Children's Home run by North Yorkshire Council in North Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 1 SC034189 Registered provider: North Yorkshire 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

The home is registered to accommodate up to six children and young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years who display emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is approved for a further two young people in off-site accommodation for up to 28 days. The home is operated by a local authority and is part of the No Wrong Door innovation to provide an integrated service for adolescents. It accepts both planned and emergency admissions. Some of the children are only at the home for a short time, while others live here on a longer-term basis.

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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 outstanding

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/06/2018 Full Good 10/10/2017 Full Good 15/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The welcoming staff team puts children and young people at ease when they first arrive at the home. Staff establish relationships quickly with the children and young people through their nurturing care and attention to detail.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The planning process starts immediately when children are identified and matched to the home. The clinical team, comprising a psychologist and a communication support worker, consider the children’s and young people’s needs and how these can be met. This helps focus the care staff and other professionals on providing prompt support to children and young people, which helps to avoid drift in care planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people recently admitted to the home have settled well and are making progress. This is particularly in respect of improvements in their risk-taking behaviours. Staff are tenacious and continue to show the children and young people that they care for them even when faced with negative behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The school-aged children have educational placements, which most are attending and engaging with. Young people also obtain vocational qualifications in various subjects. This helps to support their chances when seeking further education or employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Many of the children and young people have experienced successful transitions back to their family home while others move on to more appropriate placements in line with their care plans for permanence and semi-independence. Children and young people remain in contact with staff, whom they have developed good trusting relationships with. Staff remain committed and act as good parental role models offering vital ongoing emotional and practical support. This continues into early adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some cosmetic changes to the home have made it feel homelier, but there are still some areas that would benefit from repainting. The work to the conservatory to transform it into a gym and games room has been ongoing for several months and has still not been completed. One young person has no bedroom curtains because of their individual risks but an alternative safe option has not been provided to promote privacy.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding practice, which is strengthened by their knowledge and experience of working with vulnerabilities. Keeping children and young people safe is a high priority for them. Regular, theoretically-based meetings and open discussion between those involved in the children’s and young people’s lives promote reflection and appropriate challenge. The multi-agency approach adopted helps the staff attending these meetings to generate ideas and agreed approaches to risk management.

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

Staff work well with the police, which has resulted in a coordinated approach to Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 4 managing children’s and young people’s risk-taking and negative behaviour. The ethos of the home is one of avoiding criminalisation. This has led to a reduction in police involvement with children and young people. When children and young people do not return to the home in line with their plan, staff actively look for them and are persistent. This gives a clear message to those children and young people that staff care about them. For most, this has resulted in a reduction in their missing episodes. However, when there have been serious concerns over a child’s or young person’s missing behaviour, the manager has failed to notify and keep the regulator informed.

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

The children and young people have significant vulnerabilities that heighten their risk of criminal and sexual exploitation. For some, this involves self-harming behaviours and misuse of substances. Staff educate children and young people about the risks and dangers and teach them to keep safe. This has resulted in a reduction in these behaviours. One parent said she felt her child was, ‘100% safer since living at the home.’

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

There are still some incidents of damage to the home; however, staff work with clinicians to understand the reason behind these behaviours. Staff de-escalate situations effectively and children and young people are rarely held: this is only in situations deemed necessary to keep themselves and others safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is run by an experienced manager and two deputies who work exceptionally well together as a management team. They are all highly committed to providing the best quality care for the children and young people. The long-standing staff team has the same passion and drive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager’s focus has been on making the team more cohesive. The new style of team meetings and practice discussions help the team to have a more reflective approach to their work. The team members are honest and transparent with each other and are able to openly discuss their thoughts and feelings about the children and young people they are caring for. Staff use a restorative way of working with the children and young people. This generates a positive atmosphere in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The supportive managers have an open-door approach with staff and the children and young people. Staff speak of getting support from their colleagues. They are a close-knit team, which helps them remain resilient.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers have developed a range of new recording and monitoring paperwork. The child-friendly documents make it easy to see the progress children and young people are making against their targets. This helps make the auditing of the service more robust and streamlined.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have access to a variety of training. This is also individualised and tailored to the children and young people being cared for. Staff development is promoted with opportunities to progress into higher positions within the home. This maintains a highly experienced staff team. Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 5

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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— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; 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— ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular: complete the redecoration of the conservatory so that children and young people have access to this area as a gym and games room; redecorate all areas of the home that look tired and worn; and provide a safe replacement for one young person’s bedroom curtains which have been removed. 31/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 01/06/2019

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 6 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: SC034189 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North Yorkshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Janice Nicholson

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Inspector

Tina Ruffles, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC034189 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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