Children's Home run by South Tyneside Council in South Tyneside

Requires improvement

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

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because:

 The home has in the past mostly provided medium to long term care, planned placements. However for over a year now the home has not taken any planned placements but has taken a number of unplanned short term emergency placements. The home’s statement of purpose does allow for emergency placements but this change in emphasis has substantially changed the nature of the work. This change has meant that a number of challenging young people have been admitted on a short term, emergency basis and these young people have generally not had good outcomes. The disruption caused has had some negative effects on the two young people who were placed in the home for longer term placements and who continue to reside in the home. At one point in the summer there were four disruptive young people placed in the home on emergency placements and two young people remained placed on longer term placements.  The management of the home has been inconsistent. The registered

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because:

manager has been suspended since August 2015. The existing deputy started to act as Interim manager but was also suspended shortly afterwards. These suspensions do not relate to any issue to do with care of the children and young people. The current interim manager is an experienced manager and has done a good job of settling the home and providing a better management and leadership.  The staff response to children and young people going missing has not been good enough. The number of children and young missing from home has been high and very few independent return interviews have been carried out. Although staff have worked to the existing local authority policy and procedure they have not been supported by the local authority. Guidance about reporting children and young people missing has not been helpful and return interviews have not been required by the existing policy.  The Registered Manager did not ensure that all the staff had regular

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because:

supervision. This omission was particularly difficult as staff were being asked to work in a different way with particularly challenging young people.  Care planning has taken place and risk assessments have been carried out but issues raised have not been planned in to key work sessions with children and young people. This has meant that children and young people have not received personalised care and have not been well enough supported to deal with their difficulties.

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The children's home strengths

 Senior managers in the local authority have taken steps to steps to address the management issues. The interim arrangements since the two suspensions have been good. The interim manager and the new deputy managers have worked hard to raise standards of practice and care in the home and have been successful. In many ways the home has significantly improved since the Registered Manager and Deputy were suspended in the summer.  The staff team have not had good support from the Registered Manager prior to August 2015 but have had good support since. They have been asked to work in different ways because they have been told to work with more emergency placements and these have proved to be particularly challenging young people. However the staff team have remained strong and have shown a great deal of resilience and commitment in the face of very difficult circumstances.  Children and young people placed in the home on planned longer term

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The children's home strengths

placements have generally had good outcomes and this is due to the hard work and care offered by the staff team. The two young people most effected by the recent disruption have been kept safe by the staff and have been offered additional support.  The staff do engage with a wide range of external services to provide additional support for the children and young people.  The home has been well maintained and any repairs are carried out quickly. The home is now more homely and welcoming.  The staff team do make good efforts to make good relationships with the children and young people and are mostly successful in this. The staff team have shown tenacity and patience and have provided good consistent care in many ways.

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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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard with particular reference to ensuring appropriate key work sessions take place the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(b)(iv) provide personalised care that meets each child's needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child's background. 26/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard with particular reference to ensuring the impact of emergency admissions on other young people, the home and staff are fully understood the registered person is required to: (2)(f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 26/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard with particular reference to ensuring the manager of the home is both able and settled the registered person is required to: (2)(a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set in the homes statement of purpose. 26/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees- (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)) 26/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (the missing child policy) setting out- (a) the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from 26/01/2016 being absent without permission. (Regulation 35 (4)) In particular this relates to the need to be clear about reporting procedures and the need for every child to have an independent return from missing interview.

