Children's Home run by Keys Direct Care Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 1 SC419429 Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were four children living in the home.

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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 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: 29 February 2024

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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: SC419429 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/02/2024 Full Good 21/02/2023 Full Good 17/01/2022 Full Good 21/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has been through an unsettled period. There were significant changes in the home at the same time, with an increase in incidents as a result. A period of absence for the manager also had an impact at this time. Following her return, things have started to improve. Despite this difficult time, children continue to make good progress and say that they are happy in their home. Social workers speak positively about the care children are receiving. They also appreciate the relationships that the staff have with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person moved out having lived in the home for five years. She had made tremendous progress in that time. The manager advocated for her to have a slower move to her new home. This preparatory work enabled her to move at a pace she was comfortable with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children understand the importance of education in their lives. They ensure that school places are found for children as soon as possible. A child who moved in a few weeks ago is now attending school on a reduced timetable. This is to ensure that she is used to the school setting before increasing her attendance. Having only started at the school recently, she attended the school’s end of year disco. This enabled her to socialise and build a rapport with children she will be with in the next academic year. Another child has completed their GCSE exams. These achievements have helped the children to believe that they can be successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to address any health-related matters that arise. These include emotional and physical matters. Staff ensure children attend all routine and specialist appointments as required. This ensures that their health and well-being remain areas of focus and development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use key-work sessions to discuss various topics. Most are held informally. These are then written up and presented in a child-friendly way, collated into booklets that the child can keep. This is improving engagement levels and encouraging children to read the information recorded about them. This child-friendly approach is also used to creatively capture children’s views. These are then considered with them using tools such as decision boards. This responsive approach shows how children’s views and wishes are used to shape their home and care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have family time. This ensures that, where possible and appropriate, they maintain family relationships. Children are encouraged to have the experiences that their peers do, including play dates and sleepovers with their friends, as they would in family life. Staff skilfully coordinate these visits to minimise any disruption to the other children’s routines. Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 4

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

Staff are adept at ensuring that children feel safe and relaxed. This allows them the freedom to be themselves and explore their personal identity. Their bedrooms are personalised and reflect their individuality and uniqueness. Children generally have positive experiences in and out of their home.

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

Planned and unplanned changes resulted in an unsettled period at the home. The home needed more staff to meet the higher staff ratio required to care for children. This led to an increase in the use of staff from other homes and agency workers. During this time, staff did not always maintain a consistent approach and children pushed the boundaries.

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

There has been an increase in the frequency and severity of incidents which has resulted in many staff being assaulted. A younger child moving into the home at this time led to a further increase in incidents and assaults. This risk had not been fully reflected on or fully evaluated by the manager.

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

The use of physical interventions appears high because staff regularly had to guide the youngest child. There has been an occasion when staff did not use a hold in line with their training. This potentially placed the child and staff at risk. The manager immediately ensured that the staff involved undertook refresher training. Staff do not always recognise that certain situations can ignite traumatic memories for children.

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

Episodes of children going missing from home are rare. There has been one in this inspection period.

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

Staff are working positively with each of the children. They use their rapport with them to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying emotions behind children’s behaviours. Staff are assisted by the clinical team to develop strategies for managing behaviours. This helps them to ensure that children are receiving the adaptive care and support that they need to help them thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders continue to be ambitious for the children and staff team. The manager had a planned period of absence. This absence coincided with an increase in incidents. Staff said they did not feel fully supported during this time. They recognised the covering managers had to balance supporting them with running other children’s homes. The house is now feeling more settled. This is due to the manager’s return and one young person moving to a holiday setting before moving out. The manager and her team are working closely with the child’s placing authority. This is to ensure that the placement ends positively and she moves to a place where her needs can be better met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that children know and feel that they are living in their home, not a care home. She ensures that staff avoid using institutional language and thinking. Staff are positive about their induction and training. The recent incidents and assaults have led to some staff leaving and others questioning their future in the home. Despite these Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 5 challenges, they all say that they are proud of the team, their teamwork and how they support each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers are continually developing their already detailed quality assurance processes. They updated their monthly audit to capture any gaps in information from the recent period of upheaval. The manager’s quality of care report is comprehensive and evaluative. This ensures that she has a clear long-term development plan for the home. She identifies areas of focus for the next six months. She will be exploring how to futureproof the team to avoid a recurrence of the issues of the past few months. Examples include giving staff tasks they would be required to do if they were promoted. This enables staff to be ready for any more senior positions that may arise and promotes continuous professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home continues to achieve its aims and objectives. The manager is a good advocate for the children and escalates matters appropriately. Professionals praise the home and the work of the team with the children. One said, ‘I never have to worry about placement breakdown.’ Another praised the team for working creatively, enabling them to support one child while her local authority identifies a new placement. Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 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

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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to welcoming additional children to the home only when it is safe to do so, taking into consideration the needs of the children and staff already living and working in the home. 30 August 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that any use of restraint should be suitable for the needs of the individual child. The context in which restraint is used should also recognise that, as a result of past experiences, children will have a unique understanding of their circumstances, which will affect their response to restraint by adults responsible for their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.54)

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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: SC419429 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Inspector

Sonia Hay, Ofsted Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC419429 8 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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