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

Unique reference number SC442886 Inspection date 13/12/2012 Inspector Stephen Graham Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 29/08/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children's home is registered to care for up to four young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties. The registered provider is a local authority.

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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 good progress .

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Progress

The home is currently judged as adequate. Since the last inspection of the home in August 2012, the manager and staff team have worked very effectively to further improve the service. The three actions and the three recommendations made at that visit have each been implemented in full. There are no new actions arising from this visit. However, one new recommendation regarding one aspect of the external monitoring of the service is made.

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Progress

The staff team at the home issue sanctions to young people for unacceptable behaviour and also reward them to promote positive behaviour. Since the previous inspection, the record of the use of restraint at the home has been further improved. This now includes the name and signature of the author of the reports. This helps to maintain the accountability of the staff involved.

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Progress

The quality of care is monitored on a regular basis by the Registered Manager. The reports they subsequently produce have been improved and show evidence of what social workers who have placed children in the home think about the quality of care. This allows the manager to address any issues identified in these discussions and further improve the service. The reports have also been improved to demonstrate in better detail how recommendations made in previous reports have been implemented.

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Progress

Appropriate arrangements are in place to help ensure that staff team members recruited to work with young people living at the home are suitable. All staff must have a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check before they can work in the home. The information held at the home about these checks has been further improved to include confirmation of all necessary details.

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Progress

External visitors come to the home each month to assess the quality of care provided to the young people who live there. The visitors make recommendations to the manager when necessary. The arrangements used by the manager to meet these recommendations have been improved. This helps to ensure that any recommendations are implemented in a timely manner. However, since the last inspection, the external visitors have not always commented in their reports on all of the matters recommended.

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Progress

The manager and staff team use a range of meetings and individual discussions to consult with young people, their placing social workers and also their parents and carers where this is possible. These arrangements work effectively to help ensure that the wishes and feelings of young people and those involved in their care are taken into consideration. The manager maintains good records of the views and suggestions received and how these have been incorporated, where possible, into their plans to further improve the service and the day-to-day running of the home.

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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 visits to the home carried out under Regulation 33 include checks on records of missing person’s reports. (NMS 21.7)

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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.

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