and those who are important to them as significant in helping children to understand their identity and life story. Staff and managers therefore promote relationships for children, and work with parents and others to re-establish and maintain communication. Staff and managers work to agreed safety plans in respect of communication between children and their families, and children are helped to understand that they can contact staff if they feel uncomfortable when meeting family members.

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

Children living at the home present a range of risks and behaviours. This includes children targeting staff, damage to property, self-harm, and vulnerability to child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation. Managers and staff work with children, social workers, police and other professionals to protect children from harm. One child who has presented with significant challenges, said in their recent looked after child review that they felt safe and would like to remain living at the home.

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

Clear and up-to-date risk assessments are completed for children, alongside focused key-working sessions with children, where safety plans are drawn up and agreed in consultation with them. Where necessary, specialist support and guidance are provided to staff and children from agencies such as children’s adolescent mental health services and drug and alcohol services.

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

The number of times that some children go missing from the home has reduced. Managers and staff review missing-from-home episodes to understand what more can be done to ensure the safety of all children. Managers and staff talk to children when there is a risk that they may go missing from home to try to prevent this. Managers and staff understand and follow agreed procedures when children go missing, and make attempts to locate and maintain contact with children who are missing. One social worker said, ‘The home have done their best to keep them [the child] safe in the home. It’s more problematic when they are out in the community.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 5 The independent reviewing officer for a child made the following comment: ‘The main strength of the service is how well they appear to know [child’s name] and the way in which they support [the child]’. The independent reviewing officer reported

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

that the manager and staff support the child’s independence. Managers and staff’s knowledge of children means that they are able to safely promote children’s independence, which contributes to children’s development, self-esteem and sense of achievement.

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

Children’s behaviour support plans have been reviewed and now use the ‘zones of regulation’ model approach to identify and consider the triggers to children’s behaviour to support children’s development of self-regulation. Children are fully involved in this process and help to identify how staff should respond. This helps children to recognise and manage their own feelings and provides staff with suitable strategies to support children to manage their behaviour.

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

Managers and staff have recently completed team teach restraint training. However, the use of restraint is not a regular feature of this home. When incidents of restraint have occurred, these have been in line with the agreed practice and procedure. Managers review and reflect on incidents and the actions taken with staff, and children are also given the opportunity to provide feedback and reflect on the incident. Consequently, this helps them to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others and helps to improve their behaviour.

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

All staff have completed safeguarding training and the registered manager is the designated lead officer for the home. There has been one allegation made against a member of staff since the last inspection and this was dealt with effectively. The local authority designated officer commented, ‘We have a good relationship with the staff, who report incidents if and when they arise.’ Nevertheless, the inspection highlighted that some staff are not clear on the action they should take when a child discloses that another member of staff may be abusing their position of trust. This places staff in a vulnerable and compromising position and does not demonstrate that children are safeguarded effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and is supported by a deputy manager, who has worked at the home for over 16 years. Senior leaders implemented an improvement plan following the outcome of the last inspection. They are working to support managers and staff in ensuring that children remain safe and the home meets care standards and regulatory requirements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A consultant has been commissioned to support managers and staff in completing the actions identified in the improvement plan, and this includes improving safeguarding practice as well as identifying gaps in procedures. Managers in the home report that this support has been positive and new initiatives, such as the devising of questionnaires to gain feedback from children, parents and professionals, are being trialled. However, systems for monitoring and evaluating the quality of Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 6 care provided to children are yet to be embedded, and a requirement made at the last inspection related to reviewing the quality of care has been restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers use an impact assessment tool to support decisions regarding whether a child will come to live at the home based on their presenting needs and what is known about the children currently living in the home. Leaders and managers are proactive in alerting social workers when children are not settling and it is clear that the home cannot continue to meet the more complex needs of children. In such cases, managers and staff support children to move on to alternative suitable settings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have been working to recruit a full complement of staff to meet the needs of children, and this process is almost complete. The current staff team is long-standing and very experienced. Children’s views are regularly sought to inform staff appraisals, and this demonstrates that there is a robust process in place to evaluate staff performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff receive regular supervision, and staff report that they find supervision helpful as it allows them to not only discuss the needs and progress of children, but the impact on their own well-being. Leaders and managers wish to move to a position where staff receive a form of clinical supervision, and, to this end, a psychologist is available to offer consultation to the team. The deputy manager is a trained psychotherapist and uses her training and expertise to support staff. Team meetings offer further support to staff and opportunities for them to reflect on practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Induction and training for managers and staff ensures that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the children in their care. Nevertheless, it has been commented on by professionals that staff would benefit from specialised training, for example, around understanding life stories, the impact of controlling and abusive relationships in the context of grooming and exploitation, crisis management and trauma-informed practice. This would enhance the care provided to children by staff providing more-informed responses to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that they get on well with each other and work well as a team. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘The staff appear to share information with the team to ensure that things are handed over and followed up.‘

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have worked hard to create a homely and safe environment for children. The home has pictures created by the children on various walls, and children helped to decide on the colour scheme for the different rooms in the home. However, two health and safety issues need to be addressed. During inspection of the children’s fridge, open food packaging was not labelled in line with the home’s own policy. The recording of the home’s fire alarm testing and fire drills were not recorded accurately. Annual risk assessments are undertaken by an external agency to ensure that the home remains safe for children and adults. Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 7

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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 registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated from the previous inspection. 20 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(a)(b) (2) and schedule 4 (6))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to maintaining a clear and accurate system for the recording of fire drills and alarm tests conducted. 31 August 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that food stored in the fridge is suitably labelled in line with the home’s policies and procedures. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the workforce development plan to ensure that the training and support offered to staff is specific to working in a residential setting and caring for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff know what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 43, paragraph 9.14)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s meeting notes contain clear action points and identify who will be completing those actions with timescales. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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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 children’s home: SC062128 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: London Borough Of Hounslow, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB

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Inspectors

Colin Bent, Social Care Inspector Dorothy Thompstone, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC062128 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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