Children's Home run by Phoenix Children’s Homes Limited in Devon

Inspection report for children's home: SC403234 1 SC403234 Registered provider: Phoenix Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since September 2018.

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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

Date of last inspection: 10 January 2023

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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 children's home: SC403234 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2023 Full Good 10/08/2021 Full Good 17/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC403234 3

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improvement to be good

The child living in the home says that she does not always feel listened to by the staff. She explained that some staff are less able to support her than others, which sometimes leaves her feeling confused about how to access the help that she needs. However, the child also says that she likes living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are supporting the child to develop her independence skills, as she will be moving out of the home in the near future. Staff use an ‘independence tracker’ to review the child’s progress, assess the level of support that she requires, and plan for how to reduce this. However, despite it being known that the child will move out of the home soon, care planning is not effective. Care plans are out of date and leaders and managers have not sufficiently challenged external professionals to ensure that plans are shared and agreed within appropriate timeframes. As a result, the plans for the child’s upcoming move remain unknown The child says that this is contributing to her feelings of worry and uncertainty.

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improvement to be good

The child is supported to participate in a range of enjoyable activities, including going swimming, going to the beach, and having her nails done. The child also has a passion for animal care and has been helped to look after her own pets in the home. In addition, the child has been supported to maintain her relationships with family members. Family members recently attended a celebration at the home, which they spoke positively about.

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improvement to be good

The child is making some progress. She is supported to attend health appointments and engage with the range of professionals involved in her care. Staff provide the child with positive messages and guidance, and resources from health services are used to enhance the advice that is given. As a result, the child is supported to make healthy choices.

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improvement to be good

The environment is mostly warm and homely and has been decorated ready for Christmas. There are suitable soft furnishings and photos of the child enjoying time with her friends and the staff. However, the staff office space is not in keeping with the rest of the homely environment, as it is furnished with office equipment and worktops that would not usually be found in a family home.

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improvement to be good

Proactive and reactive strategies to support the child when she is upset or frustrated are agreed in consultation with the home’s therapeutic service. However, not all members of staff have a clear understanding of risk or the support that they provide to the child. Consequently, some staff members are not always sure how to respond to tricky situations. Inspection report children's home: SC403234 4 Furthermore, safety planning often fails to identify reasonably foreseeable risks. Consequently, staff are not always provided with the strategies that they need to help the child stay safe. As a result, staffs’ response to significant concerns about the child’s safety are not always robust. For example, a multi-agency response was not provided when significant concerns about the child welfare and risky situations continued. Learning has not been identified to prevent similar shortfalls in the future.

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improvement to be good

When the child raises concerns about the practice of staff, leaders and managers take immediate steps to keep the child safe. However, the child is not always provided with appropriate feedback about what actions have been taken. As a result, the child is not assured that they have been listened to and protected from harm.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding records do not provide a clear overview of what the concerns are, what actions have been taken, and what outcomes have been reached. As a result, the actions that are agreed are not always completed and/or cannot be demonstrated.

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improvement to be good

Restraint has not been used in this home since January 2023. When staff are challenged by the child, their immediate responses are often supportive and in line with the home’s policies. However, the support offered to the child after difficult incidents is not always sufficiently curious or reflective about what happened and/or what could be done differently. As a result, there are missed opportunities to share learning and help the child to understand how keep herself safe in the future.

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good

The registered manager speaks with passion and commitment when discussing the care needs and the progress of the child living in the home. However, leader’s and manager’s monitoring of the care that is provided is not always effective. As a result, the registered manager is not able to demonstrate the breadth of support that the child has received nor are they able to evidence what additional support is needed.

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good

Staff training compliance is high and staff are provided with the opportunity to complete training that helps them to meet many of the child’s needs. However, staff have not been provided with additional training to help them to support children who experience turbulent relationships.

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good

Team meetings and staff supervision sessions are used to provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on the child’s needs and the support that they require. Reflective-practice sessions are also offered regularly. These sessions are facilitated by the home’s therapy team and supports formulations that help the staff to understand the child better. Inspection report children's home: SC403234 5 The home has a stable staff team, which provides continuity of care to the child. When staff leave their positions in the home, the registered manager explores the staff member’s reasons for leaving, which allows for consideration to be given to any negative patterns or themes.

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good

However, when new staff are employed, leaders and managers are not sufficiently curious or attentive when reviewing safer-recruitment checks. As a result, discrepancies in the employment history of a new staff member were not identified or clarified before they started to work in the home.

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good

Staff say that they enjoy working in the home and that the child is at the centre of their practice. They say that the home provides a supportive environment for them and the child who lives there. Inspection report children's home: SC403234 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 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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; and

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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; and

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when concerns about children's safety are identified, the registered person should ensure that safety planning and the responses from professionals and staff help to protect children from harm. 19 February 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC403234 7 In addition, the registered person should ensure that up-to- date records are maintained of all safeguarding investigations. Records should detail what actions have been taken, and how outcomes have been reached.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff have the skills and experience to support children's individual needs.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that monitoring systems are used to ensure that children's needs are being met. Records should evidence the support and care that is provided to children. 19 February 2024

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child's placing authority effectively in the child's care, in accordance with the child's relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority's or a relevant person's performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child's needs are met in accordance with the child's relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that they work with children's placing authorities to plan for children's 29 January 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC403234 8 care. Specifically, the registered person should challenge professionals when their responses are not sufficient to allow for effective care planning.

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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

employ an individual to work at the children's 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)(a) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that when safer recruitment checks are being reviewed, professional curiosity is used to identify and clarify inconsistencies in staffs' employment history. 29 January 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any allegation of harm or abuse is addressed in line with the home's child protection policy. In particular, the registered manager should ensure that when children raise concerns about the practice of staff, they are provided with a suitable overview of the actions that have been taken and the outcomes that have been agreed. The registered person should ensure that children are satisfied with the actions and outcomes and feel protected as a result. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 44, paragraph, 9.17)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment. The home should seek to maintain a domestic rather than 'institutional' impression. Specifically, the home's office space should be furnished in a way that is consistent with what would be expected in a family home. ('Guide

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Recommendations

to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children's home: SC403234 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 children's home: SC403234 10

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Childcare Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Support Hub, Unit 5, Chinon Court, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SS

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC403234 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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