Children's home SC367737

Inadequate

There are serious failures that mean that children and young people are not

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Young people are not protected from serious risk of harm. They continue to leave the home regularly, often late at night, telling staff that this is to visit friends. The responsible individual is aware that sometimes they visit an adult’s house in the local area. The responsible individual has not assessed whether young people are at risk of being exploited.  The responsible individual has not shared his suspicions with the police or the placing authority that young people may be misusing drugs when visiting the adult’s house. As a result, safeguarding agencies are not aware and cannot work together with the home’s staff to devise strategies to reduce the risks. The responsible individual alerted the placing authority and the police of this information during the inspection.  Insufficient action has been taken by the responsible individual to secure improvements in the quality of care that is provided to young people.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

Leadership and management were judged as inadequate at the previous two full inspections. The responsible individual neither identifies the weaknesses in the service nor formulates an action plan to remedy them.  The independent visitor has not recently sought the views of parents, relatives and staff to gain their opinion about the quality of care that is provided.  Staff and young people do not receive regular fire drill training.  Staff, including the manager, do not always receive practice-related supervision by a person with the appropriate experience and training.

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The children's home strengths

Young people’s attendance and engagement at school are good. As a result, young people are doing very well at school and are taking formal qualifications. One young person has obtained a maths and English GCSE and is hoping to attend college to undertake GCE A level qualifications. Staff encourage young people to be ambitious. One young person is undertaking an apprenticeship and is making very good progress. He is taking driving lessons and has aspirations to have his own company when he has fully qualified and has passed his driving test.

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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 ‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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needs are met

5. In meeting the quality standard, the registered person must, and ensure that staff— (d) seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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needs are met

In particular, sharing information with the placing authority and police if there are concerns that young people may be placing themselves at risk of serious harm in the wider community. 1 May 2016

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The positive relationships standard

11.—(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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The positive relationships standard

In particular, setting boundaries and expectations when young people are socialising outside of the home. 1 May 2016

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The protection of children standard*

12.—(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 18 May 2016 registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) 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; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (b) ensure that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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The leadership and management standard

13.— In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (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. 31 May 2016

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Fire precautions

25.—(1) After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— (d) ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that person’s working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedures to be followed in case of a fire. 8 May 2016

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Employment of staff

33.—The registered person must ensure that all employees— (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and relevant training. 5 June 2016

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Independent person: visits and reports

44.—(2) When the independent person is carrying out the visit, the registered person must help the independent person— (a) if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. 31 July 2016

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Independent person: visits and reports

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure that the children's home is presented as a homely and welcoming environment. In particular, to consider introducing soft furnishing, pictures and photographs and to encourage young people to personalise their bedrooms (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9).

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Information about this children's home

A private company operates this home and provides care and accommodation for up to three young people who may display emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

08/02/2016 CH – Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

01/06/2015 CH – Full Requires improvement

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2015 CH – Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Inadequate

Despite some good achievements made by young people, this inspection has identified serious weaknesses in how well staff help and protect them. Leadership and management remain inadequate.

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Inadequate

The responsible individual has not assessed the risks to young people leaving the home to visit an adult’s house in the local area. Staff do not take action to protect young people when they leave the home, or assess the suitability of people whom they are visiting. As a result, young people are not protected from the risk of serious harm.

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Inadequate

There are some very positive outcomes for young people and they are making good progress in their education, social skills and independence. Staff fully encourage and support young people to succeed in their education. Young people are ambitious and want to succeed in life. Attendance at school is good, and some young people have gained formal qualifications and have plans to attend higher education. One young person is making very good progress with their apprenticeship and another young person has been offered a place at college. Very positive feedback has been received from a social worker. Attendees at a young person’s looked after review were extremely positive about the progress that the young person is making. One social worker said, ‘He (the young person) is content and happy’.

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Inadequate

Young people receive effective support in health promotion. Healthcare plans identify the support that young people require to reduce their misuse of drugs and smoking. Young people receive external professional support and counselling services are offered in respect of them misusing drugs. Minutes from recent looked after reviews state that the incidence of young people misusing drugs is being reduced.

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Inadequate

Overall, young people and staff get along well together. Young people say that staff encourage and advise them in how to keep themselves safe, and that staff fully support them in their education. There has been some improvement to enhance the homeliness of the home. However, this has not taken place throughout the home, resulting in some areas that remain uninviting and lack a homely feel.

