Children's Home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull

Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 1 SC040105 Registered provider: Kingston upon Hull City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides accommodation for up to six children and/or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by the local authority.

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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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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: 21 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people benefit from good care provided by an experienced, competent and nurturing staff team that invests in better outcomes for them.  The staff have built some positive and meaningful relationships with the young people, which is helping them to trust the adults who care for them. Consequently, most young people feel that they are well cared for, involved in their plans and listened to.  Young people feel safe and protected. The staff have a highly coherent understanding of the risks that each young person presents and their potential to harm others. Good-quality risk management plans and collaborative relationships with safeguarding professionals contribute to keeping young people safer.  Good multi-agency practice supports and monitors young people’s health and education requirements, and helps to overcome any barriers to their development.  Staff, inspired by the manager and each other, are very good at caring for the

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Key findings from this inspection

young people. Staff express high levels of job satisfaction. They feel well supported and trained to provide good-quality care and protection for the young people.

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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

 The home is not operating in accordance with the current statement of purpose. The service provided for children and young people should be reviewed so that it complies with the statement of purpose.  Direction from senior management has forced the staff to accept inappropriate placements that have undermined the home’s impact risk assessment and potentially placed vulnerable young people at risk.  The provider has met three out of four recommendations raised at the last inspection.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 3 09/06/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 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, the 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 registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(b)) In particular, ensure that there is an accurate account of the service that is delivered to children and young people, and review the age range of children and young people that the home can realistically expect to accommodate and care for. 30/03/2018

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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. 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)(2)(a)) In particular, that impact risk assessments are not overruled by senior managers to make inappropriate placements. 30/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every six months. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(2)(c)(5)) 30/03/2018

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 5 helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is specifically in relation to recording sanctions in their entirety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people move into this home in an emergency or crisis. Such transitions may cause trauma, distress and disruption to their lives. This can manifest itself in confused, defensive and very challenging behaviours. The intuitive and empathetic staff quickly and skilfully engage the young people, ensuring a swift settling-in period. The staff’s established skills in engagement help to effectively develop some strong relationships. A social worker said: ‘The staff have built up great relationships with my young person and have a good understanding of her needs. They have gone above and beyond what I could have expected; she loves the staff.’ Good-quality care plans respond to each young person’s needs arising from issues such as their learning disability, culture, religion, gender identity and sexuality. This helps to provide the young people with highly bespoke support that respects their differences

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

and empowers them to feel comfortable in their skin. Most young people enjoy their experiences at the home and really like the staff. Some young people don’t want to leave and give ‘10 out of 10’ for the quality of their care. This is despite them understanding the short-term nature of the service. A young person said about the staff: ‘They are parental. They really care about you and call you on the phone making sure that you are okay.’ A professional said: ‘Staff and young people are welcoming and engage well with each other. [Name of home] has a family feel where there is mutual respect between staff and the young people who live there. I visit periodically and find the visibility of children and their interactions with staff the sign of a happy home.’ Young people say they feel listened to. Consultation with young people about their plans and how the home operates is a strong feature of this home. Key-work sessions,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

meetings with staff and involvement in core and review meetings enable young people to express their views and influence their future. Minutes of young people’s meetings that include unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people are translated into different languages, which promotes inclusivity. The relationships between the home and health professionals promote young people’s physical and sexual health and their emotional well-being effectively. This means that young people are able to access primary and specialist health services promptly, and that their health and emotional well-being are monitored. A professional said: ‘Staff attend health appointments with children and seek appropriate healthcare when necessary.’ The home’s safe and effective medication management is responsive to young people’s health conditions. Staff value education and use their skills of persuasion to ensure that young people have

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

good attendance, achieve results and reach their potential. Staff work well with education professionals and ensure that any barriers to young people’s educational success are challenged. Young people with leisure interests are encouraged to continue Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 6 them, which keeps them positively occupied. A professional said: ‘Staff have gone above and beyond, taking [Name of young person] to rugby games and support her attendance at cadets and facilitate transport.’ Young people have good opportunities to develop independence skills, build on their existing abilities and take controlled risks. Young people’s confidence and resilience are developed through these opportunities. Staff work extremely well with a number of families and they may facilitate contact if needed. This maintains young people’s cultural ties, helps to improve some relationships and builds bridges. A parent said about their communication with the staff team: ‘We are

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

Young people’s individual risks are clearly understood and well-managed by confident, trained staff. Sound risk management strategies and contingency plans ensure that staff remain discreetly attentive to young people’s whereabouts and safety around the home. The meaningful use of comprehensive impact risk assessments enables the home to protect all of the young people. It is therefore concerning that the young people’s safety has been potentially put at risk by senior management directing staff to accept inappropriate placements. However, as a result of the home’s good risk management, this has had a minimal impact on the young people. Other professionals’ confidence in the staff team’s capacity to safeguard young people is good. Young people rate their safety as ‘10 out of 10’. They say it is because the staff care about them and watch out for them. A parent said about the staff: ‘I can’t fault these guys for keeping her safe. They are brilliant.’

