Children's Home run by Middlesbrough Borough Council in Middlesbrough

Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 1 SC472374 Registered provider: Middlesbrough Borough Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned and run by a local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural problems.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 February 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 21 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Progress for young people is variable and for some limited. Commitment to education by some young people has been short-lived. The staff have not been successful in their attempts to motivate some young people to attend education or to value the role that education and training plays in their lives.  The use of incentives and goal-setting by the staff is narrow and does not seek the full involvement of the young people. Documents used by the staff to identify areas of change do not seek or reflect the young people’s views.  Planning for the young people to join and leave the home has been limited due to all admissions and discharges in the last 12 months having taken place on an emergency basis.  The young people have not benefited from sustained and focused work on some areas of behaviour that have caused concern. Over-optimistic managerial analysis of change, in the absence of this work, has led to some young people

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Key findings from this inspection

being abruptly discharged for their safety and the safety of others.  There are insufficient staff to provide for waking-night cover, leading to inappropriate sleeping arrangements for staff.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The managerial team is aware of the areas that require improvement and there is a detailed action plan in place to address those issues. Work has been ongoing to refocus the staff team in its work to create a more positive ambience within the home.  The staff team is led by an enthusiastic and committed manager. The staff are equally committed to the changes that are ongoing and this is beginning to have positive effects upon young people’s behaviours.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/06/2016 Full Good 08/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 02/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure– that staff– understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child overcome any such barriers; maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the children’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(iii)(vi)(vii)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to– ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(2)(d)) 30/04/2018

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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. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure– that staff– encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(iii)(iv)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that– 31/03/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 4 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)– has spoken to the user about the measure; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(b)(i)(c))

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that met the needs of children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, that damaged plasterwork is repaired and repainted.  Children should be provided with appropriate furniture, such as a lockable cabinet or drawers to securely store personal items, including any personal information. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.19) In particular, that young people are provided with sufficient storage for all their belongings.  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

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Recommendations

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 9.30)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38) In particular, that identified concerns regarding young people’s behaviour receive a sustained, focused and educative approach from staff.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62,

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Recommendations

paragraph 14.4) In particular, that staff recordings of their actions to locate a young person when incidents of missing from home occur, are sufficiently detailed to enable full management oversight.  The home should work in partnership with relevant people as appropriate to ensure that each child is provided with support (appropriate to their age and understanding) to communicate their views, wishes and feelings and participate Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 5 as fully as possible in all aspects of their care planning and daily care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.6) In particular, that these views are fully reflected in the home’s documentation.  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the

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Recommendations

needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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improvement to be good

The progress that the young people make is variable. Some young people have committed to developing aspirations for their futures and are beginning to embrace the benefits that training can bring to their lives. Others, however, lack the routine and motivation to attend any form of education and this limits their life chances and transition into adult life.

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improvement to be good

Although the staff offer opportunities to engage the young people in activities that are beneficial to their development, some are resistant to this input into their lives. As a result, their time spent with staff in positive leisure pursuits and conversation that would guide and inform their choices is extremely limited. Other young people, however, benefit from staff time and attention and have developed trusting relationships.

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improvement to be good

Although staff have both challenged and acted upon unsuitable and negative behaviour within the home, this has been reactive to individual incidents. Young people have not benefited from sustained and focused work that is educative or restorative in nature. As a result, some behaviour has been recurrent, resulting in young people being moved from the home in an unplanned way.

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improvement to be good

The young people know how to complain and are forthright in expressing their views. However, full engagement and commitment to their plans is hindered through limited consultation with regard to their goals and incentives. Opportunities to sustain change for some young people are therefore missed and potential progress delayed.

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improvement to be good

The staff are active in supporting the young people to access appropriate and timely health appointments. Specific health advice is developed by staff to individually respond to each young person’s circumstances. Booklets are devised by staff that are both engaging and young-person-focused.

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improvement to be good

The young people benefit from staff who have good knowledge of their backgrounds and family situations. Safe contact is fully supported and appropriate advice is given by the staff to ensure that the young people develop positive and safe relationships. Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 6 The home offers the young people a large spacious environment that on the whole is well maintained and welcoming. However, some damage caused has not been promptly repaired and some young people do not have sufficient storage space for their belongings.

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improvement to be good

The young people feel safe at the home. Any concerns regarding their safety and welfare are promptly responded to by managers and the staff who make appropriate referrals. As a result, any concerns regarding child sexual exploitation have diminished.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of the young people going missing from the home have also reduced. However, the recordings by staff with regard to the lengths that they have gone to in order to locate the young people are limited. In addition, young people have not always benefited from being offered interviews when they have returned home. There is currently no established system for collating and evaluating information from the interviews when they take place. These shortfalls reduce management oversight of staff responses, analysis of why children go missing and opportunities to better inform assessment of risk.

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improvement to be good

There have been incidents of bullying within the home. Although the staff have appropriately challenged this behaviour by young people, this has not resulted in planned, focused and sustained approaches by the staff. Opportunities to embed empathetic change for the young people have been missed.

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improvement to be good

Physical intervention by the staff is rarely used or required. When this has been necessary, however, debriefings with young people have not always taken place, either by the manager or a designated person.

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

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced and was registered to manage the home in September 2017. He is passionate about ensuring that appropriate changes are made to improve the care that is offered to the young people. Managerial plans for the home are detailed and evaluative, focusing on qualitative changes. The scope of the changes proposed in these plans, however, are yet to be fully realised.

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

The manager understands the needs of each young person well and knows their current progress and potential progress that they can make. He has provided effective and appropriate challenge to proposed changes in young people’s plans and suitably advocated on their behalf. In addition, he has appropriately ensured that the previous practice of emergency admissions and resulting emergency discharges is subject to managerial scrutiny and decision-making. This has recently led to greater consideration being given to appropriate matching of young people’s needs.

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

The management team is effective in challenging staff practice if this falls below Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 7 expected standards. Supervision is regular, but opportunities to embed and reinforce change through reflective discourse with staff are missed.

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

The home currently does not have sufficient staff to ensure that there is waking-night cover. This has resulted in staff adopting sleeping-in arrangements without suitable provision for them to do so. Staff have been sleeping in one of the young people’s living rooms.

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

The recommendation made at the previous inspection regarding young people’s education has not been met.

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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: SC472374 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Middlesbrough Borough Council, PO Box 99, Middlesbrough TS1 2QQ

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Inspector

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC472374 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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