Children's Home run by Hertfordshire County Council in Hertfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 1 SC379199 Registered provider: Hertfordshire County Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home aims to provide a place where children can feel valued, safe and cared for. The team strives to form positive attachments, with care and attention given to the child’s life prior to coming into care. The manager has been registered since 2014 and possesses a level 5 qualification.

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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 outstanding

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good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/07/2017 Full Good 03/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 31/10/2016 Full Good 11/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 3

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Recommendations

 Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) This is with particular reference to ensuring that the staff fully complete entries and that the staff and/or manager, as applicable, sign these.  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13) This is with particular reference to ensuring the timeliness of any notifications of significant events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A highly skilled, consistent and committed staff team cares for the children. The children make excellent progress due to the input from the staff. The staff know the children very well and work to help them achieve their potential. A parent spoke enthusiastically about the positive changes her child has made since moving in. She describes the staff as ‘really amazing’. Other parents and professionals echo this positive feedback. They enthuse about the staff team’s great rapport with the children, and its support and proactivity to ensure that the children receive the best care possible. A trauma-informed attachment model that recognises the children’s prior experiences underpins the team’s approach. The staff have successfully reunited children with their families and increased and improved the quality of family contact where reunification is not yet possible. A parent spoke positively about how the staff fully support their child and how this

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

included facilitating daily contact at some distance from the home during a recent family emergency.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children soon transition from being non/irregular school attenders to increasing their attendance and they become regular attenders at school/educational provision. Children have sat their exams and have enrolled for college. The children’s responsiveness to this supportive environment has enabled them to participate in extra-curricular activities and events that they would not have done otherwise, such as climbing Mount Snowdon and national citizenship programmes. Many children remain in contact with the home long after they have moved out and also participate in some of the activities. This ongoing contact demonstrates to the children, both current and former, that they remain a part of the ‘family’. Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 4 The children are encouraged and assisted to access any additional services that they require, such as medical support and therapy sessions. The attentiveness and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

persistence of the staff ensures that a child’s medical condition was quickly investigated, diagnosed and treated. This enabled the child to experience a major reduction in the symptoms and difficulties that they had previously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s views are sought through children’s meetings, link sessions and general conversations and they have access to an independent advocate. The children say that they feel cared for and are able to name numerous staff members that they would speak to about any concerns. The children are encouraged to participate in consultations and wider research that is being used to inform and shape the authority’s approach to children’s services.

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

The staff have a comprehensive overview of the children’s individual levels of risk-taking behaviour. At present, this mainly relates to the children going out without permission and being reported as missing from home. The staff follow the children and actively search for them. In most instances, the children are either in the immediate vicinity of their home or near another of the authority’s homes. It is rare that a child is missing overnight. The managers work closely with the children’s families, social workers and the police and now have an agreed joint protocol. This multi-agency approach ensures that everyone concerned is working in the same way, and as a result there is a decrease in the number of missing from home reports.

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

The children, through working with the staff, are increasingly able to recognise the potential risks that they may face, such as human trafficking, grooming, sexual exploitation and county lines. This information is shared through the children’s meetings or by the children undertaking specifically sourced workshops and online courses.

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

If a child reports that they feel bullied, or the staff observe behaviour that they deem to be bullying, the staff comprehensively assess and review the situation and conduct link and group discussions about the issue. This has led to a reduction in this type of behaviour.

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

The use of physical interventions is rare and there has only been one since 2016. The staff expertly de-escalate situations using various methods of communication that enable the children to identify their own strengths. This recognition enables the children to consider how negative situations affect them and others, and to identify alternative ways that issues can be addressed. Empowering the children in this manner has minimised the need to use sanctions. A parent said that the staff had assisted her to use this approach and it is improving her parenting skills.

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

There have been occasions when notifications of significant events have been delayed. The impact in these instances has been minimal, but any delay prevents Ofsted from having current knowledge of the events in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers pride themselves on leading by example. The deputy manager is a trained therapist. She is currently undertaking direct work with a family to assist them with their parenting. This enables the parents to learn new strategies and to follow a similar approach to the one that the staff are using successfully with their child. The combined skills of the managers is providing a sound basis for the ongoing development of the staff. Staff retention is excellent because of this supportive and developmental working environment. The newest staff are long-term agency workers who are now employed on a permanent basis. The staff are able to understand and describe how the therapeutic model is reflected in their work with the children. The managers have hosted staff training from across the authority. This training is to enable the implementation of the therapeutic approach within other homes. This is upskilling the staff and improving the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

quality of intervention that is being provided to the children in this and other homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers and the team have high aspirations for all of the children. These goals commence when the child moves in, and continue throughout their time living in the home and after they have moved on. The leaders and managers know and proudly cite the numerous notable achievements of each child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision is regular and effective. The staff say that they find it supportive. They describe being able to speak with either of the managers about any issues that may arise. The managers are continually developing the service and are using research to inform their practice and shape future services. They are also disseminating this information with other homes within the local authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The recommendations from the last inspection have been addressed:  the home’s location risk assessment now considers the proximity of the authority’s other homes  the managers are more able to evidence that their consultation occurs with the children, families and professionals and how their views are used to shape the service.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 6 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC379199 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hertfordshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Apsley One, Brindley Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP3 9BF

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Inspector

Sonia Hay: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC379199 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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