Children's Home run by Darlington Borough Council in Darlington

Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 1 SC068000 Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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

Date of last inspection: 16 December 2019

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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: SC068000 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/12/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Good 14/11/2017 Full Good 28/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 3

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improvement to be good

The overall experiences of some children are not positive. The registered manager and wider local authority do not ensure that emergency placements are appropriately matched. This results in increased anxiety for any child already living in the home and potential police involvement for children who are admitted in an emergency. There are occasions when children who live in the home are witnessing damage to the property and a quick succession of other children moving in and out. This means that children do not always live in a settled environment. Children admitted in an emergency do not have successful, planned transitions from the home. Placements are ending abruptly because the staff are not able to keep the children safe. When children move on from the home in these circumstances, they are not able to meet staff or children from their new placement before moving there. This increases their anxieties and frustrations.

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improvement to be good

The children are generally fit and healthy. The staff support the children to attend their routine health appointments. Children also have access to specialist mental health and emotional health services. However, the staff are not creative in their approach to encouraging the children to always attend these sessions. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that all children’s health needs are met. Education is a focus in the home. With the support of the staff, one child has achieved 100% attendance and is making good progress academically. Another child has successfully finished school and plans are in place for them to enroll at college. The staff are helping this child to complete online training that will support their college application. These actions help the children to understand the importance of education and what it means for their future. A family support worker from the local authority carries out direct work with the

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improvement to be good

children aimed at building their confidence and self-esteem. This work is supported by staff from the home to provide the children with a rounded approach to meeting their needs and helping them to become more independent. For example, one child is now part of a local football club and can use public transport on their own. The relationships between the staff and children are positive. Children enjoy spending time with the staff, especially playing on the computer together and playing football in the garden. Children say that they like living at the home and that they like the staff. These relationships help children to feel safe in their home.

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improvement to be good

Some children are at risk of harm because the staff are not fully trained to meet their specific health needs. For example, on one occasion, a child was admitted to the home with a specific health condition that required the administration of life- Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 4 saving emergency ‘rescue’ medication. This child was admitted to the home despite no staff being trained to administer this medication. The child was at risk of serious harm because of this failure. Children rarely go missing from the home. There is a multi-agency response to any missing-from-care incident and the staff follow the child’s individual missing-from- care protocol to ensure that they are quickly located. Direct work is carried out through return home interviews arranged by the local authority, and one-to-one work with the staff. These sessions give children the opportunity to explore their feelings and anxieties and discuss any factors that led to them leaving the home.

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improvement to be good

The staff also use these sessions to reinforce safety messages with regard to how children can keep themselves safe when they are absent from the home. The registered manager updates children’s risk assessments following any incidents of concern. Risks to children’s safety are well documented and there are clear strategies in place for the staff to follow. This ensures that the staff are aware of the frequency of the risk, which makes it easy for them to identify whether the risk is reducing or increasing. The staff manage any self-harm behaviours well and act promptly to keep the children safe. Following any such incidents, the staff seek additional support for the children through specialist adolescent mental health services. This approach provides children with the support that they need and opportunities to discuss their feelings and anxieties. This helps children to move forward with their lives.

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good

The registered manager does not have autonomy over admissions to the home. There have been occasions when managers from the local authority have overruled the registered manager’s decision to not admit a child in an emergency situation, as she recognised that the staff would be unable to protect this child from harm and that this admission would be detrimental to the children already living in the home. Although the registered manager expressed her concerns, she did not escalate these to more senior leaders in the local authority. Safer recruitment isn’t thorough. There are gaps in background checks for some employees. The registered manager does not have oversight of these recruitment files and is unable to discuss what checks have been carried out and why. This means that the registered manager is unable to verify the suitability of staff to work with children in this home. The registered manager is new in post. She has implemented several changes to the

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good

home, such as streamlining children’s files and introducing key-work booklets. The registered manager has completed a quality of care review, which supports the development of the home. There are effective monitoring systems in place to identify when supervisions and health and safety checks are due, and what key-work sessions the staff are completing with the children. This helps the registered manager to identify and act on any practice shortfalls. Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 5 The staff are well supported by the registered manager. They say that, because of her leadership, they are able to work consistently as a team and are happy working at the home. The staff receive regular formal supervision. These sessions help them to develop, as they are given tasks to complete to monitor their learning. Supervision sessions provide the staff with opportunities to reflect on their practice and to consider how their actions and performance influence children’s progress.

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good

Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the registered manager is responsible for decisions regarding emergency placements and that these decisions are in accordance with children’s relevant plans. 30 July 2021

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(vi)(b)) 30 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered manager has oversight of all employment checks for all appointed staff. 30 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC068000 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington, County Durham DL1 5QT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jane Kochanowski

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Inspector

Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC068000 9 to 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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