Children's Home run by First 4 Care Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 1 SC390293 Registered provider: First 4 Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private provider and is registered to provide care for up to three children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in March 2009. The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/01/2023 Full Good 01/09/2021 Full Outstanding 03/12/2019 Full Good 13/03/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 3

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inadequate

Gaps on how the provider ensures the safety and wellbeing of children have led to the inadequate judgement in the overall experiences of children and how children are helped and protected.

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inadequate

Children’s wishes and feelings have not always been given due regard. When a child moved out of the home in an unplanned way, staff did not arrange to keep in contact with them in line with their wishes. Memory books created for two children who have left the home have remained in the home and have not been passed on to the child. A gift a child bought for their family has not been passed on after the child moved out several months ago.

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inadequate

The home does not have a homely feel and is clinical in some communal areas. The main lounge is bare, and the decoration is not well maintained. The identity of children is not visible in communal areas of the home. However, children are forming positive relationships with staff and feel a sense of belonging at the home. Two of the children have personalised their bedrooms, which is positive progress for them since moving into the home.

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inadequate

Staff are supporting the current children to access universal healthcare to help them to maintain their physical health. They also promote and support these children to keep in contact with their families.

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inadequate

Overall, children are making positive progress in their education. Two of the children are accessing increased hours of education in school or through home tutoring. One of the children is sitting their key examinations at school and has plans to attend college. However, there is a delay for one child in accessing suitable education to meet their needs. Staff are working with the virtual school to try and resolve this.

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inadequate

The staff and the managers recognise the progress that children have made and celebrate children’s achievements, however small. This helps to build children’s confidence and self-esteem. Children told the inspectors that they like the food, and one child described it as ‘fantastic’.

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

The safety and protection of children are not sufficiently prioritised and children are at risk of harm. Staff do not make sure that all children receive appropriate mental health support. Prior to a child moving into the home, staff failed to organise local mental health support to meet their needs. There was an escalation of incidents where the child harmed themselves, staff were hurt, and the child’s mental health deteriorated significantly. One of these incidents involved a child sustaining a serious injury, which was not notified to the regulator. Staff did not seek any mental health Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 4 advice or support for the child after any of these incidents. Actions was not taken to prevent harm to the child and reduce future risks to the child and to others.

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

Staff and managers do not fully understand and do not always carry out their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. Staff and the registered manager, who is also the designated safeguarding lead, failed to act in response to an allegation of abuse against a child. Some of the staff spoken to are not confident about the home’s policies and procedures for reporting safeguarding concerns. However, in relation to another allegation of abuse, staff and managers took appropriate action to report this to the relevant organisations external to the home and investigated it appropriately.

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

Staff do not always take appropriate action to prevent children from going missing from home. When a child’s emotions were heightened and they were in crisis, the child packed a bag and left the home. Staff followed the child and lost sight of them but made no attempts to prevent them from leaving given the child’s vulnerable frame of mind. There was a delay of several days in the child’s individual risk assessment being updated to reflect this.

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

Children’s individual risk assessments contain brief and basic information and there are limited strategies for staff to follow to reduce the risk of harm to children. When incidents occur, managers do not identify lessons learned to reduce the likelihood of incidents reoccurring. Children’s individual risk assessments are not reviewed and updated following incidents. This means that opportunities to reduce the risks to children’s safety are missed.

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

The risks to children when using the internet are not understood sufficiently by staff and managers. The internet at the home has limited safeguards and children’s risk assessments and risk management plans around the use of the internet are not robust or comprehensive.

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

The home has rules and restrictions in place for children which are not based on individual children’s risks and are not reviewed regularly. This includes access to electronic equipment and some drinks and snacks, which are stored in the staff office. It is not clear why these restrictions are necessary or proportionate. There are no steps being taken to help children to reduce these restrictions through increasing children’s skills and effective risk management.

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

Children say that they feel able to raise concerns with staff and managers. Inspectors reviewed some positive examples of key-work sessions with children where staff support children to learn about their safety. There are positive relationships between staff and children, which helps them to better understand and work together to reduce some of the risks to their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not demonstrated their ability to lead the home effectively. The home’s statement of purpose sets out three different models of Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 5 care. Staff, including the registered manager, have not completed the home’s model of care training, and have limited understanding of this. Three members of staff, who have worked at the home for more than two years, have not completed the level 3 care qualification as required. The registered manager does not have a clear vision for the home and does not set clear expectations for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers miss opportunities to reduce the risks of harm to children, and safeguarding processes are ineffective. Although the managers review incidents, they do not take action to identify lessons learned.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The inspectors identified two serious events that the regulator had not been notified of. These related to an allegation of abuse and a child sustaining a serious injury. The registered manager and designated safeguarding lead did not provide any evidence of any action taken when an allegation of abuse was made by a child. The provider has followed this up since the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager’s supervision records show that the registered manager is discouraged from speaking to external organisations about incidents in the home and is directed to be positive. This means that there is a risk that concerns are not reported appropriately and an increased risk of a closed culture operating within the home. This does not promote the safety and welfare of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Systems and processes for the oversight of the running of the home are not effective in identifying shortfalls in practice. Although monthly checks and audits are carried out, these are not always effective at identifying gaps in practice. The Director and responsible individual rely on verbal reporting and reassurance from the managers. The manager and senior leaders are out of touch with what is happening in the home. During the inspection, the responsible individual and Director produced an action plan in response to Ofsted’s feedback to increase their presence and oversight of the running of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The recording systems are complex, and managers find it difficult to have clarity about key events and timescales of occurrences. Children’s records are not comprehensive because they do not clearly outline the required details and are not signed by the author. This makes leadership and management oversight of the home more difficult. Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 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 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 harm to any child;

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Requirement Due date

help the child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to act and identify upon the signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review and update children’s individual risk assessments to make sure that they are comprehensive.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must put in place effective risk management plans to reduce the risks to children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make sure that staff understand what action they must take when providing care to children to reduce the risks to children’s safety. 2 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 7 The registered person must make sure that staff support children to understand how they can keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make sure that staff, including managers, understand and carry out their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make sure that incidents are reviewed to identify actions needed to reduce the risk of harm to children. Children’s individual risk assessments and care plans must be reviewed and updated accordingly.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make referrals to the relevant health and mental health professionals to make sure that children receive appropriate care and support.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make sure that children’s access to the internet is suitable for their age and that risks to children from using the internet are sufficiently managed and mitigated to reduce the risk of harm to children.

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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 to 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

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

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

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that there is a clear vision for the home and that there are clear expectations for staff. 2 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 8 The registered person must ensure that the home’s statement of purpose reflects the vision for the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of the children. Where a model of care is followed, staff must be provided with training so that they are able to deliver the model of care in practice.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make sure that the home has an open and transparent culture. This includes staff feeling and being able to report concerns appropriately, internally and externally, without fear of retribution.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish effective systems and processes that assess and improve the quality and impact of care provided to children. These systems must provide senior leaders with clear oversight.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 30 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 19 May 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 9 The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1)) 2 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home, and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving out of the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 30 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to compliance notices.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is maintained to be a homely and domestic environment. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9 page)

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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: SC390293 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First 4 Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 St Wilfrids Road, Bessacarr, Doncaster DN4 6AA

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Inspectors

Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Rachel Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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