Children's home run by Kids

Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 1 SC454707 Registered provider: Kids Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers short-break care for up to seven children who have social and emotional difficulties, physical disabilities and/or learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, three children were staying in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since May 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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/05/2021 Full Good 21/10/2019 Full Good 31/07/2018 Full Good 21/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children appear to enjoy their time in the home. Interactions between staff and children are warm, caring and fun. Staff have a good understanding of children’s individual preferences and are responsive to their needs. Staff were aware of an unavoidable change to one child’s routines during his stay and were proactive in ensuring his understanding of this and how it would affect him the following day. Staff work closely with children’s schools and families to ensure that children’s educational and healthcare needs are met. Staff and managers attend children in need meetings and provide reports to other agencies to review children’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with positive experiences when they visit the home. They regularly enjoy using the sensory room, cooking, doing arts and crafts and going for walks. When children stay at the weekend or during holidays, they are provided with a range of activities in the local community. Photos are taken of children’s activities and shown to families so they can share in children’s positive memories of their time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from parents, social workers and other professionals is very positive. They spoke about the home being a ‘lifeline’ and are happy with the care provided to the children. One child confirmed that he enjoyed staying at the home and identified his favourite members of staff. One family said that communication could be improved, although they felt that recent newsletters were helping to address this. Another family said that care plans, progress reports and updates following their child’s stays were ‘invaluable’ to their understanding of their child’s experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is practical and provides children with lots of space, including a beautifully designed garden that has a wheelchair-accessible swing and trampoline. Several bedrooms and communal areas have benefited from redecoration, such as murals on the walls and new pictures. There are adaptions to the environment to help children who have specialist needs. There is a lovely cinema room in the home, which some children enjoy. However, this is located upstairs, and children who use wheelchairs or have mobility difficulties cannot access it. The registered manager has identified the need for a more accessible room and is exploring the installation of an adapted summer house in the garden.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Further action is required to improve the overall homeliness of the environment. There are fixtures and fittings that have been left in place from when the building was used for other purposes. For example, there are CCTV cameras, which are no longer used, that remain in clear sight in the dining room and hallways. There are also industrial items being used in the home, which further detract from the nurturing and caring environment that staff are trying to provide to children. Although the home has a development plan, which seeks to improve some aspects of the environment, it is not aspirational, and the registered manager has not identified many of the institutional features of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 4

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

Staff are responsive to changes in children’s mood. Staff can identify when children are unhappy or anxious and find ways to help them. Moreover, staff are aware of what may cause children to display unsafe behaviours and are proactive in using strategies to prevent these behaviours from occurring. For example, staff safely provide children with space when they need it, are mindful of their key risks and plan to make potentially unsafe situations safer. As a result, restraint has not been used, as staff find more positive ways to care for children.

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

Overall, children’s care plans are lovely documents. They are detailed but concise, and they provide clear strategies for staff to use to support children. Care plans include pertinent information and give a feel for who the child is and what their needs are. Care plans are written in first person from the child’s perspective. However, children have not always viewed these documents or agreed to what is written. As a result, the reader may be misled about the child’s involvement and understanding of their care.

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

The registered manager carefully plans children’s stays to ensure they are safe and happy when they visit. For some children, this may mean staying on their own, and for others, it may mean staying with their peers. The registered manager is responsive to parental requests, and where possible, is flexible with the provision of visits.

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

Staff help children to achieve their individual goals, including to develop their independence skills and make meaningful choices while enjoying their stay in the home. Staff make use of communication aids, such as the Picture Exchange Communication System and social stories. The registered manager has recognised that staff would benefit from formal training in the use of Makaton and intensive interactions to further develop staff’s skills.

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

When an allegation was raised about a member of staff, the registered manager investigated what had happened and the reasons for it. This allowed the registered manager to take steps to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future. Outcomes were clearly communicated to staff during team meetings and staff supervision sessions, and amendments were made to recording and communication procedures. As a result, children’s stays are now clearly documented, and staff have been provided with guidance about the importance of accurate and objective records.

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

Children’s medication is managed carefully and stored safely. While there have been some errors, appropriate action has been taken to investigate the causes and prevent future occurrence. Staff have their competency to administer medication assessed and are observed in their practice. This seeks to ensure that when medication is given to children, it is done so safely. Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 5

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good

The registered manager has taken appropriate action to address the requirement and recommendation that were raised at the last inspection. Care plans are now reviewed regularly, and the registered manager has a clear understanding of the qualification requirements for staff. The registered manager is receptive of feedback from others about how to improve the service. For example, when one family suggested that they would benefit from more timely communication about their child’s stay in the home, the registered manager took steps to facilitate this.

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good

The registered manager’s quality of care review and independent monitoring of the home do not do enough to capture the views and opinions of children, parents or external professionals. As a result, the development of the home and improvements to the quality of care provided by staff are not always informed by the experiences of others.

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good

The registered manager knows the children well; they have a good understanding of the individual needs of children and how staff support them. The registered manager talks with confidence and passion about the children who use the home. When children experience difficulties in other settings, the registered manager shares practices and guidance with families and other professionals to help them support the children to overcome the difficulties.

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good

Leaders and managers have not adequately challenged delays in getting essential maintenance tasks completed. This has resulted in short-term ‘fixes’ being used for prolonged periods of time. For example, cardboard is being used to cover a hole in the hallway ceiling that was caused by a leak, and staff are required to roll up window blinds by hand as the pull cords have broken. In one bedroom, there was no blind as it had fallen down, and children were continuing to use the room to sleep in during their stay.

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good

Although children are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms, longstanding safety measures continue to be used without review. For example, generic pictures are screwed to bedroom walls, despite there being minimal risk of children knocking them down. As a result, children do not have the full opportunity to make their bedroom their own during their stay.

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good

The registered manager makes efforts to overcome staffing difficulties. The staff team and managers have shown a dedication to the care of children by being flexible with their working hours. This has avoided the need to use agency members of staff, who do not always know the children well.

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good

The registered manager is currently recruiting to fill the vacant positions in the staff team. However, there is a lack of oversight and professional curiosity from leaders and managers when it comes to the recruitment of staff. For example, some staff’s employment history is vague and does not accurately identify when they left or Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 6 started previous employment. As a result, the registered manager cannot confidently determine the suitability of all members of staff to work with children.

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good

Staff supervision sessions provide some helpful guidance with regards to staff practices and the running of the home. However, there is a lack of reflection about the needs of children or the care provided to them. Consequently, staff are not supported to consider how the care they provide affects children and helps them to develop. Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vii)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that repairs and maintenance tasks are completed in a timely fashion.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that all facilities in the home are accessible for children. 5 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person— 3 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 8 if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the independent person consults with children, their parents and relatives, and persons working in the home about the care that children receive.

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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. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that, when reviewing the quality of care, feedback from children is used to inform decision-making and identify areas of improvement.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the home’s development plan should consider the views and opinions of children and be ambitious with regards to the physical environment. 3 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— 3 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 9 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that all recruitment records are up to date.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that a full employment history is available for all staff, which can be used to identify and explore gaps in employment.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. The environment should be homely and maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. HIn particular, the registered person should remove fixtures and fittings that remain in place from the previous use of the building. In addition, the registered person should assess the necessity of industrial items and seek to replace them with more homely furnishings where possible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, the registered person should carefully consider the appropriateness of recording the child’s information using a first-person narrative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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 for children’s home: SC454707 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 7-9 Elliotts Place, London N1 8HX

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Juan Gomez-Lama Romero

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Inspectors

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 11 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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