Children's home run by Hertfordshire County Council in Dacorum

Inspection report children's home: SC422231 1 SC422231 Registered provider: Hertfordshire County 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

This local authority home provides short-term placements for the assessment of children’s needs. It accommodates up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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

Date of last inspection: 17 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff quickly build positive relationships with the children and their families.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The children have increased their attendance and participation in education. Inspection report children's home: SC422231 2 One child who rarely attended school has recently sat a GCSE mathematics exam.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The children and their families are responsive to the therapeutic model that underpins the work of the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team that cares for the children is passionate about improving the children’s relationships with their families and preventing the children from entering into the care system.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children are becoming increasingly able to self-regulate and to identify strategies to help them to do this.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The children currently living at the home have never run away from the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager provides a supportive environment that enables the staff to feel that they can approach her about anything.

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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 children’s support plans do not specify how the home will work with children who smoke. This prevents the children from receiving a consistent message from the staff team and outreach workers.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The provider does not submit a copy of the independent visitor’s report to Ofsted every month.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager does not submit a review of the quality of care to Ofsted at least every six months.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff and managers do not sign and date the children’s case records consistently.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/05/2016 Full Requires improvement 01/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC422231 3 07/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC422231 4

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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 health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met. (Regulation 10(1)(a)) In particular, incorporate in the children’s records the home’s approach to children who smoke. 14/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44(7)(a)) 14/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45(4)(a)) 14/08/2017

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Recommendations

 Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) This is with particular reference to ensuring that the staff fully complete entries, and that the manager, as applicable, signs these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is part of the local authority’s holistic approach to working with families. The therapeutic service follows the attachment, self-regulation and competency (ARC) model. The children move into the home for the duration of the programme and they engage in direct work such as key-work sessions, and individual and family therapy sessions. Throughout the programme, the staff support the children to have contact visits and overnight stays at home with their family. The staff also carry out work with the children and their families at the family home. The home coordinates weekly multi-disciplinary network meetings that the manager, parents/carers and representatives from social care, education and health services attend. This enables clearly defined planning and ongoing review of the work with the children and their families prior to the child’s return home. The staff are all able to describe the ARC model and how they work through it

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspection report children's home: SC422231 5 with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there were two children living in the home. One child is midway through the programme and the other is due to return to their family home imminently. The child who is due to go home said of the programme, ‘It has helped me to be better at home. I can control my anger better, and my mum says that she can see this. Doing the programme has been better than I thought it was going to be.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The house, which is furnished to a high standard, has a very calm atmosphere. In addition to the main areas of the house and their bedrooms, the children have the use of the education room, the art room and the music room. These additional spaces provide the children with access to a wide range of facilities to use when they need time alone or when they wish to use the music/computer equipment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides short-term care. There have been six admissions and seven discharges since the last inspection. Each child receives a welcome box, created by the staff, which contains small items such as an alarm clock. This demonstrates to the child that the staff want them to feel at ease straight away. Throughout the children’s stay, the staff add memorabilia to a memory box that the children take with them when they leave. The items include copies of positive praise records, and details of key-work sessions and discussions about strategies which the child can use when faced with particular events or situations. A staff member said, ‘It is nice to see the children smiling as they go through and read the comments.’ The staff make every effort to help the children to rebuild their relationships with their families. One child, who at the time of the last inspection was due to move to foster care due to an irreconcilable relationship

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

with her relatives, is now living at home with her family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The interactions between the children and the staff demonstrate warmth, care and humour. The staff are extremely skilled at quickly building positive relationships with the children and their families. This enables the staff to work with the children and their families successfully to identify and begin to address the changes that will improve the relationships in the families. A child said, ‘I was not going to engage with the programme at first but I am so glad that I have. I was really scared at first, but I love the staff. I thought it would be stricter. It has rules but it is still relaxed and homely.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A parent who was at the home for a family session spoke of how the sessions that take place in the family home enable the staff to see the children’s behaviour at home. He said, ‘They [the staff] have picked up on the behaviours and [the child] is responding to boundaries here which she didn’t at home.’ The staff use these observations to work with the children through key-work sessions to help them to recognise the aspects of behaviour and responses to boundaries that need to improve. The children are becoming increasingly able to take responsibility for their actions. This is helping them to rebuild their relationships with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both of the children are attending their education programmes. A parent said, ‘Since my child has moved in, her behaviour at school is much better and her attendance has improved.’ The child said, ‘School is better. I never used to go in and was not bothered. Inspection report children's home: SC422231 6 I’m now doing mock exams and getting A’s in maths. I love that feeling. It’s better than getting F’s. On the school monitoring system it used to be all red and I had lots of behaviour points [negatives] and now it is nearly all green [positives].’ This positive change in the children’s view of education and their improved attendance are increasing their future education and employment prospects.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An independent reviewing officer spoke positively about a child. They said, ‘He has improved his attendance at school and college [part time at both] and prepared for his exams. He even went into school [which he had previously refused] to take the exams.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children spend some of their free time on family visits and some of their time involved in therapy or individual/family sessions. Many of the activities that the home organises are low cost or free to prevent the children becoming used to having outings that their families may not be able to afford.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s support plans detail the specific aims or goals that need to be progressed during their time on the programme. The children are accessing their routine and specialist health appointments. The support plans include a range of child-friendly questionnaires for completion by the children with staff assistance. These focus on the children identifying how they can, with the support of the staff and their family, improve their health by reducing/stopping negative behaviours such as drinking, smoking and self-harming. These questionnaires include the child providing suggestions as to how the staff can discourage them from the behaviours. The staff have helped a child to reduce her level of harmful behaviour significantly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A parent wrote a letter complimenting the team. They said, ‘Staff members went the extra mile. [They were] thinking outside the box, were very flexible and remained curious and creative in their approach.’

