Children's home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull, City of

Inadequate

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

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 The registered manager recognises making some unsafe and inappropriate placements to the home. Some of the placements made have been in excess of the registered numbers and have breached the home’s conditions of registration. This unsafe practice has placed the current group of young people at serious risk of harm. They experience poor outcomes and make limited progress.  Young people are at significant risk both in the home and the community, where they spend a lot of their time. Concerns about safeguarding young people involved in frequent missing-from-care events, child sexual exploitation and sexually harmful behaviour, drug and alcohol misuse and criminal activities have not decreased.  Staff concede that they cannot keep all young people consistently safe.  Young people’s heavy substance and alcohol misuse both inside and outside of the home seriously hinder their long-term health.  Some young people’s care plans change due to moves at short notice from

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

one home to another and without consultation with them, their parents and professional stakeholders.  Inconsistent relationships between the home and external professionals do not promote good partnership arrangements that benefit all young people.  Admissions to the home are not carefully considered in relation to other young people living in the home. Young people with known histories of making serious threats towards each other are placed together. This has resulted in incidents of verbal and physical altercations.  A young person who returned from an out of area placement spent two nights in the bed of a missing young person.  Some serious incidents and concerns are not escalated through notification to Ofsted. This is with respect to young people going missing from home and their suspected involvement in child sexual exploitation. In addition, this includes young people who have been treated in hospital following a serious

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

injury.  Risk management strategies are not up to date, robust or effective in keeping young people safe.  Most young people do not attend their education provisions regularly or at all. The independent visitor’s reports continue to be insufficiently robust and lack rigour and challenge to the manager and the local authority. Recent reports fail to identify the serious issues in relation to the home operating over their registered numbers, and the visitor’s opinion about the safety and welfare of young people.  The registered manager’s monitoring report is overdue. The absence of this report has delayed Ofsted’s ability to act on the information regarding placements and on the safety and welfare of the young people living at the home.  The making of placements over numbers has breached the home’s statement of purpose. In addition, it does not provide an accurate account of services that young people can expect to receive.

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 The home conditions, in particular the bedrooms are poorly maintained, dirty and unkempt. They do not promote young people’s self-esteem and neither does it help them to feel valued.

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The children’s home strengths

 Staff speak up for the young people without fear or favour and recognise their potential. A resilient, experienced, and caring staff team provides consistent and friendly faces for the young people.  The staff are committed and have the skills to build positive relationships with the young people and to help them to improve their life chances. However, this is not always achievable given young people are not always willing to engage given their short stay and the amount of time they spend away from the home.  A number of staff feel well supported by the registered manager and their peers during this very difficult and challenging period.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that must be taken so that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

*5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met In meeting the quality standards, with particular reference to the registered manager being able to consistently challenge her managers within the local authority when they instruct her to make inappropriate placements and placements that take the home over its registered numbers and to promoting good working-together practices with all stakeholders, and to seeking to resolve issues of concern, the registered person must ensure that staff (a) seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

(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. 31 August

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Requirement Due date

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, with particular reference to promoting their voice through regular consultation about placement choices, the quality of care they receive and encouraging them to participate in the running of the home, 31 August (2) the registered person must (a) ensure that staff - (i) ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare; (iv) regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care; and (e) ensure that the views of each relevant person are taken into account, so far as reasonably practicable, before making a decision about the care or welfare of a child.

