Children's Home run by Norfolk County Council in Norfolk

home are

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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improvement because:

 Young people have risk assessments; however, these do not always include all predictable risks to individuals.  When young people have been missing, return interviews do not always take place and when they do, the learning from those interviews is not taken into account when assessing risks.  The fire risk assessment does not accurately reflect the risks within the home.   Monitoring processes are not yet robust and do not sufficiently contribute towards improving the quality of care.  There is limited access to training for staff in key areas such as child sexual exploitation and bullying  Supervisory arrangements for relief staff are not consistent.

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The children's home strengths

 There is a strong focus on education and young people are supported to attend school.  Young people are provided with healthy, home cooked meals and are encouraged to try new food groups.  There are strong and positive relationships between the home and other professionals.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered provider must:

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Requirement Due date

2 (a)(i) Ensure that staff 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

2 (d) Ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. 03/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationship standard with particular reference to young people’s sexual identify the registered provider must:

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Requirement Due date

2 (vi)Help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful. 03/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard with particular reference to attendance at parents evenings the registered provider must:

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Requirement Due date

2 (a)(vi) Maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and 03/08/2015 to maximise the child’s achievement; with specific regard to attendance at parents evening.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employers), are complied with in respect of the home, with particular reference to making a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions he needs to take to comply with the requirements. (Regulation 25 (2) (b)) 03/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 03/08/2015

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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 any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. This relates to visits undertaken under Regulation 44. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff should have the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. The registered person should ensure that skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded in the homes workforce plan. This relates to staff receiving training in bullying and child sexual exploitation. ( The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 43, paragraph 9.12)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Information about this children's home

A local authority runs the home. It is registered to care for 6 young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is a crisis intervention, assessment and reunification service.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

16/07/2014 CH - Interim Declined in effectiveness

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people living in the home are

Staff working in the home form stable relationships with the young people. They show interest in them and have supported them to develop some independence skills, such as catching the bus from school to home. Young people share their school test results with pride and staff celebrate young people’s successes with enthusiasm. This encourages a culture of high aspiration.

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people living in the home are

Staff maintain a strong focus on education. The majority of young people continue to attend educational provision. A social worker said: ‘Staff work well to keep her in mainstream and encourage her.’ This reduces barriers to attendance. Most young people continue to attend school even when they are reluctant to do so. Despite this, staff do not routinely attend parents evenings as a good parent would do.

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people living in the home are

Staff fail to fully support the health and safety of young people who smoke. They have made some efforts to link with cessation projects but these have not been effective. There is an acceptance of young people smoking in parts of the home. This presents a potential fire risk and creates an unhealthy culture within the home.

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people living in the home are

In most parts, the home presents as welcoming and hospitable. A dedicated chef cooks food from fresh ingredients. Young people are confident to try new food groups and benefit from a healthy balanced diet. They say that they felt welcomed to the home. One young person said: ‘Staying in the home has changed the way in which I think about residential care.’ This has helped young people to engage with social workers and staff to explore future placement options. Professionals spoke positively about the impact of the service in providing a stable environment to assess young people’s needs.

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people living in the home are

There is limited evidence of staff engaging with young people who have questioned their sexuality. Key-worker sessions show poor recording and care planning does not always raise issues that are pertinent to young people. Therefore, young people may not consistently receive support tailored to their individual needs. Judgement grade

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people are helped and protected

Young people live in a generally safe environment. The building presents as bright, spacious and well furnished. The surrounding gardens are well kept and offer a relaxing and tranquil area for young people to spend time outside. The communal areas of the building are very clean and tidy throughout. In contrast, one bedroom was dirty, with cigarette ends on the bedside table, food debris and a piece of broken crockery on the floor. This presented a risk in terms of a young person’s pattern of self-injury. Discussion with staff demonstrated a lack of clarity about expectations regarding staff roles in supporting young people to maintain an appropriate, clean bedroom space. This does not encourage young people to take pride in their surroundings and poses a risk to their personal safety.

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people are helped and protected

Young people have risk assessments; however, these do not always include all predictable risks to individuals. One risk assessment and case record showed that there had been previous incidents of self-harm within the home. This did not consider ensuring bedrooms are free from hazards. Responses to young people smoking inside the home are not sufficiently robust. The fire risk assessment does not consider the actual risks that are present. The risk assessment states that smoking is prohibited despite young people who regularly smoking in their rooms and using kitchen appliances to light cigarettes. Therefore, staff have not fully explored or mitigated the risks arising from young people’s behaviours. This does not protect young people as far as reasonably possible.

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people are helped and protected

Young people sometimes leave the home without prior arrangement. Staff follow young people and maintain agreed supervision levels. Staff worked closely with the police to undertake welfare checks in relation to a young person who was refusing to return to the home. When young people go missing, return interviews do not always take place. Discussion with the manager identified confusion regarding what constituted a return interview and who undertakes these. When return interviews have taken place, the home has not received a record to reflect the discussion. The learning from those interviews is therefore negated. Consequently, the service is lacking potentially key information when responding to missing incidents.

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people are helped and protected

Staff take a non-punitive response to incidents of negative behaviour. They look beyond behaviours to understand the frustrations young people face. Observations of interactions between staff and young people over mealtimes were positive. Staff provided sensitive responses when a young person was unhappy. This enabled a young person to finish their meal, clear their plate away and re-join the group for an activity, resulting in a positive evening. Where consequences are imposed these are meaningful, helping young people learn from their actions.

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leaders and managers

The Registered Manager has been in post for seven months, having previously been the deputy manager and is working towards her Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management in Residential Childcare. She has addressed the requirements and recommendations raised at the last inspection. However, the extent and effectiveness varies. Permanent staff have regular supervision although one relief member of staff has not had supervision at all, despite having completed a number of shifts. Supervision records evidence challenge to staff. Staff spoke positively about the supervision provided and the support offered. This demonstrates the manager’s willingness to challenge staff and improve practice.

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leaders and managers

The manager articulated her ambition and drive to improve the quality of the service in order to best meet young people’s needs. While her intention is clear the impact of this is not fully realised, vacant posts within the senior management team have limited the capacity to effectively monitor the home. Records demonstrate a lack of robust monitoring. The manager has not fully completed the review sections of consequences and incident logs. This could mean staff may not fully understand incidents. In addition, independent monitoring reports offer limited challenge with actions rarely identified as necessary. Overall, the monitoring systems do not generate continuous improvements.

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leaders and managers

Training is available to staff, although there have been difficulties in accessing specific training in a timely manner. Consequently, some staff have no training in child sexual exploitation and bullying despite these being features of the lives of young people placed in the home. This means that some staff may lack knowledge in key areas.

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leaders and managers

The staff handover was not fully effective. Staff discussed young people’s education and housekeeping details. They did not pass on key safeguarding issues despite concerns identified during the previous shift regarding a young person’s high-risk behaviour. Therefore in this instance young people may have been at potential risk as staff were not fully informed of the current needs of young people.

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leaders and managers

The manager and staff have positive working relationships with social workers, reviewing officers, the police and education services. Staff actively challenge and pursue professionals whose actions they have not felt to be good enough. A social worker commented: ‘ Staff are tenacious and assertive in chasing me for paperwork.’

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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