Children's Home run by Keys Care Limited in Durham

Good

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

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 The leadership and management are strong. The registered manager is experienced and skilled, and has tackled the issues highlighted at the previous full inspection effectively. The home is now more settled than a year ago and this is a direct result of the registered manager making planned improvements and developments to the service. The team of senior workers has remained largely unchanged and they have supported the registered manager. There is good support from the responsible individual and the organisation.  The registered manager is clear about the aims and objectives set out in the statement of purpose. The home currently only admits girls and they are often particularly challenging. Often these young people will have a background of child sexual exploitation or other risky behaviours, such as going missing or misusing drugs and alcohol. The home operates a regime of close supervision, where free time is earned and built up over time. The

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

staff are then able to support the girls to reduce risks over time and they have done this well since the previous full inspection.  There is a separately registered school on the premises, which provides many of the young people with their education. Education staff work closely with care staff to offer a consistent service. There is also a college nearby, run by the organisation, and the young people are able to take advantage of some of the resources and vocational skills training provided. Many of the young people make good progress in their education.  The staff are used to working with young people who have been moved a long way from their home area for child protection reasons. They are good at helping young people keep in touch with their families and good at ensuring that appropriate contact arrangements are put in place.  The staff work well with other professionals and agencies. They have built

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

up close working relationships with the local police. Although these have been strained at times, they have persevered and these working relationships are now stronger. They have close links with local health and mental health services and use these effectively.  The organisation that runs the home offers a range of specialist support, which the staff welcome and use regularly. A specialist therapist and a number of psychologists regularly support staff and young people. There is also a specialist worker, who understands child sexual exploitation, and a specialist drugs and alcohol worker who are also able to provide training and guidance to staff.

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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. In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to preventing some children bullying others, the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a)(iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. 03/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees: (a) undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)) In particular, this relates to training around bullying and training around recording. 03/01/2017

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private organisation and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to eight children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/10/2015 Full Requires improvement 24/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/07/2014 Full Good

p.5

Good

The home has come through an unsettled period and has now stabilised considerably from where it was a year ago. The registered manager has led the development of the service and has made good improvements to the running of the home, the quality of care and the care practices. There have been a high number of staff changes over the past year, with over half the staff team leaving and a similar number of new staff being recruited. However, the senior team members have largely remained unchanged, so the team’s stability has been reasonably maintained.

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Good

There have also been quite a lot of changes of young people. Nine young people have left the home in the past year and seven have been admitted. Most of the young people who left did so in planned moves, some of these because they reached the age of 18. However, some of the young people left in unplanned ways, when either the staff were unable to keep them safe or their behaviour became too difficult to manage. In general, these changes happened soon after the previous full inspection and so the majority of the year has seen a more settled environment.

p.6

Good

The care of the young people has improved. Staff provide individualised packages of care that include good care planning and appropriate support from key workers and other professionals.

p.6

Good

Staff make good relationships with the young people and these are the basis of the work that is done. The home is much more settled and the inspector observed the young people being happy and relaxed. Several of the young people spoken to said that they felt safe, secure and happy. However, one young person spoken to said that at times they were upset about the bullying behaviour of another young person. They did, however, confirm that this was an improving situation and that staff were dealing with it.

p.6

Good

There is a separately registered school on the premises and most of the young people attend this. Most of the young people have good attendance and are achieving well and making progress. One of the older young people goes out to college, although their placement was in the process of being changed during the inspection.

p.6

Good

Young people’s health needs are well met, with appropriate appointments being made and kept. A number of the young people have difficulties with their emotional health and they spend time with external specialist mental health workers which supports their good progress.

p.6

Good

The organisation that runs the home provides a number of specialist workers who visit the home frequently. There is a therapist and a psychologist who attend the home very regularly and who spend time with both staff and the young people to give advice, guidance and counselling as appropriate.

p.7

Good

The psychology team visit the home and have devised a good-quality psychological assessment tool, which helps staff record and monitor the progress of the young people. The tool also helps in setting appropriate strategies and targets for the young people. This system has a great deal of potential but it does rely on the staff understanding how it works and being able to record progress accurately. Unfortunately, some of the staff have not received appropriate training in this system and some of the recording is clearly inaccurate. These inaccuracies potentially invalidate the assessments. A requirement for increased staff training has been made and this specific training now needs to happen if the assessment tool is going to be of full value.