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Requirement Due date

8: The education standard In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must (2)(a) ensure that staff - (i) help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; (iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; (iv) help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; and (v) promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. 31 August

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Requirement Due date

9: The enjoyment and achievement standard In order to meet the enjoyment and achievement standard specifically in relation to engaging young people in a range of activities and interests with staff and peers (2) the registered person must ensure - (a) that staff help each child to - (i) develop the child’s interests and hobbies; and (iii) make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community. 31 August 10: The health and well-being standard In order to meet the health and well-being standard, with particular reference to staff continuing to influence young people, who refuse to attend health appointments and heavily misuse alcohol and substances to engage in health services (2) the registered person must ensure - (a) staff help each child to (i) achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. 31 August

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard In order to meet the positive relationships standard, with particular reference to helping young people to develop mutually respectful relationships with staff and other young people in the home (2) the registered person must ensure - (a) that staff - (i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; (viii) strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

(ix) understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children; 31 August (xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

*12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, specifically in relation to effectively promoting and monitoring children’s safety and welfare, and to ensuring that risk assessments are robust and up to date, consistently followed and reviewed, and that the outcome of recent strategy meetings are shared with Ofsted, and to issues relating to the premises with respect to repairing the facia and resolving the issue of the birds nesting in the roof, (2) the registered person must 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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so

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Requirement Due date

as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. 31 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 ensuring that staff receive appropriate training and support to care for older young people and that young people’s bedrooms are maintained to a high standard, (2) the registered person must - (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with 31 August the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (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; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on

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Requirement Due date

(ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (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

*14: The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, specifically in relation to complying with the home’s conditions of registration and not going over the registered numbers, and making appropriate placements with the registered manager’s agreement, and reviewing all current placements, and risk managing the group dynamics (1) children must – (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (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 and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (b) that arrangements are in place to - (i) ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

(ii) manage and review the placement of each child in the home; 31 August and (iii) plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority; (c) that each child’s relevant plans are followed; (e) that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if (i) the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs; or (ii) the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b) and 6(b)). They should specifically review to ensure an accurate account of service delivery to children, comply with the statement of purpose and indicate how the home provides individualised care to meet the quality standards for the children in their care. 31 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience (Regulation 33(4)(b)) This is with specific reference to ensuring regular and recorded staff supervision. 19 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if (a) a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; (e) there is any other incident relating to a child, which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(e)). This is specifically in relation to young people visiting hospital for treatment following serious incidents in the home. 12 August

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Requirement Due date

*The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether 31 August (a) children are effectively safeguarded; and (b) the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b)). In particular, they must ensure that the independent visitor provides an accurate, rigorous and challenging report about care practices in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating (a) the quality of care provided for children; (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive. After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions, which the registered person intends to take. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(2)(a)(b)(3)(5) 29 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation and supply to HMCI, at HMCI’s request, a statement containing a summary of any complaints made during the preceding 12 months and the action that was taken in response to each complaint. (Regulation 39(3)(5)) 13 August

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Requirement Due date

* 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 recommendations:  Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary when there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16 paragraph 3.20). This is specifically in relation to when there is substance and alcohol misuse and evidence of child sexual exploitation.  As part of the policies for protection of children, the registered person should include information about whistleblowing, with clear procedures for how a staff member should report to an appropriate authority any concern that they have about a child within the home being either at risk of or already experiencing significant harm. The policy should reflect the principles set out

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Recommendations

in the Francis review, ‘Freedom to speak up’. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43 paragraph 9.15)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62 paragraph 14.4). This is specifically in relation to ensuring up-to-date, robust risk management plans, that young people’s views following sanctions are recorded in their entirety and that child- centred language is used in all young people’s records.  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact that the care is having on outcomes and improvements for

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Recommendations

the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64 paragraph 15.2)

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority managed children’s home is registered to provide a service for up to five 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

19/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Inadequate

Most young people experience poor outcomes and make limited progress. When talking about young people, a professional said, ‘There is no progress, no quality. It’s a bed for them.’ Key factors link to poor leadership and management decisions that have led to the making of unsafe and inappropriate placements with poor risk management plans. Consequently, the registered manager has breached the home’s conditions of registration. On management instruction, she knowingly accepted four placements, which have taken the homes admissions over their registered numbers on three separate occasions. Some young people’s care plans have changed at short notice, due to management directives that result in the young people’s quick move from one children’s home to another. No prior consultation with young people has taken place, and their wishes and feelings therefore were not acted on. No discussions with parents or their

