Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Derbyshire

Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected. Their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and their care and experiences are poor.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Young people have not been kept safe. They have been allowed by staff to associate with adults who are significantly older than them, making them vulnerable to being exploited.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Staff are not adequately trained or skilled in safeguarding children. Particularly, they have not been able to identify the warning signs that young people may have been exploited.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Staff have not always responded effectively when there have been safeguarding concerns about young people’s safety or welfare.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Leaders and managers have not picked up on shortfalls in how young people are kept safe. These shortfalls have been allowed to drift, which has impacted on the safety of young people.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Care planning is not effective in capturing young people’s needs and the actions that need to be taken to meet them.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Young people’s privacy is not protected as information has been available on the internet that details the name and address of the home.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Medication is not always safely administered. When young people refuse their medication, this is not followed up with them, or a medical practitioner.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 A requirement about staff appraisals made at the last inspection has not been met.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Complaints from young people are not always recorded as such and thus do not allow young people to feel valued and have their concerns addressed.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Staff support to young people is basic and does not extend to advising and supporting young people with their heath needs, self-harm or emotional welfare. Therefore, young people make little progress in these areas.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Joint working with professionals is not always effective in protecting young people.

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The children's home strengths

 There has been some good practice in preparing young people for their transition to leave care.

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The children's home strengths

 There is a strong emphasis on the importance of family contact, and young people have benefited from improved relationships with their family.

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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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Requirement Due date

7. The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person is required to— (2)(b) ensure that each child— (i) is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, ensure that— (1)(b) children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

*12. The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person is required to ensure— (2)(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. 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person is required to ensure— (2)(a) that staff— (ii) help each child understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 1 September 2016 (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

*13. The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person is required to enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (1)(b) promotes children’s welfare. 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

13. The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, ensure that children— (1)(a) receive effectively planned care in or through the home 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(a)) 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the privacy of children is appropriately protected. (Regulation 21) 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the registered person makes arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23(1)) 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a system for monitoring reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45(2)(a)) 1 September 2016

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Requirement Due date

{an asterisk is added in the table above where Compliance = 'Y'} * These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and is registered for four young people. The home provides care and accommodation for 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

21 March 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

25 February 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Inadequate

There are widespread failures that have put young people at risk. There is a lack of detailed care planning. This has resulted in young people not being adequately supported with issues relating to self-harm, alcohol misuse and managing their emotional welfare. These issues, for some young people, have either been left to drift, or become worse. Young people are therefore not making appropriate progress. Young people regularly engage in drinking alcohol. One young person said: ‘All young people get drunk.’ There are no plans in place to help young people to identify the risks of drinking alcohol and there is no in-depth support for them from staff. Key-working sessions do not extend to advice and guidance, and only skim over the surface of such issues. One key-working session merely informed a young person that it is dangerous to go missing and drink alcohol, offering no support or guidance. There is some evidence of contact with other professionals about alcohol

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Inadequate

issues, but, when young people refuse to engage, staff are not creative in their thinking about how to ensure engagement in the future. Medicine administration is not always in line with the home’s policy, leaving room for error. Staff do not routinely check the label on the bottle against the medication administration record when they administer the medicine. There was an error in recent weeks and the procedure has been tightened up but, during the inspection, staff did not follow the procedure properly. When young people have been prescribed medication, they do not always take this, including the contraceptive pill. There is no follow up with young people about this and no evidence of support or direction for them in terms of sexual health or the impact of pregnancy. Staff did not consult one young person’s social worker about significant changes to their contact arrangements. The social worker was clear that they may have

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Inadequate

stopped the contact, had they known about this. This lack of consultation indicates that the home does not always work in line with placing local authorities and the care plan for the young person. The social worker was reported to be ‘out of the loop’ on this issue and this lack of joint working could put young people at risk because of poor decision making. Young people have complained to staff about several issues since the last inspection. However, these issues have not been dealt with as complaints, despite this clearly being the case. Young people are not always listened to and have not always had a response from the manager when making a complaint. This prevents them from having their say, developing their self-confidence and having an awareness of their rights for their future. There is some good practice in the home. Some young people have made significant progress in developing their skills for adulthood and some have

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Inadequate

successfully moved out to live independently, with their next steps for education secured. In addition, some young people have improved relationships with their family. This is clearly a focus of the home’s ethos. Young people can develop and maintain positive relationships with important people in their lives. All young people are in some form of education or training, and the manager has worked to ensure that he responds to educational issues and barriers to learning. Some young people are in mainstream school and some have bespoke or one-to- one training to suit their individual needs. One young person has secured a qualification in their chosen vocation and has been supported well by the home, despite facing difficulties along the way. This support ensures that young people are equipped with skills that they can use to develop their chosen career and interests. The environment is very pleasant and well kept. The home is a place where young

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Inadequate

people can develop a respect for their environment because of the high specifications and good-quality furniture, fittings and fixtures.