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Good

The organisation also provides a specialist worker who understands child sexual exploitation, together with a drugs and alcohol worker, and both visit the home regularly. They train and advise staff and work with young people who have difficulties in these areas.

p.7

Good

The young people living at the home have a say in their care planning, and regular house meetings allow them to have a good say in the day-to-day running of the home. These meetings are also used to discuss relevant topics, such as being aware of child sexual exploitation and bullying.

p.7

Good

The young people participate in good amounts of independence practice and are able to learn all the relevant skills. However, there are times when older young people, who are considered as being at high risk of child sexual exploitation, are unable to spend as much free time in the community as perhaps they need to prior to moving to independence. This tension between balancing risk and preparing for independence is difficult at times, but staff recognise this and work to make the process of moving on as good as possible. One senior member of staff commented that in some ways having the young people at a younger age would help with this difficulty and perhaps this should be a greater consideration when assessing possible referrals.

p.7

Good

The staff are also used to working with young people who have moved a long way from their home and they make very good efforts to enable meaningful and regular family contact to take place. There have been some good examples when young people from London have been supported to have regular contact with their relatives, even though this is a long way away. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The staff have ensured that the young people at the home are kept safer than they were a year ago, at the time of the previous full inspection. At that time there were concerns about some of the young people being at risk of child sexual exploitation.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager has addressed this issue effectively and these risks have been substantially reduced. The staff have also reduced the number of missing incidents, and in particular the numbers of more serious missing incidents has reduced. There is a tendency for some of the young people to rebel against the high levels of supervision within the home and to go missing for short periods of time in the local area. Staff try to prevent this and try to locate and return the young people quickly. However, because of the young people’s backgrounds, staff are obliged to report them missing quickly and so the numbers of missing incidents remain quite high.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager is addressing this issue with the local police, as these incidents have an impact on the local police resources. Sometimes young people are admitted to the home who have histories of high numbers of going missing from previous placements. On these occasions they often take some time to settle down and stop this behaviour, but staff are successful in reducing the frequency of these incidents over time. The number of missing incidents has reduced significantly and this is positive

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Requires improvement

The registered manager has developed a way of working with the local police service whereby the police contribute to the process of information-gathering prior to any admission agreement. This cooperation is helping the registered manager to make better-quality decisions about admissions, and this process contributes to the overall safeguarding effort.

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Requires improvement

While the young people are clearly being kept safer outside of the home, there have been ongoing issues around bullying in the home. Some of the young people have bullied others, some have received some minor injuries and some of the young people have said that at times they have been frightened. These issues are serious, and they do need dealing with more robustly. Staff have tried to address these issues and have had some success. One young person was moved when their behaviour became too aggressive. Staff have had some training in dealing with bullying and have engaged the young people in some workshops and some individual key work sessions. Young people know that they should talk to staff if any bullying occurs and they do speak out when necessary. Further training for staff is planned but needs to be completed and put into action. The statement of purpose talks about a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and greater care now

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Requires improvement

needs to be taken to deal with all the issues around bullying in a more formal manner. A requirement has been made to deal better with bullying and to prevent any further harm to any other young person.

p.8

Requires improvement

Because the staff provide high levels of supervision at all times, there is sometimes a build-up of tensions within the home and the group of young people, and these sometimes spill over into squabbles and arguments that might include aggressive or bullying behaviours. Staff need to be more proactive in dealing with these issues and this behaviour management should overlap with the bullying training. There have been some concerns from the local police that the staff are sometimes too quick to call the police when fairly minor issues result in one of the young people asking for police involvement. The management of the home accepts that they need to look at this issue and again these issues need to be included in training around bullying. The registered manager and the responsible individual have agreed to work on this area. A requirement has been made around staff professional development and this is to address staff training around bullying.

