Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people live in a safe, homely environment and benefit from high levels of staff support.  Young people make good progress and have positive experiences due to the quality of individualised care taking account of their different needs.  Staff work hard to build trusting relationships with young people, and empower them to have a good say in their care and the running of the home.  Young people succeed in continuing their education, obtaining employment and learning to live independently. Staff provide an outreach service that continues to support young people after they move out.  Safeguarding practice is thorough, robust and responsive to young people’s needs. Staff are experienced, know the individual vulnerabilities of young people and are very proactive in protecting them from harm.  The home is well managed and staff are able to keep standards high in the manager’s absence.  There is a strong ethos of inclusion that extends to young people’s relatives

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The children's home provision is good because:

and friends. Partnership working with other agencies is effective in ensuring that young people are supported in various aspects of their lives.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

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(5)) 30/09/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The local authority must make sure that its looked after children are provided with appropriate healthcare services. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 33, paragraph 7.4)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that children and adolescent mental health services are available without delay.

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Information about this children's home

The local authority manages this home, and has registered it for up to six 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

10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

16/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

Staff are committed to providing young people with a homely, caring environment that is warm, friendly and welcoming. From the outside, the home blends in with the local community and looks like a typical family home. Young people recently helped to make some vegetable plots in the large back garden and colourfully decorated the main dividing wall. This is a positive investment in the physical environment and coincided with a reduction in damage to the home. Internally, there is plenty of space for young people, and the decor and furnishings are of good quality and reflect their choices. The home is well maintained and work is underway in fitting a new bathroom.

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Good

Young people benefit from supportive, understanding staff who engage them in open discussion about acceptable behaviour, keeping safe, expectations and boundaries. Young people do not always like the messages that they hear, but staff are sensitive and persistent with their explanations. Staff are dedicated to keeping young people safe while at the same time allowing them the freedom to develop independence. Young people are further empowered as their views are listened to, and they make a good contribution to decisions about their care and the running of the home. This positive approach helps young people to build trusting relationships with staff.

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Good

Staff are determined to help young people to achieve and to enjoy their time at the home by promoting their individual interests and providing positive experiences. For example, staff have been up early and accompanied a young person on Park Runs and supported another young person’s entrepreneurial interest in buying and selling at car boot sales. Young people enjoy family events such as weddings and go to concerts with relatives. Friends of young people are included in social and leisure activities such as ice skating. This shows young people that staff are investing in them and are willing to include their relatives and friends, helping to maintain young people’s identity. There was recently another annual camping trip to Wales, full of outdoor pursuit experiences, that young people enjoyed, and they learned about safe risk taking. The quality of support means that young people achieve well. Since the last

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Good

inspection, one young person has moved out successfully into her own flat. Three young people have obtained jobs and two have applied to college. One young person who struggled at school this term was able to sit all his exams, with support. The manager and staff have good links with education professionals. This has helped a young person recently returning to her home town to go back to her old school. There was good support for another young person to have one-to-one tuition at the end of term, and planning is already taking place to find an education provision that meets his needs for September. There is good flexibility in encouraging school attendance, which includes taking a young person camping on a Sunday night before taking him to school on a Monday morning. Staff promote good physical health through healthy eating and regular exercise, and support young people to attend their health appointments. Alcohol and

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Good

substance misuse is actively discouraged. Young people who need some form of counselling through the local children and adolescent metal health services experience delays in getting the help that they need. The manager does advocate on behalf of these young people, but this is not making sufficient reductions in waiting times. The staff team has regular input from a mental health professional, which does have a positive impact on the way that staff care for young people. For example, staff recently attended a targeted workshop about transactional analysis, and found this helpful in communicating with and understanding a specific young person. There is good support for young people to maintain family contact. One young person recently travelled a long way on the train, with assistance from staff, to see his family. Relatives are welcome at the home and one local parent confirmed that staff are always friendly, whenever she has visited. Contact arrangements are

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Good

agreed with social workers, and staff are flexible in helping with the arrangements and transport. Young people complete an independence assessment as part of their preparation and transition to leaving care. They have good opportunities to develop practical skills, including the use of a separate ‘trainer flat’ to have trial periods of independent living. Staff provide a ‘staying in touch’ outreach service that gives young people continued support once they have left the home. A significant number of young people make use of this, from dropping in for a cup of tea and a chat to having help with their accommodation needs.

