Children's Home run by Norfolk County Council in Norfolk

Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 1 SC068955 Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Children‟s Services

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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 care and accommodation for up to two children between the ages of eight and 17 years. The home looks after children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 August to 1 September 2017

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 27 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children‟s home is good because:  The staff show commitment to working with the children.  The staff respond to the children‟s wishes and feelings, and explain when it is not appropriate to comply with these.  The staff encourage children to take part in a range of activities.  The children develop independence skills in line with their age.  There is a low level of children going missing from the home, and this has reduced significantly for some children.  There have not been any instances of physical intervention since December 2015.  The registered manager and staff have effective working relationships with other agencies, such as the police, the local authority safeguarding officer and placing social work teams.  The staff are tenacious in applying firm boundaries and work to help children learn to manage their behaviour.  The children have access to an advocate.  When there are concerns that the children are not settling into the home, the

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Key findings from this inspection

registered manager ensures that the plans are reviewed.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children‟s home‟s areas for development:  There are some gaps in the records of children‟s medication.  The manager and staff have not been keeping records of restorative sanctions.  Complaints records are not clear and do not show that appropriate procedures have been followed.  Assessments of potential new placements do not show clear and appropriate decision-making.  The manager is not completing regular supervisions and appraisals for all staff.  Monitoring by managers has not identified the shortfalls detailed in this report, and so they have not been addressed. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/08/2016 Full Good 07/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 07/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph 1 requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 27/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home‟s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are appropriate assessments for any children moving into the home, which show that full consideration has been given to matching them with any children already in placement. 27/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children‟s home. In particular the registered person must ensure that medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child and a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(b)(c)) 27/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 27/10/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 5 33(4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that these activities take place, and that they are effective and clearly recorded. The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes the name of the child, details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure, the date, time and location of the use of the measure, a description of the measure and its duration, details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure, the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used, the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(3)) 27/10/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is currently one child living at this home as a single placement. There have been some very challenging times for the staff, but they have shown commitment to the child and this has led to some improved outcomes. The child said that she did not initially like a member of staff who was firm with her, but she feels close to her now and she gets on with most of the staff. This shows that the tenacity of staff is contributing to good relationships between them and the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This child is the only one in the home as the placing authority and home feel that this is the best way of meeting her needs. However, she has been having limited education. She finds her lack of involvement with other children difficult. The staff are aware of this and arranged a few days camping with some children from another home. This went so well that there are plans for further activities with children from this home, and the staff are hopeful that the evidence of this will lead to her becoming involved in small groups as part of her education. The child is very excited about these prospects. While her placement alone has been assessed as necessary to allow staff to meet her needs, she is now beginning to have positive interactions with other children. This is an indication of the progress that she has made, and it will enable her to develop important social skills and to form positive, enjoyable friendships. A psychological assessment identified that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the child has at times been unable to engage in education, but she is keen to increase Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 6 her education time, and the staff are working to promote this. The staff are trying to contact the education provisions to see what the plans are for the new term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff seek and listen to children‟s views. When appropriate, they act on these, for example, in arranging a camping trip and a trip to a safari park. When it is not possible to do what children ask, the reason for this is explained to them. A child wanted some of their records changed, but the registered manager explained to them why this could not happen. Children are provided with advocates if they want them. This helps to ensure that they have someone independent to talk to and to ensure that their rights are promoted. The staff encourage children to take part in activities with them and in the community, but the offers are not always taken up. Despite this, children do take part in activities such as dog walking and fishing with staff. The child currently in the home has a paper round. Encouraging children to take part in activities helps them to develop their self-esteem and gives them chances to enjoy themselves and have fun. As this is a local

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

authority home, only children who come from the county live in it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

For the most part, the staff recognise and promote the children‟s health needs. However, records of the administration of medicines contain some gaps over a number of months. It is not always clear whether the gaps are due to a lack of recording or the medicines not being given. However, some medicines are controlled drugs and so recorded in a separate bound book. When there are gaps in the routine records for these medicines, the controlled drug book shows they were given. This indicates that in these cases the error was in recording, but without clear records there is the possibility of medication being given to children incorrectly. The gaps in records were not identified through routine monitoring, which prevented the ongoing errors from being identified and put right. The children are registered with local health services, such as dentists, opticians and doctors. Specialist services are also available. The staff work closely with local

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

psychological services and refer children to the child and adolescent mental health service when required. This helps to ensure that the children‟s health is looked after and any associated needs are met. The staff encourage children to take responsibility for their personal hygiene. This has not always been effective. However, the child in placement is currently making notable progress in this area, which will benefit her now and when she lives more independently, and increase her self-esteem. The staff encourage the children to learn independence skills appropriate to their age and needs. The child currently in placement was proud that she had kept her room tidy for a few days. The records for a child who left the home recently state that she was very able in most areas of independence. While staff prepared the child for her move from the home and provided support for her during the process, the ending of the placement was not as