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Inadequate

Young people are not protected from the risk of harm, as a result of poor assessment and management of high-risk activities. Young people continue to leave the home, often late at night. Young people say that they leave to meet their friends. This was a concern at the previous inspection. Insufficient action has been taken by the responsible individual and staff to reduce the risks to young people. The responsible individual is aware that one of the locations that young people visit is an adult’s house. The responsible individual has made contact with the adult and visited the house. However, he did not advise the local authority or the police of his suspicions that the young people were visiting the home to misuse drugs. During the inspection, the responsible individual was required by the inspector to share these concerns. The responsible individual has not considered the wider risks of young people potentially being exploited.

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Inadequate

The responsible person has collected data in respect of the times that all the young people leave the home and when they return. The data identifies that one young person continues to leave late in the evening and, on occasion, does not return until the early hours of the morning. The data has not been used effectively to examine the patterns of missing episodes. Risk assessments and action plans are not specific to reduce the risk of harm to young people. The actions that staff take are not sufficient to protect young people and promote their safety. The staff do not routinely follow the young people when they leave the home late at night, relying on telephone contact to ascertain their whereabouts and expected time of return. Staff trust that young people are with their friends but have not investigated whether this is accurate, or how safe they are. The responsible individual said that each young person has had ‘one-to-one’

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Inadequate

discussions with senior staff and their key worker, underlining the expectations when young people are socialising with friends at night and explaining why there are measures in place to discourage this. These discussions have not been formally recorded or placed on young people’s personal files. Young people said that they know how to keep themselves safe when out socialising in the wider community. Young people do not comprehend that they are at risk by leaving the home and visiting an adult’s house. One young person said, ‘Staff would not let anyone hurt me; I have no doubts in my mind about that’. Another young person said that, ‘Staff have spoken to me about keeping safe when I’m not in the home’. Since the previous inspection, some young people are not leaving the home as late in the evening as before. One staff member said that, ‘A young person that age shouldn’t be out that late; we encourage him not to go

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Inadequate

out’. Staff do not take enough action to prevent the young people from going out or to reduce the risks. Staff have received safeguarding training, but are not applying this learning effectively to protect young people or understand the risks they face. The responsible individual has not ensured that all staff working in the home, or young people receive regular fire drill training. There are good relationships between staff and young people, and positive behaviour is promoted. As a result, there has not been any recorded use of restraint or sanctions since the previous inspection. All staff have received training in de-escalation and restraint and child protection. There have not been any recorded episodes of young people going missing.

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Inadequate

Young people are aware of how to make a complaint. There are no recorded complaints from young people or from external sources.

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Inadequate

The use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in the home has now ceased. As a result, young people’s privacy is respected. The responsible individual ensures that the home’s utility services and firefighting equipment are regularly serviced.

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Inadequate

Leadership and management have been judged inadequate at the two previous full inspections. Despite some improvement since the previous inspection, concerns remain in respect of the responsible individual’s ability to safeguard young people and to secure improvements to the quality of care.

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Inadequate

The responsible individual’s audit of the quality of care continues to lack rigour. He neither evaluates the services provided nor clearly identifies the weaknesses and how these will be improved. Senior leaders and managers do not engage with external professionals and organisations to develop and maintain effective relationships. In particular, the responsible individual has failed to share sufficient information with the placing authority and police to alert them to concerns that young people may be placing themselves at risk of serious harm in the wider community. Although the local authority designated officer (LADO) confirms that no referrals have been made to them, they said they would like more effective links with them.

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Inadequate

Monthly visits are undertaken by the independent visitor. At these visits, the views and opinions of young people are sought and the visitor evaluates the outcomes of these discussions. However, the views of parents and other interested stakeholders have not been sought in the previous three months. This does not provide the visitor or the responsible individual with a wide range of feedback to determine the quality of care.

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Inadequate

The format for the recording of staff supervision is primarily a ‘tick box’ exercise with very little narrative. This means that staff are not encouraged to reflect on their practice and identify how their skills can be enhanced. Managers undertaking a supervisory role have not recently received training in this management task. In addition, the responsible individual is not receiving professional supervision to assist him in his role.

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Inadequate

The responsible individual is also the registered manager of this service. He has been the responsible individual for many years and became the registered manager in November 2009. He has a level 4 diploma in leadership and management for care services and health and social care. He is currently undertaking the level 5 leadership and management in residential childcare.

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Inadequate

All staff receive an annual appraisal. Since the previous inspection, staff have received training in extremism and radicalisation, misuse of drugs and attachment disorders. Staff said that this training has been helpful and has raised their awareness and understanding of these issues.

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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 children looked after 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 ‘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 0300 123 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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