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Inadequate

independent reviewing officers happened prior to the moves. This negatively impacts on young people’s sense of belonging and value, and impedes those with a vested interest in them from challenging such decisions through the proper channels. This poor practice has caused much distress to those affected, and there is a link between declined behaviour, an increase in risky activities and poor engagement in the home. Some placements involve young people who have histories of making serious threats towards each other, however, the homes admission practices have left them with no other option but to live together. This has been without a robust and safe risk management strategy. Instead, staff interventions have helped to minimise the harm caused by physical and verbal altercations, resulting from such conflicts between young people. Positive relationships between the young people and staff is an area of huge

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Inadequate

potential, given the skills and experience of the staff team to engage with the young people. Although there have been positive breakthroughs with some young people, the majority are not in the home for long enough. This is due to some young people who are frequently missing and those who prefer to spend their time with unsuitable people in the community. Consequently, their time away limits the building of mutually safe, trusting and positive relationships between staff and other young people in the home. Young people’s heavy substance and alcohol misuse both inside and outside of the home seriously hinders their long-term health. This also presents serious health and safety risks to everyone in the home, including to a much younger child that was exposed to cannabis smoke during their stay. Furthermore, there are suspicions that young people are committing crimes or are involved in sexually exploitative behaviours to fund their habit. Staff express their concerns about the

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Inadequate

impact on young people’s emotional and psychological well-being, which, when the young people are under the influence of alcohol and substances, presents a real threat to their health and safety. Despite staff efforts to involve young people in drug and alcohol support, they choose not to engage. An inventive response, by way of inviting a substance misuse worker to the home at breakfast time to meet informally with the young people, shows team tenacity. Although staff promote the value of a good education, which works well for some, not all young people effectively participate in their education plans. Most young people do not attend their education provisions regularly or at all, which does not support their future employment prospects. Not all young people are meeting their education targets, with them either functioning ‘below’ or ‘well below’ individual key stages. However, some have achieved vocational qualifications. A positive

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Inadequate

aspect is that those young people who have, of their own volition, successfully gained college and employment show signs of aspiration. The voice of the child is currently not a strong feature at this home. Despite staff’s attempts to engage young people in discussing their wishes and feelings, the current group of young people has not invested in home life. Although young people know how to complain, there is no clear audit trail of young people’s complaints, or those external to the home, that shows the record of the complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of the investigation. While young people acquire basic independence skills, they still need prompting and help in this area. This is especially challenging for staff when most young people stay away from the home and are not in good domestic routines. Pathway planning is late for those young people who have exceeded the eligible age. This

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Inadequate

does not help them to understand their capabilities and needs or make a valuable contribution to their plans.

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Inadequate

The staff cannot keep all of the young people consistently safe, despite their best efforts. This is partially due to the lack of senior management support to empower the team to care for young people who are actively involved in high risk-taking behaviours. These range from young people going missing, putting themselves at high risk of child sexual exploitation, sexually harmful behaviours and committing serious offences. Those young people who return home significantly under the influence of alcohol and substances are also using this contraband in their bedroom, presenting potentially devastating, serious health and safety hazards. A staff member said, ‘We cannot keep [Name] safe’, and ‘No-one is listening’ when they voice their concerns to managers and other professionals about young people’s safety and welfare. Risk increases because the registered manager has accepted placements over the home’s registered numbers. There is no overarching and robust written risk

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Inadequate

management strategy that clearly demonstrates how the risks will be minimised or eliminated. Impact risk assessments are ineffective because the registered manager is instructed by senior managers to take placements outside of the team’s capacity, and the consequences have been to the detriment to all of the young people to various degrees. A professional said about the home, ‘It is not a safe haven for young people.’ Due to the emergency nature of placements, young people’s individual risks are not always fully realised, which can lead to an unpredictable environment. Although staff have some insight of the presenting and changing risks to young people and others, not all written risk assessments are up to date or fully integrated into multi-agency risk management plans. Behaviour management strategies have not improved the majority of young people’s risky and unsafe behaviours. This is despite staff efforts to engage and

