Children's Home run by Chillington Close Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 1 Registered provider: Chillington Close 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 is registered to provide care for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since the home opened and is appropriately qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the home’s first inspection since it was registered.

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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/or 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: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 2

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inadequate

Two children currently live in the home. One child’s overall experiences and progress have been adversely affected by significant and serious shortfalls in safeguarding practice and in the leadership and management arrangements of the home.

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inadequate

Children have informed staff in children’s meetings that they do not always feel listened to. As the manager has not had any oversight of the children’s meetings, this has not been followed up and addressed. This is a missed opportunity to talk to children and understand their views and feelings.

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inadequate

The home environment is warm and welcoming. However, children’s bedrooms are not consistently maintained to a high standard. Furthermore, not all children’s bedrooms are personalised.

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inadequate

Not all children are supported to manage their emotions in a safe way. This has left children at risk of harm due to the lack of action taken when children display self- injurious behaviours.

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inadequate

Despite the shortfalls identified in safeguarding practices, the manager does take action to ensure that children move into the home in a planned way. Children visit the home and meet the manager and staff before moving into the home. This helps children to have a positive transition into the home and helps to reduce their anxieties.

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inadequate

The manager and staff are committed to supporting children in their education. The manager advocates and works in partnership with schools and placing authorities to maintain children’s school placements. The manager supported one child to overcome barriers to attend school. She arranged for staff to attend school with the child to develop their confidence. This support was effective and enabled the child to attend school and engage with their learning.

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inadequate

Children are supported to engage with activities, such as going to the gym and having horse-riding lessons. Staff encourage children to attend counselling sessions to improve their physical and emotional health. The manager uses monthly consultation sessions with the home’s clinical psychologist to promote and understand the children’s needs. The manager is also proactive in referring to external agencies if children require additional support.

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

Serious shortfalls were identified in relation to safeguarding practice. Safeguarding practice is not proactive and fails to ensure that all children are safeguarded. Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 3 Managers and staff failed to take effective action when a child was at risk of harm, despite staff becoming aware that the child was suffering with their mental health and raising significant concerns for their welfare, including suicidal ideation. Immediate action was not taken to safeguard the child and welfare checks were not conducted throughout the night. This did not ensure that appropriate safeguarding practices were followed.

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

Staff and managers failed to follow the child’s risk-management plan to ensure that the environment was safe and kept free from hazardous items. For example, despite staff being aware that the child had access to hazardous materials, a room search was not conducted to remove all items of concern. Consequently, the child was able to harm themselves on three separate occasions. Staff’s inability to respond effectively to this risk placed the child at risk of harm.

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

Staff do consistently follow the home’s therapeutic approach and use the strategies set out in children’s plans. However, the failure to implement de-escalation strategies effectively during one incident resulted in the incident escalating. Staff were injured during the incident and children were not safeguarded effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight and internal and external monitoring and review systems are weak. Weaknesses in practice have not been appropriately identified by the registered manager, in particular around the management and support of a child who displays self-injurious behaviours. On occasions when incidents were reviewed, the review lacked professional curiosity and failed to identify shortfalls in staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External monitoring has not identified shortfalls highlighted by the inspector, and the independent person does not consistently include the views of children or professionals. This is a missed opportunity to consider the views of all professionals who work with the manager and staff in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff team lacks experience in residential childcare. Staff without the relevant qualification are currently enrolled to complete this. Staff have completed mandatory training as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recruitment practices within the home are in line with regulations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers ensure that staff receive regular supervision. Supervisions are used to reflect on staff practice. Members of staff said that they find supervision useful in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and staff have monthly consultation sessions with the psychologist during team meetings. This provides an opportunity for the staff and manager to discuss children’s behaviours and progress. This consultation process provides the staff team with opportunities to understand children’s behaviours. Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 4

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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 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

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

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;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children are given feedback when they express their views, following children’s meetings. 10 December

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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. 3 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 5 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

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that: - staff follow the actions set out in children’s risk assessments and plans - children’s self-harm risks assessments are reviewed regularly and assessed in line with presenting behaviours and risk factors - staff understand children’s risk assessments and their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children - staff have the skills and confidence to take effective action to keep children safe.

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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— 3 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 6 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;

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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)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager having oversight of all incidents and identifying whether staff have taken appropriate actions before, during and after an incident occurs.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, ensure that staff have the skills to safely care for children.

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person undertakes a rigorous review of safeguarding practices in the home and evaluates practice. In addition, they should ensure that the views of children and professionals are ascertained consistently. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms are clean, well maintained and personalised. (‘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: 2718786 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Chillington Close Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 Heritage Park, Hayes Way, Cannock WS11 7LT

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Inspector

Nateisha Cardoza-Evans, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2718786 8 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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