Children's home in Birmingham

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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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 There is no registered manager in the home. The registered manager left the home in September 2015 and her interim replacement left in June 2016.  There is a high staff turnover. In June 2016, the interim manager and her three deputy managers left the home; this unsettles and confuses young people.  The home employed staff without the appropriate criminal records clearance. This placed young people at potential risk.  Despite concerns raised by the staff team, managers were slow to respond. This exposed young people to bullying and poor care practice.  On returning home from going missing, young people do not receive an independent return to care interview. This denies them support at a vulnerable time.

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The children's home strengths

 Despite a turbulent and unsettling period for the home, a core permanent staff team remains. The staff team is committed, dedicated and focused on achieving positive outcomes for the young people placed in their care.  Managers recognise that the home must improve and have taken steps to improve recruitment and care practices. A service improvement plan is in place.

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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 within 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 the staff’s treatment of young people. (2) The registered person must ensure that staff— (b)(iii) treat each child with dignity and respect. 30 August

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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 the failure to respond to whistleblowing by staff. (2) The registered person must— (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate. 30 August

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Requirement Due date

32: Fitness of workers (1) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety. 30 August

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff (4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. 30 August

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide 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 (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30).  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (Regulation 36 (Schedule 3 (14)). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child's parents. Evaluation of incidents of going missing should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should

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Recommendations

inform the review of the quality of care (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 45 and 46, paragraph 9.31).  Encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. Children must be able to take up issues or make a complaint with support and without any fear (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13).  Demonstrate every effort to achieve continuity of staffing to prevent disruption to children's attachments (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1).  Supervision of staff practice should ensure that individual adults in the home are engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home so that they understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child (‘Guide to the

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Recommendations

children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.14).  The following elements of the workforce plan should be included in the statement of purpose (in accordance with Schedule 1, paragraphs 19 and 20): the staffing structure, experience and qualifications of staff and arrangements for supervision of staff practice (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10).

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Information about this children's home

The children's home provides care for up to four children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

20 January 2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

10 March 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people settle well in the home and make progress. They enjoy a planned induction and opportunity to personalise their rooms. Young people bond well with staff and learn new social skills. They speak fondly of recent trips to local amusement parks. Staff adopt numerous strategies to engage young people. For example, painting the garden shed and cooking. This helps young people to develop self-esteem and confidence. Despite this and good evidence of key working, one young person commented that one staff member ‘was not very nice’. He expressed relief that the staff member’s employment in the home had been terminated and concern over the loss of all four members of the management team. Behaviour is good in the home and there is no use of restraint. Young people respond well to daily planners and incentives for positive behaviour. This supports young people in reducing violent outbursts, incidents of missing behaviour and

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Requires improvement

achieving placement stability. When poor behaviour occurs, staff mediate well and support young people to apologise. Recently, they baked biscuits after disturbing a local neighbour. Feedback from partner professionals is positive and multi-agency work is strong. One professional commented, ‘Staff exhibit good care skills and care well.’ Professionals confirm that staff support young people in attending appointments and seek to share behavioural management techniques. This helps to ensure consistency and promote positive outcomes. Staff prioritise healthy living. Each young person has a daily snack box, which helps staff to monitor diets. Staff quickly access primary healthcare facilities and medication is dispensed safely. Staff recently obtained specialist advice and support on smoking cessation. Young people engage well. Delays occur for young people in accessing school provision. Case files show poor

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Requires improvement

management response to education authorities. During the intervening period, staff proactively liaise with previous school provision and the internet for worksheets and resources. Staff celebrate achievement and strive to encourage attendance. During the course of the inspection, one young person scored 95% on a school assessment. Young people enjoy safe access to the internet and a private study area in the home. Controls over the internet provision stop any access to inappropriate websites from the home. Staff advise and guide young people over the dangers presented by the internet and on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. Staff support the celebration of culture and difference. Young people recently watched a television documentary on Islam. This provoked a debate on radicalisation and the meaning behind fasting during Ramadan. Young people enjoyed this opportunity to learn and reflect on the experiences of staff members

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Requires improvement

and those of their peer group. Staff prioritise positive contact and appropriately challenge allocated social workers for assessment of family and friends to support overnight contact. This allows young people to feel heard and promotes placement stability.

