Children's Home run by Stockton on Tees Borough Council in Stockton-on-Tees

Inspection report children's home: SC035387 1 SC035387 Registered provider: Stockton on Tees Borough Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by the local authority and provides accommodation for up to six children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home’s particular remit is to provide short to medium-term care. Young people can be admitted in an emergency.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None

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Key findings from this inspection

 There is a comprehensive decision-making tool in place in relation to admissions to the home. This helps the staff to evaluate the suitability of the admission against the statement of purpose together with the impact that any new Inspection report children's home: SC035387 2 admission might have on other young people in the home, particularly in an emergency.  There are comprehensive risk assessments in place which include detailed strategies for mitigating risk.  The recruitment, induction and support of staff is robust.  The staff work well as a team and demonstrate a willingness to learn and develop.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff would benefit from training in record-keeping and the impact of trauma on the behaviour of the children and young people.  The records continue to contain a mixture of fact and opinion and do not clearly reflect the difference between the two.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/08/2016 Full Good 12/07/2016 Full Inadequate 04/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC035387 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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 ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33(4)(a)) 28/07/2017

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were no young people resident in the home during the inspection. The last four young people had all been admitted in an emergency and for short-term placements. All have successfully moved on to other placements as planned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite the emergency nature of those placements, there were clear impact risk assessments in place and strategies for managing the risks that the young people posed to each other. The placement plans were clear and included input by the young people Inspection report children's home: SC035387 4 to show their likes, dislikes and ambitions. Placement risk assessments were updated weekly or in the event of an incident, and there was clear oversight by the manager to ensure that the assessments were accurate. A social worker said: ‘They communicated well with me and I have no concerns at all. [Name] made massive progress while he was there. He has told me it was the safest he ever felt and would go back tomorrow if he could. They never let him down, kept him occupied and talked to him. His risks were reduced by the time he left. He no longer met the criteria for secure.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Incidents of missing from home have reduced over the period since the last inspection, and the staff now make greater efforts to contact and find the young people before appropriately reporting them as missing. This enables the young people to feel valued and supported, and demonstrates an understanding of accountability by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Activities are planned in advance. Records demonstrated there are a range of activities daily, from board games in the home with the staff, pamper days, visits to theme parks and sporting activities such as swimming. A social worker said: ‘I think they did an exceptional job with the young person by keeping her safe and engaging her in activities.’ The impact of having a wide range of activities is that the experiences that the home is able to offer the young people results in their social and emotional well-being improving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is seen as important by the manager and the staff. Most of the young people who were admitted recently had an educational placement, although the level of attendance varied. The staff acted quickly by challenging authorities to address this issue and worked with them on increasing attendance by providing tutors to support the young people. This enables the young people to appreciate the importance of education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with the young people is undertaken through monthly meetings and an exit questionnaire which is also sent to social workers and the young person’s family at the end of the placement. The questionnaires have not always proved successful in gaining feedback that is relevant to improving the service, and the manager and staff need to find innovative ways of ensuring that consultation about the service takes place regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has been redecorated throughout, including the exterior parts of the building. The staff have improved the way in which they address damage in the home, and now replace or repair items quickly. This will result in the young people feeling valued by role-modelling respect for the home and its surrounding area.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The young people were kept safe in the home and records demonstrated robust actions by the staff to help young people develop positive strategies to enable them to keep themselves safe in the community. Risk assessments clearly identify risk indicators and triggers, as well as strategies for mitigating against the risk. Such assessments and care plans are updated regularly by the staff, monitored by the manager and shared with other professionals. Inspection report children's home: SC035387 5 Boundaries and expectations regarding the behaviour of young people are clear. When behaviour needs to be addressed, the use of a restorative approach continues to develop while the use of physical interventions and sanctions is reducing. This will develop a culture of acceptance and learning for the young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Incidents of absence or missing from the home are reducing in frequency. When they did occur, they were often in reality instances when the young person returned home later than allowed. The staff have a clear process to follow, which involves making welfare calls to the mobile phone of the young person. The staff do go out and actively search known areas for the young people. This contributes to the young people feeling cared for and safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The young people are made aware of how to complain through leaflets, which are freely available, and information contained in the young people’s guide. There has been one complaint made by a young person, which was investigated thoroughly. The relevant young person was informed of the outcome; their satisfaction was noted, and they were given advice about the next stage of the process.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The staff and the manager have positive relationships with other professionals who offer additional support to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since March 2017, but was previously the deputy manager. She is currently undertaking the relevant level 5 qualification and has extensive experience of working with young people who are looked after.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have been met, but in relation to record-keeping one has been repeated. There are improvements in quality and quantity of the recording, but there are still incidences where fact and opinion are intertwined. This makes it difficult for the young people to have clarity about what happened as they read records and try and make sense of their own behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Records requiring management sign-off have been completed along with other monitoring tasks, enabling the staff to undergo a smooth transition from the previous manager, who had been in post for several years, to the new manager. Required documents, such as the locality risk assessments, training matrix and staff register, have been reviewed and updated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Mandatory training for the staff is up to date and all of the staff are appropriately qualified to level 3. Records demonstrate that some staff do not fully follow recording guidelines and require training in clear, consistent recording. In addition, there is recorded evidence which indicates a lack of understanding of the underlying emotional and traumatic responses in the presenting behaviours of young people. Addressing both of these will improve the engagement of the young people and enable them to read Inspection report children's home: SC035387 6 records and gain some understanding about how and why their behaviour is managed in a certain way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the number of staff available on each shift has improved. New staff have not been recruited as this has not been necessary due to the low numbers of admissions since the last inspection. The supervision of staff has improved. There is greater frequency and the content has expanded to include opportunities for reflection in addition to positive challenges to practice. This will enable the staff to continue to learn and develop.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: SC035387 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland TS18 1LD

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Inspector

Susan Atkinson-Millmoor, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC035387 8 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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