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Inadequate

distract them. Young people have taken without consent, items such as televisions, x-boxes and food, which has resulted in staff locking up food, and leaving the young people with a small fridge containing basics that they can access. This does not promote a homely environment that the statement of purpose seeks to achieve. Some staff feel intimidated by those young people who threaten them with verbal and physical abuse when they are under the influence of substances, posing a real and serious threat. This has impacted on other young people who retreat to their rooms through fear or have intervened, resulting in aggressive threats and physical altercations that staff have tried to intercept. Staff act on bullying when detected, such as homophobic verbal abuse and intimidation. However, further work to educate young people who present with discriminatory views and behaviours is left unresolved, due to young people’s lack of engagement with the adults who care

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Inadequate

for them. Physical intervention is rarely used. Sanctions are monetary and go against the restorative culture that the home seeks to achieve as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose. Not all sanction records include the full comments with regard to young people’s views. The use of the term ‘shop floor’, when discussing boundaries with young people, is not conducive to the ‘homely and stimulating atmosphere’ that the home sets out to achieve and which is stated in its statement of purpose. The high numbers of missing-from-care incidents have not reduced over time, and the young people remain at high risk in the community. This is despite staff members’ efforts to routinely search for them and to work closely with the police to ensure their safe return. However, some young people do not want to be found, and, when they are located, despite staff encouragement, have refused to return or do return but go missing again.

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Inadequate

Not all missing from home action plans are robust and up to date in order for any new risks to the young person’s safety and welfare to be considered. The current multi-agency strategies are ineffective because they do not promote safe or progressive outcomes. Young people do not take up return home interviews from an independent person charged to conduct this work. Not all parents feel informed of their children’s return when they have been missing. These strands of concern do not promote young people’s safety and welfare. Staff conduct room searches but not in line with the guidance, which relates to gaining young people’s consent, risk assessment and management oversight of the decision to carry out the search. This is of particular concern given the serious concerns relating to the frequent discovery of used cigarettes and illegal substances in a young person’s bedroom.

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Inadequate

A registered manager who is a qualified social worker manages this home. She has held registered management responsibility since January 2015 and has over 20 years’ experience working with children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. A caring and committed staff team, along with reliable and hardworking casual staff who are covering staff sickness, provide familiar faces to the young people. Young people’s progress, experiences and the quality of their help and protection have suffered due to inadequate leadership and management decisions in the making of some placements. The registered manager has had little influence on the placements made. Consequently, senior management instruction has led her to breach the home’s conditions of registration. This means that the home has gone over its numbers at times, by accommodating up to six and seven young people instead of the five that the home is legally registered to accept. The registered

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Inadequate

manager understands her responsibility to apply to Ofsted to vary the numbers, as do the staff, but she has never made a formal and transparent request. Ineffective challenge from the registered manager towards her own managers and local authority regarding the breaches, have not been escalated to Ofsted by way of whistleblowing. Consequently, some inappropriate and unsafe placements that lack clear rationale for making them have ensued. Some placements have involved young people being ‘swapped’ around without clear care planning, at very short notice and without consultation with the young people and stakeholders. In another instance, a young person was placed for a couple of nights in a missing young person’s bed prior to moving to another placement. A lack of clarity with respect to the use of refuse bags to pack clothing is an issue that the provider is looking into. This example of poor, unacceptable unsafe practice does not prioritise young people’s