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Inadequate

There are some issues identified at this inspection which have shown that some young people have not been kept safe. Episodes of young people going missing have declined, but this seems to be because some young people have been given large amounts of free time, which is not always age-appropriate. Young people have developed some inappropriate relationships with adults who are significantly older than them and staff have not supervised these relationships properly. This has put them at risk and made them vulnerable to being exploited. Staff are not trained in how to identify the signs of sexual exploitation and therefore they have not been able to recognise that this may have happened. This has meant that opportunities have been missed to protect young people, such as young people coming back home under the influence of alcohol and reporting relationships with people who are significantly older than them. When there has been information

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Inadequate

available to staff, they have not responded effectively and have allowed the situation to continue. Staff have generally not been proactive in preventing absences from the home because they have insufficient information, and conflicting assessments, of how to keep young people safe. Staff have also not sought to identify what happened during the young person’s absence, thus lessons have not been learnt about how better to protect them in the future. Young people’s risk-taking behaviours such as self-harming and alcohol misuse do not decrease. This is largely down to poor key-working and support offered to young people. The address of the home was found by inspectors to be published on the internet, allowing unsuitable adults to recognise and identify that vulnerable young people are living at this address. The environment is a physically safe place for young people to live, and there are regular checks and tests to ensure that it stays that way. There are also checks on

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Inadequate

all new staff to reduce the risk of unsuitable adults working at the home. When young people’s behaviour is more difficult to manage, staff have had to restrain young people. All staff are appropriately trained in restraint and use this where necessary and proportionately.

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Inadequate

The Registered Manager has been in post since the home opened in 2014. He is working towards the Diploma Level 5 in leadership and management and meets the criteria to run a children’s home. The effectiveness, and impact, of the leadership and management of this home have been judged as inadequate because not all young people have been kept safe, nor has the manager had appropriate oversight of the practice of staff that has allowed these issues to escalate. It was not until the eve of this inspection that the registered manager became aware of some of the shortfalls that have been identified. The manager’s and the organisation’s monitoring systems have not been robust. As a consequence, records and practice in the home have not been reviewed, monitored or evaluated regularly enough. Important information about young people’s safety has not come to light quickly enough, or been responded to effectively in a timely way, putting young people at risk of harm. Two compliance

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Inadequate

notices have be served relating to the safeguarding issues and the lack of management oversight. The one requirement made at the last inspection has not been met. Not all staff have had their performance formally appraised in a meeting with their manager, as the regulations require. Not enough attention has been given to this requirement and this demonstrates a lack of response to the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. One of the three recommendations made at the last inspection has been met. There have been improvements to networking with the child’s placing authority and virtual head with regard to educational progress. There has been some progress with the other two recommendations made, with improvements to the organisation of staff training files and staff induction. However, these recommendations are not fully met and the issue of staff training has been escalated to a requirement at this inspection. There are large gaps in the staff

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Inadequate

training profile and several staff have not completed training in aspects of young people’s safety, such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. This has meant that they have not been able to recognise or identify when a child is being exploited, putting them at further risk of harm. Work with other agencies has not always been consistent. One social worker had not been made aware of some key safeguarding information about a young person. Therefore, placing authorities do not always have important information at the earliest opportunity to make timely decisions in order to protect young people. However, there has been some good networking with education providers and the police. The manager has worked to ensure that the police have information, with a high level of detail, about young people’s vulnerabilities. This is helping the manager and police make informed decisions about whether individuals should be

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Inadequate

classed as missing rather than absent, due to their vulnerabilities. The organisation have accepted the issues raised at this inspection and are actively looking to address them. An action plan has been drawn up which demonstrates a commitment to improving the safeguarding of young people and the leadership and management in the home.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 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 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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