Children's Home run by Stockton on Tees Borough Council in Stockton-on-Tees

Unique reference number SC035222 Inspection date 30/12/2011 Inspector Steve Pearson Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 29/11/2010 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

The home is registered with Ofsted to provide care and accommodation for a maximum of three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The provider of the service is a local authority.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

The manager and staff provide high levels of consistency and continuity for young people and this helps them to feel settled and secure. The staff are all qualified and knowledgeable about how to care for young people effectively.

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Overall effectiveness

Outcomes relating to health, education and behaviour are good. In some cases, young people's health and behaviour has improved dramatically since they came to live in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

Overall, the manager and staff care for young people safely. However some concern arose at this inspection regarding the potential for electric shocks from bare light bulb sockets. There is also scope for ensuring a more robust response when young people go missing. Risk assessments about the hazards that may affect young people are also not as informative as they could be.

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Overall effectiveness

The current manager is providing effective cover for the Registered Manager who is currently absent. The quality of care is monitored internally and externally. However, this is not adequately robust because the views of important stakeholders, such as parents, are not being sought or included in the monitoring reports.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the children's home is conducted so as to promote and make proper provision for the welfare of children accommodated there. In particular this relates to ensuring that bare electric light bulb terminals in a young person's bedroom are not live (Regulation 11 (1)(a)) 05/01/2012 17B (2001) ensure that in the written record of restraints, the description of how the restraint was conducted does not rely solely on the use of technical jargon (Regulation 17B) 30/12/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that, as appears necessary, the person conducting the external visits interviews, with their consent and in private, the children's parents and relatives in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the home (Regulation 33(4)(a)) 01/02/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the system for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 provides for consultation with the parents of children accommodated and with the placing authority. (Regulation 34 (3)) 31/03/2012

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure that young people are able to contact a range of relevant websites in order to seek advice and help. Specifically this means ensuring that the internet access on the young people's computer is kept in working order (Volume 5 statutory guidance paragraph 2.73)  ensure that the views, wishes and feelings of children are taken into account in developing the home. In particular this relates to accounting for how the wishes of young people expressed in house meetings have been addressed (NMS 1.7)  ensure that records about when young people go missing describe the circumstances of their return, any reasons they may have given for going missing, and any action taken in light of those reasons (NMS 5.10)  promote safety and welfare by ensuring that risk assessments include an estimation of the likelihood and seriousness of hazards that may affect young people (NMS 4.1)  ensure that each young person has on their file prior written permission from a

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Recommendations

person with parental responsibility allowing the staff to administer first aid and non-prescription medication to their child. (Volume 5, statutory guidance, paragraph 2.54)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are supported to develop their own identity through making their own choices in relation to clothing, toiletries, bedroom décor and favourite foods. In their surveys, young people also said that their cultural and religious beliefs were respected. Young people are healthy and they benefit from support and treatment from a range of professionals. For example, young people make regular visits to a doctor, dentist and optician. Specialist support is also available from a nurse for looked after children and from professionals who provide support for emotional health. It was clear from evidence at the inspection that some young people's health has improved significantly since they were admitted to the home. All the staff are trained to administer first aid and medication. However, written parental consent permitting the staff to provide first aid and non-prescription medication is not in place.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Overall, young people are making suitable progress in education. Attendance levels have remained high or improved since admission to the home. Where educational placements have ended, suitable alternatives have been found quickly. In interim periods the staff have done their best to provide learning opportunities for those young people without full-time educational provision.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from being able to maintain and build on contact with their family and friends. This helps to improve their emotional well-being and helps their overall development. The staff provide transport and supervision when necessary and young people can visit their friends and stay overnight where appropriate.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people develop important skills and knowledge which will be helpful when they are older and living independently. For example, the staff help them to develop skills in cooking, budgeting money and laundering. All young people have bank accounts to help them learn how to handle finances.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is satisfactory .

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Quality of care

Young people are supported to have a say in how the home operates. For example, each young person has a key worker who takes a special interest in supporting their development. A co-key worker also provides support when the key worker is absent. This helps to ensure young people individual needs are met. Young people are also invited to attend a house meeting once a month. Issues about the running of the home are discussed at the meetings and young people are encouraged to express their opinions and make suggestions. However, there is a lack of detail in the minutes of these meetings. Consequently, there is a lack of assurance about how young people's suggestions or concerns will be taken forward and about how issues raised by them at previous meetings have been addressed.

