Children's home run by West Sussex County Council

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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because:

 Although the manager and leaders have done much to address the underlying problems besetting the home and there have been some immediate benefits, their long-term sustainability has not yet been established.

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because:

 Some staff feel they are not equipped to manage the particular difficulties of some young people placed at the home.

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because:

 Managers have recognised the need for staff training and have identified a course to develop a cohesive approach to working with young people. However, the manager is not aware of the content of the training or the theoretical approach it is based on. Therefore, it is not possible to assess if it meets the needs of staff.

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because:

 Only one young person is in full-time education. Despite considerable efforts made by the manager and staff, the attitude of most young people towards schooling has not changed, and/or has not resulted in them being able to engage consistently in education.

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because:

 It remains the norm in the home for young people to use offensive language regularly and to abuse peers and adults verbally on a frequent basis. This contributes to some young people not being aware of or flouting acceptable social boundaries and to others isolating themselves from the group.

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because:

 Some important work undertaken by the manager and staff, such as assisting a young person to move, goes unrecorded or is poorly recorded.

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because:

 Some recording, including that contained in notifications, is ambiguous to readers unfamiliar with terminology used within the home or particular events.

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because:

 Young people’s progress appears somewhat fragile and staff, family members and professionals spoken to remain concerned that it may not be sustained as and when referrals are again accepted, despite the determination of managers that this will not happen.

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The children's home strengths

 Managers have identified alternative placements for young people whose needs are most unlikely to be met within the home. However, they have refrained from simply moving on every young person who presents challenging behaviours.  The home has not taken any new placements allowing staff and the young people who remain in the home to create a calmer atmosphere and re-establish a culture in which young people are safeguarded and have their well-being promoted.  The numbers of physical interventions have reduced significantly and young people have not gone missing since managers have implemented these measures. Staff have not had reason to call the police to the home to maintain order over the same period.  The home is being refurbished, with communal areas on the ground floor and an upstairs bathroom being repaired, redecorated and having furniture and fittings replaced. Most young people have played a part in this process by

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The children's home strengths

choosing colour schemes and helping with the decorating. Plants in front of the outside of the building now make it look less austere and arrangements are in place for bars which restrict the opening of windows to be removed.  All young people spoken to commented on the calmer atmosphere in the home and related the part they have played in making their home a nicer place to live in. They are motivated, for the most part, to maintain this and so doors to the games and computer rooms no longer have to be locked to prevent damage occurring in them.  There has been far less need to use agency staff with fewer young people in the home. The manager ensures that young people generally know those employed to cover shifts.  A recent recruitment drive has resulted in the manager being able to make job offers to applicants for both a full-time post and bank worker positions.  A new process is in place to process new referrals effectively, including a

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The children's home strengths

comprehensive impact risk assessment. This is designed to ensure that only young people whose needs can be met by the staff, and are compatible with those of current residents, will be admitted. There is a common understanding that the registered manager has the final decision on whether to accept referrals or not.

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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

The registered person must maintain case records for each child which are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author. (Regulation 36 (1)(b) and (c)) 20/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4, specifically a register showing a child's legal status and address immediately before being accommodated in the home and an address on leaving. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 20/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation must include details of the matter that are clear and unambiguous. (Regulation 40 (5)(a)(i)) 30/11/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon; in particular, that actions agreed in key work sessions and young people’s meetings are reported back to children and recorded. (‘Guide to Children's Homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22 paragraph 4.11)

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28 paragraph 15)

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Recommendations

 The capacity and competence of staff to build constructive, warm relationships with children that actively promote positive behaviour, provides the foundations for managing any negative behaviour. Staff should have the skills to respond to each child's individual behaviour. Where necessary they should manage conflict, maintain constructive dialogues and react appropriately if challenged by a child in their care. ('Guide to Children's Homes regulations including the quality standards', page 38 paragraph 8.14.) The registered provider must promote these skills.

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Recommendations

 Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home. This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child’s parents. (‘Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 45 paragraph 31)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learnt and sustaining good practice. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 55 paragraph 10.24.) This is in particular regard to the details in the sanction log and record of fire safety drills.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child's transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving, both practically and emotionally. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 57 paragraph 11.9.) This work should be adequately recorded.