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Requires improvement

Some of the young people self-harm and this has included some threats and gestures to take their lives. The staff have been trained to deal with these issues and mostly they work well to reduce these risks over time. However, self-harm is likely to remain a constant concern, given the nature and background of the young people admitted to the home.

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Requires improvement

The staff offer clear boundaries and expectations to the young people. There are mostly good relationships between the young people and the staff and together this means that most of the young people feel safe and secure most of the time. The staff operate a system of incentives and positive rewards and this generally works well. There are clear consequences in place for unacceptable behaviour and the staff impose some sanctions appropriately on these occasions. Staff are trained to use physical interventions, and these are used from time to time. This is appropriate. A few of the young people have made allegations against staff when they have been restrained, saying that they have been hurt. These incidents are always reported to the designated officer and have all been dealt with formally and properly. No evidence has been found to suggest that restraints have been carried out improperly. The registered manager is now a qualified physical interventions

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Requires improvement

trainer, which will allow for more regular practice and refresher training.

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Requires improvement

There have been some safeguarding incidents, which have all been properly reported to the appropriate authorities and persons. Most of these involve bullying incidents or aggressive incidents between young people.

p.9

Requires improvement

There has been one complaint from a young person, which was dealt with appropriately and which was not upheld. There have been several complaints from local residents living near the home who have complained about nuisance behaviour. These have been taken seriously by the management and addressed appropriately, although some ongoing tensions remain.

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Requires improvement

The home is free of health and safety hazards, and fire checks and drills are carried out regularly.

p.9

Good

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and has a good deal of experience. She is a strong, confident leader who manages the home well, with good support from her line manager.

p.10

Good

The home’s statement of purpose is accurate and the aims and objectives are met.

p.10

Good

The young people admitted mostly make good progress in all areas of their lives, and a large part of this is down to the way the staff closely supervise the young people and monitor their free time. This regime is very appropriate for the young people admitted, who frequently arrive with high risks attached to them and who have been unsafe when away from adult supervision.

p.10

Good

Care planning is generally good and a psychological assessment tool that was recently introduced will assist the registered manager to monitor ongoing progress. This monitoring is already happening well and should improve further as this system becomes more established.

p.10

Good

There is clear evidence that the registered manager does prioritise the needs of the young people. Recently one young person was moved on when their behaviour became too aggressive, and other young people were being bullied and were at times frightened by this young person. One young person likes to attend church and the registered manager ensures that they are able to attend with staff.

p.10

Good

The staff levels have been maintained through some proactive recruitment. Recruitment is safe and thorough. The registered manager is aware that the large number of changes in the staff team is an area that needs further work and seeks to stabilise the staff team further by ensuring that staff receive all the support they need.

p.10

Good

The staff say that they receive good quality supervision and training and this is evidenced in records made. Supervision is regular. Staff do receive sufficient training. However, because of the turnover of staff there is quite a high number of relatively inexperienced staff. They are currently undertaking appropriate studies for the relevant qualifications and they are receiving good training opportunities. However the registered manager needs to take care to ensure that these less experienced staff are adequately prepared before too much more complex and challenging work is taken on, in the form of new young people being admitted.

p.10

Good

The registered manager does make good contacts with other agencies and professionals and does bring in resources and services as required. She is also well able to challenge others when necessary and to ensure that issues are progressed as appropriate.

p.11

Good

There were no requirements made at the previous interim inspection. There was one recommendation made about ensuring that young people moving to independence had more time to prepare better. This has been met, although there is room for further improvement. Two requirements have been made at this inspection. One around further improving the ongoing bullying issue and one around staff training.

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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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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