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Good

Young people feel safe where they live. Staff prioritise young people’s safety effectively and strive to keep them free from harm. Staff are adept at using the ‘signs of safety’ model actively to engage young people in discussions about personal safety and to share what staff are concerned about. This helps to develop an open dialogue with young people and explains to them why they cannot always do what they want, if it is unsafe.

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Good

Staff are thorough in developing young people’s care and safety plans, particularly in relation to being missing from home and child sexual exploitation. Practice is very responsive to any new incidents or information that indicates that young people may be at risk. Individual staff are dedicated to ensuring that safety plans are kept up to date and shared with young people, the rest of the team and other professionals.

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Good

Staff are persistent and consistent in their approach to ensuring that young people do not go missing, or that they return safely if they do. There is strong, proactive practice in engaging young people in positive and meaningful social and leisure activities to prevent missing from home incidents in the first place.

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Good

When a young person is missing, staff will go out to look for them, try to make contact by telephone, contact their friends and relatives, and keep on trying until they return safely. The manager has good links with the local police and local authority, including attendance at monthly risk management meetings for vulnerable young people. An independent worker visits young people after every missing from home incident, giving them an additional opportunity to share any information about why they were missing and where they have been.

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Good

Staff are committed, understanding and sensitive with their support to young people to reduce their challenging and risk-taking behaviour. Staff are experienced and use their relationships with young people to promote inclusion, self-esteem and belonging, to help young people feel valued. Staff work hard to prevent young people from being criminalised and are flexible in trying different strategies to reduce offending behaviour. Different methods include sanctions, incentives, restorative work and informal police involvement. These are tailored to young people’s needs and positive responses. Likewise, staff develop individual plans to support young people who self-harm and who go into crisis. Staff help young people to keep safe, and develop coping strategies and resilience. Physical intervention is used as a last resort, and only when there is a risk of harm. This is rare and such practice is good, including the recording keeping, management

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Good

oversight and reflection with young people. The manager has good links with the local safeguarding team. Any allegations about staff or complaints about young people are responded to appropriately, and any necessary action is taken to keep all young people safe.

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Good

The registered manager has been in post for 12 years and is suitably qualified. He is supported by a deputy manager and senior care staff, who are very able and competent to deputise in his absence. The manager was on leave at the time of inspection. However, senior staff on duty were more than capable of running the home, which reflects good leadership arrangements. The staff team goes about its work in a calm, professional, friendly and welcoming manner. Staff are confident and motivated to support young people to achieve their potential. Ten out of 13 permanent staff have achieved the required qualification, and the remaining three are working towards this. All staff undertake a wide range of training, and increase their skills and knowledge from up-to-date research about residential care, attachment and trauma. Staff work well as a team. They are very supportive of each other and ensure that there is good

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Good

communication between team members. Consequently, young people continue to develop and make good progress in their lives as they benefit from consistently high standards of care.

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Good

Monitoring has improved, with better monthly oversight from the manager. He is now more fully informed of young people’s achievements and any concerning incidents that they have been involved in. This results in young people receiving a more responsive and robust service. The manager has improved the frequency and quality of team meetings, which have a strong focus on young people’s welfare. Staff will readily challenge other services and prioritise the needs of young people, for example to obtain important information about a young person, such as a genogram, or for young people to access the support services that they need more quickly. The manager also plans to improve the quality of consultation with partner agencies, young people and their relatives. While the level of monitoring has improved, the last six-monthly review report failed to capture user and stakeholder views and any action taken as a result.

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Good

On a day-to-day basis, the staff and the manager have good links with other agencies. There is effective partnership working with the police about missing from home incidents and young people’s behaviour. Good arrangements with the leaving care team have supported one young person to move into the local authority’s ‘trainer flat’ as a step to independence. There is good communication and close working relationships with schools and young people’s families. The independent visitor consistently receives positive feedback about the home from other professionals, young people and their relatives.

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

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