Children's home run by Norfolk County Council in Norwich

Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 1 SC450045 Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Children’s Services

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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 runs the home, which is registered to care for up to six children who can present with challenging behaviour and need emotional support. The home is a crisis intervention, assessment and reunification service.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left on 8 February 2019. A new manager is in post and has submitted an application to Ofsted.

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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 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: 29 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/07/2018 Full Good 26/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)) 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should only accept placements for children when they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and when they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) In particular, provide a clear record of decision-making and how any gaps in matching can be compensated.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and

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Recommendations

understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. 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)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are all making progress, albeit at different rates. For some children, progress is in very small steps, but still significant for those involved. Other children are making more substantial progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff arrange health appointments and referrals for children so that their health needs can be met effectively. They help the children to understand how to look after their health and the implications of ignoring medical advice. Some children respond better than others to this, but staff keep trying to engage them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff encourage informal learning, particularly for those children who are not in full- time education. The staff involve children in activities such as craft, cookery and trips to museums and historic and cultural sites. The children undertake written work and projects based on these activities. This promotes a culture of learning and inquisitiveness and helps the children to make the most of their educational opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Due to the nature of the home, many children move in with little notice or in emergencies. Despite this, the staff help the children to settle and support them during these stressful and uncertain times. The manager and staff make sure that the children have clear plans for moving on from the home. Staff and managers said that the process Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 5 for matching children and deciding if their placements are suitable has improved. However, in one recent case, a group dynamic assessment lacked significant up-to-date information on a child. Consequently, the recorded actions for how matching could be supported did not cover all the areas required, and the decision-making on the placement was not clearly shown. This is not a reliable and consistent process for making appropriate decisions on which children should live at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff keep scrapbooks for the children that include photographs of their time at the home and mementos, such as tickets to events. For most children, their stays at this home are brief and come during difficult periods of their lives. Having a tangible reminder of their time at the home and the positive and enjoyable things that they have done will help them to maintain clear memories of this period of their childhood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff seek children’s views, listen to them and take what they say seriously. This feedback covers areas such as meals, activities, the decoration of the home and the children’s wider care plans. This helps children to feel listened to and included in their daily plans and decisions about their lives.

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

Some children at the home reduce their risk-taking behaviours and become safer. Others are resistant to change, but staff continue to encourage it. The frequency of going missing from care has reduced for some children and they have become safer.

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

The staff respond appropriately to incidents of children going missing. They try to find the children and keep them safe. However, there is a lack of clarity about how one child who frequently goes missing should be collected and returned to the home. This child is believed to be at significant risk, so any delay in getting him back to the home has the potential to leave him at risk.

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

The staff are well aware of the potential risks associated with the exploitation of children. They work with other agencies to assess, monitor and try and reduce these risks for the children. The risks include radicalisation and county lines. The work that the staff do helps to make sure that there is generally a planned and well-coordinated response to significant risks for children.

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

Staff use everyday opportunities to speak with children about the risks associated with exploitation and the internet. They keep trying to help children recognise and understand these risks.

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

The staff recognise children’s good behaviours and use incentives to help them to focus on maintaining this behaviour. The children are involved in agreeing their incentives. Involving children helps to make the process successful.

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

The permanent staff are recruited using appropriate checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. The manager is currently using agency staff to provide an additional level of supervision for a child. Although the manager has had verbal Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 6 reassurances from the agency that the staff have all had appropriate checks, she has not seen direct evidence of this. This is not a strong and reliable process to make sure that agency staff do not pose a risk to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers know the children well. They understand the areas in which the children are making progress and the areas in which they need further support. The staff are pleased when children do well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed good working relationships with other agencies. She challenges them when necessary to make sure that the children receive the services that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers supervise staff regularly and ensure that they get the training that they need to provide good care for children. When training is limited, those staff who attended provide information to the rest of the staff team. This helps to ensure that the staff are equipped to look after the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes children’s views seriously. One child was keen to hold a fundraising event for charity. Staff helped her with this, and another child also took part. The feedback was that this was a huge success. The manager has included children in a review of the home to make it more lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender friendly. Such involvement helps the children to understand and value other people’s needs and differences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager monitors practice at the home and makes changes to improve the quality of care for children. However, some records are not sufficiently detailed. This leaves uncertainty about what has happened in some areas and limits the information for the children about their lives at the home should they wish to read their records now or in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not sent in to Ofsted notifications of all significant events. This prevents Ofsted, as the regulator, from having a clear understanding of how the home is operating between inspections, how well children’s needs are being met and how well they are protected.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 7 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: SC450045 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich NR1 2DH

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Inspector

Clive Lucas: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC450045 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 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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