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Information about this children's home

The home is run by a local authority and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties EBD

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/02/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

24/01/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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requires improvement

The home has been disrupted lately because of the high numbers of short term emergency placements of young people with very challenging behaviour. This has had a detrimental effect on the home, the staff and the young people already residing in the home. The staff have not been able to offer a good standard of care for most of the young people admitted in an emergency. The home has also seen a number of management changes. The Registered Manager was suspended in August 2015 and remains suspended. The deputy manager, who had become the interim manager, was also suspended shortly afterwards. The home now has an interim manager seconded from another children’s home run by the local authority. Neither of the suspensions were related to child care practice but to other management practices. The impact of the emergency admissions coincided with the two suspensions which has compounded the situation. The care provided to the children and young people has been variable. The

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requires improvement

outcomes for children and young people placed in a planned way for longer term placements has mostly been good. Children and young people on longer term placements have made good relationships with staff, have generally had a good experience and have made good progress. Care provided to children and young people placed in emergencies has been less than good. Several young people have moved on to semi independence accommodation within the local authority and have continued to do well. Children and young people on longer term placements have had good school attendance and have made good progress at school. They have mostly remained settled, kept in contact with their families and made good progress towards adulthood. The two young people currently on longer term placements at the home both have 100% attendance at school and college and are making clear progress. They have made progress with independence skills and have made significant progress

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requires improvement

socially. Both of these young people now have more active social lives outside the home whereas previously they did not have this. Both these young people have clearly grown in confidence recently and have both developed better contact with their families. These young people have engaged with support services. One young person has regular productive contact with a support worker who looks at issues of sexual health, internet safety, exploitation and bullying. This has been really effective and has ensured that this young person is more informed and is more able to keep themselves safe. These young people have been able to engage and meet with staff to discuss day to day running of the home and to have their say on a range of issues such as menus, activities and resources. One young person spoke to the inspector and was able to confirm that they had felt safe throughout their difficulties and that staff had worked hard to ensure this.

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requires improvement

It appears as if these children and young people admitted in an emergency have often not engaged with staff and have not formed good relationships with staff. A number of these young people were involved in criminal and anti-social behaviour, took drugs and were at times aggressive and challenging to staff. These young people often did not attend school and staff were unable to support them to start attending. These placements were not particularly productive and often these young people moved on in ways that were not planned, to less than positive situations. Typically these young people did not engage with other support services. These young people have not really engaged with the staff so have not been able to have much of a say in the running of the home. Staff have given a high priority to the children and young people’s health. A number of the young people have been reluctant to attend health appointments

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requires improvement

but staff have been persistent and have encouraged them to attend. One young person with a fear of dentists has been helped to overcome this fear and attend for treatment. During the times when the home was disrupted by some aggressive and challenging behaviour, staff were able to put more resources in so that the more settled young people received more one to one attention and they were able to take part in more activities away from the home. While there are clearly some benefits to this action it was not the best situation for these young people. A number of parents and outside professionals were spoken to and were complimentary about the work carried out by the staff. The staff do offer children and young people training in independence skills and do offer key work sessions to address identified needs and risks however this needs to improve. More in depth key work and more planned work needs to be developed.

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requires improvement

The children and young people at this home have not been kept safe all of the time. It has been difficult for staff to assess risks with so many emergency admissions. However given time staff do identify risks and do take steps to minimise these. A number of young people have had high numbers of missing from home episodes. Many of these are young people returning to the home late, but current expectations around reporting mean these have all been recorded as missing episodes. A number of these young people have engaged in risk taking activities while they have been away from the home. This includes taking illegal drugs, legal highs and alcohol. Some of the young people have engaged in criminal and anti- social behaviour as well. The missing from home episodes have predominantly involved the children and young people placed on a short term emergency basis. The more settled young people do not go missing nearly so much and engage in

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requires improvement

these risky activities much less frequently.

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requires improvement

There have been some concerns that two of the young people placed on emergency placements may have been involved in situations where they were being sexually exploited but staff have followed all procedures and worked with police and other professional here and no clear evidence was found. Staff did attempt to do some work around these risks with these young people.

