Norwich Road (15)

Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 1 SC034480 Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Children‟s Services

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority owns and operates this home. The home provides emergency and short-term placements for up to four children for whom, at the time, family, foster care or other community-based placements are not possible. The substantive registered manager is currently seconded to another home. An interim registered manager has been in place since April 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children‟s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 10 January 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 24/08/2017 Full Inadequate 24/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) In particular, ensure that risk assessments are comprehensive and in line with other documents. 30/09/2018

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)) In particular, ensure that suitable management arrangements are in place, so that there is always appropriate management cover for the home. 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 30/09/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 4 that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home‟s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) In particular, ensure that decision-making about placements is appropriate, so that children do not have poor experiences of leaving and moving into the home. Ensure that children‟s experiences and progress while they are at the home are not jeopardised by these decisions. The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with

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Requirement Due date

appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) In particular, ensure that supervisions and appraisals cover the relevant issues and are effective. 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home. The registered person must— maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date; and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, this relates to the duty rosters. 30/09/2018

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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. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 30/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 5 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(5)) In particular, ensure that the report evaluates information, including the views of children, their parents, placing authorities

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Requirement Due date

and staff, and identify actions to improve or maintain the quality of care.

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improvement to be good

Senior managers have directed that some children move into the home despite the registered manager identifying that they were not well matched with other children. This has led to one child‟s placement ending early so that other children could move into the home. It has also led to some children having negative experiences of moving into the home. One child was described as crying in the corner of her bedroom on her first night at the home. The staff recognise the children‟s individual needs and form good relationships that help them to work effectively with the children. The quality of these relationships and the work that staff do has helped in part to reduce the significant impact of inappropriate placements on children‟s experiences and outcomes. The staff show understanding of when the children need reassurance and support. One placing social worker said that the staff had built a good relationship with a child despite

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improvement to be good

her feelings that people do not „stick around for her‟. She said that the registered manager „went above and beyond‟ to make sure that the child got a mental health assessment. The children get chances to take part in a wide range of activities, including days out during the school holidays and regular activities when the children can pursue their individual interests. Activities have included paddle boarding, trips to theme parks, trampolining, skating and going to dance classes. Importantly, the children experience more routine activities such as shopping, which gives the staff and children the chance to spend time together and build relationships. These activities give the children opportunities to have enjoyable childhood experiences and help them to develop their self-esteem. The staff keep memory books for each child to record the activities that the children have done. These books include photographs of the children and things to help them

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improvement to be good

remember their time at the home. As children in care can move about a lot, they can lose contact with important people who can help them remember their childhoods and time in care. The comprehensive memory books will help the children to maintain important memories. Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 6

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improvement to be good

The mix of children at the home has increased the risk to some children. There have been incidents of some children barricading themselves in bedrooms together and younger children witnessing inappropriate behaviour and being offered cannabis. The registered manager and staff have been involved in meetings and discussions with other professionals to help them to identify ways of managing the risks for some children. At one such meeting, professionals voiced their concern about the placements of some children at the home and the impact on the children‟s safety. The staff have worked hard to keep the children safe and this has helped to minimise the impact of the placements for some children. One child who arrived at the home presenting with significant risk-taking behaviour and then got caught up in further such behaviour with other children has recently begun to reduce her risk-taking. The child‟s social worker said that there have been times when the child has thought about her

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improvement to be good

behaviour and made safer choices. The staff use risk assessments to identify and look at ways of reducing risk, but these risk assessments are not always complete. They do not always include details of all areas of risk, and one had a sentence left unfinished, so it was not clear what the risk was. The risk assessment was not in line with other documents for the child, containing some different information. This has the potential to limit the work that the staff are doing to try and protect the children. The staff challenge the children‟s inappropriate behaviour in a sensitive way that reduces the risk of the behaviour escalating. A placing social worker spoke about the progress that her child was making. A police officer spoke of a „marked improvement‟ in missing- from-care and the way in which staff respond. The good relationships that the staff build with children help the staff to work effectively

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improvement to be good

with those children. The relationships are a significant protective factor for the children.

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

The substantive registered manager is on a 12-month secondment. An interim registered manager is currently overseeing the home. However, at the time of the inspection, the senior residential worker, the registered manager and the responsible individual were all on leave at the same time. This does not provide suitable management cover for the home. During the period between the substantive registered manager going on secondment and the interim manager taking up her post, there was a two-week period when a registered manager from another home oversaw this home and provided supervisions for staff. There was a conflict of interest for this manager and the decision for her to oversee this home did not take account of that. Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 7 The staff receive regular supervision and annual appraisals. The staff say that the supervision is helpful. However, in one case, identified issues relating to a member of

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

staff had not been addressed in the supervision or appraisal. This means that chances have been missed to discuss and develop practice. In addition to this, the format for all annual appraisals leads to very brief information and a process that does not assess ongoing suitability or staff‟s fitness to practice effectively, and does not help to identify their development needs. The staff rosters do not include the information necessary to identify which staff have worked at the home and the hours that they have worked. This can make it difficult to deal with any concerns or allegations that are raised at a later stage. It also makes it difficult to monitor whether there have been a suitable number of appropriately experienced staff working at the home. The review of the quality of care provides some very limited evaluation, but overall it does not show that the information has been consistently evaluated to identify actions

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

that would improve the quality of care. Also, it is not clear how the views of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff have informed the review. This can reduce the ability of leaders and managers to make improvements to the quality of care for the children. There has been progress since the previous inspection. Staff morale is higher and the staff feel more able to manage challenging behaviour. This is evident in the outcomes for some children. There is effective working with other professionals such as social workers and independent reviewing officers. This helps to make sure that the children receive consistent care that has a positive impact on them. The staff and managers seek children‟s views. They include the children in decisions about their day-to-day lives and their more long-term plans. An independent reviewing officer said that a child who initially had refused to attend her review was planning to

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

attend the next one with her key worker. Encouragement of children to participate in their care planning helps to empower them and make sure that their voice is heard.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 8 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: SC034480 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Norfolk County Council, Chief Executives, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich NR1 2DH

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Alan Barker Natalie Day

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Inspector

Clive Lucas, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC034480 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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