Children's Home run by Young Foundations Limited in Darlington

Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 1 SC061439 Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited

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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 operated by a private company. It provides care and accommodation for up to five children or young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities and/or mental disorders. The manager has been registered since May 2017.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/07/2018 Full Outstanding 11/07/2017 Full Good 04/11/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 18/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 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, the 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)) 11/10/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(c)(h)) 11/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; 11/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 4 The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; 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)(3)(a)(b)(d)) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child— is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. A notification made under this regulation— must include details of— the matter; the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter; must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40(4)(5)) 11/10/2019

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Recommendations

 Regulation 19(2) details sanctions that are prohibited in behaviour management. Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38) Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are well supported by a nurturing staff team. The staff team understands the individual needs of children and young people including complex needs associated with trauma. The home is warm and welcoming, with lots of personalised areas and evidence of the shared experiences of children and young people. Bedrooms are very personalised and some of the young people have pets. This enables them to develop a sense of responsibility and empathy. Education is seen as important by everyone in the home. There is evidence of high levels of educational attainment for some children and young people from their starting points. For others, they are supported to re-engage either by using tutors or by the team advocating on behalf of children and young people. This means that children and young people gain a sense of achievement that assists with increasing feelings of self-worth. There is a wide range of individual and group activities available to children and young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

people. Members of the staff team support these activities until the point when children and young people feel they can engage without support. A reward scheme is used which promotes and encourages positive behaviour. Sanctions are used infrequently. However, when sanctions are used, they need to be restorative in nature so that children and young people can learn from these experiences and understand the consequences of their behaviour for themselves and others.

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

Children and young people are safe in the home. Records and care plans are detailed and contain relevant strategies to guide staff in addressing the care of children and young people. However, the systems to monitor records do not always ensure that necessary information is responded to. Inspectors found that identified risks were not always included in assessments. Work with children and young people that had been identified as necessary had not taken place in the home. This means that progress for some children and young people could be limited. The number of incidents when children and young people go missing from the home is reducing, but on occasions still do take place. When such incidents occur, the staff make every effort to find children and young people and return them safely. This means that children and young people learn that the adults are concerned for their safety. Overall, safeguarding incidents are appropriately reported. Inspectors found one incident

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

The management team continues to be passionate and aspirational for the children and young people in its care. However, the turnover of staff since the last inspection has Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 6 been high. As a result, the remaining staff have had to dedicate a lot of their time to direct work with children and young people and role modelling to new staff. This has meant that effectiveness of some management tasks has been negatively affected. Monitoring and oversight has not identified significant gaps in the recruitment process. The necessary steps to ensure that staff are suitably vetted have not been followed in all cases. It is essential that all checks are made on employees to ensure that the children and young people are not at risk from those adults who care for them. The leadership team proactively challenges professionals when this is in the best interests of children and young people. This means that outside agencies are helped to

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

understand the needs of the children and young people and that joint working helps to secure positive outcomes. When issues were raised during the inspection with the management team, the response was positive and proactive, showing a strong willingness to ensure that children and young people are well cared for.

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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: SC061439 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Young Foundations Limited, c/o Head Office, Suite 1, 2nd Floor, Southwood House Greenwood Business Centre, Regent Road, Salford M5 4QH

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Inspectors

Susan Atkinson-Millmoor, social care inspector Paula Kelly, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC061439 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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