Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 1 SC063978 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates and runs this home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children and young people. The children currently living in the home are under 16 years old and have a range of social, emotional and behavioural needs. The manager has been registered since May 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 2019

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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: 19 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/10/2017 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful planning by the manager makes sure that children and young people have a positive experience of either leaving or arriving at the home. Children make friends with each other, live harmoniously and enjoy spending time together. One newly admitted child has settled well with the existing group of children. The home remains calm and settled and as a result most of the children are making sustained progress in aspects of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team’s focus has been to spend one-to-one time with the children. This has helped the children to build positive and trusting relationships with the staff. Children said they enjoyed living at the home and had particular staff they could go to if they were worried. The moans and groans book shows that children know how to complain. The manager makes sure that she personally responds so that children feel listened to. However, there is no feedback from the manager following the children’s monthly meetings in relation to decision making and agreed outcomes. This is important, particularly now all of the children are regularly attending and putting their views forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children enjoy going to school or other educational provision. This is good progress, particularly for two children who previously refused to go to school. One child sat and passed their standard academic tests. Staff make sure that children who refuse to go to school have structure and routine in their day. This includes taking them out on educational trips to try and re-engage their interest in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children speak of the many opportunities they have to go out on activities. This encourages new interests and hobbies. Children also enjoy movie nights in together with the staff. Efforts are made to take the children out individually, and when it is beneficial they go out as a group. Children enjoy going to cheerleader dance classes, playing snooker and weekly trips to the swimming baths. Children also enjoyed a caravan holiday to the coast in the summer. They are supported to make friends to improve their social skills and physical exercise is promoted to help children maintain good health. For one child, this meant he has learned how to swim, which has given him confidence and improved self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has been decorated and children have personalised their bedrooms to create a homely environment. However, the front door remains locked and communal areas such as the kitchen are kept locked at night. Although this has previously been to safeguard children living at the home, the reason for the limitation on access to these areas is not included within children’s individual plans and is therefore not kept under review.

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

The staff’s knowledge and understanding about safeguarding practice helps to keep Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 4 children safe. Children say they feel safe living at the home and one parent spoke of the confidence she had in staff to keep her child safe. There has been a reduction in children’s risk-taking behaviours, with children no longer going missing. This puts them at a reduced risk of exploitation. There are no known children who misuse substances.

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

Staff follow clear strategies on how to promote positive behaviour. Children receive anger management training to help them to develop the skills to keep calm and better regulate their emotions. This has resulted in reduced damage to the home, and a reduction in the frequency and severity of children’s disruptive behaviours. Children are sometimes held to keep themselves and others safe, but these incidents have also reduced in number.

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

Clinical assessments completed by specialists ensure that children’s additional needs are quickly identified. Staff adapt their way of working in response. This has led to an improvement in children’s emotional well-being and is reflected in reduced self-harming behaviour.

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

Staff educate children about the risks of radicalisation and extremism. Children take part in fire safety training, so that they are safe in the home. Staff educate and challenge children and young people about bullying and racist comments using a restorative approach to encourage respect towards others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is now supported by an acting assistant unit manager. This provides a stronger management team that provides a supportive environment to staff. The manager is dedicated and committed to the management of the home and knows the children well. This extends to her also knowing her staff’s strengths and weaknesses, so that extra support and guidance can be provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Following the last inspection, the manager completed an action plan to address the requirements and recommendation raised. This has resulted in all but one of the shortfalls being met. Although the six-monthly quality of care review was completed, this would benefit from a clearer action plan of areas for development over the forthcoming months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s focus has been on making sure that the staff work consistently as a team in a positive and nurturing way with the children. This has included making sure that there are more staff working at certain times of the day to enable more one-to-one time with children. This has helped the children to develop relationships with the staff and consequently there has been less negative and disruptive behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have improved the monitoring systems at the home, including the introduction of weekly auditing tools. This helps them to have oversight of the staff’s practice, children’s behaviour and any other issues within the home. However, some of the children’s documents are not always signed and dated and reviewed within the agreed timescales. Managers are developing a child-friendly care plan, which children will benefit from to make sure that they have their voices heard within their care Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 5 planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have an open-door approach and are available to spend time with the children. Staff speak of being able to discuss issues with the manager, but these reflective individual or group discussions are not recorded. Staff’s supervisions have improved. However, some staff have still not had their supervision in line with the local authority’s guidelines. Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 6

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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 ensure that— children can access all appropriate areas of the children‘s home‘s premises; and any limitation placed on a child‘s privacy or access to any area of the home‘s premises— is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) This regulation is in respect of the front door and other communal areas of the home, such as the kitchen, being locked at night. Any reasons for the restrictions to the home must be included within the individual children‘s positive support plans and must be kept under review. 01/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) Specifically, that staff receive regular supervision and engage in team meetings on an ongoing basis. 01/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (―case records‖) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 01/11/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 7

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11) In particular, the manager should provide feedback to the children after they have expressed their views in their residents’ meetings.  The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data

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Recommendations

recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC063978 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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Inspector

Tina Ruffles: social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC063978 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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