Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 1 SC035543 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The local authority manages this home, and has registered it for up to six children with 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: 28 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people benefit from high levels of staff support. They make good progress and enjoy positive experiences. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 2  Staff create safe, trusting relationships with young people and help them develop their confidence and self-esteem. They support young people to have a good say in their care and the running of the home.  Staff are friendly, caring, and committed to giving young people high-quality care and support. They work hard to make a real difference in the lives of young people.  The young people all attend school, complete voluntary work and find employment. Staff help them to develop their ambitions and to achieve well.  Leaving-care arrangements are good and staff provide an outreach service to support young people after they move out.  Young people are safer and reduce the levels of risk-taking behaviour.  Staff understand the individual vulnerabilities of young people and safeguarding

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Key findings from this inspection

practice is responsive to young people’s needs.  There are good leadership and management arrangements. Young people experience consistently good standards of care.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28). In particular, ensure that all young people have their own written missing from home protocol setting out the actions that staff should take.  The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high- quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. They should also play a key role in shaping the ethos of the home through developing a culture of high aspiration for children which is demonstrated through the care, resources and opportunities offered to

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Recommendations

the children (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4). In particular, there should be clear and detailed records of the decision-making about accepting referrals and thorough analysis of the potential risks that young people may pose to each other.

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Strengths:

Young people benefit from good, individualised care that starts with the planning of their admissions. Staff are caring, nurturing and sensitive, and they have a strong understanding of young people’s needs. The friendly, engaging qualities of the staff empower young people to build positive relationships with them. Consequently, young people have good experiences and achieve well.

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Strengths:

Staff are persistent and committed to supporting young people with their education, training and employment. There is a high expectation that young people go to school or college, or find employment. Strong adult role models influence young people to consider their futures and develop their own aspirations. Young people’s attendance is enhanced by the support for family contact and with other social and emotional needs. Security and stability in other areas of their lives contribute to their achievements. As a result, young people regularly go to school, find and sustain employment, undertake voluntary work and complete life-skills courses. Personal education plans are not all clear with regard to young people’s targets, progress and the impact of pupil premium money. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 4 The provider is aware of this and is already taking action to improve these plans.

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Strengths:

Young people enjoy active lifestyles, which include swimming, dog-walking and running. Staff support individual interests, such as park runs, dogs, movie nights and music concerts of favourite bands. Young people also spend time with family and friends, developing a good sense of identity. They benefit from enriching opportunities and feel that they are still part of family life and the local community. This enhances young people’s care experiences and empowers them to be themselves. Staff keep memory boxes for young people to have when they leave and make them specially designed mementoes that they value.

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Strengths:

Young people have an effective voice in their care and daily routines in the home. They are frequently consulted about their care and contribute to their safety plans and risk assessments. Their views, wishes and feelings are taken account of and they receive caring responses from staff who are keen to make their lives fulfilling, as well as ensuring that there are realistic expectations, boundaries and structure in place.

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Strengths:

Staff promote young people’s physical health and emotional well-being. There is a strong focus on promoting mental health and young people improve their confidence, emotional well-being and develop a sense of belonging. This is evident in the friendly, supportive interaction with staff and the hugs that young people enjoy. Staff stand by young people through difficult and challenging times, helping them to become more resilient.

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Strengths:

Young people work towards a life-skills qualification and make use of a separate flat to develop their independence. This helps to prepare them for a successful transition to adulthood. Wherever possible, young people achieve planned moves home, into supported lodgings or independent living. Staff continue to provide support to young people, integrated with other agencies to make future placements successful.

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

Young people’s safety improves compared to the previous difficulties and placements they have experienced. Staff understand the risks of harm to young people from their mental health needs, child sexual exploitation, offending behaviour, missing from home and self-harm. Effective implementation of risk management strategies reduces risk- taking behaviour and limits the impact that such behaviour may have on young people’s futures.

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

Staff undertake regular training about a range of safeguarding issues and use this effectively to promote young people’s welfare. Specific training, such as ligature awareness, is undertaken to meet individual needs of young people.

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

There is regular discussion between staff and young people about safety issues. Staff use an evidence-based social work model that empowers young people to consider risks to themselves and make safer choices. This approach evidences that young people’s safety improves. It would be beneficial to develop a more systematic method of tracking the risk ratings used, so as to inform more effectively the monitoring and review of Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 5 young people’s care.

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

Staff respond well to incidents when young people are missing from the home or are absent without permission. There are good links with other agencies, such as the police and local authority, which help to ensure that young people return safely. It is recommended that practice is strengthened by developing individual missing from home strategies for staff to follow for each young person. Young people always have an opportunity to talk with a social care professional, who is independent of the home, about why they went missing. The manager takes appropriate action about any relevant information young people share, to help to keep them safe. There is further support for young people from the police early intervention team, which helps to reduce the frequency that young people are missing and their involvement in offending behaviour.

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

There are clear expectations and boundaries that staff reinforce effectively with young people. Staff are skilled and experienced in responding to challenging behaviour from young people. This includes good inclusion of young people in reflecting on their behaviour and finding appropriate ways to cope with their emotions. Use of physical intervention is limited and senior staff robustly monitor all incidents of challenging behaviour.

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

Young people know how to complain and the manager takes their concerns and allegations seriously and ensures that they are promptly addressed. He reflects on their views and improves the quality of care practice for their benefit.

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

The manager plans admissions of young people to the home carefully. A small number of recent referrals have not been accepted after considering young people’s individual needs and the likely impact that they might have on each other’s welfare and safety. Risk analysis in determining the appropriateness of admissions is not adequately recorded. While this has not had an impact, it may compromise the future effectiveness of the decision-making process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is appropriately qualified, very experienced and has been in post for over 12 years. There are strong leadership arrangements, with a competent deputy manager and senior staff able to manage the home in his absence. This ensures that young people receive consistently good standards of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are dedicated, organised and caring and they work as an effective and cohesive team. They have good aspirations for young people and their enthusiasm and motivation has a positive impact on young people’s experiences and progress. The majority of staff have achieved the required qualification and new staff are working towards this. Staff undertake a good variety of training that focuses on meeting the needs of young people. Staff broaden their skills and experience working in other parts of children’s services and use this learning to develop practice for the benefit of young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 6 Monitoring of the quality of care has improved since the last inspection. Monthly independent scrutiny focuses more on outcomes for young people. Feedback about the home from parents and professionals to the independent visitor is consistently positive. The manager’s latest six-monthly review also concentrates on young people’s

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

experiences and includes plans to improve the standards of care. This includes: more opportunities for young people to develop their leisure activities; improving their independence; and building links with the police early intervention team to promote young people’s safety. There is an ongoing review of how well the home meets the quality standards, which is informed by young people’s views and feedback. These developments comply with the identified areas for improvement at the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work very effectively with partnership agencies, such as the leaving care team, schools, youth and family support service and the early intervention team. This gives young people good all round support. When things are not going well for young people, the manager is quick to review care plans within a strong multi-agency framework.

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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: SC035543 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Cross Street, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA

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Inspector

Simon Morley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 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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