Children's home SC429242

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:

 The judgement of requires improvement reflects that a specific incident in the home has led to an allegation of a serious safeguarding concern for one of the children accommodated.  An alleged assault by one child on another is under investigation. Staffing was ineffective at the time of the incident, as safeguarding procedures in place were not adhered to. The home did not have sufficient staff to provide effective care and to keep children safe at that time.  Some children expressed their unhappiness about living with peers, as arguments are frequent. This has left some feeling vulnerable and others wanting to move.  The independent person undertaking monthly assessment visits does not express an opinion as to whether children placed within the home are effectively safeguarded and their welfare promoted. This does not meet the regulatory requirements and does not provide the home with feedback in

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The children’s home’s strengths

 Children are extremely positive about their relationships with staff and the support that the staff offer.  Parents say that their children are well cared for and that the home has contributed to positive changes in behaviour.  The managers lead a stable and consistent staff team which builds trusting and sustaining relationships with children.  Staff support children to return to full-time school and to achieve in education.  Managers and staff actively support children to understand their sexuality; children feel accepted for who they are.  The managers and staff team genuinely care about the welfare of children and hold high aspirations for their development and outcomes.  The managers and staff team work closely with the wider professional team in an open and transparent way to ensure that children’s plans are followed.

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The children’s home’s strengths

 Managers and staff support children into independence and adulthood by the use of a nationally accredited learning tool devised by the organisation. Staff remain a source of support to children post-18.

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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

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 must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(vii) that staff are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. 09/09/2016

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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, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(d) that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. 09/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit, which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and whether the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b)) 09/09/2016

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to five children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private organisation owns and operates this home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

28/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

12/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

This home is judged as requires improvement because an alleged incident in the home, which is currently being investigated, has meant that on one occasion there were insufficient safeguards in place to keep children safe. The judgement recognises that this was not good enough for children. The inspection recognises the strengths of the service provided and the positive impact that the service has widely had on children’s experiences.

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Requires improvement

This children’s home, which was formerly judged outstanding, has faced a range of challenging behaviours from the children in recent months. This has led to a particularly unsettled time in the home, where children placed have differing views on their experiences of living at the home.

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Requires improvement

Currently, all children agree that they experience daily arguments within the peer group. For some this has led to them feeling vulnerable and choosing to take themselves out of the situation by spending time in their bedrooms. For others, they feel that their only option is to move. Others, with staff support, trust that the situation will improve. However, all agree that staff absolutely support them and put strategies in place to help the situation.

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Requires improvement

In recent months, there has been instability in the peer cohort. Some well- established relationships have ceased as one child reached adulthood and moved out of care and another’s placement ended due to repeating past antisocial behaviour. New children moved into the home, creating new peer relationships for all. Managers give careful consideration to the matching of any new child. Managers speak to social workers to gather the most up-to-date information. They generally visit the child and the child visits the home before the placement is agreed. Managers risk-assess any known presenting behaviours and apply strategies to manage these risks.

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Requires improvement

A stable and committed staff team delivers consistent and familiar care. Children are valued members of this home, and staff work with them to consider risky behaviours and encourage good choices.

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Requires improvement

Some children regard this as their home, one reporting: ‘I love it here, the way the staff are. They really want to help you.’ Another said: ‘This is my family, my home.’

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff use a number of opportunities to seek children’s views and wishes about their care and to discuss matters of concern with them. Managers meet with individual children fortnightly to discuss their thoughts and feelings about events in the home and to discuss children’s personal issues. Weekly residents’ meetings reiterate house rules and offer a forum for further discussion and participation. Individual key work sessions give time and space for individual work. The sessions include developing new learning by the completion of specific workbooks, such as drugs and alcohol misuse, anger management and antisocial behaviour. Helping children to understand the dangers of recent behaviours is a primary focus of work for managers and staff.

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Requires improvement

Without exception, all children speak of a very positive relationship between staff and themselves. One child commented: ‘Staff are supportive and available to us. If I wake up crying because of a bad dream, they talk to me. They have given me strategies to help me to relax and to sleep.’ Another said: ‘If there is something on my mind I can talk to her and she helps me sort it out.’ Children feel supported and cared for, knowing that staff are there for them. One child said: ‘They treat you like you’re their own.’