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requires improvement

Staff have had to deal with a range of often quite difficult challenging behaviour. They have done very well to maintain clear consistent boundaries and expectations and have been able to de-escalate many situations where young people have been aggressive and threatening. Staff have managed this without the need to use physical interventions, preferring to use negotiation and discussion. Staff do use a range of sanctions and these are appropriate. Staff also use a range of rewards for positive behaviour and this has some positive effect on behaviour. The difficulty for staff has been to deal with very challenging behaviour from young people who have not engaged or not wanted to be at the home because they were only there for a short term emergency placement.

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requires improvement

There is no evidence to suggest that the children and young people who were on settled longer term placements felt unsafe during the disruptions but they were certainly not happy with what was happening. One young person made complaints about this and although the complaint was properly dealt with the outcome was less than satisfactory. There have been a couple of complaints from neighbours about the behaviour of one young person and these were dealt with appropriately by the staff at the time. The home is well maintained and free of any health and safety hazards. Fire procedures and checks are carried out regularly.

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requires improvement

The leadership and management of the home has been variable. At the last full inspection the home was judged to require improvements and there is little evidence to suggest these improvements were being made prior to August 2015. However since that time the interim arrangement have been stronger and there have been very clear improvements. These improvements have been due to the employment of an experienced and skilled deputy manager and more latterly the secondment of an experienced manager to take up the interim manager’s role. Also, the appointment of a second deputy manager has further strengthened the management team.

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requires improvement

It also has to be said that the resilience and commitment of the staff team throughout the difficulties has greatly enhanced the stability of the home throughout this difficult period. Staff acknowledge the lack of leadership and do say that the number of emergency admissions was poorly thought through by senior managers but do confirm that they remained committed to the work throughout.

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requires improvement

The current interim manager has a great deal of experience and is appropriately qualified.

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requires improvement

Two management and leadership issues have not been sufficiently dealt with yet. Firstly, the home requires a settled registered manager in post as quickly as possible.

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requires improvement

Secondly the aims and objectives in the statement of purpose also need to be considered. The home does say that it has capacity to take emergency admissions but clearly recent events have demonstrated that taking too many, too quickly has had a detrimental effect on the home, the staff and the existing young people and has not produced good outcomes for the young people placed in an emergency. This situation now requires a more satisfactory resolution. The current temporary situation is that the staff will not admit any further children or young people until the home is more settled.

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requires improvement

The needs of children and young people are now prioritised well. Children and young people with planned long term placements generally make good progress and their experience is generally good. Some of these children and young people have arrived at the home with low starting points but have been supported to achieve and develop well. Other young people placed for short emergency placement have not made good progress and their experience of the home was poor. The management has provided staff with different levels of support. Prior to August 2015 a number of staff did not receive formal regular supervision and training opportunities were not sufficient. Since this time under the interim arrangements staff have received regular, good quality supervision and training needs are being better met. Staff are all qualified with relevant vocational qualifications and have their mandatory training in place but other important

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requires improvement

training is now being undertaken as well. Training on supervising contact was taking place in a planned way during the inspection. The interim manager and his management team are very clear about what needs to happen for the home to improve. Between them they have engaged in a programme of revising recording systems, strengthening care practices and making the home more efficient and effective. This bodes well for the immediate future of the home. There are very good relationships between the home and other professionals. The staff have contact with a wide range of other professionals and use them and their resources to good effect so that children and young people are able to take advantage of these additional services. The interim manager has also demonstrated well that he is able to challenge senior managers and others when there are issues outstanding. There were a number of requirements and recommendations from the last

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requires improvement

inspection. These have now all been met. There were requirements to ensure that information in children’s file was up to date. This included basic information, care plans and risk assessments. This has now been done. Notifications to Ofsted are now completed appropriately as well. There were recommendations that monitoring was better, particularly around complaints and this has been done. Recommendations around recording of missing incidents and risk assessments around missing incidents have also been completed. The recommendation around doing appropriate key work has not been met and is now raised as a requirement. Five requirements have been made at this inspection. The two most important around the leadership and management but also requirements around staff supervision, return from missing interviews and key work.

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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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