Children's Home run by Staffordshire County Council in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 1 SC028905 Registered provider: Staffordshire County 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 is a local authority-owned children‟s home. It is registered to care for up to five children and young people who have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours. The home offers children short breaks, during which time staff support them to return home or to move on to appropriate long- term placements.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in 2008.

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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: 18 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/07/2016 Full Good 08/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/08/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that key information on new placements is known as a matter of urgency, to ensure safe and effective planning. 27/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”).

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Requirement Due date

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(1)(3)(c)) 27/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e)) 27/08/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child‟s assessed needs as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 42, paragraph 9.5). In particular, the registered manager should ensure that risk assessments are up to date and contain clear control measures to manage risk, including the supervision of children. Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a warm, nurturing and calm home. This helps children to quickly form secure and trusting relationships with staff and settle into the home. A child told the inspector, „It‟s good here. The staff genuinely care about you. They want you to do well‟.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to participate in the day-to-day running of the home. For example, children contribute to menu choices, choose activities and influence the home‟s décor. Children take part in regular meetings to discuss the quality of their care and any concerns they may have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain. The home‟s complaint policy is easy to access and child friendly. Children feel confident that staff will take their complaints and concerns seriously. This helps children to feel safe and secure in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children often arrive at the home in crisis. When some children arrive their school attendance is inconsistent and for others they are not in school at all. However, staff are ambitious for children and work hard to ensure that they attend school or receive education from the on-site teacher. Staff liaise with the local authority to ensure that children have firm education plans for the future. This helps children to feel valued, improves their learning and enables them to develop aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that they implement consistent rules and boundaries. This is supplemented by their calm and nurturing approach to caring for children. The short breaks offer children breathing space to reflect upon, and manage, difficult feelings and emotions. As a result, children feel calm and more able to manage their behaviour appropriately. A child told the inspector, „I just feel so calm here, I‟m relaxed. The staff have really helped me to move on.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that all key information about children who arrive at the home is known. However, on occasions, children are placed by the local authority with little information and without considered planning. As a result, some children can feel unsettled and uncertain about their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from well-coordinated and individualised care when they settle into the home. Key partners such as family members, social workers and the intensive prevention team work alongside staff to help prepare children to return home or move onto long- term placements. A parent told the inspector, „The staff are committed. They involve me in meetings about my child. I‟m very much kept in the loop.‟

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

Staff work hard to keep children safe. Key-work sessions support children to understand risk and how to keep themselves safe. However, some risk assessments do not contain clear control measures to manage risk and others are not up to date. The impact of this Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 6 shortfall is lessened as staff understand risk and respond appropriately to it.

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

Children feel safe living in the home. They are able to identify staff whom they can share their worries and concerns with. Children feel that staff will take their concerns seriously. A child told the inspector, „If I had a problem I‟d go to a staff member. I can trust them‟.

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

Staff respond in a robust and determined manner when children go missing. When necessary, staff contact family, friends and the appropriate agencies to help children return to the home safely. Children are consistently offered independent return home interviews.

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

Staff promote and reward positive behaviour. They are intuitive and use a calm approach to de-escalate challenging situations. As a result, incidents of restraint are increasingly rare. However, children do not always receive a de-brief session when a restraint does occur. This is a missed opportunity for staff and children to reflect on and learn from the event.

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

The registered manager ensures that recruitment processes are safe and robust. For example, staff interviews include observations of applicants interacting with children and the use of a children‟s panel. This promotes children‟s safety and welfare.

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

Staff work effectively with key agencies to keep children safe. This includes the police, and youth offending and substance misuse services. Staff organise multi-agency strategy meetings when children‟s risk-taking behaviours escalate. As a result, children receive well-co-ordinated care to help them stay safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An established and diverse staff team has a variety of experience and skills. Staff genuinely care about children and have a good understanding of their needs. They are supportive of each other and offer children consistent care, based on the home‟s social pedagogy model. This further enhances the positive relationships between staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is keen to develop her staff. She strikes a good balance between support and challenge, focusing on strengths and providing opportunities for staff to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a varied training programme. Most staff hold a level three qualification and those who do not are working towards it. This equips staff with the level of knowledge and skill required to meet the needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager monitors the home effectively. She understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home. She uses this knowledge to inform her development plan, which in turn improves the quality of care. The registered manager does not always send notifications of significant events to the appropriate agencies. As a result, external agencies cannot provide oversight and Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 7 guidance to ensure that managers and staff learn from events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A child-focused registered manager provides strong leadership. Unfortunately, this is undermined by the local authority referrals process. On occasion, this has led to children becoming unsettled, and the risks they are exposed to increase. Although dedicated staff manage these risks well, insufficient planning and ill-considered matching decisions have the potential to undermine children‟s experiences and progress. The registered manager is aware of this issue and challenges the local authority. However, more can be done to escalate these concerns within the authority to bring about change.

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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: SC028905 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Staffordshire County Council, Wedgwood Buildings, Tipping Street, Stafford ST16 2DH

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC028905 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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