Children's Home run by Durham County Council in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 1 SC034686

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Durham County Council

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a local authority and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to five children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The registered manager has extensive experience of the position held.

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This monitoring visit

This monitoring visit was undertaken due to increasing concerns being raised about safeguarding practices and poor management decision-making around the appropriateness of placements.

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This monitoring visit

This children’s home was judged good at the full inspection on 25 September 2018. Following this monitoring visit, the inspectors found that the home has declined in effectiveness. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 2 There was evidence of increased risks around the home that had not been recognised by staff. Subsequently, there were poor risk management strategies in place to manage risk-taking behaviours effectively.

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This monitoring visit

The staff team is not making the necessary links to the presenting behaviours of children and young people. This heightens the vulnerability of children and young people. Furthermore, poor records of information make it difficult to see how children and young people are safeguarded effectively.

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This monitoring visit

Poor use of language in records means that it is difficult to distinguish between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about children and young people is not always recorded in a way that will be helpful to them. There was a lack of evidence to demonstrate that the manager had made efforts to address effectively some of the underlying practice issues within the team. The recording of challenge to practice in staff supervisions was poor, and safeguarding was not given significance.

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This monitoring visit

Children and young people who are unsuitably placed do not have positive experiences. Subsequently, placements end abruptly, and children and young people do not receive the support they require to transition to their new placements.

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This monitoring visit

The condition of the home has declined. Repairs and deep cleaning are required throughout the home. The manager accepts that the deterioration of the environment is a result of responding to the disruptive behaviours within the home. Furthermore, the home displays signs, which makes it feel institutionalised, reflecting that some of the practice is dated.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 25/09/2018 Full Good 31/10/2017 Full Outstanding 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 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 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

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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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

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children personal items that are appropriate for 01/04/2019 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 4 their age and understanding; and make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)) The registered person must ensure that –

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected. (Regulation 21(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that private and confidential information about the children and young people is not recorded in generic documentation, such as the home’s daily log book. 01/04/2019

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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.

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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 the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(b)) 01/04/2019

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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

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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(f)) 01/04/2019

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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. 01/04/2019 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 5 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested if–

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(2)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should undertake a risk assessment of each young person prior to their admission. This is to ensure that risks to all young people are effectively managed.

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Recommendations

 Supervision of staff practice should ensure that individual adults in the home are engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home so they understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.14) In particular, ensure that safeguarding is added as a stand-alone agenda item in staff supervisions and team meetings. Safeguarding should be explicitly referred to.  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 etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’

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Recommendations

impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 6

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Durham County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Durham DH1 5UL

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Inspector

Jacqueline Tate, social care inspector Sue Atkinson-Millmoor, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034686 7 to 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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