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

The children’s risk assessments are comprehensive. They fully assess each area of risk and detail the steps to minimise the risks. A professional described how the staff had successfully managed to get a child to wear his glasses by building the wearing of them into his bike-riding risk assessment. This enabled the child to continue in a safer way with an activity that he liked.

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

The manager undertakes a compatibility assessment prior to each admission. She uses this in conjunction with the risk assessment that is completed by the child’s social worker, to assess the suitability of each referral. This ensures that neither the new admission nor the children already living in the home are negatively affected.

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

There is minimal need for the use of sanctions, with only three recorded in this inspection period. The actions taken by the staff to address the behaviour are proportionate, and are reviewed to assess their effectiveness. There are instances when Inspection report children's home: SC422231 7 the staff have delayed the sanction to enable the child concerned to give the matter more thought and reflection.

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

The children rarely go missing from the home. On the occasions that it has occurred, the children have returned within a few hours. The records of these events are very detailed and provide information describing the actions taken to contact the child and any actions taken when they have returned.

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

The staff, with the exception of the two newest members, are qualified to use physical interventions. The new staff are currently accessing the training. The use of physical intervention is extremely rare because the staff use their knowledge of and relationships with the children to de-escalate situations successfully. There have been two physical interventions since the last inspection, and both relate to the same child.

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

There have been no episodes of bullying or discrimination. There is an anti-bullying board where the children write the negative words associated with bullying. This is to ensure that they all recognise what it looks like and why it should not occur.

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

No children, staff, parents or professionals have raised any concerns about the children’s safety in the home. A child said, ‘I feel really safe here.’ The staff are confident in what they would do if they have any concerns about any staff member working in the home. One staff member said about the children’s safety, ‘This is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. We debate things. We talk about TV programmes and discuss the appropriateness of them for the children and create talking points.’ A virtual school professional said, ‘The children can communicate their worries and feel safe.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a number of years’ experience and she holds a level 7 qualification in management. The home has just completed its first year of offering this service and the manager is undertaking a review of the outcomes. The initial findings support that the programme is having the desired impact of reducing the number of children progressing through the care system.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There were no requirements or recommendations made at the last inspection. Since the last inspection, two new staff have commenced working in the home. The staff are undergoing a robust induction programme. One of the staff said, ‘I was attracted to the role because of the holistic approach. [There are] lots of shadowing of shifts, outreach and family sessions. Even within my first month the manager gave me the opportunity to look at particular areas of interest, such as education. I’m really happy here.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive regular supervision sessions that provide them with a safe space to reflect on their practice and the progress that the children are making. They describe the manager as ‘approachable’. A staff member said, ‘The manager has an open-door policy, is supportive, understanding, and passionate about the children and the staff. She is Inspection report children's home: SC422231 8 willing to try our ideas.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have regular mandatory training that includes safeguarding and identifying children who are at risk of child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. The training is coordinated to ensure that the staff are working with current information and expertise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths of the home and she is continually striving to revise and improve the service for the children. She conducts monthly audits and analyses the information. However, the manager has not sent these reports to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A professional commented that, ‘[Child’s] smoking has reduced while living at the home. He has had to manage his own tobacco. Mum can provide it but staff cannot look after it or store it for him.’ Although the home has an anti-smoking policy, the children’s support plans do not specify how the home will work with children who smoke. This prevents the children from receiving a consistent message from the staff team and outreach workers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent visitor monitors the home. However, the reports are not consistently submitted to Ofsted. The failure to provide these reports prevents Ofsted from having a current overview of the events in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have not signed a number of the children’s records, such as missing from home, support plans and sanctions. Other entries were lacking the manager’s signature. This does not provide clarity about who has completed the entry and whether the manager was in agreement with the actions taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Equality and diversity are at the centre of practice to ensure that individually tailored programmes meet the differing needs of all of the children and their families. The home has a topics/theme wall that the staff use to draw the children’s attention to different cultures and events. Recent topics have included Eid, the Caribbean, St George’s Day and mental health awareness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Comments from family members and professionals included:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

 ‘I am happy that we did the programme as it has given us some respite. It has put in therapies and given my other children an understanding of [child] as well.’  ‘They [staff] are diamonds. What is so amazing about them is that they centre on the children and the children don’t want to leave. They never want to go home no matter how much they miss their parents, siblings or pets.’  ‘Team working is effective. They pull professionals together and set reviews. They know the children as they all spend a lot of time with them.’  ‘I have found the ARC to be very supportive and thorough in their care of young people placed there. The ARC is a good example of services working together to meet young people’s needs [such as] education and emotional health, and to improve their chances of successful reintegration into their family homes.’ Inspection report children's home: SC422231 9

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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: SC422231 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hertfordshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Apsley One, Brindley Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP3 9BF

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Inspector

Sonia Hay, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC422231 11 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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