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Quality of care

Young people are aware of how to raise concerns formally by making a written complaint. It is unclear whether the four complaints made since the previous inspection have been upheld or not. However the acting manager is now clear that outcomes of complaints should be recorded in this way. Young people are provided with guidance about how to seek support from advocacy services. However, despite a visit from a technician, the internet on their computer has not been working for several months. This makes it more difficult for young people to gain access to websites to seek advice and support. Young people get on well with each other and with the staff. The staff reward positive behaviour and issue sanctions to address unacceptable behaviour. The staff respond well to very challenging behaviour and over time this has helped to make young people feel more settled and less disruptive.

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Quality of care

Young people can take part in a variety of leisure activities. Some of these involve mixing with other young people in the community and this helps them to develop friendships. The home also has a range of games and leisure activities for the young people including the provision of a computer.

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Quality of care

The premises are maintained in a safe condition. Professional technicians regularly service the electrical equipment, gas appliances and equipment for preventing, detecting and extinguishing fires.

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Quality of care

Admission procedures are robust. This means that no young person is admitted to the home unless it is assessed that the home can meet their needs. The assessment considers any effects their admission may have on the current residents and any effect the residents may have on the incoming young person. Residential placement plans are in place for all young people and these are up to date. However, the plans are structured around obsolete national minimum standards and are unclear about young people's cultural needs, contact arrangements and emotional needs. A working group is however looking at the plans to make them more comprehensive. Young people confirmed that they are invited to contribute their opinions to the formal reviews of their care plans. Key workers play an important role in advocating for them in review meetings.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is satisfactory at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people get on well with each other and with the staff. There is no bullying and the staff are proactive in making it clear that bullying will not be tolerated. The staff issue sanctions to young people if their behaviour is not acceptable. These are fair. The staff restrain young people when necessary to protect the safety of the young person, or others or to avoid serious damage to property. However, the recording of restraints does not provide for full accountability because sometimes the staff only use technical jargon to describe how the restraint was conducted. The staff receive regular training in child protection. They are clear about how to respond to any allegations, suspicions or evidence of harm. In surveys, young people said they always or usually feel safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

However, young people are not always fully protected from harm within the home. On the day of the inspection, bare electric light bulb terminals in a young person's bedroom were within touching distance and it could not be confirmed whether these were live or not. The home has an up-to-date protocol with the local police regarding occasions when young people may fail to return to the home on time or go missing. The protocol for recording these occasions does not provide sufficient assurance that absences are responded to appropriately. This is because any reason a young person may give for failing to return is not clearly recorded. The actions taken by the home in response to any such reason is also not recorded. The staff assess the risk of hazards that may affect young people. However these are not fully informative because there is no estimation of how likely each hazard is and how serious it is likely to be.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Appropriate arrangements are in place to ensure that staff recruited to work with young people are suitable and safe.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good .

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Leadership and management

At the previous inspection, Ofsted recommended that leaving care plans were put in place for older children who were preparing to leave care. Arrangements are now in place so that for these young people, such plans are now more clear and comprehensive. The home has a clearly written Statement of Purpose and young people receive an informative children's guide on admission to the home. This helps them to understand the purpose of the home and how it operates.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager is currently absent due to sickness and the acting manager is providing effective leadership and direction. The development of the home is assessed on an ongoing basis and an appropriate annual development plan is in place. The home has suitable resources for effective day-to-day operation. The home has suitable staffing levels. Young people receive high levels of consistency as there is very low turnover of staff and the young people know the staff well. The staff are all suitably qualified to work with young people. They also receive ongoing training in a varied and comprehensive range of relevant subjects. The staff receive suitable support by having regular formal supervision with the manager. Their annual performance is also assessed annually and they are supported to consider their longer term career development and training needs.

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Leadership and management

Monitoring of the quality of care is not always comprehensive. An external person visits the home once a month to assess the quality of care. However, this monitoring does not include an attempt to seek the views of parents or relatives about the care provided. Until recently, the monitoring has not met other specifications laid out in national legislation and guidance. Additionally, the manager of the home conducts monthly monitoring of the quality of care and this includes seeking the views of young people. However, the monitoring does not incorporate the views of parents or social workers. Overall, therefore, there is concern that shortfalls may not be identified because the views of important stakeholders are not being incorporated into the monitoring.

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Leadership and management

Information about young people is kept securely. Young people themselves can read what the staff have written about them and can add extra notes themselves if they want to. The manager and staff notify Ofsted of all significant events in a timely manner. This helps the regulator to be aware of any important issues arising and about how these are being dealt with.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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