Children's home run by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 1 Registered provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in March 2021 and is owned by a local authority. It provides care and accommodation for up to two children with social, 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, Ofsted suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the home’s first full inspection since the service was registered in March 2021.

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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: Not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have given great focus to establish positive and trusting relationships that have started to make a real difference to the child currently living at the home. This has enabled the child to increasingly accept the nurturing care, support and guidance provided by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since living at the home, the child has grown in confidence. The child is now more able to engage with other support agencies and is making positive choices. As a result of the consistent care from staff, the child is better able to regulate their emotions and is making good progress in many aspects of their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child benefits enormously from receiving routine health appointments and assessments, provided by the looked after children’s nurse, local health services and a therapeutic team. This helps to meet the complex health needs of the child. Mental health services are involved from a distance and work continues to ensure that all necessary professionals will be in place in the near future to provide the best ongoing support required into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Great importance is given to making sure that the child is consulted and that their views, opinions and wishes are considered. Staff quickly established that the child is interested in art and animals. As such, the staff helped to create an art gallery and provided the child with a pet hamster. These experiences help to create positive childhood memories for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s engagement in school has been good. This has enabled the child to achieve most of their educational goals. Staff understand the child’s education plan. However, the recent completion of an education, health and care plan (EHCP) was not received in a timely manner. This has the potential to hinder how staff implement agreed plans for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is proud and enjoys living in an environment that they call home. The house is decorated, furnished and maintained to a very good standard. There is evidence of the child’s personality throughout the home. Rooms have been personalised including the child’s bedroom. However, the stair carpet is stained and is showing signs of wear and tear. This detracts from the overall homeliness of the environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Suitable attention is given to promoting the learning of age-appropriate independent living skills, which include cooking, shopping and chores around the home. This, again, has supported the child to make progress, as they have developed the relevant skills to help them be more self-sufficient into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The local authority is making plans to support the child into adulthood. The child has a suitable pathway plan. Multi-agency meetings have taken place to commence the Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 4 planning for the future. However, the transition planning timeline and secured commitments from all the relevant agencies, including mental health services, are not yet agreed in writing. With the child’s complexity of need and a limited timeframe, this requires particular attention. This will help to ensure that there are no missed opportunities to provide the finest support and care package into adulthood.

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

All permanent staff are aware of the risks, vulnerability, and the complex needs of the child in their care. Staff are clear on the care being provided. This matches the up-to-date written behaviour management support plans and risk assessments that guide them on how best to care for the child. This helps to better protect the child.

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

On occasions, the manager has deployed agency staff to help care for the child. Agency staff demonstrate a good understanding of the child. However, the inspector identified that at least two agency workers had not read the child’s risk assessments. This has the potential to hinder how some staff respond to the child’s risk-taking behaviour.

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

The development and the delivery of consistent care from staff, and the increased knowledge of potential triggers that the child presents when going into crisis, have started to have a real positive affect. The number of incidents has started to decline in intensity and frequency. This is the result of positive implementation of written behavioural support strategies used by the staff, and the existence of the trusting and positive relationships has made a real difference to the child.

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

Missing from home procedures and the use of the child’s deprivation of liberty order (DOL) are understood and sensitively implemented by staff. The local authority reviews the DOL at regular intervals. This helps to ensure that the least restrictive measures are used and only implemented to help better protect the child.

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good

The manager and senior team have concentrated on forming a new staff team that provides consistent care to the child. The manager demonstrates a clear awareness of the strengths and areas that require development within the home.

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good

Staff are positive and confirm that they have established good teamwork. They speak proudly and with positive commitment about the child in their care. Staff routinely receive good-quality supervision, which includes the care of children, staff development and identification of any training needs. This helps to ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge needed to care for the child.

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good

Currently, the child is supported by three staff at any one time. On occasions, maintaining this staff ratio has been a challenge and has resulted in the use of agency staff. This impacts on the continuity of care provided to the child. Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 5 Staff meetings take place to support good communication. However, the new staff team has identified the need to have development, reflective and team-building sessions. To date, this has not been achieved. This is due to the current limitations of releasing the staff team due to maintaining a high staff ratio to care for the child. This has the potential to hinder the development of the quality of care being provided.

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good

The manager ensures that allegations made about staff have been reported to and investigated by the placing authority social worker. However, not all allegations have been referred to the designated officer for the local authority. This compromises the validity of the process undertaken and does not promote a multi-agency approach to safeguarding.

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good

One community-based complaint has been made by a neighbour. This has been investigated and appropriate action was taken to address the matters raised. However, the complaints record has not been updated with an outcome. This does not meet the requirements set out in regulation.

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good

Staff training includes safeguarding, first aid, child trauma, teenage brain development and self-harm, along with an array of mandatory training. However, not all relevant specialist training has been provided, including borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and managing disclosures.

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good

There are internal and external monitoring systems in place. Overall, these systems work well to detect most omissions and deficiencies. Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the EHCP is received. There is a co- ordinated plan with other agencies that includes a detailed timeline to assist the child’s planned move to adult services. 28 August 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; 28 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 7 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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home must follow the Local Authority safeguarding policy, that includes notifying the LADO of all allegations. All agency staff working at the home must read the child’s risk assessments.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(b)(d)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, providing sufficient staffing to enable staff development and other relevant meetings- and to reduce the need to use agency staff. 28 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (1) (3)) 28 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 8 The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, provide staff with training in borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and handling disclosures. 28 August 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, for children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, clean or replace the stained stair carpet.

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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: 2629335 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Riverside House, Main Street, Rotherham S60 1AE

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2629335 10 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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