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

Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 1 SC065552 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District 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 home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care and accommodation for up to six children or young people. The registered manager has been in post since 2008.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 12 December 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2017 Full Good 27/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 14/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)) 14/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

*The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting 14/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 4 children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iv)(v)(b)(e))

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home:

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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)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d)(f)(h)) 14/10/2018

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 14/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 5 that arrangements are in place to —

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 14/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘‘case records’’) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)) 14/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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)

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Recommendations

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: inadequate

The educational outcomes and social development of some of the children and young people have declined since their admission. Some of the children and young people are bullied by other residents, leaving them afraid and unhappy in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff have been unable to provide care in line with the home’s statement of purpose, which states that ‘The staff team provide a safe environment where young people are nurtured and given the support to promote positive behaviour.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home environment is not always a safe and happy place. There are times when some young people experience physical intimidation, threats of harm and verbal abuse from other residents in the home. This is having a detrimental effect on their emotional Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 6 well-being. One young person said, ‘I came into care to get away from abuse, not have it all again. It brings it all back.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children and young people all attend educational provision. Some are making progress. One young person has recently sat GCSE exams and has a place at college in September. The attainment of some of the other children and young people is not progressing due to an increase in their challenging behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff team has traditionally cared for younger children with different presenting needs. Their skill in nurturing children and promoting self-esteem is evident in the warm relationships that exist with some of the children and young people. One young person described the staff as being like ‘parents’. However, staff are struggling to manage the current challenges presented by some of the children and young people, such as going missing and substance misuse.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff have attempted to engage the children and young people in work around inappropriate behaviour, such as bullying and smoking, but this has not had any impact on the behaviour of some of the children and young people. They have continued to abuse both staff and other children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some children and young people were admitted to the home without comprehensive planning and without due consideration of the impact of their admission on others already resident in the home. This is not in line with the home’s statement of purpose. This has had a negative effect in the case of two children. They are frequently missing from home, misusing substances, harassing members of the community and are also engaging in high-risk behaviour, such as being in speeding cars.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is some positive progress for other children and young people. One is in the process of transitioning back to live with a family member and another is due to move to a foster placement to help her prepare for independence.

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

Some of the children and young people are at risk of significant harm. Two children are regularly missing from the home and the frequency and duration of this are increasing. Measures put in place to mitigate risks are insufficient. Staff are often unable to contact the young people while they are missing and are therefore unable to confirm their whereabouts. It is of concern that they are using substances and engaging in risk-taking behaviour in the community.

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

The staff have not been effective in preventing the bullying incidents towards some of the young people by others living in the home. These young people have been subjected to residents kicking at their bedroom doors, shouting abuse and making serious threats of harm to their families.

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

Not all episodes of children and young people going missing are followed up with an offer of an independent return home interview. This demonstrates a continued lack of Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 7 understanding of its importance. This relates to a recommendation made at the last inspection, which is not met.

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

The young people are often under the influence of substances. They recently barricaded themselves in a bedroom, where they were smoking illicit substances. It is unclear where they procure this from. Consequently, one child was arrested for possession of a class B drug.

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

The staff are unable to contain the behaviour of some of the children and young people. The police have been called out on numerous occasions in the last four months in response to incidents when staff could not protect the children and young people or the property. There have been a high number of assaults on staff by the children, some of a serious nature. There have been several complaints by neighbours about harassment and the targeting of vulnerable people, including other children in the local community.

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

Control measures are inadequate and ineffective. For example, one child is identified as having significant risks associated with his use of the internet; however, he is able to access this through his phone, which is unchecked.

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

The risk assessments for two children indicate that staff should physically search them every time they return to the home. Staff do not document these physical searches. This practice does not safeguard the children and young people and neither does it provide any safeguards for the staff making these searches, leaving them open to allegations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager is unable to prevent inappropriate placements at the home. Some of the admissions have had a negative impact on the other residents. Children and young people are exposed to intimidation and harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Insufficient staffing levels in the home have led to a failure to adequately safeguard all the children and young people. Staff say that when they are trying to manage the behaviour of children who are bullying others, they do not have enough staff to help those who are being bullied. One member of staff said, ‘At times we have to choose who to safeguard, the others lose out.’ Some of the children and young people have placed themselves at risk by leaving the home and staying out overnight because they did not feel safe to stay.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The current staffing levels noted during the inspection mean that staff are unable to undertake positive one-to-one work with individuals

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not feel that they are adequately supported, trained or experienced in managing the challenges presented by some young people. There are gaps in their knowledge and skills which could be mitigated by appropriate training and support. The manager confirms that only two staff out of the nine have received training in ‘Playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy’ (PACE). Inspection report children’s home: SC065552 8 There have been long gaps in the frequency of practice-related supervision. This has left staff without the support they need to deal with the issues they have been facing and restricts the manager’s ability to monitor and challenge practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Internal monitoring systems are not effective at identifying the concerns noted during this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some care planning documents are not updated from the electronic system. Agency staff do not have access to the electronic system. This means that their knowledge of children and young people’s care needs is based on out-of-date information.

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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: SC065552 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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Inspector

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