Children's home run by JTA Health Care Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 1 Registered provider: JTA Health Care Limited

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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 two children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in December 2023. There has been no registered manager since the 29 February 2024. The current manager has been in post since June 2024 and has not yet submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of this inspection. The child was not present during this inspection.

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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: Not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 2

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improvement to be good

Leadership and management of the home have been unstable, and this has contributed to the quality of care children receive. This has led to a judgement of requires improvement to be good.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living in the home has only recently moved in and was missing from home throughout this inspection. However, staff were in contact with the child and were encouraging them to return home.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not provide effective incentives to encourage children to make positive choices. For example, staff verbally encourage the child not to go missing from home and to attend school. However, there are no rewards provided when the child has attended school or made positive choices to encourage them to continue.

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improvement to be good

Key-work sessions take place on a planned and unplanned basis. Staff use creative ways to engage the child in discussions that interest them. However, key-work sessions do not always focus on goals or ways to keep the child safe. This makes it unclear whether the sessions are helping the child to make progress or if this is the most effective way for staff to support them. Furthermore, staff do not follow up on previous sessions. For example, on one occasion, a key-work session set a goal for the child to consider their future plans and interests, but the key worker did not revisit the topic in the following sessions. This was a missed opportunity to support the child to think about their future, and the impact of not keeping agreements with the child appears not to have been considered. Additionally, records of key-work sessions do not include full details of conversations held with the child.

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improvement to be good

The child’s care plan and behaviour support plans are thorough. They capture the child’s views, wishes and feelings. This supports the child’s understanding of their plans and the care planning process.

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improvement to be good

The home has a warm and cosy atmosphere, with children’s rooms decorated to a good standard. The child’s parent said that they like how clean and welcoming the home is for their child and the efforts made by staff to ensure that their child has what they need.

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improvement to be good

Incidents are not recorded and reported appropriately. This undermines safeguarding practice in the home and prevents consistent management oversight of how incidents are managed. Furthermore, this does not allow staff the opportunity to improve their responses to incidents. Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 3 Children’s risk assessments are poor. They contain lots of information that makes it difficult for staff to understand. Risk assessments are not updated when things change, and new risks are identified. This makes it difficult to establish staff’s understanding of children’s risk and behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow missing-from-home protocols when children are missing from the home. However, they do not record all of the actions that they take, such as welfare calls, and management oversight is missing from the documents. Staff do not make enquiries with other professionals when they know vital information about where the child could be when they are away from the home. This prevents staff and other professionals from supporting the child.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have consulted with partner agencies to consider risks where the home is located. However, they have not ensured that their assessment includes up-to- date information about crime in the local area or effective strategies to mitigate the risks to keep children safe. This limits staff’s understanding of how to respond to risks in the locality. This could also impact on the suitability of the home for children.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment procedures are not robust. Leaders and managers do not consistently ensure that they obtain police checks for staff who have recently moved to the UK from overseas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leadership and management of the home have been unstable until the current manager recently came into post. There has been turnover of staff that has impacted on the consistency of care for children. Staff morale is low, and some staff have not felt supported. On occasions, there have not been enough staff on shift to meet the required level of staffing for the child, which has meant that the manager has had to step in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff supervision is not effective. There is a lack of discussion about the child in supervision, which makes it difficult to establish what support staff receive to reflect on their practice and respond to the child’s needs. Discussions about staff training and consideration of staff development needs do take place in supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Inductions for new staff are detailed, and the training provided is specific to the needs of the child. However, leaders and managers do not have systems in place to demonstrate who has completed the training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been two team meetings that were well attended. Staff benefit from team discussions and training updates. Children’s progress and safeguarding issues are discussed. Leaders and managers are considering whether to increase the frequency of team meetings in light of the new staff team to encourage the stability and cohesion of the team. Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 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 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

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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all incidents are recorded, risk assessments are updated following incidents and all missing-from-home reports are sufficiently detailed, including management oversight. 9 August 2024

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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— 9 August 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 5 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that the workforce stabilises and that there are enough staff on shift to care for children in line with their care plans.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must keep an ongoing review of the suitability of the home’s location and ensure that appropriate safety planning is in place to mitigate risks. 30 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive supervision that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that the recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them by obtaining relevant police information where possible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2744844 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: JTA Health Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 68 Highgate Road, Walsall WS1 3JB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Billyamin Adedayo

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Inspector

Angela Reid, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2744844 7 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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