Children's Home run by Lincolnshire County Council in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 1 SC042950 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 local authority children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to six children aged between 10 and 17 years who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or mild learning disabilities. The overall aim, as stated in the home’s statement of purpose, is to provide a safe, nurturing, caring and homely environment for each child, where issues and concerns affecting both their past and their future can be positively addressed and supported.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a long-standing, suitably qualified and experienced registered manager in post.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 31 January 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2018 Full Outstanding 01/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Outstanding 05/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make significant progress because of the exceptionally high quality of individualised care and support that they experience at this home. An impressive amount of focused, direct work is a key factor in children doing so well. All the work is underpinned by a well-embedded theoretical approach based on social pedagogy, Signs of Safety and restorative practice. One social worker said: ‘There has been amazing progress from the point of moving in. Staff have worked so well with her from day one.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit enormously from the exceptionally positive relationships that they build with the staff. All the children said that the best thing about the home was the staff. One young person said: ‘I love them all to pieces.’ They know that staff will not give up on them. This is very important, as all the children have complex needs and have experienced rejection from adults, and many have had a number of placements prior to moving in to this home. One young person said: ‘No matter how much you do to staff, they give you time to reflect and never hold a grudge. They are forgiving.’ Consequently, children learn to trust the staff; they settle and they start to be able to manage their emotions much better. This enables them to make progress with their education, with their ability to socialise and in repairing fractured relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are encouraged to establish routines, such as at bedtimes, and they enjoy new experiences and activities, which include roller skating, swimming, horse riding and supporting charitable events such as the Race for Life. This builds their confidence and self-esteem. One young person commented: ‘It feels like home. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am really happy here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The voice of the child is very strong. All the children said that they felt listened to and that their views were acted upon if possible. The commitment to children’s participation has been recognised and the home’s practice has been disseminated throughout the local authority’s stakeholder engagement group. One example involved a young person chairing her own review at her request. Following this, she said it was the best review she had ever had. The young person has been involved in presenting her experiences to groups of social workers so that they can learn from this practice. Children have also been involved in redesigning the kitchen. ‘You said, we did’ is embedded in practice and the results of participation and consultation are displayed throughout the home so that children can see that they are listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Creative and committed staff work hard to promote the best outcomes in education, health and emotional well-being. For example, staff supported a child in school to prevent an exclusion. This enabled her to have a positive and appropriately paced transition to the new educational placement that had been identified for her. Staff are also working creatively to help children look at their past lives with a view to sustaining relationships that have been positive and important in previous placements. Staff understand the importance of promoting positive relationships, and work hard to support Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 4 and facilitate all contact arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are supported to move on from the home in a planned and positive way. Young people who used to live at this home still keep in touch with staff long after they have left, which is a testament to the positive experiences they had. In order to facilitate the best move for a young person who left recently, staff worked creatively and effectively with the housing department to enable the young person to have a tenancy prior to becoming 18 years old. This has been so successful that it may be replicated for other young people leaving care, thus enabling them to be well supported during this significant time in their lives.

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

Creative and proactive safeguarding practices ensure that children become safer and their risk-taking behaviour decreases. This includes drug and alcohol misuse, self-harm and going missing from the home. The home has an excellent relationship with the police that supports the safeguarding practice. This includes the home promptly notifying the police of any child admitted or discharged from the home, liaison with the CCTV team in order to identify any missing children as soon as possible, regular contact with the local police support officer and support with particular issues to prevent formal action and criminalisation.

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

The reduction in the number of incidents of children going missing from the home is particularly significant. There have been no such incidents in the last two months, compared with quite frequent episodes previously. The manager and staff have worked tirelessly with the children concerned, the people who are important to them and their social workers to ensure that such risks are managed safely.

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

There has been a significant decrease in bullying. This had been an issue at the last inspection and one that attracted a requirement. This requirement has been fully addressed. Staff have actively used a restorative practice approach with children to enable them to see the impact of their behaviour on others. If bullying is an issue, the home has a system for increasing monitoring and ensuring that staff are fully focused on managing the dynamics in the home. Similarly, if children are at risk of self-harm, a process is initiated whereby the environment is made safe and there is an increase in supervision. Children are aware of and involved in both of these processes and their agreement is sought before the increased supervision and reporting are ended. Consequently, they are active participants in making the situation better.

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

Behaviour is well managed, and incidents are reducing. Children who have demonstrated severely challenging behaviour in the past are now much calmer. Staff know the children very well and this enables them to understand the triggers and try to prevent incidents from occurring. Sanctions and physical intervention are used rarely, but when they are used, it is in appropriate circumstances. Children and staff are enabled to reflect and make comments on what has happened so that children can develop different strategies for managing their emotions in the future. Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 5 Risk is well assessed, well managed and regularly reviewed. Monthly multi-agency risk management meetings enable all the relevant professionals to consider the risks associated with all the children in the home, both collectively and individually. This excellent practice ensures that each agency takes responsibility for helping children to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led and managed by an extremely child-focused, inspirational manager who has high expectations of herself and of her staff. She is very keen to develop the staff so that they have the skills and knowledge to care for the children and support them to make the best progress possible. The manager is also keen to continue to develop her own knowledge base. In conjunction with the commissioning service, she undertakes the annual inspections of homes where children are placed out of county. This enables her to assess different ways of working as well as share good practice from this service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team is exceptionally well qualified and highly competent. New staff benefit from an extremely thorough induction that supplements the one provided by the local authority. This enables them to understand their role more fully, and to develop their confidence and competence in a safe environment. All but the newest staff have the required qualification in childcare and some are qualified social workers and practice educators. All are very well trained, for example in social pedagogy, restorative practice and Signs of Safety. In addition, if a child has a specific need, staff access relevant training, for example in foetal alcohol syndrome, autism spectrum disorder and self- harm. Staff are encouraged to take responsibility for specific areas, such as social pedagogy and health and safety. This enables them to develop their expertise and be a useful resource for other staff members.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff love working at this home and are extremely enthusiastic. They feel very well supported by the managers and by each other. They benefit from regular supervision of a high quality that enables them to reflect on their practice. One member of staff described her supervisor as ‘amazing’. Staff are extremely child centred and committed. They go above and beyond to meet the needs of the children, using creative solutions to difficult situations. One member of staff said: ‘It’s an amazing place to work. It’s great working so closely with the children and seeing them come on.’ Another member of staff said: ‘I’m so proud of the children’s achievements.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership working is exceptional. Children’s social workers and other stakeholders have commented that communication is ‘brilliant’. Other professionals are made welcome and encouraged to visit regularly and informally, so that the children get to know them and can trust them. Children can then benefit from the additional expertise. The highly effective partnership working underpins the exceptional outcomes that are being achieved. Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 6

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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: SC042950 7

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Children’s home details

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

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Jeanette Mitchell-Fox

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Inspector:

Ros Chapman: social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC042950 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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