Children's Home run by Stanfield Care Services Limited in Norfolk

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:

 Recent changes in both staff and management teams have led to a lack of consistent management, oversight and monitoring of the care provided to children. This has led to children lacking confidence in management arrangements and feeling undervalued and insecure. As a result, children have used external professionals to raise a complaint rather than relying on staff or managers within the home.  Recent and frequent changes in staffing mean that day-to-day organisation in the home is not settled and consistent and lacks direction and purpose.  Managers have not routinely scrutinised risk assessments to make sure that risks are matched with appropriate management strategies and are effective.  Managers have not reviewed care plans to establish that individual goals remain relevant with appropriate timescales so that children know what progress they have made and are motivated to try for further improvement.

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The children's home strengths

 A recent management meeting with the organisation’s directors has taken place so that future management arrangements are now clear. Staff have expressed the view that this has helped to resolve uncertainty. Staff are positive about the future.  Children are all going to school and there are firm education plans in place. Some children are engaging in mainstream academic work, while others will be starting college courses with a view to planning a career.  Children are encouraged to join in community-based activities. They have contact with those who are significant to them and can bring friends back to the home for meals.  Positive action has led to a reduction in the number of negative incidents, including a dramatic reduction in the incidence of going missing from care.

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Statutory Requirements

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

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Requirement Due date

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard: In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, with particular reference to understanding the impact on children of any developments or changes in staff and management arrangements, the registered provider must ensure that children receive care from staff who— (1)(a) develop positive relationships with them; (b) engage with them; and (c) take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. 28/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to regularly reviewing risks and ensuring that they are matched with appropriate management strategies, the registered provider must ensure that staff— (2)(a)(i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. 28/09/2016

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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 maintaining clear management arrangements to provide a secure and stable environment for children, the registered person must lead and inspire a culture in the home that— (1)(b) promotes their welfare; (2)(b) ensures that staff work as a team; 28/09/2016 (g)(ii) demonstrates that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on 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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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure that staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording, particularly with reference to information about aims and objectives and the progress that children make against these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children's home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. This home is owned by a private organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

16/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

28/01/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Children have been unsettled by recent changes in both the staff and the management teams. Children have good relationships with the outgoing registered manager and deputy but the lack of clear planning about recent changes has added to their sense of powerlessness and resentment. In addition, this confusion has undermined the ability of the newly appointed manager and new staff to resolve basic day-to-day issues within the home. This has contributed to an unsettled environment and consequently, children have felt insecure. The father of one child said: ‘It has thrown her into turmoil. She asks me why and she feels it personally.’ Children know how to make their feelings known within the home but have recently made a formal complaint about management changes using the external visitor rather than pursuing this internally. The registered manager has taken robust action before her imminent departure, which has helped to reassure the

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Requires improvement

children. Children are now confident that their comments are being taken seriously. Nevertheless, it is striking that this is the second time in just over a year that children have wanted to make a complaint about this particular issue. They do not think that senior managers within the organisation have considered their needs as a priority. In the past few months, managers have not scrutinised case records effectively to ensure that all staff are aware of updates and changes in individual children’s care plans. In addition, they have not set overall goals which could be broken down into small steps to help children to manage change and make progress. Senior managers in the company have instructed staff and managers that all records should be held electronically but there is currently no effective way of recording and celebrating children’s achievements. This is a wasted opportunity to enhance children’s self-esteem and show that children are benefiting from being in the

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Requires improvement

home. All children attend school and staff and managers have been proactive in helping them to maintain school and college places. Some children display unacceptable and challenging behaviour at school and on occasion this has led to children being excluded. However, staff and managers do not take this volatile behaviour at face value and understand that this may reflect inner turmoil. The review for one child said: ‘She has been working with staff to improve her behaviour, talking to staff about her feelings, completes chores and takes part in weekly residents’ meetings.’ Staff are prepared to persist in advocating for the child to be allowed to continue with her education. In one case, this has helped a child return to college and take up a course that she enjoys with a view to pursuing her interest as a career. Some children are engaged in planning for their independence. They have worked on their pathway planning alongside staff and records show clearly what the child

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Requires improvement

has achieved and how they have contributed. However, this work would benefit from tighter timescales which set out expectations and what a child needs to have accomplished in order to face the future with more confidence. The registered manager has been very active in making sure that she promotes children’s interests as they begin adult life. In particular, she insists that a child about to live in the community should have access to the level of resources commensurate with their abilities and confidence. While there is much to achieve, it is clear that staff and managers appreciate that children are vulnerable during this transition. Children know that the staff support them and advocate for them to help them to face the future. All children have contact as defined in their care plans. Staff and managers are conscious that it is critical for children placed far from home to maintain their relationships with friends and family and they go out of their way to support them.