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

good as it could have been due to the mix of children in the home at the time. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 7

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

Since the last inspection, the process for writing risk assessments has been reviewed. These are now clear and informative documents that help the staff to identify and manage risks for the children. There have been very few incidents of children going missing from the home. When the children have returned from being missing, they have been spoken to by someone independent of the home, to try to identify the reasons they went. One child moved into the home with a history of frequently going missing, but during her time at the home the frequency of her missing was greatly reduced. This has significantly reduced the risk to her. The staff are trained in areas such as self-harm, safeguarding, radicalisation and online safety, so that they have the knowledge to help them protect the children. An example of this is internet safety. Plans and risk assessments set out the risks of inappropriate internet use. The staff follow these to

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

supervise how the children use the internet and help children to understand the risks associated with inappropriate use.

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

The manager and staff have effective working relationships with the police, which the police describe as positive and appropriate. There are also effective relationships with safeguarding agencies, such as the local authority safeguarding officer. The quality of these relationships helps to protect children by ensuring appropriate inter-agency working.

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

The staff have put some clear boundaries in place for the children despite some very challenging behaviour, and this has helped children to manage their behaviour better. There was a period when the level of behaviour led to a high level of police involvement. Both the police and placing social work teams are of the opinion that this involvement was appropriate in the circumstances. There has not been any police involvement since mid-June, which marks the progress of the management of the child‟s behaviour. Reward systems are used to encourage positive behaviour, and the staff use a restorative approach to inappropriate behaviour. However, managers and staff have not seen the restorative actions as measures of control or discipline, and therefore they have not been recorded. This means that there is no record to allow monitoring and to ensure that measures have been appropriate. There has not been any physical intervention

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

The children know how to make complaints and are able to do so. They receive information on the process from the children‟s guide and complaints leaflet. The registered manager responds to complaints, but as a result of the poor quality of complaints record-keeping it is not always clear whether the procedures have been followed fully and what the outcomes are. This makes monitoring and learning from complaints more difficult. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 8 There has been a recent fire safety risk assessment carried out by an external body. Some recommendations were made to increase fire safety. Some of these are just outside of the recommended timescale, but they are scheduled to be completed in the very near future. The impact of this is minimised significantly by the overall fire safety procedures, including regular checks of equipment, fire drills and staff training, which all help to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a registered manager in post who has a social work qualification and significant experience. He has just completed his level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare and is waiting for the results. He wants the children to do well while they are living at the home and their progress is discussed in team meetings. He carries out monitoring, but this has not identified issues such as the gaps in medication records, and so there has not been any action to address the shortfall. The registered manager has completed a review of the quality of care, which includes the views of children, staff and placing authorities. There is regular monitoring of the home by an independent visitor. This monitoring has clearly identified shortfalls that the independent visitor has found. This helps to ensure that the children are looked after properly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

One area of concern identified by the independent visitor has been the mix of children in the home for a period of time. The behaviour of one of the children had a negative impact on the other, including keeping her up at nights and leading to her missing planned appointments. The staff worked to manage this at the time, but their efforts were not fully successful. The child did, however, move on to a more independent placement in a planned way. The written assessment of the two children being placed together does not show that the issues were fully considered and addressed prior to the decision for both girls to be placed together. Not assessing placements fully can lead to children not having their needs fully met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager carries out staff supervisions and annual appraisals, but not all staff have had an annual appraisal in the last 12 months, and some staff have not had regular supervision. For one member of staff, there was a gap of five months between supervisions. Records of supervisions and appraisals are brief and do not show that supervision includes effective support and challenge or that appraisals are identifying the training needs of the staff concerned. While the staff feel that the manager is accessible for them, not carrying out regular, effective supervision and appraisal can limit staff development and their ability to provide a high standard of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

While there have been some new staff starting work at the home, they have moved from other homes within the organisation, so have come with relevant experience. There have been times when there have not been sufficient staff at the home, but with a bank of consistent staff to support the main team, there are currently enough staff. All of the staff who have worked in a children‟s home for more than two years are qualified. There is a range of applicable training available for the staff to provide them with the knowledge to look after children effectively. The staff and registered manager have Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 9 suitable professional relationships with other agencies to help provide consistent care for children. When there have been doubts about the ongoing suitability of placements, the registered manager has ensured that these have been discussed and the plans for the children reviewed. This helps to ensure that plans remain relevant and effective, and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

that the home can continue to operate to its stated aims and objectives, including meeting children‟s individual needs.

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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: SC068955 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Norfolk County Council, Chief Executives, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich NR1 2DH

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Inspector

Clive Lucas, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC068955 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 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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