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Requires improvement

Children continue to make progress while at the home. Staff support children to succeed in education and they speak proudly of their educational achievements. One child has sat 24 exams to complete his GCSEs and expects to get A-C grades. Another child commented: ‘When I first came here I never went to school, I do now and I want to be a veterinarian. Staff support me in all ways, like taking me to the animal shelter.’ From not being in school, to receiving home tuition and a gradual introduction, this child benefits from a full educational placement and has aspirations for her future.

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Requires improvement

Children recognise the positive impact the staff input has had on their overall development. One child reported: ‘I have changed completely since I have been here. They have made me understand that not everything is about me. They have changed me for the good and I am happy here.’ Parents also recognise the positive impact the home has had on their child’s development. One commented: ‘I think her biggest progress is her ability to manage her temper.’

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Requires improvement

Staff positively celebrate the individuality of each child. One child said: ‘Nobody judges me; all staff want is for me to be me.’ His parent commented: ‘They have accepted him for who he is. They have accepted his alter ego and he can be himself.’

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Requires improvement

Children have their health needs met. Staff arrange routine appointments and encourage children to attend. Children eat a healthy diet as well as allowing for the usual fast food treat, and fruit is readily available.

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Requires improvement

Staff recognise the value and importance of family relationships and support children to maintain contact with family and friends. They facilitate these contacts to maintain family ties and strengthen relationships, knowing that when children leave care they generally return to family. One child, just a week into placement, commented: ‘One of my friends has already been to the house.’

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff work with children to gain independence skills through their nationally recognised independence programme. Its aim is to provide the child with the necessary skills as they move into the adult world. During this period, one child has completed the transition to independent living. Although she was very anxious, staff helped to smooth her path and remain in regular contact. Her social worker commented: ‘They made it clear to the child that they would be there for her. Even now if she turns up she is welcomed in and offered something to eat.’

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Requires improvement

The home is currently undergoing some improvement work, with a new bathroom under construction. Children have chosen colour schemes for their bedrooms, which have been decorated to their individual tastes. The large home offers children sizable communal living areas and individual bedroom space. It also has an education room. This provides a suitable educational environment where children engage in structured learning. This assists them to move to full-time education within a school setting.

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Requires improvement

Most significantly, on one occasion where staff supervision was ineffective, a child alleged that an assault had occurred. This is subject to a police investigation and an internal investigation within the organisation. The home does not have a policy on the number of staff required on shift to care effectively for children. On this occasion, staff did not adhere to the arrangements in place to safeguard the child.

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Requires improvement

Over the past three months, the newly formed peer group has engaged in risky behaviour, including going absent, drinking alcohol and displaying sexualised behaviour. Managers and staff have acted in the way that any good parent would to safeguard the children. This includes such measures as speaking with local shop owners to ask them not to sell alcohol to them and to be vigilant to possible theft. Staff search for children should they go missing and encourage them to make good choices. The staff have also worked with neighbours, apologising where necessary and identifying a particular address of concern where children accessed alcohol. Staff visited this address and spoke with the occupants to dissuade further contact with the children. Managers and staff worked closely with the professional team during all events, informing social workers, parents and police when children were absent from the home.

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Requires improvement

During this unsettled time, the managers recognised one child’s behaviour as central to the disruption. After careful consideration, and in a bid to safeguard the child and other children in placement, they served a 28-day notice period. Safeguarding strategies continued to be in place, such as updated risk assessments and interaction logs. However, nine days later one child alleged that there was an assault by this child, during a period when staffing was insufficient. At the point of this inspection, investigations are ongoing.

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff continue to support all children through this time, offering space and time to discuss thoughts and feelings. To ensure that the child received parental support, they arranged hotel accommodation for the family. The child’s mother reported: ‘Staff have been brilliant. Staff have supported her, they did a fantastic job. She wants to stay at the home and I wouldn’t want her anywhere else.’

