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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 1 SC061005 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council 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 and/or young people. The registered manager has been in post since 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 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: 1 February 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/06/2017 Full Good 28/11/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/07/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 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

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child‟s respect and trust; and

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iv)(viii)(xi)) 12/12/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are 31/10/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 4 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))

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)) 31/10/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under Regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55,

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Recommendations

paragraph 10.24) Specifically, that internal monitoring systems are understood by staff and lead to actions which improve and sustain good care practice and staff performance.  The home‟s record of the event must include a description of the action taken and the outcome of any resulting investigation. Following a notifiable event under Regulation 40 the home should contact the placing authority to discuss the need for further action. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 63, paragraph 14.14) Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 5

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improvement to be good

The staff know the children and young people well. Staff invest time in children and young people and are focused on promoting their welfare. However, the actual progress made by the children and young people is varied, with some achieving positive outcomes and others not. Some children and young people have poor experiences within the home as a result of the negative behaviours of others.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children and young people have secured places at local colleges and have commenced vocational courses. Other children and young people frequently refuse to engage with educational provision or have been excluded. This is affecting their learning and limits their life chances. The staff work proactively with schools, including the virtual school. Staff provide the children and young people with any support that they can to help children and young people overcome these barriers, although this is not currently always successful.

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improvement to be good

The staff ensure that the health needs of the children and young people are identified and arrange appropriate appointments. However, some of the children and young people refuse to attend health appointments despite encouragement from staff. The staff are proactive in making referrals to specialist agencies such as drug and alcohol services to help the children and young people to understand the risks of substance misuse.

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improvement to be good

The staff attempt to provide the children and young people with consistent and clear boundaries. However, relationships between them are not sufficiently secure to promote mutual respect and cooperation. This results in the children and young people often behaving in a disruptive and aggressive manner. The police are called out regularly to assist the staff to de-escalate the children‟s and young people‟s behaviours.

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improvement to be good

The staff work closely with parents and family members to enable the children and young people to improve and sustain their important relationships. This helps children and young people to maintain links when transitioning into adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Two of the young people are in the process of preparing for transition to semi- independence. The staff are helping them to develop appropriate independence skills in areas such as budgeting and making appointments. One young person has been supported to move on to a foster placement.

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improvement to be good

Up-to-date and comprehensive risk management plans contribute towards protecting the children and young people. The staff are knowledgeable about the contents and follow the actions as directed to keep the children and young people safe. Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 6 The majority of the children and young people do not go missing. One young person has been admitted who is regularly going missing when she is at risk of exploitation. There is a proactive response from the staff in relation to this. Staff are working alongside specialist agencies and the police. There is a coordinated plan in place to try and mitigate the risks for this young person, which the staff are following diligently. The manager has escalated her concerns to senior management that the home is not a suitable placement.

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improvement to be good

The staff use financial incentives to promote positive behaviours. However, this is not an effective strategy for some of the children and young people who continue to be confrontational and negative in their responses to the staff. There is regular damage within the home and some of the children and young people incite each other to behave negatively. The relationships with the staff are not sufficiently strong enough at this time to deter them from this behaviour.

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improvement to be good

When physical intervention is used, it is not recorded in line with regulations. The written records made by the staff do not always evidence whether interviews with the staff and the children and young people take place within the required timescales.

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improvement to be good

The staff help the children and young people to become more aware of the risks in everyday life and more specifically those relating to social media. The staff are putting in measures to keep the children and young people safe online as any good parent would.

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

The registered manager is experienced and appropriately qualified. She is fully committed to the care and well-being of the children and young people. She leads a qualified and committed staff team that works flexibly to ensure the continuity of care for the children and young people during a period of staff vacancy and sick leave.

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

The manager is unable to prevent inappropriate placements at the home. One impact risk assessment identified the potential of an admission to have a negative impact on other residents and this is proving to be the case. However, the manager does raise appropriate challenge and consequently the placement has been reviewed and steps are being taken to address its suitability.

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

The manager has a variety of internal monitoring systems, but these lack clarity and impact. She uses her six-monthly review of care to identify areas of improvement, but there is a lack of action to address these. As a result, monitoring is largely ineffective in improving care practice and the experiences of the children and young people.

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

Supervision of the staff is not taking place regularly. This is limiting the support and development available to the staff.

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

The quality of notifications is poor, with confusing and insufficient detail about the event and its outcomes for children and young people. This prevents comprehensive monitoring and oversight by the regulator. Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 7 The manager advocates well for the children and young people. One independent reviewing officer said, „The home has promoted his education, which has been a tricky journey. They have fought for his rights.‟

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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: SC061005 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sir Henry Mitchell House, 4 Manchester Road, Bradford BD5 0QL

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Inspector

Janet Black: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 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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