Children's Home run by Care Today Parallel Parents in Leeds

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:

 There are not a sufficient number of permanent, experienced and qualified staff to meet the complex needs of the young people.  Those young people who do not attend school are not provided with 25 hours per week of good quality registered alternative provision. Two of the young people are provided with ten hours per week in-house education that is delivered by an agency teacher. There is an expectation that the staff provide educational activities each afternoon. However, there are no staff employed with an educational qualification. These young people do not engage with these either of these opportunities.  There have been 16 admissions since the last full inspection. The majority of these have been emergency admissions and very soon it was recognised that their needs could not be met and were moved to alternative placements. This does not provide for stability to those young people who remain living at the home; neither does it promote young people’s well-

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because:

being and attachments having to move to another placement.  Although there are generally two staff who sleep in the home at night there is only one staff sleeping-in room. The second sleep-in staff is required to sleep in a communal area. This does not ensure young people have access to all areas of the home and does not protect staff’s privacy.

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The children's home strengths

 The home has a good approach to safeguarding. When young people’s whereabouts is unknown staff will actively go out looking for them and report them missing.  The home commits to the young people; on-going support has been given to a young person who has recently had a baby and is to return to the home. Staff quickly build up positive relationships with the young people who feel well supported.  The Registered Manager is highly committed to her work. She is always available for support to the staff team.

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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

5. Engaging with the wider system to ensure each child's needs are met In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and ensure that staff- (b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. In particular to ensure young people are provided with 25 hours per week of good quality registered education provision. 01 Jan 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only (a) employ an individual to work at the children's home; if the individual has the appropriate experience, qualifications and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (2) and (3)(b)) 01 Jan 2016

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Requirement Due date

13 The leadership and management standard (1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home; In particular, requires the registered person to- (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (e) ensure that the homes workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 01 Jan 2016 The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs (Regulation 31(1)) 01 Jan 2016

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Requirement Due date

14. The care planning standard The care planning standard is that children receive well-planned care from the home and have a positive experience of admission and transition processes. (2) in particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure – (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care, as set out in the homes statement of purpose 01 Jan 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 4 (e)) 01 Jan 2016

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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

 The design of the home should provide staff that sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 17, paragraph 3.26)  The registered person must ensure the necessary support is given to children to enable them to access their education. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, Page 28, paragraph 5.13)

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

24/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

15/10/2013 Interim Satisfactory Progress

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requires improvement

Out of the 16 young people admitted to the home since the last full inspection some have been successful placements with the home stabilising them enabling them to return to their family home or identified carer. However, the majority of young people, particularly those admitted in an emergency have not had their needs met and have required alternative placements to be identified. This does not promote young people’s well-being or attachments.

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requires improvement

Out of the current young people placed two are recent emergency placements with a history of missing and non-school attendance. The home have organised home tuition, delivered by a primary school teacher 10 hours a week and for care staff to provide educational opportunities in the afternoon. This does not comply with the requirement for young people out of education to be provided with 25 hours per week of good-quality provided by a registered alternative provision. However, despite staff’s best efforts these young people refuse to engage with any education. This lack of education attainment negatively impacts on life opportunities. The home has worked hard to engage a young person admitted over two months ago with their education. The staff have worked closely with her school and organised her tuition to be provided in the home by school staff with a clear plan for reintegration. This is extremely early days but she had a successful first day

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requires improvement

Young people enjoy warm relationships with the staff team. One young person said, ‘I love (name) he is like an uncle to me, I trust him.’ The young people know that staff care for them and are committed to them. On-going support is provided to a young person who is at an alternative provision undertaking an assessment but is to return to the home imminently. This support has been crucial to her well- being and promotes her sense of belonging.

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requires improvement

Young people’s health needs are well attended to. For example, the home has access to a psychologist. Although she does not work directly with the young people she offers support and guidance to the staff to help them to manage the complex behaviours of the young people. The child and adolescent mental health service supports some of the young people with their emotional issues.

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requires improvement

Young people’s views are sought on a range of topics including menus, their room décor and activities they wish to participate in. The home does have house meetings but as there is such a quick turnover of young people there are not established relationships between them to enable them to have fruitful discussions. Young people confirm that they know how to make a complaint and consider that they will be listened to.

