Children's home run by Juventas Services

Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 1 Registered provider: Juventas Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children aged between 11 and 17 years who may have experienced trauma, a sense of rejection, neglect or abuse.

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Information about this children's home

There has been no registered manager since April 2022. The new manager has been in post since May 2023 and has applied to be registered with Ofsted.

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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: 2566488 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/04/2022 Full Good 08/12/2021 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 3

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improvement to be good

At the time of this inspection, four children were living at the home. One child has moved out since the last inspection and two children have moved in. Three of the children are settled and have lived at this home for some time.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been several staff changes, including a number of changes in manager. These changes have contributed to the reduced overall quality of children’s experiences. Despite this, children said that they have good relationships with the staff, feel safe and know that they will be listened to.

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improvement to be good

Although children enjoy living at the home, some of their progress has been mixed. Not all children are regularly engaging in education. Some children’s education provision is not meeting their needs. One child has experienced significant drift in their education over a prolonged period. There has been some challenge by leaders and managers about this issue. However, this challenge does not go far enough in advocating for children to have their educational needs met. Staff’s routines and the children’s daily planners do not sufficiently support children to engage with learning. However, for one child, there has been a positive change to their education. The child is enrolled on a vocational course that they said they enjoy.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently meet children’s health needs. Staff have supported one child to engage with mental health support, but with limited success. There are health concerns for some of the children, but they do not have up-to-date health plans to guide staff on how to meet these needs. For one child, who regularly smokes, there is no evidence that they have been supported to seek guidance and advice on the concerns of smoking or have received any support to stop smoking. This issue was raised at a previous inspection in 2021.

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improvement to be good

Children’s care plans are not always updated. Staff do not have access to recent education, health and care plans from the local authority . Managers have only made limited attempts to ensure that the local authority provides these plans. This has led to staff not having some important information about children’s care needs.

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improvement to be good

The home is clean and presentable. Children have personalised their bedrooms. One child now has a pet living with them after requesting this at a children’s meeting. This has been positive for their well-being. However, some areas of the garden are overgrown and do not provide a pleasant external space for children.

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improvement to be good

Children’s meetings take place regularly and staff listen to children’s suggestions. However, staff do not always respond promptly to the views that children express in the meetings. For example, the children asked for an improved garden space at the beginning of the year, but it has not changed. Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 4

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improvement to be good

There have been several incidents where children have been reported as missing from the home. Responses to these incidents have not always been appropriate. On some occasions, staff have not actively searched for children. On another occasion, despite there being identifiable risks, staff did not take appropriate action when a child left the home after their curfew. Children’s plans do not provide clear strategies for staff to manage such situations. Failures to ensure that incidents of children going missing are appropriately managed leave children at a higher risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

There have been some concerns for one child in relation to substance misuse. On one occasion, an ambulance was called. Staff took quick action at the time to ensure that the child received appropriate treatment. However, following the incident, there was a two-week delay before the incident was discussed with the child, and when they did not engage with this, no further attempts were made to do so.

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improvement to be good

Staff responses to behavioural incidents are generally good. They respond to children in ways that support children to become calm at times of heightened behaviour. Positive relationships between and staff children help with this, and have also helped to reduce the number of behavioural incidents for some children over time. However, work is not always undertaken following incidents to help children to learn from them. For example, following one significant behavioural incident, the child was not spoken to about their behaviour, despite there being risks from the incident to both them and others. There have also been some incidents of children smoking in their bedrooms, and risks around this have not been addressed with children.

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improvement to be good

There has been one allegation made against a staff member. Managers responded to this appropriately. A prompt referral was made to the local authority designated officer and the issue was clearly addressed with the staff member.

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good

Since the previous registered manager left, senior managers took clear action to ensure that a new manager was appointed. Two managers who were previously appointed left before they were registered. The current manager promptly submitted their application for registration after starting in their role.

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good

Changes in management have affected the quality of monitoring in the home. While managers have some monitoring systems in place, these have failed to identify shortfalls found during the inspection. This includes shortfalls in relation to how children are supported to understand risks, ensuring that children’s education provisions meet their needs, that children’s health is adequately supported, and that all necessary paperwork for children is available. This means that no actions have Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 5 been taken to address these issues and improve the quality of care that children are receiving.

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good

Staff said that they feel well supported. They said that the new manager is having a positive impact on the home and that he is approachable and supportive. The manager is starting to gain a good understanding of the service and is providing a visible presence in the home. Managers provide permanent staff with regular supervision, which has a focus on staff’s development needs as well as the needs of children and how effectively these are being met. However, at times, agency staff have been used on a regular basis and they have not always been provided with regular supervision.

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good

There has been a high turnover of staff since the last inspection. However, the recruitment of several experienced staff has helped to mitigate this. Appropriate recruitment procedures are followed, which help to ensure that new staff are suitable to be working with children.

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good

Staff are provided with a good induction and training programme. Staff said that the broad range of training provided has helped them to learn the skills they need for their role. Team meetings also provide staff with regular opportunities to discuss how children are being supported and consider how improvements can be made. Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 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

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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff take steps to try to prevent incidents of children going missing, are proactive in trying to locate children when they are missing, and that children’s plans provide clear guidance for staff on how to respond to incidents of children going missing. 28 August 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, work with children to help them to understand risks relating to going missing, substance misuse, and fire safety. 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 7 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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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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. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that concerns relating to children’s education are escalated appropriately with the child’s local authority and relevant education professionals, and that if children are not attending school, staff help them to engage in learning during this period. 28 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 8 well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are provided with support to stop smoking and understand the risks of this, and that children are helped to attend their annual health assessments and that records of these are available to help to monitor children’s health needs.

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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 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that monitoring systems effectively identify shortfalls in order for action to be taken in response to these. 28 August 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.

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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 each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have access to children’s plans and that these are used to inform the care that staff provide to children. 28 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 9 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of children. In particular, ensure that the garden is well maintained and provides a welcoming environment for children. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2566488 10

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Juventas Services Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich NR1 1RY

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Inspectors

Joe Matkar-Cox, Social Care Inspector Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2566488 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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