Children's home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

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:

 Compliance notices and requirements have been met, but improvement work needs to continue to ensure that changes are firmly embedded in practice.  Staff need regular, planned supervision to enable them to make the changes required to improve the safety and quality of care for young people further.  Information on e-safety needs to be readily available for young people to help them to keep themselves safe on social media.

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The children’s home strengths

 The home is not yet at ‘good’, but is heading in the right direction. Young people are gradually spending more time at the home, giving staff the chance to engage with them.  Missing from home incidents are on a downward trend. This is beginning to limit young people’s exposure to child sexual exploitation.  The home is now being managed by a very experienced, proactive manager who leads from the front. She has a very realistic view of the home and what needs to change.  The registered person has taken action to meet the compliance notices and requirements set at the last inspection. This demonstrates capacity to improve.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Children should be supported by staff to understand what abuse is. They should be given information about how to report abuse or any concerns about possible abuse. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.16) Specifically, to ensure that children learn about e-safety and how to protect themselves on social media.  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Specifically, to ensure that all members of staff receive planned supervision, in line with the provider’s policy.  Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in Regulation 40(4)(a)–(d)

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Recommendations

occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living at the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10) Specifically, to improve the quality of recording in notifications and ensure that the correct category of notification is indicated.

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for eight children 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

01/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

04/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

A notable difference, since the last inspection, is that young people are gradually responding to staff requests to stay closer to home. Although, for some young people, engagement with staff is still at a fairly low level, this is evidence that things are heading in the right direction.

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Requires improvement

The increased physical presence of young people in the home gives staff the practical opportunities to do more of the nurturing work that needs to be done, for example to support young people to explore their fears and anxieties, build resilience and, most of all, simply to put an arm around them.

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Requires improvement

To varying degrees, young people are participating in the wide range of summer activities taking place both in and outside of the home. As well as giving young people a good deal of fun and pleasure, this is helping young people to mix together in a positive way.

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Requires improvement

The last inspection took place towards the end of the school year, and young people are now enjoying the summer vacation. During this holiday period, staff continue to prioritise and promote education. They do this by ensuring that all young people have suitable educational arrangements in place for the new school year. Staff are also encouraging young people to start preparing themselves now, by attending induction days for apprenticeship courses beginning in September. Young people who are not in education, employment or training are being given additional support to explore their options. During the past six weeks, young people who are about to move on to independence have had good support to help them to think carefully about their housing options. There has been improvement for some young people in terms of an increase in contact with family members. The general good health of young people has also

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Requires improvement

continued to be promoted. There is still an emphasis on young people choosing a healthy diet and support for those with drug misuse problems. Although some young people still decline this support, the acting manager is beginning to make progress in exploring, with one young person, the patterns of her drug addiction and looking at alternatives to this way of life. This sends a strong message to young people about the concerns felt about their predicament and also sets a good standard of practice for staff to aspire to. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

At the last inspection, a compliance notice relating to the protection of children was issued. This required the provider to take action to improve the quality and content of risk assessments, to help staff better understand the nature and level of risk, and to achieve consistency in implementing action plans designed to reduce risk. Prompt and sufficient action has been taken to meet the compliance notice. The acting manager has reviewed each young person’s risk assessments, particularly those relating to child sexual exploitation. The quality of information in these has improved, with clearer analysis of risk and the actions that staff members must take. This was supplemented by the provision of training sessions for staff on risk assessment and understanding the level of protection required. The acting manager is also introducing a more systematic evaluation of staff skills and gaps in understanding and knowledge. Although yet to be fully embedded in practice, this

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Requires improvement

will ensure that weaknesses are identified and enable measures to be put in place for staff development in these areas. Consistency in practice is also under closer scrutiny by the manager as part of her overall changes to quality assurance and monitoring processes. This will help to improve safeguarding measures for young people. There is a gradual downward trend in the number of missing from home incidents. This is helping to limit young people’s exposure to child sexual exploitation. The acting manager is also much more proactive in tracking young people down and persuading them to come back home, sometimes in very challenging situations. The acting manager is working very effectively in partnership with the designated child sexual exploitation police officer and community wardens to reduce risk to young people. She is also revising the location risk assessment in the light of information about the area.

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Requires improvement

Because of safeguarding concerns, young people have only just been allowed the use of social media. This may be an opportune time to ensure that young people are fully aware of e-safety. A recommendation is set to help to address this matter. A requirement is met to notify the regulator, without delay, of young people who are at risk of child sexual exploitation. However, the content of the notifications does not always make clear the category of notification or the practical steps taken to safeguard young people. This can cause confusion and does not always do justice to the good work being undertaken. A recommendation is set to help to improve practice in this area. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The acting manager, who has been in post for approximately six weeks, is highly experienced in managing children’s homes. She has appropriate management qualifications and a good track record of improving the quality of care, experiences and outcomes for young people. She is currently in the process of submitting her application for registration. The acting manager has made an impressive start to addressing the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. She has taken immediate action to improve monitoring and quality assurance processes, and knows that there is much more to do to enable young people to make good progress and give them really great experiences. In doing so, she has met the second compliance notice issued at the last inspection. Work is also underway better to capture and evaluate the views of young people and others as part of the monitoring process. One example of this is the upgrading

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Requires improvement

of the young person’s newsletter to a blog. This is a bright, user-friendly document designed to appeal much more to young people and their concerns. A recommendation that was set to improve practice in this area is therefore on the way to being met. The acting manager is providing very clear leadership and direction to staff and others. She works effectively with other professionals and exercises her authority when required, for example in refusing to take an inappropriate new admission to the home. The manager has a very clear understanding of the impact of staff practice, what is going well and what needs to change. She already has a very good grasp of the needs of each young person and has set about improving their care plans. The acting manager sets high, but not unrealistic, standards for staff. She exemplifies these every day in practice, modelling to staff exactly what is required. In this way,

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Requires improvement

she has ensured that a requirement is met to enable, inspire and lead a culture that promotes young people’s welfare. The acting manager has quite rightly given priority to safeguarding young people. This has meant that formal staff supervision has dropped in frequency. A good deal of informal discussion takes place between staff and the acting manager, who actively addresses shortfalls in practice. She is currently completing a review of staff strengths and needs, and ensures that they have right skills and knowledge to give young people the best possible care.

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Requires improvement

The quality of staff intervention needs to be really good to improve the care and safety of young people further. Regular, planned and focused supervision is vital to achieving this and firmly embedding the changes being made to day-to-day practice. A recommendation is made to ensure that supervision is undertaken at the monthly intervals described in the home’s statement of purpose. Amendments have been made to the statement of purpose and the independent visitor’s report, as required at the last inspection. A recommendation to ensure that the visitor’s report reaches the regulator in a timely way will be assessed at the next inspection.

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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 0300 123 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 looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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 Text phone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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