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Information about this children's home

This service is a children’s home providing care and accommodation for up to six children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A local authority runs the home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

The home is competently fulfilling its statement of purpose, with previous failings that left young people unprotected rectified. The manager and staff are able to safeguard young people and promote their welfare more effectively. Leaders and managers have brought this about, in part, by reducing the number of young people in the home. Staff manage transitions as well as circumstances and the young people involved will allow, including good pre-planning and emotional preparation for moves. Young people spoken to say that the home is a calmer place to live and the refurbishment programme that managers have put in place has done much to improve the homely atmosphere. They are pleased with the contribution they have made to this, designing a new look for rooms, choosing new furniture and helping to paint or assemble ‘flat-pack’ units. Further improvements such as an overhaul of the kitchen will continue this conversion. However, by its design the building is

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Requires improvement

obviously an institution; it is an imposing edifice on the outside and, inside, suspended ceilings make it feel office-like. The manager seeks the wishes and feelings of young people on a range of issues, such as activities and the selection of new staff (one young person was able to put questions to applicants and give her view to the manager). Young people’s meetings demonstrate that they express their views on all aspects of their care; minutes detail these, but not how the manager and staff took the young people’s views into account. The manager was able to recall how each action from a particular meeting had been followed up, but young people did not benefit from this being formally recorded. Staff have made considerable effort to find potential placements for young people not in full-time education and to support them to access provision. Nevertheless, the majority are either not registered with a school or college, or not enrolled for

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Requires improvement

the statutory minimum of 25 hours education. Staff try to make up the shortfall but say they rely on what they can find on the internet rather than follow a curriculum. This work is not overseen by an educationalist and some young people are highly reluctant to engage with it. Senior managers acknowledge the problems have been left too long and they are making strenuous efforts to attain suitable provision, but most young people’s access to education and subsequent level of achievement is not matching their potential. This will affect their life chances. One young person, however, is thriving in school and the authority is supporting his wish to attend a specialist provision. The manager has brought in people from other agencies to give opportunities for some young people to spend time with someone not connected to the home. This has had mixed success as, when these workers are unable to keep appointments

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Requires improvement

due to other commitments, the impact on the young person is quite negative: they feel let down. Staff encourage young people’s involvement in constructive activities and use of community facilities and young people enjoy the opportunity to have time with staff, including going out for drives, shopping or going bowling. Decorating and gardening have been joint activities too, even if part of a process of reparation for young people involved. Not all young people engage well; one young person spends almost all his time in his own room and does what staff regard as ‘the bare minimum’ to comply with the rules of the home and maintain his placement. His use of a laptop means he has a source of entertainment that does not help motivate him to engage in education or other activities. Although the home is a safer place to live and staff manage risk well, not all young people have yet felt reassured following the previous difficult period. Young people

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Requires improvement

report that bullying remains an issue; one commented that ‘It hurts when others say upsetting things. Staff only respond if I push them, but it happens again and again.’ The observations of the manager and staff are that the level has reduced considerably. The frequent goading and targeting of individuals has ended, but poor relationships in which unpleasant remarks and behaviour occur which sour the environment continues. One parent said her child ‘keeps their head down and doesn’t have much to do with others because they just cause trouble’. She adds that, some time ago, she had heard an unpleasant remark made towards her child that illustrated the problem. Offensive language among some young people remains commonplace and they quickly become verbally abusive towards adults if they are unhappy with responses staff or other professionals give them. Young people often react badly to the imposition of sanctions, as comments they make in the log demonstrate.

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Requires improvement

This hostility and rejection of care disrupts the calm atmosphere of the home and demonstrates that it is still quite fragile. Judgement grade

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Good

The provider has addressed a major failing in the provision of care in the home with the introduction of a new process for assessing the suitability of new referrals. Steps include a multi-disciplinary meeting and an impact risk assessment that relevant professionals contribute to. This assessment covers potential risks to the young person concerned, to those already resident, to staff and the wider community and feeds into the risk assessments developed during placements that use the same ‘signs of safety’ approach. Young people who were living in the home and whose assessed needs were beyond the capacity of staff to meet have been found alternative placements. This has dramatically lessened the level of unsafe behaviour. Staff have not called police to the home to restore order since the number of young people has reduced and few instances of absconding or missing have taken place. Records show that

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Good

notifications to social workers and parents of children leaving the home unauthorised and/or returning are not always made. One parent indicated this had been a problem but had been rectified. The manager has included the need to request a statutory review into the home’s missing person’s policy if any young person persistently goes missing. One professional commented that ‘staff always agree safety plans and they stick to it.’ For some young people, risky behaviour includes self-harm, much of which is threatened rather than actual. The manager and staff have sensitively handled incidents of risky behaviour and have involved other professionals, such as child and adolescent mental health workers, when appropriate. The number of physical interventions has reduced for individual young people. This is largely due to the move of some young people and subsequent transformation from the chaotic atmosphere that had prevailed. Staff have also built on this to

