Children's home run by North East Lincolnshire Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 1 SC058750 Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire 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 children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 18 to 19 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 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 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people like where they live and make good progress.  Education is a key priority and young people benefit from the support that they Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 2 receive to achieve well at school.  Staff are warm, caring and provide good standards of care as individuals and as a team.  Young people’s safety increases and they learn new ways to protect themselves. The manager and staff respond effectively to any risks of harm to keep young people safe.  The manager is a good leader. She knows the strengths and weaknesses of the service and strives to make continuous improvements.  Staff are supported well through supervision, training, team meetings and coaching. The staff team is motivated and committed to giving young people the best quality of care.  There is good partnership working with other agencies and professionals.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/11/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 3

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Recommendations

 In accordance with regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met), homes must have proactive relationships with appropriate schools and educational support services. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.7)

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Recommendations

In particular, personal education plans should assess how well pupil premium money improves the educational outcomes of children.  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.3)

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Recommendations

In particular, the registered person needs to obtain the records of such interviews to be able to take account of the information provided.  Regulation 45 sets out the requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months; see also regulation 13(2)(h) (the leadership and management standard). The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the quality standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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Recommendations

In particular, the next six-monthly quality assurance review should include the views of young people’s parents and social workers and the impact of these, and the quality of regulation 44 reports should be consistently maintained.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy themselves and benefit in various ways from the friendly, nurturing and safe environment. Staff are sensitive and understanding, and young people know that the staff are there to care for them and help them. Young people respond well to Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 4 the warmth and humour of staff and are able to trust them and make positive attachments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Each young person has a comprehensive care plan agreed with the placing authority. Staff involve young people in reviewing and amending these plans. Young people also choose their own behavioural targets and rewards. Consequently, they take ownership of their progress and have a strong voice in decisions about their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide young people with a lot of support with their education. Since the last inspection, staff have helped four young people transition to new schools. Considerable thought and planning have gone into these changes and young people have gained from new educational placements that are better suited to meet their needs. Their achievements at school are good. They make progress in other ways as well, for example getting to school independently and making new friends. Personal education plans are being updated to reflect the changes in young people’s education. It is recommended that the use of pupil premium money is reviewed as part of this process to ensure that it has the best possible impact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people become more mature and reflect more about their actions and the impact that these have on other people. When young people do fall out or misbehave, staff are there to support and help manage these situations. This leads to young people making better choices about their behaviour and treatment of others. For example, young people have made amends with their neighbours who complained about their behaviour. Consequently, young people’s relationships with each other, their friends and adults improve. This is important to help them build a good support network and have the right social skills to achieve their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people like living here because of the staff, the way they are treated, and the fun activities that they do. Young people enjoy day trips, holidays and pursuing their own hobbies, including going to the gym, dance classes and cadets. Relatives also commented that young people are well looked after and that staff are nice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are all from the local area and are supported through good arrangements to maintain relationships with their families. This includes promoting young people’s wishes and feelings about who they see and how often, and takes good account of any safeguarding risks. Staff are very understanding about the impact of family contact, both positive and negative, on young people and provide them with appropriate emotional support.

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

Young people feel safe. They all consistently say this in surveys and in response to scaling questions, scoring from eight to as high as ten out of ten about how safe they feel. Staff use an evidence-based social work model to engage young people in discussion about their individual vulnerabilities, including missing education, smoking, personal hygiene and e-safety as well as feeling safe in the home and local community. Staff know the young people well and tailor discussions and key-working sessions to Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 5 current issues for young people about their individual welfare as well as future goals. Young people are involved in writing and reviewing their own safety plans and learn to manage risks, including when they go on holiday or have sleepovers with their friends. Consequently, young people are empowered to develop a stronger sense of safety but still take age-appropriate risks. A number of social work professionals commented that

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

placements are positive, young people are safe and staff meet their needs well.

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

Risk management is effective and the manager utilises the support available from other agencies. Clinical input helps staff to understand young people better and to develop more effective responses that have more impact for young people. The Young and Safe team from the local authority has helped young people develop their understanding of safe and appropriate relationships. Input from the youth offending service is limiting the risks of offending behaviour and keeping young people out of custody.

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

In comparison to previous placements, risk-taking behaviour, including going missing from home and alcohol and substance misuse, is lower. Staff practice is effective in securing a safe return home when young people are missing. Young people have plenty of adults to talk to about any of their concerns or reasons for being missing. Information from return home interviews is not shared with the manager in a timely manner. This is not impacting negatively on young people’s safety currently but is something that the manager and the local authority should consider improving as a future safeguarding measure.

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

Young people’s behaviour is good and there is a pleasant, relaxed and comfortable, homely environment. Staff have developed their skills in responding to any challenging behaviour. There is a good ethos of restorative practice and reflection with young people about any unacceptable behaviour. Consequently, there is little need for sanctions, and any physical intervention used by staff is a last resort in responding to challenging behaviour. There is good management oversight of any such incidents, ensuring that practice is safe and that record-keeping is of good quality.

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

The manager carefully considers new referrals and the potential impact on existing stable placements. She takes prompt action to address concerns about the viability of placements when young people’s safety is at risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post for two years. She is a strong leader and is skilled in supporting staff and young people through difficult challenges. She is also good at managing risks and developing a motivated staff team, despite past high staff turnover. Changes in staff are due to natural reasons, including promotion and moving away from the area. There is now a stable staff team providing young people with high standards of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from the manager’s coaching, supervision and guidance. Consequently, they feel supported and they are united in promoting young people’s individual needs. Staff undertake a range of training, and new staff find that the revised induction is Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 6 effective in promoting their development. This is enhanced further by completion of the required qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that there is a consistent focus on promoting young people’s needs. She helps staff to deepen their understanding of young people’s past experiences and backgrounds so that staff are able to relate this to their behaviour in the here and now. This contributes well to the positive nurturing environment that young people experience and helps them to achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are good arrangements to maintain a robust oversight of the running of the home. The manager could improve this by including the views of young people’s parents and social workers and the impact of these in the next six-monthly review of the home. This is a recording issue with little impact on young people, who have a strong voice. Other professionals and relatives involved in their care are regularly consulted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is further, external scrutiny from two independent visitors (IVs) who are responsible for assessing the home monthly and who alternate every six months. They have highlighted a number of strengths and made a small number of recommendations, which the manager has addressed. The quality of the written reports from the two IVs is inconsistent in terms of the levels of evaluation and the focus on the experiences and progress of young people. The manager should take steps to address this to further strengthen these arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is continuously trying to improve care practice and the physical environment of the home. As a result, staff are more skilled in supporting young people to improve their behaviour. There is a new kitchen and the home is well maintained and decorated. The manager plans to improve the quality of record-keeping next.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are skilled at developing effective professional relationships with other agencies. This helps to promote good health and educational outcomes for young people and to keep them safe. When needed, there is appropriate challenge so that young people receive good support from all partner agencies. A range of other professionals involved in supporting young people commented very positively about the levels of communication and partnership working.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC058750 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Child Care Management Team, Civic Offices, Knoll Street, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire DN35 8LN

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Inspector

Simon Morley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC058750 9 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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