Children's home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull, City of

Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 1 SC040105 Registered provider: Hull City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and operated by a local authority. It provides an edge of care service for up to six children, whose plan is to live in a short-term residential setting. It also provides emergency, short break/respite accommodation. All children may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected, their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 22 October 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/06/2018 Full Good 19/02/2018 Full Good 21/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 3

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inadequate

This home is intended to operate as a short-term stepping stone for children. The intention is for children to move to either a long-term children’s home or foster carer or back to a connected person/family. When children come to the home, they understand their stay is only temporary. This can be a barrier to children forming close, trusted relationships with the staff. It also results in some aspect of care not being truly personalised, for example, room décor is not chosen by the children. This does not promote a sense of stability for the children.

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inadequate

The short-term nature of placements means the focus is not on supporting the children to make significant progress. Staff do support children to explore their interests, but staff recognise this is not guaranteed to continue once children move elsewhere. The manager describes children being in a ‘holding position’, which leads to them experiencing uncertainty in their lives.

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inadequate

The lack of emphasis on the children making progress becomes problematic if children stay in the home beyond a few weeks. Some children have been living there for much longer than what was initially intended. Some, but not all, have satisfactory school attendance, but in respect of seeing children develop and mature, there is little evidence of this. Staff do not keep a meaningful record for the children of their time in the home. This does not help to develop their sense of identity and could leave a gap in the future when the children try to understand their childhood experiences.

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inadequate

Staff are committed and say they want to provide good care to the children. To achieve this, staff work with a psychologist to better understand effective ways of supporting the children. However, children do not readily accept this support. Children say they like the staff, but there are frequent incidents where staff are unable to manage the children’s behaviour. Sometimes during these incidents, the police are called to assist. This leads to children developing a lack of trust in both the staff and the emergency services.

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inadequate

Children have poor experiences during their stay at this home. Their relationships with their peers are volatile, and there have been physical fights between the children. There have also been instances of racial abuse, bullying and some children have negatively influenced others. There is no written bullying risk assessment and mitigation plan in place. This leaves children vulnerable both emotionally and physically.

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inadequate

The condition of the premises is inconsistent. The communal areas downstairs are broadly homely and pleasant. However, the appearance of the bedroom area does not have a domestic feel, and there is residual smoke damage from a fire which Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 4 happened a year ago. Locked landing doors, and an isolator switch that is located in the staff area for turning off televisions accentuates an institutional feel.

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

Staff work proactively with other professionals and share information. However, this does not always reduce risks to the children who continue to go missing or spend time with adults who pose a risk to them. In some instances, new worrying behaviours emerge after children move into the home. This is partly as a result of new connections and peer groups in the home and the local community.

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

Relationships with the wider community are strained. The managers and the staff work hard to try to establish better relationships but the antisocial behaviour of several children (including from outside the home) means the local community can be critical and resentful of the young people. This has led to police involvement, requested by neighbours, and video recording of the children. This does not promote a sense of belonging or inclusion in the community.

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

When children go missing, staff follow plans and work with others to return them safely. However, sometimes during these episodes, children are with people or in places which put them at risk of harm. The number of missing episodes fluctuates, and this is largely influenced by external factors, not by the practice of staff.

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

The matching of children is a significant weakness. Some children have moved in even when potential issues of concern have been identified. This could mean they are unlikely to live happily and safely alongside other children already in the home. Some matching assessments do not take account of known risks or have insufficient strategies to mitigate. For example, the plan for children to only reside together for a few hours or days has not been the outcome. Staff are unsuccessful in managing situations when children are violent towards each other or are a negative influence.

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

After children move in, the matching of children is not regularly reviewed. This reduces the opportunity to intervene at the point when relationships between children start to deteriorate.

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

The quality of risk assessments is not consistently good. Some risk assessments do not acknowledge known risks. The managers and the staff do escalate concerns and access specialist help for the young people. However, children say they do not always feel safe in the home, and there have been a high number of safeguarding incidents.

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

Children are vulnerable to exploitation, and this is not always reduced by moving into the home. Indeed, in some instances this risk increases when children come to the home as they start to develop friendships with others already in contact with adults who may cause them harm. Managers know that these friendships between children are risky but the strategies for disrupting them are largely ineffective. Managers are overly reliant on children making responsible choices when they do not have the emotional maturity to do this. Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 5

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good

The use of a second property nearby for emergency and short break/respite accommodation is embedded in the model of care provided by this home. Because of its connection to the main home, the two different services have become blurred. Some children on short breaks have moved directly into the main home. The child currently being cared for in the emergency accommodation is there on a longer-term basis. This has not been helpful in promoting a sense of security and stability for the children.

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good

One emergency admission was of a child with a disability. This is outside the conditions of registration and the statement of purpose. This compromised the safety of the child who had health and medication needs outside the skills and knowledge of staff. In addition, there was no risk management plan in place at the time to mitigate for the lack of staff skills.

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good

During the inspection, a safeguarding incident occurred. This was not properly notified by staff to all relevant professionals, neither was the relevant risk plan updated until queried by the inspectors. This does not promote effective safeguarding.

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good

Leaders and managers have a thorough knowledge of the needs of, and risks to, the children. They aspire to deliver good-quality care, but are undermined by their lack of influence over risks outside the home and by the poor relationships between the children.

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good

Staff and other professionals, generally, hold the managers in high regard. The staff receive regular supervision from their managers; however, written records are not consistently of a good standard. Staff say they feel exhausted, and they express frustration about current practice of placing children in the home.

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good

Staff do have a strong team identity and are loyal and supportive of each other. However, team meetings have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and alternative channels of information sharing have had to be used, which include mostly emails and handover meetings between shifts. Managers have shown that they send out new and updated information by email, but do not have a mechanism to test out that vital information is read and is understood by staff. This means managers cannot be reassured about any gaps in staff’s knowledge and understanding.

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good

Managers recognise the weaknesses of the home and have currently paused further children moving in due to the challenges of managing the relationships between the current children. Managers have recognised that elements of personalisation, nurturing care and identity work is missing from the service. Children are not currently supported to have a meaningful record of their time within the home. The Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 6 introduction of the PACE approach, alongside development work on memory books will be introduced but has not yet been achieved. Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 7

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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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.

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(vi)(b)(c)) 22 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

*The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; and

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to— 22 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 8 ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; and

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii))

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)) 22 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. Children and their parents should be supported to understand the nature of records kept by the home and how to access them. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. Staff should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 9  The registered person should keep a record of supervision for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). It is good practice for a note of the content

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Recommendations

and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3-13.4)

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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: SC040105 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kingston upon Hull City Council, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

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Inspectors

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Regulatory Inspector (Lead) Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC040105 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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