Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 1 SC065552 Registered provider: Bradford Children’s Specialist Service

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for up to six children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 December 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: 27 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Due to the experience and commitment of the staff, the children and young people are able to build trusting relationships with them.  The children and young people are developing skills and strategies to manage their difficult feelings more constructively; for some, this is a considerable achievement.  The children and young people are learning how to keep themselves safe, particularly when using the internet.  The experience of the management team ensures that the children and young people, who have high-level emotional needs, receive good-quality care from a well-supported staff team.

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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

 Staff need to ensure that they understand the circumstances in which return home interviews should be offered, in order to ensure that the children and young people are offered the opportunity to discuss concerns with someone independent of the home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 14/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 3

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Recommendations

 Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31) Specifically, this is in relation to ensuring that the staff understand the circumstances in which a return home interview is required and who should conduct it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people living in the home have a wide range of high-level, competing needs that are being well met by the staff team. The staff place great emphasis on the nurturing aspect of their role and work hard to improve the emotional well-being of the children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a result, the children and young people are able to form relationships of trust with the staff, and through these are learning to manage their own complex and difficult feelings and behaviour more effectively. A number of children and young people have gone on to sustain foster placements, supported by staff both before and after their placements. A fostering professional visiting the home observed that she found staff very passionate and enthusiastic about the outcomes of the children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This nurturing approach is balanced with clear, consistent boundaries, which are helping the children and young people to behave in a less challenging way. The children and young people reflect on their feelings and behaviour during direct-work sessions with their key workers. These cover a broad range of topics, such as personal hygiene, racism, friendships and feelings. One young person was able to sit and talk about his behaviour during the inspection. He reflected about his own actions and used this to identify how another young person feels when he says hurtful things. The children and young people are better able to engage in activities that improve their life chances, such as education, as their behaviour moderates.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children and young people are receiving education and for some this is a significant achievement. The staff ensure that education is prioritised, wherever it takes place, and support children and young people in any way they can.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s statement of purpose outlines the model of care as the Signs of Safety approach, along with PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy) and using Outcome Star as a tool for measuring change, progress and outcomes of young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 4 The staff team receives training in these frameworks and the manager has been continuing to develop their understanding within supervision and team meetings. Through using these approaches, staff are being more effective in identifying the needs of the children and young people, setting achievable goals with them and reviewing progress in order to keep their progress moving forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people enjoy significant levels of contact with their parents and siblings. Although at times these relationships are difficult for the children and young people to manage, staff understand the importance of them in the future and help the children and young people to work through their feelings about their families and sustain contact with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The building is not the ideal design for a home, having some institutionalised fixtures and fittings. However, the staff are doing their best to create a more homely feel and the children and young people are able to personalise the decoration and furnishings in their rooms.

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

The children and young people feel safe and protected in the home. They identify trusted members of staff whom they go to if they are worried and need to talk to someone.

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

Due to the size and nature of the needs of the group of children and young people currently resident in the home, staff have to work extremely hard to ensure that there are no incidents of bullying behaviour. Bullying is discussed regularly in individual sessions and house meetings and the children and young people understand the effects of such behaviour on others.

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

The risks and vulnerabilities of each of the children and young people are well understood by the staff. The staff are guided by clear risk assessments, which identify strategies to manage these risks effectively. One young person has seen the risk of child sexual exploitation reduce since coming to live in the home. She is now able to identify that she makes unwise decisions when using social media and that the boundaries in place are for her own good. The staff have a good understanding of the risks of the internet and use this to protect and educate the children and young people.

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

The low incidence of children and young people going missing from home and the infrequent notifications of significant incidents to HMCI demonstrates the good quality of care practice given the high level of need of some of the children and young people. There is some confusion around when children and young people should be offered return home interviews and who should conduct these, and a recommendation has been included at this inspection.

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

Some of the children and young people require the use of physical intervention, but this is undertaken to protect the child or young person or others around them. During times of heightened behaviour, the staff remain mindful of the distressed state of the child or Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 5 young person and do everything in their power to both comfort them and de-escalate their behaviour. Staff use individual positive behaviour support plans to manage each child and young person in a way that is most effective for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that plans for individual children and young people are comprehensive and up to date. A recommendation made at the previous inspection regarding this is met. The manager challenges other agencies and professionals to secure the right services and best possible outcomes for the children and young people. Social workers for two of the children and young people commented that the staff were ‘on the ball’ and had a ‘very good approach’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although the home caters predominantly for younger children, one young person who has been resident for an extended period is secure in the knowledge that she will continue to live in her home until independence. This is the right decision for her, given her needs, and demonstrates the flexibility of the provision in the interests of children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training and development activities are gradually increasing the confidence of the staff team in using the models of care as outlined in the statement of purpose. Staff receive good-quality supervision, which both supports and challenges their practice. The experiences and needs of the children and young people are discussed fully during supervision and team meetings and this ensures that staff offer consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring and audit systems in place that ensure there are sound care practice and good-quality recording. Recommendations made by the independent visitor are addressed. The manager has a system for gathering the views of families and other professionals but has met with a poor response, so is revisiting this. This will ensure that the six-monthly review of care uses a broad range of evidence to evaluate and improve care practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and qualified manager and a deputy. Their years of experience ensure that the diverse needs of the children and young people are being met well. The staff are supported with calm and assured guidance, which enables them to handle a large number of emergency admissions and also to meet the longer-term needs of the children and young people.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 6 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: SC065552 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bradford Metropolitan District Council,

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sir Henry Mitchell House, 4 Manchester Road, Bradford BD5 0QL

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Inspector

Janet Black, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 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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