Children's Home run by Derbyshire County Council in Derbyshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 1 SC036248 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, providing care and accommodation for up to five young people who 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2018 Full Good 15/11/2017 Full Good 10/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 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 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi)) 31/10/2019

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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 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, 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, qualifications and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; 31/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 4 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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, if a person has previously worked in a position involving work with children or vulnerable adults, verification so far as reasonably practicable of the reason why the employment or position ended should be sought.

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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 etc.); 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)

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improvement to be good

Young people generally have good experiences in this home and make good progress. However, on two occasions, managers and staff have made mistakes that could have led to a young person being harmed. On another occasion, appropriate child protection procedures regarding an historical event were not followed.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a positive regard for young people. They clearly know them well and understand the risks for young people and ways in which they can reduce them. The safe care plans are detailed and provide good information for staff. Support measures help to reduce risks and demonstrate that staff consult with each young person about how the young person can keep themselves safe. For example, a young person said that he barricades himself into his room to allow himself space and time to calm. Staff have given him a ‘Do not disturb’ notice to hang on his door so that he does not feel that he has to barricade himself in.

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improvement to be good

Transitions into the home are well planned and well organised. This helps young people to settle quickly and feel safe. Young people who leave the home continue to be supported by staff. This practice is commended because it helps young people to settle Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 5 into their new homes and successfully transition into adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Young people are accessing education. Attendance and engagement improve over time. One young person, who has struggled at school previously, attended all her GCSE exams and achieved a pass grade.

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improvement to be good

Staff work closely with parents and support young people to rebuild important family relationships. Parents said that staff communicate well with them and that staff are friendly and professional. A parent said that her son ‘is able to be himself because they make him feel at home’.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand that warm and nurturing relationships with young people are important and try to ensure that young people feel cared for. They take young people on holidays and support them to meet with their friends. They participate in activities that young people choose to do, such as going to the gym with them.

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improvement to be good

Young people are well supported with their health needs. They attend their health appointments, eat a healthy diet and are encouraged to exercise. Emotional health is well supported by the close working relationship with the local authority’s therapy team and local children’s mental health team.

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improvement to be good

Online safety is usually taken very seriously. Staff have found inappropriate images on a young person’s device quickly and dealt with them appropriately. However, a child protection referral has not been made in relation to the fact that these images were not found and deleted at other settings where the young person lived previously.

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improvement to be good

In addition, an incident occurred in which a young person, who is at high risk of accessing inappropriate content on the internet, had unsupervised access to the internet for several hours. This is contrary to his safe care plan and resulted in the young person accessing inappropriate content and causing damage to the home when he was asked to end his session on the computer.

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improvement to be good

A knife was left unattended by staff. The knife went missing and has not been found, despite extensive searching. Moreover, the young person suspected of taking the knife went out unsupervised to the local shops after the knife went missing. Staff neglected the safety of this young person and the public by not accompanying him on this occasion or following him. However, staff discussed the incident with the young person and helped him to understand the potential consequences of carrying a knife.

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improvement to be good

Attention to health and safety is generally good, but improvements could be made to:  the garden because it is overgrown in some parts, including a large patch of stinging nettles next to the trampoline  the medication cupboards that are in a very small room that could become overheated – staff are unable to shut the door behind them when cupboards are Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 6 open  the chest freezer that is old and set at the wrong temperature.

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improvement to be good

One young person’s bedroom and bathroom are grimy, contain broken furniture and have profanities written on the walls. The young person is generally not living at the home currently, but the lack of attention to these rooms is contrary to the nurturing ethos of the home. The registered manager started to address these identified shortfalls immediately.

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improvement to be good

Vetting procedures to ensure that unsuitable adults do not work with young people are not yet robust. Most checks are carried out. However, if a person has previously worked in a position involving work with children or vulnerable adults, verification, so far as is reasonably practicable, of the reason why the employment or position ended has not been sought.

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improvement to be good

Young people have made excellent progress in reducing their risk-taking behaviours: they no longer go missing and have stopped consuming illegal substances. They feel safe and secure in the home. Staff are helping young people to feel safer in the local and wider community.

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improvement to be good

Staff work closely with the police and so have a good understanding of the risks in the surrounding area.

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

The registered manager is very experienced and appropriately qualified. He is ably supported by an equally qualified and experienced deputy manager. They are both passionate and committed to providing a good service for young people. However, an incident occurred because staff did not follow a young person’s care plan. The management review of the incident did not identify this shortfall.

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

There is an established team of staff who are either qualified or enrolled on a qualification. They are very experienced and genuinely care about the young people. They have access to good training opportunities that help them to gain the skills and knowledge they need to effectively care for the complex young people who live in the home. They feel very well supported by each other and the management team.

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

Strong multi-agency working means that everyone works in the best interests of young people. External professionals agree that staff communicate effectively with them and are creative and proactive in their approach to young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 7

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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: SC036248 8

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Joanne Vyas, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC036248 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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