Children's home run by BREAK

Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 1 Registered provider: Break

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This charity-run home provides care for up to two children who may have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma and/or family and placement breakdowns. The children may have difficulty forming relationships and may display difficult or challenging behaviour. The manager of the home was registered with Ofsted on 22 May 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: 17 October 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 3

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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, 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 03/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 08/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to— HMCI. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(7)(a)) 27/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should evidence what they have done to achieve engagement, including any actions taken to escalate concerns. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, Page 11, paragraph 2.3)  Staff should make available in the home, information in an appropriate form which enables children to contact their placing authority to call for a review of their care plan if they have concerns about their safety or welfare. Homes should encourage children to understand they can speak to an independent advocate, Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), Ofsted inspectors or other relevant persons if they have concerns about their safety. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.11)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The overall experiences of the young person who lives at the home are positive. The staff care about his well-being and meet his needs. The staff have nurtured strong and positive relationships with him by communicating in an open and honest way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has recruited more permanent staff since the last inspection, and no longer uses agency staff. There is a consistent and inclusive approach in the care of the young person. This has led to him feeling settled at the home and resulted in a decrease in unwanted and challenging behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has had some difficulties recently, which led to his education placement ending prematurely. The staff understand the importance of education, and quickly arranged home tuition while the young person applied for a place at a local college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has strong relationships with other professionals. The staff work collaboratively to ensure the young person’s safety. The young person’s youth offending worker said, ‘The staff are big advocates of multi-agency working. I am really impressed with them. They put him [the young person] at the centre of everything that they do, and they provide an amazing service.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has a busy weekly planner, including trips to the cinema, boxing, football, cycling, ice-skating, playing laser tag, swimming, roller-skating, ten-pin bowling and fishing. He is a member of a local boxing club and football team. Participation in such activities enables him to develop his skills and talent as well as enhancing his social opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home supports contact between the young person and his family. The young person’s views and opinions are gained through regular key-working sessions. These Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 5 views are discussed at team meetings, and any decisions are fed back to the young person following the meeting. This is an inclusive approach to involve the young person in planning his care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person knows that he can speak with the manager if he needs to make a complaint. However, the complaint and advocacy procedures have not been fully explained. This limits his options if he wants to make a complaint.

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

The young person sometimes displays violent and aggressive behaviours. The staff are skilled at de-escalating these behaviours and there are no recorded physical interventions. The staff use positive reinforcement with success.

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

The staff value multi-agency work with external professionals, such as social workers, police officers, youth offending team officers and health service professionals, to evaluate and continually meet the young person’s needs. Feedback from professionals was consistently positive. The young person’s social worker said, ‘This has been his longest and most successful placement. The staff go above and beyond and [the child’s] placement would have failed if it was not for their sheer dedication and determination to make the placement succeed.’

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

Recently, the police have been called following incidents that have involved the young person. The home has responded appropriately to these incidents, and risk assessments and behaviour management plans have been updated accordingly. The home notifies Ofsted of serious incidents. Key-working sessions are effective in addressing recurrence of unwanted behaviours. There are a low number of missing-from-home episodes.

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

The young person has painted a shed in the garden to keep his fishing equipment in. The home is well decorated and has a welcoming and nurturing feel. However, essential fire safety measures are not in place because four of the fire doors do not close securely. The operations manager made immediate plans to have this shortfall rectified because of the risk this poses to the young person and the staff.

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

The staff are well trained in effective safeguarding practice The staff are equipped for their roles, and understand their responsibilities to safeguard the young person.

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

The manager was registered with Ofsted in May 2018. He is child-focused and has the relevant qualifications, skills and experience for the role. Five of the nine staff are suitably qualified. Two are enrolled on a relevant level 3 qualification and two are in their probationary period.

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

The manager communicates well with multi-agency professionals and notifies the young person’s social worker of any significant event. However, in one instance, although the manager notified the social worker of concerns, he did not follow up this notification to Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 6 ensure that timely and effective action was taken. This means that a potential safeguarding incident was not investigated effectively.

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

The most recent internal review of the care provided is well documented and has an action plan. However, monitoring of internal recording systems requires improvement. Records of missing-from-care episodes do not state whether a return interview happened or where it is recorded if one did. Poor monitoring of the fire safety measures meant that four faulty fire doors remained undetected through the weekly and monthly fire checks.

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

External monitoring provides a good level of challenge to the manager. However, recent independent visitor’s reports were not submitted to Ofsted. The reports do not gain feedback from families. Failure to submit the monitoring reports means that Ofsted is not informed about the quality of care and the home’s ability to safeguard children effectively.

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

The staff receive regular, practice-led supervision and annual appraisals in line with the organisational policy. The staff value child-focused and personal development discussions in supervision meetings, and they say that they feel well supported. Regular team meetings ensure that the young person is at the centre of the activities at the home. One staff member said, ‘Everyone here is very caring and [the young person] is starting to understand that we genuinely care for him. He has started to trust us. That is a big achievement.’

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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: 1256794 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Spar Road, Norwich NR6 6BX

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Inspector

Ricky D’Arcy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1256794 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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