Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 1 SC035499 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire 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

A local authority operates and runs this home. The home provides care for up to six children and young people and its plan is for them to live in medium- to long-term residential care. The home’s manager has been registered since 2013.

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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 Good

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Good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: 23 October 2018

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 23 October 2018. A restriction notice was served on 12 November 2018. Two compliance notices were served under regulation 12 and regulation 13. A monitoring visit took place on 18 December 2018. At the case review on 20 December 2018, it was agreed that the restriction notice would be lifted and the two compliance notices had been met. Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/10/2018 Full Inadequate 02/03/2018 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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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Requirements Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirements Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff receive regular reflective supervision. 05/04/2019

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Requirements 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— understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h))

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Requirements Due date

Specifically, improve the quality of records relating to room searches to ensure that they support safe and transparent practice and ensure a consistent response to embedding the resilience mapping tool.

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Requirements Due date

The manager should have clear insight into the children’s education and attainment needs. 05/04/2019

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Requirements Due date

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. 05/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 4 (Regulation 45 (4)(a)) The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirements Due date

Specifically, when the children’s care plans are reviewed, demonstrate a clear evaluation to support the progress and actions. This is with particular reference to the decision to provide a mobile phone to a child. 05/04/2019

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, and so on). However, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  This is with particular reference to the graffiti in the landing cupboard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Significant progress has been made since the last inspection. The children are happy and settled at the home. They are gaining new life experiences. The creation of the ‘activity passport’ encourages the children to try new things, including going to the theatre and enjoying trips away.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children attend and are fully engaged in education, and plans are in place to help them to reach their attainment goals. Staff promote the importance of education and work closely with the headteacher of the virtual school to identify measures to help the children fulfil their potential and address any barriers to learning. Strategies such as using aromatherapy and working in small groups have been introduced to help the children calm any nervous tension, in preparation for sitting their exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to lead healthy lifestyles and educate them around pertinent issues such as smoking, sexual health and personal hygiene. Personalised incentives support the children to develop their self-care skills. The children-in-care nurse works closely with staff and the children to ensure their basic health needs are met. The children benefit from specialist input, helping them to address their mental Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 5 health needs. The dedicated staff further enhance engagement by consistently accompanying children to appointments. The strategies identified are reinforced at the home to promote good outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from good relationships with each other and the staff. The staff spend time with the children, engage in activities, listen to their concerns and provide advice and guidance. One child said, ‘I am glad that I live here. I am the happiest that I have been.’ One child also brought a ‘sister’ birthday card for another child in the home, and this was well received.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work closely with the children and their families to improve relationships. They work in partnership with the child’s placing authority and family members to create clear contact plans that reflect the children’s wishes and feelings. Staff facilitate and supervise contact, where appropriate, while others benefit from unsupervised contact with key family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, staff are good at supporting children to develop independence, but they have not always reviewed and progressed children’s plans in a timely way to allow them to take age-appropriate and safe risks to support independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a well-maintained home that is comfortable and welcoming. However, the cupboard on the landing contains graffiti that would have a negative effect on a child’s initial perception of the home.

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

There has been a reduction in the number and frequency of children going missing from the home. One child said, ‘The home is great; the staff have helped me sort out my behaviour. I used to go missing all the time, and now I do not.’ The staff use a variety of methods to help the children to take responsibility for their behaviours, and this includes celebrating and recognising their positive conduct. The staff promote good behaviour through spontaneous rewards, for example leaving a magazine for a child on their bed or taking them out for a coffee or dessert.

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

The children feel safe. The staff understand the children’s behaviours and risks, which are recorded in the children’s plans. The staff take direct action to maintain the children’s safety and protection. Good partnership working with the police has led to positive outcomes with youths in the local community. Consequently, children are no longer leaving the home during the night. An independent reviewing officer reported, ‘[Name of child]’s behaviour has taken a dramatic turn for the better.’

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

Staff undertake room searches should they have any concerns about children’s safety or well-being. However, gaps in the records do not provide the manager with the timing and location of searches conducted. This recording shortfall does not impact on the children’s safety or well-being.

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

The staff have a good awareness of the risks associated with online abuse and regularly Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 6 complete direct work to educate the children about these. However, the provider is not as focused or proactive as it could be and has missed some opportunities to ensure risk management is robust in all aspects of children’s care. This relates to making timely contact with families in the community to check on children’s well-being and liaising with social workers to ensure that the mix of children is appropriate when using arranged transport.

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

The registered manager has been in post at the home since 2013. She has made some significant improvements since the last inspection. However, not all the requirements and recommendations raised at the last inspection and monitoring visit have been met, and she was unable to demonstrate adequate insight about the children’s educational plans.

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

Although staff feel well supported in their daily roles, the management team has not yet ensured that all staff receive regular and reflective supervision. The home’s six-monthly monitoring report has been completed, but there has been some delay with it being sent to the regulator in line with the required timescales. This does not enable the regulator to maintain appropriate oversight.

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

The management team has created a dynamic tool to support practice and enable staff to identify and develop children’s resilience. It is too recently introduced to be fully embedded in practice.

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

The approachable manager and deputy manager provide staff with practice guidance and support, through team meetings and daily discussions. The staff’s skills and knowledge have been developed through recent county lines training, which has been well received.

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

The registered manager has good relationships with social workers, police, health workers and school professionals. The team around the children work well together and open communication supports them to spot any cause for concern and respond accordingly.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC035499 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Cross Street, Beverley, North Humberside HU17 9BA

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Inspector

Jennifer Fenlon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 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 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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