Children's Home run by Doncaster Children‟s Services Trust Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 1 SC481447 Registered provider: Doncaster Children’s Services Trust Limited

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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 operates and runs this home. It provides care for children and young people whose plan is for them to live in medium- to long-term residential care.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager at the home for over 26 weeks. A manager started in July 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 inadequate

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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: 6 December 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2017 Full Good 03/03/2017 Interim Not judged 28/11/2016 Interim Not judged 29/01/2016 Interim Not judged Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, this relates to the need for the registered person and staff to ensure that young people receive education and health services in conjunction with their plans and as specified in the statement of purpose. 30/11/2018

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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;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s 30/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 4 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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the home is furnished, decorated and well maintained throughout, that young people’s rooms are personalised, and that any damaged items are promptly repaired and replaced, to provide high-quality accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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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 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) and (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to producing written impact risk assessments that provide a clear rationale to support the making of placements and the potential impact on the existing group of children and young people. 30/11/2018

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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. 30/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 5 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) In particular, provide staff with the training that they require, especially with regard to training around autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, safe medication management and specific health needs related to the individual children and young people.

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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

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that decisive action is taken to meet the above, and:

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Requirement Due date

 undertake a formal review of restraint. The review should be recorded detailing how the practice will make a positive difference to how behaviour is managed in the home  improve the quality of restraint records to ensure that they support safe and transparent practice  review the behaviour management policy to include the agreed joint protocol clarifying the police use of physical intervention in the home  ensure that all risk management strategies are understood, and that staff implement them consistently  ensure that a clear audit trail of any allegation and disclosures made by young people is maintained and readily available for inspection  quality assure all records to ensure that all documents are completed appropriately and that all staff have read and understand the contents and take remedial action as 30/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 6 necessary  formalise a written development plan showing a clear

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Requirement Due date

focus on continually improving the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with details of the actions taken to address weakness and the timescales for completion.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (3)(a) (b)(5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff experience is included in the statement of purpose. 30/11/2018

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Recommendations

 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 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) Return home interviews are completed. However, information from these needs to be held on the young person’s or missing from home file, to assist the home in future planning.

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improvement to be good

Despite the staff team members’ efforts to maintain placements, they acknowledge that they cannot keep all children and young people safe, which sometimes leads to another move for children and young people. Having experienced periods of instability in the home, the children and young people are making variable degrees of progress. Some children and young people enjoy consistent school attendance and attainment. Others struggle to overcome barriers to their learning, which does not bode well for their future employment prospects. Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 7 Staff promote healthy lifestyles. However, the children’s and young people’s engagement with health services is inconsistent. Not all children’s and young people’s health needs or health concerns are met with sufficient haste. Staff have a limited understanding of how to manage some health conditions that are related to physical and behavioural needs,

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improvement to be good

because they have not received the appropriate training. Smoking is a concern for some of the children and young people who are nicotine dependent and have been known to approach strangers for cigarettes. The intervention from staff and health professionals to disrupt and minimise these behaviours is showing little impact. This puts children’s and young people’s health at risk. The arrangements for managing medication are unsatisfactory and have led to errors due to the staff not following instructions. Body maps are not evaluative; if completed in full, these would show that the cause of the injury is consistent with the incident.

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improvement to be good

The staff have forged trusting relationships with the majority of children and young people, helping them to feel settled and valued. The children and young people express positive views about living at the home. They enjoy spending time in the company of the staff. The laughter and banter between the children and young people and staff adds warmth and makes for a pleasant ambience in the home.

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improvement to be good

The encouragement that children and young people receive helps them to develop independence skills that prepare them for later life. For example, they are meal planning, cooking, baking, and carrying out self-care skills. This prepares them to make a positive transition into adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people know how to express their views and concerns about their care and daily home-life. They talk with the staff and an advocate who is a regular visitor to the home. Staff facilitate contact between the children and young people and their significant others, reinforcing their family ties. Children and young people enjoy a range of activities, including a recent successful holiday, which promotes positive bonds.

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improvement to be good

The quality of the help and protection afforded to the children and young people has not been good enough. This is because the staff have not always managed the children’s and young people’s risk-taking behaviour and their verbally and physically challenging behaviours with sufficient competence and skill.

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improvement to be good

Physical intervention records are not consistently legible, which is concerning given that the documents are intended to safeguard children and young people. The use of ground restraints for children and young people has not been stopped with sufficient haste when new information has been shared with the staff. There is no agreed protocol with the local police force that clarifies what physical interventions the police are permitted to use with the children and young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not adhered fully to the written risk assessments nor have they all signed up to the documents that would demonstrate their knowledge about implementing the Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 8 protective strategies in their entirety. This fails to promote safe and reliable practice.

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improvement to be good

The staff usually go out looking for the children and young people when they go missing from the home and report the incidents to the police to secure their safe return. A notification to Ofsted several months ago raises concerns about staff allowing a persistent absconder to leave the home during the early hours of the morning because the staff could not manage the young person’s challenging behaviour. There have been no further repeated incidents of this nature since the matter was addressed by management at the time.

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improvement to be good

Staff talk to the children and young people about their behaviour. They praise good behaviour and offer incentives, which is helping children and young people to develop socially acceptable behaviour. Children and young people understand the staff’s intent to help them to reflect on their negative behaviour and self-regulate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Weak and ineffective leadership and management from the registered provider has resulted in mixed progress for the children and young people, with some not fully cared for in line with their plans. In addition, there has been no registered manager for more than 26 weeks, which has contributed to young people’s outcomes, safety and welfare requiring improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered provider has failed to address some poor staff performance matters and the overall support offered to them. It has made staff and children and young people vulnerable to potential harm and bred some poor practice. The registered provider has been ineffective in prioritising, challenging, and making service improvements quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor internal and external management oversight has missed opportunities to address all the children’s and young people’s needs and risks. It has also allowed placements to hit crisis point before acting to uphold children’s and young people’s safety and welfare and take decisive action. The absence of a clear written audit trail of any allegations and disclosures made by the children and young people means that such records are not readily available to enable effective monitoring and to inform practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The physical standards in parts of the home have suffered neglect. Several pressing maintenance issues have only recently been addressed due to this inspection taking place. This is highly unacceptable and undermines the action already taken to improve other parts of the home which are now homely and comfortable Some of the children’s and young people’s rooms lack personalisation. Damaged furniture has not been replaced quickly. Torn wallpaper in one of the bedrooms has not been redecorated, and the condition of some bedrooms falls below the expected high standards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered provider has not addressed three of the five recommendations raised at the last inspection. For instance, the return home interview records are not maintained on the child’s or young person’s missing from home file. The recommendation is therefore repeated. Training to meet children’s and young person’s specific and Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 9 anticipated needs has not been facilitated. The impact risk assessments do not all show how new admissions benefit from carefully risk managed placements that consider the needs of the existing group of children and young people. As a result of this inspection, the recommendations have been escalated to avoid further impact on the children’s and young people’s experiences and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The reviewed statement of purpose does not validate the competence of the staff team to meet the children and young people’s needs. In addition, this document has not been sent to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The acting manager has already taken decisive action to tackle weaknesses. He has taken on board the issues raised with him at this inspection and he is committed to make improvements. Staff and professionals welcome his management and support and they commented positively about the improvements thus far.

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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: SC481447 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Doncaster Children’s Services Trust Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Blue Building, 38–40 High Street, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN1 1DE

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Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC481447 11 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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