Children's home run by Choices Home for Children Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 1 SC436559 Registered provider: Choices Home for Children Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and physical disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Five children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/08/2021 Full Good 08/10/2019 Full Good 09/10/2018 Full Good 01/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 3

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improvement to be good

The experiences and progress of children are mixed. Some children have made good progress and have moved on from the home in a planned way, in line with their care plans. For some children, staff have not been able to keep them safe and meet their needs. As a result, these children have had to leave the home, causing further disruption and instability to their lives.

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improvement to be good

Pre-admission assessments completed by the registered manager are thorough. There is evidence that he has sought additional information from local authorities before making decisions about children coming to live at the home. Despite this, relationships between children are not always positive.

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improvement to be good

Children say they have good relationships with staff. They have trusted adults in the home they can talk to. Children experience consistency of care from a core group of staff who have worked at the home since the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to maintain relationships with family and friends. Staff regularly drive children to spend time with their families some distance from the home. Family members told the inspector that staff are warm and friendly and do whatever they can to help children and their families spend quality time together.

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improvement to be good

Only one of the five children is currently attending school regularly. Some children are offered limited hours of on-to-one tutoring. However, they do not engage with this. One child has no educational provision in place, despite living at the home for two months. Children not attending an educational provision are not being provided with a timetable of learning by staff. As a result, children’s days lack structure; they are not given opportunities to learn and prepare for a return to formal education.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to gain skills as they move towards independent living. One child is helped to buy and cook her own food and has her own fridge. The child enjoys cooking but told the inspector that she struggles to cook individual meals as all the dishes in the home are large. Staff have not recognised that she needs different equipment when she is cooking for one person.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been occasions when children have formed friendships with each other that have led to some children being placed at greater risk. On one occasion, a child needed hospital treatment after having been given a substance by another child while missing from the home. The registered manager gave immediate notice to the local authority for the child who was in possession of Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 4 the drugs. This was a culmination of high-risk behaviours from the child that were putting herself and others at risk.

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improvement to be good

Improvements have been made to the internal risk assessments and plans for children. They are reviewed regularly, and there is good management oversight of them. There is a detailed, good-quality epilepsy management plan in place for one child. This supports staff and the child to recognise and respond appropriately to their seizures. The registered manager organised training for staff from the child’s hospital clinicians to make sure that staff were equipped to care for the child and keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

There has been a reduction in the use of physical intervention, and staff only intervene when this is necessary to safeguard the child or others. Records of these incidents are clear and detailed. On one occasion, the registered manager evaluated a physical intervention that he had been involved in. This does not provide an independent overview of practice.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from the home, staff follow the children’s missing-from- home plans and act in a timely manner to get them home safely. However, one child who has lived at the home for two months still does not have an agreed family time plan. This has resulted in the child regularly going missing to return to his family. Staff are trying to build a relationship with the child to encourage his return to the home. The registered manager has not escalated the lack of a family time plan with the local authority, despite this having an adverse impact on the child.

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improvement to be good

In response to an escalation in negative behaviours from some children, the kitchen door is regularly locked at night, despite two waking night staff being on shift to support children and respond to their behaviours. The rationale for continuing to lock the kitchen door throughout the night is unclear and has not been formally assessed by the manager.

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improvement to be good

The living room provides children with a welcoming and pleasant environment. However, this standard of decoration is not continued throughout the home. The stair carpet needs repairing or replacing, and the communal landing needs redecorating. There are no working lights in a children’s toilet and in one child’s bedroom. The interim deputy manager told the inspector the lights had not been working for at least two weeks. The children’s toilets have no toilet roll holder, and toilet rolls were strewn across the floor. One child has broken drawers in her wardrobe and has asked for additional storage. These requests have not been responded to in a timely manner.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not following the home’s policy of conducting daily checks of children’s bedrooms. One bedroom, belonging to a child who was absent from the home, had rubbish overflowing from a bin and a carrier bag. Cigarettes were lying on his chest of drawers. Staff were unaware he had a tube of prescription cream, clearly visible, in his room, and they were unable to say what it was for. Leaders and managers are not ensuring that the physical environment of the home provides children with a safe and homely place to live. Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 5

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good

The registered manager is experienced and knowledgeable. He is highly regarded by his staff team. The permanent deputy to the home is currently absent. An interim deputy is in place, but she is inexperienced and is learning this new role. As a result, the registered manager has taken on responsibility for supervision of all staff as well as overseeing practice in the home. Given the size of the home and the instability of children living in the home, this impacts on the registered manager’s capacity to fulfil all of the responsibilities of his role to a consistently high standard.

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good

The responsible individual has plans in place to increase his own skills and knowledge in relation to his role, with external training and peer support. In addition, a second responsible individual has been appointed to provide additional capacity at this level in the organisation. They have only recently commenced employment, and the impact of this appointment cannot yet be assessed.

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good

The responsible individual is not ensuring that lessons learned from inspections of the provider’s other homes are disseminated and inform practice. This is particularly in relation to the quality of the physical environment of the homes and the supervision of staff.

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good

Staff, including the registered manager, are not being supported with frequent supervision. Staff new to the home and subject to their probationary period are not provided with additional formal supervision of their practice. A lack of regular, formal supervision means that leaders and managers have fewer opportunities to review staff’s quality of practice and their understanding of children’s needs.

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good

Team meetings take place regularly. These meetings are not always used for detailed reflection on the experiences and progress of children. The record of a recent meeting does not show any discussions about the children. These are missed opportunities to improve practice and ensure that the home is run in such a way that it is meeting the needs of children and keeping them safe.

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good

The responsible individual has commissioned a new provider to undertake the home’s monthly independent person visits. These new arrangements are recent and, therefore, the impact of these changes cannot yet be evaluated.

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good

At the last inspection, a recommendation was made in relation to the quality of the bedrooms and bathrooms used by staff. The bedroom has now been decorated and gives staff a better quality of environment. The staff toilet is still damp, the bathroom has mould around the bath and storage is old and not fit for purpose. This does not help staff to feel valued. Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 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 privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the kitchen is not regularly locked at night and that any restriction of access for children to communal areas is time limited, follows a written assessment of risk and is regularly reviewed. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

that staff— 31 March 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 7 understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(iv)(viii)(x)(b))

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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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the responsible person should ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

the lights in the attic bedroom and the children’s toilet are working;

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Requirement Due date

the staircase carpet is repaired or replaced;

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Requirement Due date

children’s wardrobe drawers are functioning;

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Requirement Due date

children have adequate storage in their bedrooms;

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Requirement Due date

repairs or refurbishment of the home are completed in a timely manner; and

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Requirement Due date

staff complete daily bedroom checks. 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 8 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that they do not evaluate incidents of physical intervention that they have been involved in. 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 9 In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that placing authorities provide a written plan of family time arrangements for each child. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that staff are supervised with the frequency detailed in the provider’s supervision policy. 31 March 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that team meetings are used to reflect on the experience and progress of each child and that records of meetings evidence these discussions. (Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 52, paragraph 10.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff bathrooms and toilets are clean, well decorated, free from damp and have appropriate storage. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 17, paragraph 3.26)

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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: SC436559 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Choices Home for Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 31 Wellington Road, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 7ED

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC436559 11 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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