Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in New Forest

Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 1 SC480502 Registered provider: New Forest Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children aged up to 18 years. The home is operated by a private organisation. According to the statement of purpose, the home caters for children with complex emotional, behavioural and educational difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There has not been a registered manager in post since December 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2022 Full Inadequate 19/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/02/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Moves into the home are well planned. Since the last inspection, one child has moved in. The child was introduced to the home, peers and staff prior to this. The views of the children living in the home were well considered. This move was positive for the child, and they have settled into the home well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child moved on from the home outside of their plan. This was a sudden, unplanned move in response to the child’s risk-taking behaviour. Staff tried to reduce the risks to avoid the unplanned move. Despite this, it resulted in a poor experience for the child moving out. The child was able to say goodbye to his peers and some staff before leaving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children having time with their families. Children have increased the amount of time that they spend with their families and have overnight stays. Children see their friends, and one child regularly attends the gym with their friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff, and they have key staff that they can speak with regularly. Children know how to make complaints. Leaders take these seriously and respond. Consequently, children feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make day-to-day decisions in the home. Children plan activities with staff. They have enjoyed trips go-karting, bowling, watching movies at the cinema and trips to football clubs. Children have personalised their bedrooms. Staff gain children’s views regularly to inform decisions such as menu planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to develop their independent living skills. Children cook for themselves and do their own laundry. These skills are linked to incentives. Children are involved in setting these and know their targets to achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally attend education. When children do not attend, staff work with the child and education staff to create plans to help them return.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans do not always reflect children’s identity and ethnicity. One child’s heritage is not explored in his care plan to capture the child’s identity. This is a missed opportunity to capture how staff respond positively to children’s identity.

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

Since the last inspection, the safeguarding culture has improved. Staff have a daily debrief and safeguarding discussions to improve their practice. Staff know how to raise safeguarding issues and escalate any concerns. Staff have all been recently retrained in this area. The manager contacts the local authority designated officer when needed for advice and guidance. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 4 Staff understand risks that children face. They can explain the risks and how they keep children safe. However, risk assessments in children’s plans are not always clear and do not inform staff how relevant the risk is. For example, one child’s risk assessment refers to ligatures, even though this is not a current risk. Due to a consistent and stable staff team that knows the children well, the impact on children’s safety is reduced.

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

Mental health support for children is effective. Children receive help from the company’s mental health nurse and therapists. Staff involve specialist agencies when required. This support benefits children. For example, incidents when children harm themselves have reduced.

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

Staff have acted in response to safeguarding concerns. Staff seek advice from designated safeguarding leads. When children are engaging in risky activities, staff are responsive and help educate the children . Despite staff’s efforts, this is not always effective and resulted in one child moving out of the home in an unplanned way.

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

Children have clear behaviour support plans. Staff use conversations to help children understand the house rules. Staff use physical intervention infrequently, and staff and children are debriefed following any incidents. Staff are appropriately trained and inform social workers promptly when restraints have been used.

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good

There has not been a registered manager in post since December 2021. The manager has submitted an application to register and is awaiting a fit person’s interview.

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good

The manager has systems in place for monitoring and oversight of the home. This is strengthened by the oversight from the responsible individual. There is a new independent visitor who has improved scrutiny and ensures children are spoken with during visits.

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good

Leaders support staff to undertake their role. Staff have regular supervision. Leaders facilitate team debriefs for staff following significant events. New staff have robust inductions which are well structured. New staff have regular probation reviews.

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good

Leaders review incidents in the home. These reviews identify actions to improve practice. However, learning from these reviews does not always inform children’s plans. This is a missed opportunity to improve practice and keep plans up to date.

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good

Staff have completed mandatory training in safeguarding, fire safety and physical intervention. Training specific to children’s needs such as self-harm, alcohol misuse, knife crime and mental health has not been completed. Despite this, staff have been proactive to support children with these risks. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 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, the 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—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments are clear and detailed so that staff can identify risks for children. 16 February 2023

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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

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

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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 (2)(c)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the learning from reviews of incidents inform practice and improve the quality of care provided. 16 February 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 6 In particular, ensure that staff receive training specific to the children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children moving on from the home move in a planned way and take into account the children’s views, wishes and views. 16 February 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that care plans meet each child’s needs, taking into account of the child’s religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background and sexual identity. Specifically, by including information about a child’s ethnicity in the children’s plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standard’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)

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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: SC480502 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Forest Care Ltd, West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Mark Dawkins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 8 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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