Children's Home run by First Steps Care Ltd in Worcestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 1 Registered provider: First Steps Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. The home registered with Ofsted in September 2021 and provides care for up to four children who may have specific emotional needs and are likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since 8 February 2022. Managers have been in post but have not registered with Ofsted. A new interim manager came into post in February 2023. They have not yet submitted an application to register.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

On 1 and 2 February 2023, Ofsted carried out an assurance inspection. Serious and widespread concerns were identified in the protection of children and in the leadership and management. A compliance notice was issued in relation to regulation 12 and a notice to restrict the accommodation was issued, with an end date of 27 April 2023. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 2 On 6 March 2023, a monitoring visit took place to monitor the provider’s progress in meeting the compliance notice. Significant shortfalls were identified at that visit in relation to the protection of children. The compliance notice for regulation 12 was not met and a further notice was issued, with an end date of 16 April 2023. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 4

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improvement to be good

One child has moved on since the last inspection, so there are now two children living in the home. The home currently has a restriction of accommodation in place, which has been adhered to since the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

The move for the child who has left the home was not in line with their original care plan. However, staff supported the child in sharing their wishes around their move, and the new manager advocated for the child with their social worker regarding how they would like their move to be planned. This helped the child adjust to the changes more easily.

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improvement to be good

Children’s education needs are well supported by staff. Staff travel for over an hour to take one child to a school that meets the child’s needs and preferences. When another child struggled with their behaviour in school, the manager improved their communication with the child’s school, and regular meetings are now held to track the child’s progress. This has ensured that professionals are using a cohesive response to the child’s behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand and meet children’s physical health needs effectively. Children are up to date with all medical appointments. One child has complex medical needs and staff follow procedures regarding how to monitor their health and give them the correct medication, consulting with specialist health services when needed.

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improvement to be good

Leaders do not always ensure that they work effectively with one child’s professional network to ensure that their mental health needs are met. When the child needs more specialist input to meet their emotional needs, the manager has not followed up on getting this support in a timely way. This has hindered the support the child is given and therefore their progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff communication and engagement with children has improved. Managers ensure that records about children’s care use nurturing language. Staff have begun to undertake more purposeful work with children, which managers plan and review. This improvement has occurred very recently and is helping children to talk about their feelings and reflect on their behaviours. Managers recognise this needs further focus to help children’s needs to be fully met.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have improved their approach to listening to children’s views and feelings about their care. One child has made a complaint since the last inspection. The manager listened to their complaint and took action to explore what is going on for the child. Children have started to meet with staff regularly to share their views. For example, one child asked to learn to swim and to go fishing, which they have enjoyed doing recently. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 5

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, managers have made significant changes to the recording of incidents. They have also improved the guidance they give to support staff in managing risks for children. As a result, written risk-management plans are now more specific to children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

However, these improvements are not consistent across all aspects of children’s care. For example, managers did not update guidance to inform staff of their expectations and the response they should take with a child when risks relating to self-harm increased. Although staff responses to children in incidents of self-harm have kept children safe, the lack of clear, up-to-date guidance has resulted in not all staff being clear on the best way to keep children safe. Since this inspection, the provider has taken immediate action to address this.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow safeguarding procedures when children make allegations relating to adults caring for them, and report them as required. However, managers do not ensure that children always have the opportunity to speak to their social worker about the concern. In addition, children are not always offered reassurance or an update that their complaint is being taken seriously. Managers took immediate action during the inspection to address this shortfall.

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improvement to be good

Staff challenge children when needed to support them to develop positive relationships with one another. Recent increases in direct work focusing on anti- bullying have resulted in there being no further incidents of bullying. This is helping to improve children’s experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that children are held to keep them safe only as a last resort. When incidents of restraint have taken place, recording is clear, and the manager ensures that staff and the child are given the opportunity to reflect on the incident. This effective managerial oversight recently resulted in further training for staff and to changes in guidance for staff around wearing jewellery in incidents. This demonstrates that the increase in managerial oversight is having a positive impact on the quality of care.

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improvement to be good

The responsible individual has recently reviewed the location risk assessment and ensured that significant risks posed by the location of the home are now considered as part of this for care planning of future children who may move in.

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good

Significant changes have taken place within the leadership and management of the home since the previous inspection. Leaders have appointed a new and experienced manager, who is present in the home every day. She is committed to making improvements to the children’s care and has formed positive relationships with the Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 6 children and the staff in a short time. However, she has not yet submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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good

Staffing is beginning to stabilise. Since the previous inspection, several staff have left the home. This has impacted on the consistency of carers for children. However, leaders have worked hard to safely recruit a full staff team, which they hope to develop moving forward.

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good

Senior leaders have sourced additional support by engaging experienced residential childcare professionals to support their improvement work. The responsible individual is working alongside them to improve their monitoring systems. For example, managers now have much more oversight of incidents that occur. Leaders now have a strong awareness of what is happening in the everyday care of children.

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good

Staff have benefited from additional training to help them meet the specific needs of the children. The new manager has provided staff with clinical training to help them understand sexualised behaviours, self-harm and behaviour management to ensure that their practice in incidents is effective. This results in staff having a more confident approach to responding to children’s needs.

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good

The quality of staff supervision sessions is inconsistent. Supervisions are regularly carried out by different individuals. Staff informed the inspectors that this can result in guidance being confusing. Supervision sessions are not being used to help staff meaningfully reflect on the care they provide to children to help improve their skills. This is a missed opportunity to further improve staff practice.

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good

During this inspection, previous requirements were reviewed, and 12 of these were judged to be met. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. (Regulation 5 (a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that specialist input is sought from other agencies for children if this is needed, and that the children’s local authorities are appropriately engaged in safety planning for children. 17 May 2023

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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;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that there are plans in place to keep children safe, and that staff fully understand how to follow these plans to ensure children’s safety. 17 May 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 8 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

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that the manager has the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child, through meeting requirements specified in regulation 28 relating to fitness of manager for registration as required by s11 CSA 2000. 17 May 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 (b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that staff are given consistent and regular supervision that helps them reflect on children’s care and improve their practice. 31 May 2023

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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: 2636996 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First Steps Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kemp House, 124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX

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Inspectors

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Shazana Jamal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2636996 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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