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requires improvement

Young people have the opportunity to engage in a range of activities and some welcome this and speak highly of the opportunity to go fishing or playing pool. Other activities include going to the cinema or ‘hanging around with mates.’

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requires improvement

Young people are encouraged to practice skills they will need in adulthood. For example, they are encouraged to participate in meal preparation and have a good understanding of healthy eating, they maintain their personal space and undertake their own laundry. However, generally the young people do not remain living at the home for a long enough to enable them to embark on an independence programme that will equip them with all the skills needed to make a successful transition to adulthood.

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requires improvement

A number of the young people are placed a distance from their families. The home works hard to ensure that they spend quality time with family members. Plans are in place to develop the contact with significant others to deter some of the young people from going missing when they meet up with friends. This promotes young people’s well-being and keeps them safe. Judgement grade

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good

A real strength of the home is the manager’s understanding of safeguarding issues which she instils in the staff team. There are effective links with the integrated safeguarding team and relevant information is shared to promote the safety of young people. When there are concerns of young people’s involvement in child sexual exploitation (CSE) staff are vigilant in their supervision. To promote their safety some young people have been moved to alternative placements where going missing is reduced due to the location of the placement. It was recognised by staff that their safety was being compromised by them remaining at the home.

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good

Staff work with the young people to raise their awareness on CSE in order to promote their safety. At this time there is no evidence that any of the current group of young people are involved in CSE.

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good

The staff’s proactive approach when young people do go missing is commended by social workers and the missing person’s police co-ordinator. For example, when a young person’s whereabouts is unknown staff will report them as missing and will actively go in search of them. There are effective links with the local police and strategies are identified when young people are away from the home to keep them safe.

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good

Young people are safeguarded by the adherence to detailed risk assessments which identify potential dangers with strategies in place to minimise the risk. Behaviour management plans identify unwanted behaviours with guidance in place to support staff in managing these behaviours. Although, the young people have only been in placement a short time and these plans are evolving as effective strategies to keep them safe.

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requires improvement

The Registered Manager has been in post for over two years; she holds the level 4 diploma in leadership and management and health and social care. She has worked in children’s residential care since 2004. She is highly committed to the young people and will work on shifts including the occasional waking night shift to ensure she has an understanding of how the home functions. However, there is only a core of four staff who are on permanent contracts and only two of these hold a relevant qualification. The rest of the staff, only one who is qualified, are on zero hour contracts. This does not ensure that young people, who have highly complex needs, are cared for by a sufficient number of appropriately qualified staff who have the necessary skills to care for them. Rotas’ demonstrate that a number of shifts are covered by staff who are unqualified permanent staff and a number of shifts are covered by casual staff only, some who are not on the staff list. This

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requires improvement

does not provide young people with consistent, stable and good quality of care.

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requires improvement

The Statement of Purpose refers to accepting emergency admissions. Over recent months the majority of admissions have been in an emergency situation with the majority of them requiring to be quickly moved on as their needs cannot be met in the home. These emergency admissions have not allowed for good matching and in some cases has resulted in the de-stabilisation of other placements necessitating young people to move again. It is difficult to ascertain the progress made. The Statement of Purpose also refers to those young people who are not in education will be provided with a ‘structured programme of timetabled activities which will be geared towards maintaining motivation and enthusiasm for learning’. The activities provided are more based on occupying young people’s time rather than having an educational element attached. This does not promote their learning.

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requires improvement

Staff are required to sleep-in the home. However there is only one sleep-in bedroom, the other member of staff is required to sleep in a communal room. This does not ensure that young people have access to all areas of the home and does not protect staff’s privacy.

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requires improvement

Good monitoring of the home highlights trends which the manager acts upon. For example, staff who are regularly involved in restraints will be put forward for refresher courses to enable them to review their practice and develop the use of de-escalation strategies. The development plan is monitored and reviewed to ensure it is on target and gives some focus on improving the quality of the care to be provided to young people. Social workers are variable in their views on the service provided. In particular with regard to communication with the home. Some say communication is lacking as keyworkers do not have access to the email system and therefore there is not regular dialogue while others say there is good communication by phone and email. Only the manager is able to access email which disempowers staff. The organisation does not effectively utilise systems in place. For example, they do not use the automated system to notify the regulatory body over significant events. By

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requires improvement

using the postal system there is in-built delay. This does not enable the regulatory body to take swift action if necessary.

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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

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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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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