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Requires improvement

There is a mixed response when young people go missing. Staff are proactive and persistent in trying to locate young people. Local police describe staff as being ‘good and dedicated’. Staff recently waited for one hour at a prearranged meeting point and persisted in calling the young person hourly for welfare updates. Staff challenged the lack of a strategy meeting from a placing local authority. Young people do not receive independent return to care interviews on return to the home and there is no monitoring of patterns of going missing and trends in the home. This denies young people an important source of support and guidance and the opportunity for the home to plan resources more effectively to reduce incidents of young people going missing. Staff advocate strongly on behalf of young people. They recently supported one young person through accessing the placing local authority’s complaints department and another young person in seeking independent legal advice. This

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Requires improvement

helped to secure a formal response to separate concerns. Staff utilise the professional network to help access specialist services. This included liaising with a court-appointed guardian to secure a specialist psychiatric assessment for one young person. This will ensure that he receives the support that he requires. Risk assessments are thorough and well informed. Staff display a keen understanding of young people’s behavioural triggers to help reduce anger outbursts. Case files show staff amending the morning routine for one young person to support his school attendance. His school attendance improved and incidents of damaging property reduced. Files indicate poor and unsafe recruitment practices. Two members of staff commenced employment despite lacking clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service. They have since left the home. The operations manager states that she was not aware of this practice. Upon learning of this, the operations manager took

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Requires improvement

strong action to discipline the manager involved, culminating in the manager’s resignation. The operations manager accepts that she took her ‘eye off the ball’. Presently, senior managers handle all subsequent recruitment issues. This inspection notes no further concerns in this area.

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Inadequate

The interim manager resigned from her post in June 2016. Her three deputy managers have also left the home. At present, the operations manager manages the home. She is a registered social worker, qualified to level 5, and has over 30 years’ experience of working with children and families. The home is presently considering applications for the post of interim manager and, given the loss of two managers in eight months, is keen to ensure the sustainability of the next appointment. Management upheaval has led to confusion among staff and young people. The home has endured a turbulent nine months. A revised statement of purpose is required to reflect recent staffing changes. Despite this, staff report that morale is strong and that they remain a close and bonded team. Safeguarding and professional boundaries are poor in the home. Staff point to a lack of guidance and supervision from the previous manager. Young people and

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Inadequate

staff smoked together outside of the home and staff reported favouritism towards young people and among staff members. Despite clear evidence of whistleblowing, these concerns were not addressed with the staff members concerned, leaving young people exposed to poor care practice. All of the staff members concerned have left the home. Staff have trust and confidence in the operations manager to achieve stability in the home and act promptly if further concerns arise. They describe the recent history as being a ‘steep learning curve’ and remain troubled by the apparent bullying of one young person. They are committed to working together to ensure that a repetition does not occur. The operations manager has implemented a new service improvement plan, incorporating a rigorous induction programme for a future interim manager. She will oversee this process herself. She has revised the sanctions process. Sanctions

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Inadequate

are now consistently clearly evidenced and incorporate feedback from young people. The independent visitor provides a poor level of scrutiny. Monthly reports have not effectively evaluated the progress made by young people and the wider staffing issues. Staff remain excited by training and development. A new ‘staff champion’ role allocates specific responsibilities in areas such as advocacy. Staff access training via the local authority, online and a private provider. Recent courses have included whistleblowing, training around child sexual exploitation and dangers posed by radicalisation. Admissions to the home are effective. Case records show good assessment of the impact of any potential arrivals. Presently, young people get along well and are of similar ages, with similar needs. This has reduced the possibility of bullying. Managers ensure that the home is a safe and well-maintained environment. Staff

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Inadequate

ensure that risk assessments are completed satisfactorily.

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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 that 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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