Children's Home run by Lincolnshire County Council in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 1 SC042967 Registered provider: Lincolnshire 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 home is run by the local authority and it is registered to provide residential care for up to seven children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 31 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2018 Full Requires improvement 16/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 26/09/2016 Full Good 16/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 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 registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 28/09/2018

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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 6 months. The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(4)(a)) 28/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii)) 28/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 4

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Recommendations

 Provide a nurturing and supportive environment that is homely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). In particular, address the need to attend to the cleanliness of children’s bedrooms and bathrooms.  Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing

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Recommendations

risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45 paragraph 9.30)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of positive experiences. With the support of staff, children are making good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are sustaining educational placements and are making academic progress. Staff understand the value of education and promote learning through a range of informal activities as well as through formal education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress with their emotional health and well-being. Staff work collaboratively with other agencies to support this. A child and adolescent mental health worker said: ‘The assistant manager has been a rock. The management approach is that they are keen to make appropriate changes and keen to gain appropriate support for the team.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have nurturing, trusting relationships with staff. A key strength of the staff is their ability to demonstrate resilience and, on the whole, offer secure placements to children. One child said: ‘I do have good relationships with staff. They go out of their way to keep me safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are reflective and understand the triggers for children’s behaviour. Staff work creatively to consider what underlies children’s behaviour. A reflective practice model is being integrated into practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 5 Children are supported with contact arrangements with their families. In some cases, children’s plans have positively progressed to a planned rehabilitation home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience high warmth and low criticism from staff, and their achievements are celebrated and rewarded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have been managing difficult dynamics between the children at the home. The behaviour of some children has had an impact on others. Staff have worked to ensure the well-being of each individual child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is some evidence of children’s participation in the running of the home, however this could be strengthened and a recommendation is made in respect of this.

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improvement to be good

Work is still required to ensure that the environment is homely and nurturing. Children are not being supported with clean and well-respected personal spaces. Custom and practice at the home needs to be reviewed, for example the locking of shared spaces in the home. A requirement and a recommendation are made in relation to these matters.

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improvement to be good

Risks to children are well known and understood. Staff work with children to support them in reducing their risk-taking behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Bullying between children is taken seriously by staff, with individual sessions and bullying workshops being facilitated.

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improvement to be good

There is evidence of collaborative working with other agencies to try and promote positive change. A child sexual exploitation worker said: ‘The team have been very proactive and are very supportive to the children they work with.’

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improvement to be good

Staff work with children to help them to keep themselves safe. Procedures for going missing are followed and staff are diligent in maintaining contact with children and implementing safe-and-well checks. Appropriate reporting of concerns and notifications to relevant professionals is evidenced. Tracking whether independent return home interviews are taking place needs to be improved. A recommendation is made in relation to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An experienced manager has been transferred to the vacant registered manager position. The acting manager is passionate and motivational. She has quickly got to grips with the shortfalls identified at the previous full inspection and is driving the service to achieve better outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager has challenged the placing authority to move a young person on to Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 6 a more specialised therapeutic provision. This is because the young person’s needs are not being met and because of the increased risk towards other children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have focused on stabilising and developing the staff team and improving immediate safeguarding practice. The acting manager recognises that the home is still on a journey, and there is a clear development plan in place. The acting manager acknowledges that some areas for development are a cause of the structure of the service, for example the size of the provision and the lack of service support staff, including cleaners. This is now being addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team feels well supported by managers. The managers are very accessible and offer positive support to staff. However, more regular, formal supervision for staff is required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager recognises the need for effective monitoring systems which can chart children’s progress and identify changes in behaviour over periods of time. She is also aware of how this monitoring can assist with identifying potential triggers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met, with the exception of one requirement. The regulation 45 report was partially completed and remains outstanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager has introduced the team to the local authority electronic recording system which enables more holistic recording for services and promotes better joined-up working between social care staff and the provider. The managers have also worked hard to network and gain support from other partner agencies

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff appraisals have not yet been formally completed. However, informal staff supervisions have led to staff looking at developmental opportunities and identifying learning needs.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 7 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: SC042967 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

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Inspector

Bev Allison, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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