Children's home run by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in Stoke-on-Trent

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:

 Staff do not always respond effectively when young people go missing.  Some key risks are not sufficiently assessed.  Young people’s emotional needs are not consistently met.  Managers do not always ensure that there are sufficient numbers of staff.   When young people leave the home, planning is of variable quality.  Monitoring and review systems are not robust.  Graffiti, and the overall standard of decor, does not create a homely environment.

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The children’s home strengths

 Young people have strong relationships with staff.  Staff work well with partner agencies, sharing information effectively.  Managers are taking steps to improve the service provided to young people.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s view’s, wishes and feelings standard, with particular reference to advocacy, the registered person must ensure that each child:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b)(iii) is given appropriate advocacy support. 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationships standard, with particular reference to meeting children’s needs, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs. 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to missing, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(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 (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. 29 July 2016

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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, with particular reference to staffing, skills, and monitoring, the registered person must: 29 July 2016 (2)(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 (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, with particular reference to transitions, the registered person must ensure that children:

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Requirement Due date

(1)(b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 22 July 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that the children’s home is a homely, nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of its children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Ensure that where the home has questions or concerns about a child’s medication, they should approach an expert such as a general medical practitioner, community pharmacist or designated nurse for looked-after children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  Ensure that the recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff, including the manager. The

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Recommendations

record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to two children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A local authority operates the home. The home only supports young people from the local authority’s area.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

7 March 16 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

25 March 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people receive individualised care. Staff know young people well and have developed positive relationships with them. Young people confirm this, one describing staff as, ‘Really supportive’. However, the support young people receive is not always consistent. For example, another young person has written concerning statements on their bedroom door. Staff have not taken effective action in response. As a result, they are failing to meet the young person’s emotional needs.

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Requires improvement

Young people make steady progress in other important aspects of their life and staff support them in this respect. School attendance is good for some young people. Others take gradual steps towards attending college and undertaking voluntary work. This ensures that young people engage in positive activities and improve their academic attainment. One social worker also describes a young person’s increasing self-confidence and social skills due to the support they receive from staff.

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Requires improvement

Young people’s experiences of moving out of the home are variable. One young person is approaching adulthood and will be leaving the home soon. Managers have ensured that some aspects of this move are well planned and supported. Other aspects are not clear. This affects the information available to the young person and creates additional anxiety at a difficult time. Staff have also failed to ensure that the young person has sufficient access to appropriate advocacy support throughout this process. This hinders her ability to express her views and concerns should she wish to do so.

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Requires improvement

Staff generally meet young people’s physical health needs well and engage specialist agencies when required. In contrast to this, on one occasion staff failed to record whether they sought advice from a young person’s general medical practitioner in relation to their medication. Consequently, the validity of the recommendations in the young person’s ‘health plan’ are in question. This has the potential to impact on the effectiveness of the medication, and on the success of the treatment.

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Requires improvement

The general decor of the home requires improvement. Dirty marks and graffiti are visible in some areas, young people discard their finished cigarettes on the floor in the back garden, and some carpets are in a poor state of repair. This does not create a homely or nurturing environment and detracts from young people’s day- to-day experiences. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Some young people continue to leave the home without the agreement of staff and go missing. Although the frequency of these incidents has reduced overall, they remain significant. Young people have threatened to hurt themselves during these events and are at potential risk of exploitation or harm. Staff do not respond consistently at these times and do not always take effective action. Specifically, they are not always able to follow young people. This is primarily due to a lack of available staff, particularly at night when only one member of staff is working in the home. Managers do not fully identify, or manage, these risks. Guidance for staff does not effectively assess the level of harm young people may face or make effective arrangements to reduce this. As a result, managers fail to ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for all young people. In addition, they do not assess the risk that young people’s friends or ‘partners’ may pose. This limits

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Requires improvement

the guidance available to staff, who are unclear about what action to take should young people wish to meet them.

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Requires improvement

Generally, young people’s behaviour in the home improves. Overall, staff manage incidents well, using their relationships with young people to support this. Young people are increasingly involved in managing their own behaviour and agreeing their own ‘consequences’. This ensures that the consequences are more effective. Young people work towards ‘rewards’ for positive behaviour. One young person explains, ‘This helps me to do everything that I need to do.’ Staff also complete ‘safety plans’ with young people to help young people identify potential triggers and different strategies that they can employ when they feel they are becoming anxious/upset. One mental health professional commented positively about staff, stating that they, ‘Respond with thought and compassion.’ Young people gain better insight into the impact of their behaviour because of this.

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Requires improvement

Managers ensure that the vast majority of staff are robustly vetted prior to commencing their employment. In contrast, on one occasion, they failed to check an applicant’s previous employment details. Consequently, dates provided by the applicant do not tally with those provided by a previous employer. This omission in the recruitment process increases the risk that a potentially unsafe person could find employment in the home. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The previous registered manager’s employment ended in March 2016. The assistant manager then ‘acted up’ to cover. A new manager started in June 2016. She is suitably qualified and experienced and is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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Requires improvement

This period of change has affected the stability of the home. However, managers have ensured that they continue to meet the core aims and objectives outlined in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requires improvement

New monitoring and review systems are in place and managers are beginning to identify the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Some improvements are evident and managers can identify the areas where young people are making progress. However, these systems are yet to embed. As a result, they do not currently drive continuous improvements in the home. Managers have not addressed two shortfalls identified at the last inspection. These specifically relate to young people who go missing and staffing sufficiency. These continue to affect the quality of care young people receive and do not prioritise their needs in these areas.

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Requires improvement

Staff are positive about the support they receive, particularly highlighting the quality of their supervisions. Records of some of these sessions are poor and do not evidence that they are delivered in line with regulation or the home’s supervision policy. This has the potential to affect the quality of the support that staff receive.

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Requires improvement

Most staff are suitably qualified and hold the required level 3 qualification for Residential Childcare (England) or equivalent. There are appropriate plans in place to support any new staff should this be required. The quality of other training is variable. Most staff receive a wide range of training in key areas. Other staff do not complete all of the required courses. Due to this, managers are unclear as to whether all staff have the skills to meet young people’s needs. This has the potential to impact on the quality of care provided.

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Requires improvement

Managers challenge other agencies when this is required. They have developed strong relationships with the majority of professionals involved in young people’s care. A health professional confirms this, emphasising ‘good communication’ as a strength of the home. A teacher also comments, ‘Staff are very on-board with what we are doing… contact is really good.’ Parents also echo this view, one describing the staff as ‘excellent’. This ensures that young people receive consistent support.

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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 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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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