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Requires improvement

Families speak positively of the partnership with staff who keep them informed regularly of progress.

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Requires improvement

Children have been unsettled by a prolonged period of uncertainty about management arrangements. This has left them feeling insecure about who they should talk to about their concerns. Staff are professional and do their best to allay children’s anxieties but recent staff changes have reinforced the impression that arrangements are not stable. Management direction has not been clear and confident. Comments from children, their families and allocated social workers demonstrate that children have been unsettled. As a result, they do not know who to turn to for reassurance. Staff and managers do not use risk assessments effectively. Each child has a number of risk assessments covering both individual behaviours and specific activities. Risk assessments are detailed and up to date but there is no regular and consistent review of the progress that children have made. On one occasion, a child was involved in an incident which had required hospital treatment but

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Requires improvement

managers did not follow this up with a robust plan that would support her and ensure that there would not be a repeat incident. This lack of strong and proactive response leaves children feeling anxious. Despite these drawbacks, staff are working together to promote positive behaviour among children. They share information, using daily handovers in particular to make sure that they know the details of children’s programmes and identifying any specific behaviours that might need attention. Staff speak fondly of children, understanding the pressures on them, how they might react and are quick to support them. For instance, one child was expecting exam results so staff made sure that she was not isolated from the group. This attentive approach by staff to the needs of individual children has led to a significant drop in the number of negative incidents, but staff know that children remain vulnerable. For instance,

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Requires improvement

one child came with a significant history of going missing from care. Staff and the manager worked carefully to ensure that she felt welcomed and valued. As a result, she settled. Her social worker said, ‘She has earned some free time, when she can walk into the local town. Staff followed, observed her and she was alright. They know that they need to be mindful.’ Some children come to the home with a history of being at risk in the community. There is no internet access in the home so children are supported to access this in the community. Staff have received recent training about internet grooming and are alert to signs of abuse. However, their main focus is on developing relationships with the children, spending time with them and encouraging them to develop interests. As a result, children feel more valued and their confidence improves.

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Requires improvement

The current registered manager is due to resign her post with effect from 28 September 2016. The deputy manager has left her post. A new manager has been appointed and has applied for registration as manager with Ofsted. However, this process has been lengthy and interim arrangements for managerial cover lack a clear sense of direction. The impact on children who have built up relationships with the outgoing management team has been especially difficult. One child wrote: ‘I have lived in this house and have already been through the loss of a manager and my staff team and I have created a bond. I have built myself a life here.’ The social worker for one child said: ‘She had settled remarkably. Now she’s unsettled by the loss of the manager and her deputy.’ In addition, a number of new staff have come to work in the home, which has led to some changes in working arrangements that have taken time to settle. Staff

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Requires improvement

express confidence in one another but do not feel that they are yet working cohesively as a team. One staff member said: ‘We are very ambitious for the children and we want to get back to where it has been.’ One consequence of this situation has been that managers have not developed a comprehensive review of the quality of care in the home. Managers are not using the current system for storing all information about a child electronically effectively to review progress and set goals. This means that children’s progress is not clearly tracked. As a result, children, and their families, are not clear how children have benefited from living in the home. Managers in the home, along with staff at the organisation’s head office, have not always been provided with complete information from local authorities about new referrals. On one occasion, information provided by a placing authority about a potential admission was subsequently contradicted by the additional information

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Requires improvement

from the police. The latter demonstrated that the newly admitted child had a history of high-level risk taking and challenging behaviour, which had not been previously known by the home. Staff and managers took effective action to safeguard other children in the home. However, the management team has acknowledged that this process needs to be more robust, especially when considering emergency placements. They have built in additional layers of enquiry into the admission process to ensure that future placements are safe and compatible with the needs of the current group. Staff confirm that they receive regular supervision and their records confirm that meetings cover workload issues and the impact on them. There is a high value placed on professional development. The incoming manager has attained appropriate qualifications over five years ago and has many years of residential experience at managerial level. All staff have either attained their National

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Requires improvement

Vocational Qualification level 3, are in the process of completing it or about to start once they have completed their induction. Children benefit from being looked after by staff who are valued themselves. A meeting between staff, the new manager and a director from the company took place during the inspection. Staff reported that this has helped to relieve the tension and provide a more positive approach. Staff have been reassured about the future of the home and have welcomed some practical decisions made about day-to-day routines. The new manager has introduced a meeting structure for senior and team leaders so that information is shared consistently and there is a refreshed approach to working as a team.

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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 looked after children 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 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, 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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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

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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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