New Park Project (The)

Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 1 SC065046 Registered provider: Beaufort Care Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered for up to three children. It provides care for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private provider, which has several other homes in the area.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 14 January 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child resident in the home at the time of the inspection. Two children had moved out of the home during this inspection period.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 16 February 2022

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2022 Full Good 06/01/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 13/08/2019 Full Good 11/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 3

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inadequate

Children’s progress has stalled while living in this home. One child has resided in the home for 19 months and yet remains out of formal education and has no meaningful structure to their day. Similarly, the same child has missed several health appointments and is no longer registered with a dentist. Leaders have tried to address these problems , but this has not yet resulted in an effective plan to address these shortfalls.

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inadequate

Staff are eager to work with the child but have not yet found the right ways to aid the child’s engagement. Attempts to help prepare the child for independence have been made by staff. However, these have been largely unsuccessful, and the child is nearing adulthood without the necessary skills or knowledge to move on from the home successfully.

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inadequate

. When making decisions about children moving into the home, consideration of how well staff will be able to meet their needs and of how likely it is that new arrivals will fit in with the children already living in the home is weak. Potential issues are not fully explored and there is an over optimism when considering factors that may mitigate any concerns. Leaders and managers accepted the placement of a child with a complex history alongside two other children who also required a high level of support, without sufficient consideration of how well these three children would be able to live together and how likely it was that staff would be able to meet all of their needs well enough. It was identified that the children would need to have considerable structure to their days and should not be left unsupervised in order to keep them all safe. However, at the time, none of the children were accessing

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inadequate

education and therefore were spending large amounts of time together in the home.

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inadequate

One parent told the inspector that they felt their child has a good rapport with staff and ‘is always laughing’. However, the parent would like to be better informed when incidents occur that involve their child.

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inadequate

Two children have left the home in unplanned ways since Ofsted last inspected the home. Despite the difficult circumstances under which the children left the home and their complex needs, leaders and managers worked hard to ensure that the children’s moves have been as positive as they could be. In one instance, the child’s social worker praised the manager and team for their flexibility and effective communication.

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

Children and staff have not been kept safe in this home. During one significant incident, leaders and managers failed to recognise the need for police intervention when staff were unable to manage the situation with approved restraining Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 4 techniques. This led not only to a child at risk but to staff members being significantly injured as a result. Leaders and managers did not ensure that staff received the medical attention that they required at the time.

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

There have been two recent occasions when a child had been held using unauthorised holds. There was a significant delay in leaders and managers oversight of these records and a lack of meaningful action taken to improve practice.

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

Staff debriefs following incidents are not always completed in a timely manner. Debriefs are poorly recorded and opportunities for reflection and learning are missed. There is a lack of professional challenge by leaders and managers, and some unsafe practice has not been addressed. These are missed opportunities for improving the effectiveness of care and safeguarding in the home and for better ensuring the safety of staff.

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

Protocols for when children go missing are not consistently followed or understood by staff. Staff regularly attempt to make telephone contact with the missing child throughout the period of them being missing. However, they do not continue to search for them beyond the initial search of the local area. In some instances, this contradicts the guidance within the children’s individual support plans, particularly when children who should not have unsupervised time with a particular peer, have left the house together.

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

On one occasion, a child left the home without staff knowledge. Staff are not vigilant enough and, on this occasion, staff were together in the office area and the children were not being supervised despite their individual risk assessments.

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

Staff have overlooked a serious allegation made by a child and did not take timely and appropriate action to notify the police.

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

Children receive good-quality debriefs following an incident, by staff who know them well. The record of the incident is often shared with the child to give them an opportunity to view and challenge what has been written about them. Staff help the child to reflect on what has happened and how they were feeling, as well as what could be done differently moving forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of sufficient or adequate management oversight within this home. Leaders and managers do not use review mechanisms effectively to understand the impact of care on the children and to make the necessary improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers are struggling to recruit to the vacant posts and there is a heavy reliance on temporary staff who are not familiar with the children. This is leading to significant inconsistency of care for the children, who find this unsettling. This also means that the manager and deputy manager are needed to make up the Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 5 numbers at times, reducing the amount of time they have available to provide leadership and management oversight to the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervision is of poor quality, and recordings lack meaningful detail. Staff are not encouraged to reflect on their practice within supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are out of date with some of their essential training, although the company do offer a variety of relevant training courses. For example, staff have received specific training in response to one child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has a dedicated office, which detracts from the otherwise homely and well-maintained environment. Having such a space reminds children that this is a place of work and promotes a working practice that takes staff away from being with the children in other areas of the home. While maintained to a good standard, the home does not reflect the children who live there and there a very few personalised items in the shared areas of the house.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Whistle-blowing practices in this home are promoted. This has been shown to work in practice and be supportive of those raising concerns. A safeguarding concern that was brought to the attention of senior leaders was dealt with swiftly and appropriately with thorough internal investigations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Safer recruitment practices are in place in this home. Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 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 that staff—

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e)) 6 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 7 In particular, ensure that staff have a firm understanding of safeguarding and the child’s individual plans in order to keep them safe, and the home’s safeguarding policies and procedures.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) 6 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 8 In particular, leaders and managers must have a strong oversight of the home, offer professional challenge, and strive to improve practice and progress for children.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the dedicated office spaces, including the use of locks on doors, and ensure that a homely environment is maintained. This will provide a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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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: SC065046 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Beaufort care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2 Hollygrove Business Park, Verwood Road, Ringwood, Dorset BH24 2DB

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Inspector

Katie Ratcliffe, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065046 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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