Children's Home run by Southern Adolescent Care Services Ltd in West Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 1 SC061795 Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to six children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2023 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were two children living in the home.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/05/2021 Full Outstanding 08/10/2019 Full Outstanding 01/08/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and staff have recently been through a difficult period of several high- risk incidents for two children who recently moved into the home in short succession. This has resulted in both children’s placements ending with one child having moved on already. The risks were unforeseen in children’s care planning due to the behaviours being new for both children. Senior leaders took immediate action to mitigate risks for children and staff while escalating their concerns to the children’s placing authorities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have built strong bonds and trust with the children while forming relationships. The children feel that they can open up to staff and demonstrate they respect boundaries more consistently because of these relationships. Consequently, children are making progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are regular house meetings for children to be able to express their views. The registered manager has oversees these meetings and reviews them for their effectiveness. The children are also encouraged to share their views on the development of the home and any changes they would like. For example, one child requested that the window restrictors are removed from the bedroom windows. Action has been taken to facilitate this, which shows an individualised approach to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their general health needs. Where there are any concerns, specialist support is sourced. Staff have regular discussions with children about being healthy and encourage an active lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s progress in education is mixed. However, where a child may not be attending formal education, the staff encourage creative learning at home while managers escalate this to the local authority to find a suitable school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff ensure that children have regular opportunities to discuss their thoughts and feelings during regular key-work sessions. These are closely linked with their current care planning and reflect topics children may be finding difficult, such as relationships or risky behaviours.

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

Following the escalation of some children’s unsafe behaviour, senior leaders have taken action to safeguard children. They have used specialist support guidance and escalated their concerns to children’s placing authorities.

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

The staff are proactive when children go missing from home and follow risk plans in place to support children during this time. Following children’s return to the home, discussions take place between staff and the children to explore these incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 4 Plans are updated to reflect any additional information that may be helpful in future events to support children to return home.

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

There are risk plans in place for children who may raise allegations against staff to ensure that children are listened to and safeguarded. Staff have all received training relating to safeguarding children and are confident in the action to take if they have a safeguarding concern.

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

The staff have reflected on the recent impact of the dynamics between children. Some staff feel that they could implement stronger boundaries with children and have started to implement different boundaries with the children. This has led to children making progress, such as not going missing from the home as frequently. This demonstrates how the staff are learning from practice to improve the lives of the children they care for.

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

Senior leaders have taken action to report allegations made by children and follow consultation from the local authority safeguarding team in managing any allegations. However, the provider’s disciplinary policy regarding action to take in the event of an allegation to safeguard children and staff has not been followed consistently.

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

There are shortfalls in the recruitment processes to ensure that agency staff have been suitably vetted, such as ensuring that overseas checks are carried out for agency staff. Action was taken during the inspection to rectify this and the vetting process for all agency staff has been reviewed.

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good

The registered manager is a strong advocate for the children and their care experiences. Leaders and managers have taken action to review the day-to-day monitoring of the home to drive improvement and have further plans to develop this.

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good

Children’s social workers are very positive about the care provided by staff. When there have been concerns about children’s behaviour, these have been escalated to children’s social workers and managed professionally.

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good

Staff feel supported by the senior management team and each other. They have regular formal and informal supervision. There are regular opportunities for training and development for staff. However, staff with additional learning needs have not been provided with the support to develop in their role.

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good

On some occasions, the staff have needed to use restraint to keep children safer. This has been done sensitively and as a last resort. However, records do not clearly show that the children and staff have been spoken to by someone not involved in the incident or that this information has been reviewed to show that the record is accurate. This independent scrutiny is particularly important when managers are involved in these incidents to ensure an open culture. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 5 Reports required under the regulation to review the quality of care have not been completed and sent to the regulator in a timely manner as required. This hinders the regulator’s oversight of children’s care experiences and how the registered provider has reviewed these. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 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 in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the disciplinary policy processes in the event a child makes an allegation. 31 July 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

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that they obtain all relevant checks in relation to agency staffing. 31 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 7 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home.

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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 (1)(a) (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person or other person authorised must make a record of discussions with the child and the user of the measure and sign the record to confirm that it is accurate. 31 July 2023

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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

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (4)(a)) 31 July 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This specifically relates to any staff who may have additional learning needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.1) Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 8

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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: SC061795 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Southern Adolescent Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Second Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspectors

Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Ashley Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC061795 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 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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