Children's Home run by Derbyshire County Council in Derbyshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 1 SC035976 Registered provider: Derbyshire 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

A local authority operates this home, which provides care and accommodation for up to four children or young people who may have emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.

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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

Date of last inspection: 18 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/09/2018 Full Good 28/11/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child’s day to day health needs are met. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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Recommendations

 Effective care planning is essential to the success of placements. Care planning should be clear and all changes to the plan should be communicated effectively. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is a homely and welcoming home. Staff are very warm and nurturing. Therapeutic parenting is intrinsic to staff practice, and staff do this without thinking about it. Staff clearly care significantly about the children. They endeavour to fill in the gaps from childhood, helping children to experience things they have missed, such as having an Easter-egg hunt. Despite being teenagers, this was clearly an enjoyable experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children very well. However, changes to care planning are not always communicated well. This could lead to inconsistent practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes, feelings and views are valued and are important to staff. For example, children are asked about the clubs they would like to join. One child is going to a boxing club and is starting horse-riding lessons. Children are kept active and their hobbies and interests are promoted. Risk taking is managed well and ensures that children can take reasonable, age-appropriate risks to help to build resilience and confidence. For example, one child likes to go cycling. Staff are in the area where the child cycles, so they are close by should the child need them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health and education needs are very well supported. Staff transport some children over substantial distances so that they can continue to attend the same school they were attending prior to moving into the home. Consequently, these children have 100% attendance at school and continue to enjoy school and their friends. Children are registered with healthcare services. However, there was a small delay in getting a doctor’s appointment after a child had asked for one. Fortunately, the following day the child said they no longer needed an appointment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children settle quickly after a well-planned admission process. They are happy and know that staff care about them. There are vegetables growing in the garden and the Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 4 greenhouse, and staff hang washing out on a washing line. Ornaments, flowers and pictures decorate the communal areas. Children enjoy home-cooked meals. Staff wear slippers, which adds to the family feel of the home, and children’s rooms are highly personalised. When a child was asked what they like the best, they replied: ‘Gym, and bedtime stories being read to me.’ All of these things help children to feel like they are living within a family, and are loved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child who recently left the home did not leave in the way that the manager and staff would have preferred. However, his exit was still managed as well as possible and staff gave him the skills he needs to successfully transition into adulthood. Staff will ‘pop over for a cuppa’ to continue to support him. Young adults who have left the home remain in contact with staff.

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

Children are currently very settled. They feel safe and secure because staff build warm and nurturing relationships with them. They do not go missing, take illegal substances or smoke cigarettes. Challenges from children are met by calmness and patience. Children very often apologise after a minor mishap.

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

Staff use restorative approaches to support children to help them find better ways of managing their own behaviour. Staff are trained to use physical intervention but do not use this. They find this to be an unhelpful approach. Staff try not to get the police involved with incidents because they do not want to criminalise children.

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

Staff are child-focused and know how to keep children safe. Children who are at risk online are monitored closely while on their devices, to ensure that they remain safe. Staff regularly talk to children about how to keep themselves safe while they are online.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is very experienced and is currently completing the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. She is passionate and is committed to providing the best outcomes for children and helping them to achieve their aspirations. She has a strong development plan that recognises areas of weakness but also strives to move the service forward. She has developed close working relationships with external professionals, which ensures highly effective care planning for children. She keeps herself up to date and regularly reviews research, which she adopts where relevant. For example, she uses children’s books that are written with a focus on children who are struggling. This helps staff to understand the children better, and for children to better understand themselves.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The established and diverse staff team is qualified, knowledgeable and highly skilled at providing good outcomes for children. Staff are fully committed to the children and talk about them like a good parent would. For example, a member of staff said about a child who has just left: ‘I miss him so much.’ She went on to say: ‘I like to come in to do Sunday lunch. I think it makes the bond of a little family.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 5 Staff are very well supported by an experienced management team. Staff receive regular formal supervision, they have team meetings and they have sessions with a psychologist. These meetings are reflective and help to build the team’s understanding of each child and, therefore, enable the staff to provide highly effective care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Excellent partnership working with the local mental health service means that staff are very well supported to ensure that therapeutic approaches are fully embedded into practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management team ensures that staff have the skills and knowledge to ensure that there is a restorative approach running through the whole team. This has resulted in them becoming truly reflective practitioners. They demonstrate a strong commitment towards each child and believe in sticking with the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Creative strategies are used to help children settle into the home. For example, the children’s guide includes a book of photographs of all the staff team and likely visitors with a brief summary about them. This helps children to get to know the staff team and other people who may be in their home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

When a child was struggling, and it became clear that they could not live with any other children, the registered manager stopped other children from being admitted. This was agreed by the local authority, so the child lived by themselves until they moved out. This would have been a costly strategy but was clearly important for the child’s well-being.

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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: SC035976 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Derbyshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 3AG

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Inspector:

Joanne Vyas, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035976 7 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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