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

Incidents of bullying are not a concern for most of the young people at this home. However, any threat of harm receives a swift response from staff to avoid further escalation. No young people are currently known to be the subject of child sexual exploitation and the staff are alert to the possibility. They work exceptionally well with other professionals, such as the police, child sexual exploitation teams and voluntary safeguarding agencies. They all share valuable information in different arenas in the event that such concerns arise. This keeps young people visible, and helps to counter some of their illicit behaviours in the community and the potential for harm. Young people who go missing from home are protected through the missing-from-care protocols that promote their safe and timely return. For example, staff contact young people on their phones, go out to look for them and use local intelligence to locate them.

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

A professional said: ‘Staff have responded appropriately at times when my young person has gone missing, and have liaised with partner agencies regarding sexual exploitation when I was on leave.’ Young people adjust at different paces to the routines and boundaries at the home, as they acclimatise to the discussions that staff have with them about expectations. Positive behaviour is encouraged in order to promote socially acceptable behaviours, which is more challenging for some young people than others. Restraint and physical intervention are kept to a minimum; this is testament to the staff’s skilful approach to engaging with Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 7 young people, which helps them to de-escalate potential incidents. The sanctions imposed are mainly financial, which detracts from the restorative approach that the home seeks to achieve. The manager is aware of this issue, and will take steps to review

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

this practice. Gaps in the sanction records mean that accurate records of events are not secured. Young people live in a homely house that would benefit from an upgrade, which the manager is addressing with senior managers. Personalised bedrooms reflect the young people’s personalities. Strategically placed sleep-in rooms for staff, door alarms and the flexibility of having waking night staff provide additional safeguards for all young people during the night-time hours.

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

The manager holds suitable social work and management qualifications. She has over 20 years’ experience of working with children and young people and in managerial positions. Ofsted is processing her manager’s application. Since the last inspection, the home has changed its function to an ‘edge of care’ service. The home’s current statement of purpose states that it: ‘Provides short-term placements, respite placements, and emergency placements, with the aim of supporting young people to move onto consistent and stable homes. At times this may mean the length of the placement at [Name of home] may have to be extended to ensure the right move on at the right pace for the child is achieved.’ However, the home is not operating in line with its statement of purpose. It is running as a long-term service. This is due to various delays in pushing forward the young people’s moving-on plans. Consequently, the

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

home’s capacity to provide outreach support for young people and families is limited and there is currently no respite service. The admissions age range of 0 to 18 years is unrealistically wide. Currently, a block on the sixth bed in the home supports the risk management of a young person’s unpredictable behaviour and potential to harm others. Direction from senior management has forced the staff to accept inappropriate placements. This is unacceptable practice. In one recent instance, the senior management’s instruction happened despite the fact that the home’s clear impact risk assessment rendered the placement potentially unsafe. Although the placement was very short, the existing vulnerable young people were exposure to the potential risk of harm. The home acted appropriately by notifying Ofsted about the placement and the manager put in place safety plans to eliminate risk. The manager’s refusal to accept

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

other unsuitable placements based on impact risk assessments has been supported by the provider. The manager accepts that some of the monitoring systems need further development to strengthen her oversight of the impact of the quality of the service on young people’s outcomes. The views of the young people and other stakeholders are not present in the regulation 45 review reports to Ofsted. Good independent scrutiny from the regulation 44 monthly monitoring visits is identifying safeguarding and quality-of-care issues, enabling the responsible individual and the manager to consider the necessary remedial action. Action has been taken to implement two out of the three previous recommendations made at the last inspection. The repairs to remedy the damage in one Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 8 of the bedrooms have been carried out and the impact risk assessment includes all of the identified risks.

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

The manager and the staff team are a strong force that strive for the best possible care and protection for the young people. Their strengths are combined to good effect. The manager’s sound leadership skills, positive child-focus and approachable management style complement the experience and flexibility of the cohesive staff team. Staff said: ‘This team is unbelievable’; and, ‘[Name of manager] is on the ball with everything and she will feed back.’ Staff feel well supported by the manager. A staff member described the quality of support as ‘amazing’. Good communication through effective formal and informal supervision, team meetings and daily handovers keeps everyone up to date with the young people’s progress. Staff receive suitable training and there are further plans for them to increase their knowledge base. Good collaborative working with other professionals, agencies and families supports young people’s needs. A professional said: ‘Staff are very good at putting information on

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

the system and staff will alert me.’ A parent said: ‘Staff are very good communicators.’

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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: SC040105 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kingston upon Hull City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

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Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 10 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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