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Requires improvement

Managers worked swiftly and openly with the statutory services, police and designated officer. The designated officer commenting: ‘He absolutely takes direction from us and follows due process.’ The manager has started an internal investigation looking at events, possible training needs and lessons learned.

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Requires improvement

Since the child alleged to have carried out the assault left the home, there has been a reduction in risk-taking behaviours within the home. Managers and staff record events in which they have successfully de-escalated situations and by what means, whether it be a verbal de-escalation, encouraging consequential thinking or a change in the child’s location, for example. The records show that in April 2016 they managed 49 de-escalations, in May 123, peaking in June at 170, and in July it reduced significantly to 47. Although there has been a turbulent period over the last few months, calm has now begun to return to the home.

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Requires improvement

Physical intervention is rarely used within the home. However, if it is, scrutiny of the events and the management of the situation and the intervention is overseen at a senior level within the organisation to ensure the appropriateness of any intervention.

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Requires improvement

During this review period, one child made a complaint of bullying. Managers dealt with the complaint effectively. They spoke directly with the child about her concerns, spoke with all children in the house and took action to ensure that she felt safeguarded.

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff do not criminalise children unnecessarily. To this end, they retrieved a television that children had stolen from the home and put house sanctions in place to manage the situation without the need for police involvement.

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Requires improvement

The recent event within the home has highlighted an ineffective period of staffing. This resulted in a child alleging an assault. This error of judgement could have been avoided and was not good enough to keep children safe. The inspection also recognises the strengths of the service provided and the positive impact that the service has had on children’s experiences.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager took up the post in 2014. He is appropriately qualified and remains driven to lead a high-performing team and maintain high standards of care. His staff team remains largely unchanged and the two new additions add to a culturally diverse team where a good gender balance and age mix offer children a family-care environment.

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Requires improvement

New staff are subject to robust recruitment and vetting procedures, ensuring the suitability of those employed to work with the children of the home. Staff receive regular, competent formal supervision, giving them the opportunity to focus on issues relating to children and to consider their own personal development. Informal supervision is a frequent occurrence. This enables staff to discuss situations as they arise. They gain immediate understanding and feel supported in their role. The manager has recently introduced a process where supervisors of staff note down good or poor practice on an ongoing basis. This is to ensure that these practices are not missed and became part of discussions within the formal supervision. Staff also receive an annual performance appraisal, which looks at past practice and sets ongoing developmental plans to ensure that the service delivery is in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Staff feel valued and they

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Requires improvement

experience job satisfaction, which contributes to staff retention and the continuity of care for children.

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff work closely with parents and the professional team. One social worker commented: ‘They are absolutely brilliant at working with me. They are very communicative,’ while another adds: ‘They worked with me. Oh, they did and not just me, they work with education, mental health services, they worked with all professionals.’ The home is a central part of the team around the child and communicates with all professionals and parents to ensure the promotion of the children’s welfare.

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Requires improvement

The manager is aware of the strengths and areas of development for the service. He has good systems in place to monitor the service and a particularly comprehensive six-monthly quality of care review ensures that he has effective oversight of all areas of operations. His sound analysis of data recognises where improvements have been made and outcomes improved for children. It also highlights areas for continued improvement and sets these against an action plan to continue to deliver a quality service. The manager works with the independent visitor and acts on any advice given. The manager has taken action to investigate shortfalls in practice in order to learn lessons that will inform future practice. The last inspection set a requirement to improve the quality and standards of care. The independent person now gathers the views of parents and/or professionals to assist in his assessment of the home’s arrangements to care for children. However,

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Requires improvement

a further requirement is made, as the independent visitor does not offer an explicit opinion as to his assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children placed.

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Requires improvement

The home has undergone a significant period of instability, culminating in a child alleging an assault by another child in the home. During the unstable period, the managers and staff worked as a good parent would and put in strategies to safeguard, support and assist children to talk about their experiences and encourage good choices. They worked closely with the professional team and parents. The home continues to promote good outcomes for children. They recognised the impact one child had on the group and took steps to safeguard that child and those within the home. The home continues to support the children and the home is beginning to return to its former state of stability.

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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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