Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 1 Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for two children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably experienced and has been in post since July 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2022 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a family atmosphere. Children are comfortable spending time with staff. They eat meals together in the kitchen and relax in the living room. Children have personalised their bedrooms to reflect their interests and have photos on display of the people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have settled into the home. Staff make a lot of effort to help children stay involved with their interests but also encourage them to try new things. Children have positive relationships with staff, which help them feel valued and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to regularly attend school. For those children who have not been accessing school, staff support them to re-engage. Staff work with professionals to identify educational settings which are better suited to children’s individual needs. As a result, children benefit from improved educational outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff, which means that they speak to them when they are worried or upset. This has had a positive impact on children’s emotional well-being and, as a result, there has been a reduction in their self- harming behaviours, which are now rare.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to engage in therapy to support their well-being. For one child, this includes spending time with a therapy dog. Access to this therapy puts children at ease and enables them to share their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to spend time with their friends and family. This includes helping with travel for those children whose families live further away and support for families to spend time together safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged by staff to have a say in their future. Staff help children to express their wishes and feelings about the plans for their care and to develop skills for independence. As a result, children feel confident to do things for themselves and feel their views are important.

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

Staff understand the risks to children. Detailed plans help staff understand how to protect children. The risks to children are well managed and, as a result, risks are reducing. This helps children to feel safe.

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

Children have not gone missing from the home for some time. However, on one occasion, a child left the home for a short period of time. Staff responded appropriately and the child was supported to return to the home. This incident was followed up by discussions with the child, to understand what was happening for them. Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 4 Overall, staff have a good understanding of how to support children with their behaviours. Staff have a good awareness of the potential triggers to children’s behaviours and the strategies needed to manage these. As a result, children have not been physically restrained by staff.

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

In some instances, staff put in place consequences for children who have behaved inappropriately. However, they are inconsistent in their recording of the consequences used. Furthermore, it is not always clear how children have been supported to understand why their behaviour was inappropriate. This undermines the other positive examples of how staff have worked with children.

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

The plans for one child do not give staff clear guidance on how to deal with one specific aspect of the child’s behaviour relating to targeted behaviour to a member of staff. There have been missed opportunities to involve the child’s parents or to use a restorative approach.

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good

The manager has been in the role for four years but is yet to complete the required level 5 qualification. This means he was not suitably qualified by the relevant date.

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good

Team meetings and staff supervisions are held regularly but they are brief and do not help staff to reflect on their practice. This limits opportunities for learning and development for staff. Supervisions are carried out every six weeks, which is not in line with the aims set out in the statement of purpose.

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good

Some members of staff feel that communication in the home could be improved, and their views are not always listened to. This means staff do not always feel supported to do their jobs well.

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good

Children’s views are not consistently sought by the independent visitor or by the manager, either through regular meetings or in the six-monthly review of care. It is not possible to see how children’s views have been sought, acted on and feedback given. This makes it difficult to understand what impact children’s views and participation have on the care provided.

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good

Staff are recruited safely and there is a thorough induction plan. Staff have received the training required to meet the needs of the children in their care. There is a focus on in-house training which can be tailored and timed to meet the key risks for children. As a result, staff have a good understanding of autism, bereavement and loss and how to support children to make disclosures. Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 5

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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 leadership and management standard is that a person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level 5 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a person who starts managing a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 3 years after the date on which that person started managing a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a person who was managing a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2017. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i) (2)(c)(i)(ii) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring they have the relevant qualification to manage a children’s home. 30 November

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

engage with them; and 31 January 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 6 take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children have a variety of methods to share their views in relation to the quality of care they receive.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that plans to support children’s behaviours are kept up to date and include all the known behaviours being displayed by children. This should include strategies to address poor behaviour which are consistently applied by all staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.35)  The registered person should ensure that all consequences given to children are recorded and are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  The registered person should ensure that staff have opportunities to reflect on their practice in supervision and team meetings, to provide a culture of learning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 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: 2638535 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 19 Lancaster Road, Carnforth LA5 9LD

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Inspector

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2638535 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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