Children's Home run by Kingston upon Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull

Unique reference number SC034746 Inspection date 22/10/2012 Inspector Nicola McEvinney Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 30/07/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is owned and run by a local authority. It is registered to look after a maximum of six children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making inadequate progress .

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Progress

This interim inspection has focused on the progress the home has made since their last full inspection where they were judged to be adequate. However, this inspection was brought forward following concerns raised about the welfare of young people placed.

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Progress

Young people are increasingly benefiting from having healthy and nutritious meals. To assist young people's awareness of staying healthy, the home has sought the help of the 'eat well do well' team who have provided training to both staff and young people. This increased knowledge is helping young people make more informed decisions about healthy eating. To further support this upward trend on healthy eating, staff are maintaining more accurate records that show what young people are actually eating and demonstrates meals are more balanced.

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Progress

Young people are starting to benefit from having their needs clearly set out in their care plan with guidance in place, to enable staff to identify how these needs are to be met. These revised plans involve young people drawing up their care plan which promotes their well-being and ensures they are afforded opportunities to have a say about how they are cared for.

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Progress

Young people enjoy living in a safer environment with risks to their physical safety being minimised. For example, measures have been put in place to relocate the fridge and freezer so that young people are able to access food without being near to risks such as boilers. Regular fire drills are being held to ensure everyone knows what action to take in the event of a fire. Young people are also benefiting from improvements made to their environment. This extends to bedrooms being redecorated and furniture repaired. However, these improvements are being hampered by some young people's disruptive behaviour which is causing new damage to some areas.

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Progress

The staff are increasingly supervised to ensure they understand their responsibilities in caring for young people. However, some staff lack the necessary skills in managing the challenging behaviour of some young people. This includes, failing to apply adequate consistent boundaries to enable young people to self-manage their behaviour to acceptable levels. Furthermore, young people do not benefit from being cared for by a stable staff team. For example, there has been a number of staff changes made since the last inspection, which includes six staff being moved from a sister home of which five went sick on the second day. As a consequence of high levels of sickness, the home is reliant on casual staff to supplement the rota. Nevertheless, there is a core of established staff who have developed meaningful relationships with young people so they can have some level of stability.

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Progress

The welfare of young people is compromised by some placements creating severe disruption, which is impacting on the stability of the home. This has resulted in increased disruptive and criminal behaviours both within and externally to the home. This has necessitated a high level of police involvement, resulting in the arrest and further criminalisation of young people. These influences are also encouraging young people to associate in risk taking behaviours in the community. For example, they go missing and drift towards locations where their welfare may be compromised.

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Progress

Most young people are benefiting from having good school attendance which is enabling them to maximise their attainment. However, a few young people are poor attendees and in an isolated case, an individual has not had any educational placement for half a term, which is compromising their life chances.

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Progress

The Registered Manager remains in a very difficult position in trying to manage two very challenging six-bedded children's homes that are going through a transition. Issues identified at the full inspection of the sister home, which was judged as inadequate, have in the main been transferred here which does not promote good outcomes or quality of care for young people.

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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 there is a sufficient number of competent persons working at the home (Regulation 25(1)) 30/11/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) make proper provision for the care, education, supervision of children accommodated there (Regulation 11 (b)) 30/11/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure there is an individual who is in full-time day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 7(1)(b)(iii)) 01/02/2013

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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 the home only provides admission to children whose assessed needs they can reasonably expect to meet. (NMS 11.2)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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