Children's home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 1 SC059753 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child 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 operated by a national private organisation. The statement of purpose states that the home provides care for a maximum of two children with emotional and behavioural needs arising from trauma and attachment-based difficulties and/or learning disabilities. One child is currently living at 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: SC059753 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/11/2021 Full Good 28/08/2019 Full Good 18/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child currently living at the home says they like living here and are happy and feel safe. The child talked with affection about the staff, who he feels genuinely care about him and want the best for him. Staff have built strong positive relationships with the child. Caring and nurturing interactions were observed, as well as lots of laughter and fun. The child said he can talk to any of the staff if he has any worries or concerns and knows how to make a complaint if he needs to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child loves all the activities he is able to do and was proud to show off his music and creative skills in the videos he has made. One of the videos was a video diary he had created about his time at the home, which he had set to music. Others were films he had made with staff, including one about the pandemic, an exercise video with his friend and a spy film. Staff have made a memory book about his time at the home, with lots of photos and captions. Collectively these videos and memory books provide the child with a wonderful story of his time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is making good progress. He is developing his understanding of his emotions and feelings. As part of this work, staff use effectively the child’s love of making videos to help him show, identify and label different emotions. For example, one video is about how people look when they are sad. His self-confidence and self- belief, as well as coordination skills and involvement in physical activities, have increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child loves going to school and is doing well. He has missed a significant amount of education in the past but now he is keen to learn because he is encouraged by staff to do so. Staff use everyday situations to support the child’s learning, for example, getting him to use his maths skills to manage the allotted time he has for using technology.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are a variety of different plans for the child. The care plan is a long document which contains a lot of historical information. This could lead to current or key information being missed. In addition, despite the wealth of information, there is a lack of consistent clarity in the guidance for staff in some sections of the plan. Staff have created a child-friendly version of the care plan which is written in the first person. There are parts which could have been written by the child, but most have been written by staff and it is not clear what involvement the child has had.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Guidance provided for staff on family visits is clear, including on the use of interpreters to support communication. A family schedule for visits has been devised and states that the child’s family has agreed and signed up to these arrangements and conduct expectations. This is incorrect, as currently this has not been done, which could lead to confusion among staff. Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 4 Staff provide the child with a warm and welcoming family-style home. The child is involved in the choice of decor and buying new furniture. He was keen to talk about how he has recently helped the staff pick new items for the conservatory, which is currently being built.

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

Behaviour is managed effectively. Since the previous inspection, there has been a purposeful reduction in the use of restraint. This appears to be due to the approaches staff are taking and helping the child to develop skills to manage their behaviour. However, more work is required. There have been two incidents of restraint when the debrief afterwards has been held by staff involved in the restraint. This does not provide the opportunity for the child to talk to a person independent of the restraint.

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

Leaders and managers understand the reasons for changes in the child’s behaviour and ensure that records of incidents and the use of restraint are clear.

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

Safeguarding at the home is effective and staff keep the child safe. When safeguarding incidents occur, staff act on the guidance provided by the local authority d esignated officer and share information with the appropriate professionals. The child is known to make allegations. Staff take these seriously and make referrals as required. When concerns regarding staff practice are identified, appropriate action is taken.

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

Staff are not risk averse and manage risk effectively. This work is supported by appropriate risk assessments.

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

The home follows safer recruitment practice, which protects children. However, two interview records, one for a face-to-face interview and one for a telephone interview, do not record the name of the person conducting the interview.

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good

An experienced manager is in post. They have an appropriate understanding of the home, the child and the staff team. However, they have not identified some of the areas for improvement found at this inspection, despite monitoring systems being in place. These have recently been changed to enable the manager to track when actions have been completed.

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good

Since the previous inspection, the manager has ensured that the requirements made have been met, together with most of the recommendations. The manager is ambitious for the home and shares her vision for the future of the home with the staff, who are invested in this. The manager is a good role model for staff.

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good

Staff reported that they feel well supported by leaders and managers, finding them approachable and open to new ideas. They receive formal supervision which enables Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 5 them to reflect on their practice and events at the home. However, records of these sessions are not of a consistently good quality. This does not aid in the development of staff or demonstrate the support provided to staff.

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good

Staff receive appropriate training for their roles and support for their development, which in turn has a positive impact on the care the child receives.

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good

Children’s records require improvement to ensure they provide clear guidance for staff. In addition, the use of vague, institutional and/or emotive language does not provide clarity for the child and reduces the records’ positive contribution to the child’s life story.

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good

Other professionals who work with the child, including those outside the home but who are part of the same organisation, are positive about the care the child receives and the progress they are making. Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 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, 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 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. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure children’s plans provide clear and consistence guidance for staff and that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording and do not use vague, institutional or emotive language. In addition, carefully consider the appropriateness of recording the child’s information using first-person narrative. All information in children’s records should be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. 30 August 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure debriefs with children after they have been restrained are carried out by a member of staff not involved in the restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure effective monitoring systems are in place to aid the development of the home and identify areas where improvements are required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure all interview records are signed by the interviewer. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of staff supervision sessions are of a consistently good quality, include details of the discussion held so as to aid in the development of the member of staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3) Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 7

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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: SC059753 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Five Rivers Child Care, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC059753 9 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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