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Good

provide increased individual time for young people, occupying them and giving alternative means to express concerns and anxieties. Young people continue to display challenging behaviour. In the main, staff apply principles of restorative justice when applying sanctions. They gave examples of where this had been effective, but some sanctions are repeated without having an earlier impact. Records do not clearly indicate antecedents to the conduct addressed. Relationships between staff and young people fluctuate with the mood of individual children, but staff respond consistently and positively. Young people praise the manager and staff for the care they are shown but can also be highly critical, especially of boundaries that are put in place or sanctions that may result when they are over-stepped. One young person said ‘some staff don’t know much about me, even my key worker’. The manager has yet to investigate a concern linked to this but responds

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Good

well to complaints. These complaints are logged, with the nature of the complaint and actions taken recorded and with evidence files that are cross-referenced. The latter indicate when a resolution is reached. Arrangements were made during the inspection for the log to also clearly state the outcome. Despite apparently having accepted an outcome, young people still cited their initial concern as evidence of staff being unreasonable during the inspection. Staff report safeguarding concerns appropriately, including to the designated officer of the local authority when appropriate. The home is a safer place for young people due to the less dangerous behaviour they display; there have been fewer instances of overt bullying and a significant reduction in damage to the property. The manager is taking steps to remove the institutionalised responses to behaviour, including no longer locking communal rooms and arranging for the imposing external bars on windows to prevent them

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Good

being opened too far. This allows young people to feel trusted and enjoy greater individual responsibility. Fire drills now include the time taken to evacuate the home but do not record the time of day they take place. It is not, therefore, possible to monitor the effectiveness of drills in different circumstances and learn any pertinent lessons. Recruitment files show that the manager has followed safer recruitment practice for appointments made since the last inspection. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Senior managers, including the registered manager, are overseeing the measures taken to provide a service that adequately meets the needs of young people. They have achieved some significant progress, particularly in measures to help and protect children as described in the previous section. The registered manager has also achieved improvements in the running of the home in terms of recording and monitoring and the support to staff. Care planning is a much-improved process with regular updates that are shared with young people; their signatures and those of the key worker and manager are more regularly obtained. Currently, young people are not easily able to understand what is written about them. The manager is aware of this and has begun to address it with staff. Notifications made under regulation 40 are occasionally ambiguous to readers unfamiliar with terminology used within the home or particular events. However, the

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Requires improvement

manager ensures these are made in a timely fashion, having made arrangements for them to be sent if she is unavailable. Key workers record sessions well, including a description of a young person’s contribution to the discussion and actions to take forward. However, agendas do not identify those issues the child or young person raises and actions are not routinely followed up in later sessions. Files show that some staff sign the records and get young people to do the same, while others do neither. Some significant work undertaken by the manager and staff does not have an official record, such as the daily ‘catch-up’ one young person has with the manager. The manager handwrites notes in a book that it is intended the young person will take with her on leaving the home, but case files contain no corresponding record. Transition planning is now placed on files and key worker sessions demonstrate that, unless circumstances have prevented it, young people are helped to prepare

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Requires improvement

emotionally for this step. However, how staff have followed the plans through is not written up, so that anyone, including the young person later wanting to see what happened, only has a partial record. Staff now maintain records of outreach work with those who have moved on from the home, but the author does not sign these records. New consent forms that cover a range of permissions, including for the independent person to view case files, have been introduced. Unfortunately, not all are dated or completed correctly. It is evident, therefore, that changes the manager has made in response to requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have not all been implemented in full or become embedded in practice to be consistently followed. The manager plans to allow staff more time to complete administrative work as she acknowledges this is currently limited. The register of children and young people living in the home does not contain all the

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Requires improvement

information required by the regulation, specifically the legal status of children and complete previous addresses, or those moved on to are not recorded. Not all staff feel they have the ability to meet the needs of the young people currently placed in the home. One referred to a young person having mental health issues but said that staff are not mental health workers. Managers have identified training for the staff team in line with the plan to develop a cohesive approach to working with young people, and provide all workers with the understanding and skills needed. The course is regarded as having been successful with foster carers but the manager is not acquainted with the model, theoretical basis or actual content of the training. It is not possible, therefore, to assess if it is likely to meet the objectives set. There are occasional lapses in the records made of the administration of medication,

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Requires improvement

particularly of a second witness signature when controlled medication is given. The provider has ordered a review of the storage, administration and recording of medication across children’s residential provision, which the manager and staff at this home have cooperated with. They plan to make changes to improve current practices and avoid future errors.

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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, 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 that 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 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 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 at 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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