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Inadequate

rights or value them. It also holds elements of risk and does not comply with the home’s statement of purpose. A requirement raised at previous inspections about care-planning matters is escalated to a compliance notice to stop this concerning practice. Breaches in the statement of purpose have arisen from the aforementioned practices. Its current version does not provide an accurate account of services that young people can expect to receive and does not set out how the home provides individualised care to meet the quality standards for the young people in their care. Current monitoring processes are ineffective and do not act as a reliable, impartial conduit for driving forward good, safe childcare practice. This relates to the visits undertaken by the independent visitor that still do not meet the regulations with respect to their forming an opinion as to whether young people are effectively safeguarded or whether the conduct of the home promotes their well-being. This

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Inadequate

issue has been raised at previous inspections and is repeated again, particularly in light of young people’s risky behaviours both in the home and community. The subsequent reports, although more detailed, are misleading. This is because the reports fail to identify the serious issues in relation to the home operating over numbers. The visitor did not report on this concern on the day of their visit in April 2016 when two placements raising the numbers to seven were made, nor were concerns identified during their visit in May 2016. Emerging and consistent concerns raised by staff to the independent visitor about inappropriate placements and associated risks have not been acted on by way of challenging the provider about the poor practice and raising actions for their consideration. Insufficient details in the report have also resulted in a missed opportunity to alert Ofsted about the inadequate operation of the home.

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Inadequate

Management monitoring has not identified or addressed the deficits such as outdated risk assessments and missing person actions plans or the deficiencies in Regulation 44 reports. Ofsted has not received the registered manager’s internal monitoring report, which has passed its submission timescale. She has taken advice, with respect to learning points, from the contents from her previous review report to ensure the correct recording of the quality standards and to include the outcomes of consultations with young people, parents, placing social workers, professionals and staff. Staff have openly voiced their concerns about the inappropriate placements and being over the registered numbers, but do not feel listened to by senior managers and other professionals, which has led to low staff morale and a sense of powerlessness. It is not clear whether they have access to or have confidence in the whistleblowing policy to formally escalate matters.

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Inadequate

Staff are resilient, experienced, committed and caring and want to do a good job, but find the current demands on their resources and senior management expectations challenging. A staff member said, ‘I love my job. We are trying but we are not getting anywhere.’ Some concerns raised about younger children and older young people living together is supported in practice, when younger children have been exposed to cannabis smoke and have been intimidated by older young people. Placements of older young people have left the staff team feeling unprepared because the team has been used to caring for younger children. Although most staff say that they feel supported by the registered manager and their peers, through team meetings and peer support, regular formal supervision is not taking place. This does not provide staff with opportunities to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people in their charge.

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Inadequate

Most young people’s rooms are in a poor, basic condition, lacking personalisation and presenting as soulless environments. One room, in particular, is in very poor condition. It is dirty, unkempt, with clear evidence of smoking, empty packets of illegal substances on the floor and broken or missing furniture. Another room was sparsely furnished and a single bed in one of the rooms contained two mattresses on top of each other instead of one quality mattress. One of the young people’s toilets was blocked and was due for urgent repair. Although communal areas of the home present as homely, strategic management oversight of the rooms is lacking and, in their current condition, the rooms do not safeguard young people or show that they are valued. Issues in relation to the physical environment, such as the long-standing repairs needed to the facia and the issue of birds nesting in the roof are yet to be resolved.

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Inadequate

Inconsistent relationships between the home and external professionals exist. Some professionals have been happy with care practices and confirm that the staff at the home keep them fully up to date and has a good working relationship with them. One professional commented that the home is, ‘really good at trying to reinforce boundaries’, and that other services working with the home are ‘singing from the same page’. Other professionals feel undermined by the placement decisions that impact on children’s and young people’s welfare. This does not promote robust working-together practices. Not all significant events have been notified to Ofsted. These specifically relate to young people missing from home, those who are involved in child sexual exploitation and those who have visited hospital for treatment following serious incidents in the home. This lack of information hinders Ofsted from effectively monitoring and quickly acting on safeguarding issues and ensuring that young

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

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

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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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