Children's Home run by HMO NE Ltd in Sunderland

Inspection report children's home: 2569358 1 Registered provider: HMO NE LTD 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 managed by a private provider. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and/or social difficulties. Two children currently live in this home. The manager registered in May 2020.

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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. The home has not had a judgment inspection since registering in May 2020. The home had a monitoring visit in November 2020. The report is published on our website.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2569358 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individual care and support from a dedicated staff team. This helps children to make progress from their starting points. A child commented, ‘This is the best place I have lived. I know the staff care. I know they want the best for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans are reviewed and amended when necessary. Staff work well with a range of agencies. This ensures that children have access to the right level of support. The use of photographs and charts helps children to see the areas that they are making progress. This helps children to develop a sense of pride in their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families and friends, where appropriate. This helps children to maintain key relationships and supports them to maintain their sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education is well supported. Children’s attendance in school and their engagement with their studies has improved. This has helped them to complete exams. Children are then able to move on to further education. This supports their continued learning and development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to maintain good health and well-being. Staff encourage children to engage in a range of fitness activities, which children say that they enjoy. These include attending gyms, going on walks and doing gardening, amongst other activities. Additionally, staff support children to attend a range of medical appointments. For some children, this has improved their health outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home and surrounding grounds are generally well maintained. Communal areas provide children with space to play games and relax. However, one child’s bedroom is in a poor condition. There is minor damage to the walls and the room requires cleaning. This provides children with negative messages about acceptable standards of care. Since the inspection, the manager has taken urgent action to address this shortfall.

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

Children’s risk assessments are updated regularly as the manager uses the information from the debriefs that she has with the children and the staff following significant incidents. This ensures that children’s risk assessments remain current and up to date. This helps staff to provide safe and consistent care to promote children’s safety and well-being.

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

Children receive support and guidance from the staff on how to keep themselves safe. Targeted key-working sessions help children to discuss risks and concerns. Inspection report children's home: 2569358 3 These sessions are linked to children’s risk assessments. Children’s risks are reducing in some areas.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home are managed well. Staff support children to return home as the staff follow children’s agreed risk management plans. Staff ensure that the children have an independent visitor to speak to on their return. Staff work well with a wide range of agencies to help reduce children’s risks in this area. This has been effective as in recent weeks children’s missing from home incidents have decreased.

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

The use of physical interventions to manage children’s behaviour has reduced. The preferred method of managing children’s behaviour when children are in crisis is for the staff to use de-escalation techniques. The manager monitors this practice through her review of the children’s records to ensure that staff practice is safe and proportionate.

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

Effective behaviour management helps children to develop positive behaviours. Children receive praise and rewards for their positive behaviour, which staff record in the children’s documents. However, staff do not routinely record when children receive restorative consequences. Therefore, the manager cannot evaluate the effectiveness of these measures to ensure that these are fair and balanced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is appropriately qualified. She recognises the benefits of developing the staff and the service. A further recruitment drive is underway to expand the service. The manager has appointed a new deputy manager who is suitably qualified and experienced. She uses the skills of the staff to further improve children’s outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed positive working relationships with a range of professionals to ensure children receive a good level of support. A professional commented, ‘The manager is very good. She manages risks well. She will say if [Name] is not getting the right level of support and she works with us. This is the most stable placement [Name] has been in.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager advocates well for children. She challenges external agencies when they do not provide the support that children require. As a result, children receive the help and support that they need to ensure that their outcomes improve, and their welfare is better protected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the home’s strengths as well as areas that require development. She has a clear plan in place to develop the service. The manager’s monitoring systems are effective at addressing shortfalls in staff practice. Several requirements issued at the previous monitoring visit are now met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision is reflective and covers relevant topics. However, there are gaps in the frequency of some staff receiving supervision. This includes the manager’s own Inspection report children's home: 2569358 4 supervision. This limits opportunities for all staff to reflect on their practice and ensure that it meets children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, recordings in children’s documents are of good quality. They detail how staff help and protect children. However, there are some minor errors in the information recorded in children’s documents. A recommendation made at the last monitoring visit is not met and this has been reissued. Inspection report children's home: 2569358 5

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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, and 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(a)(b)(i)(iii)(c)(i)) 3 September 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any sanctions used to manage children’s behaviour are restorative, and that they help children to learn from their behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that staff including the manager, receive supervision of their practice in line with its own policy. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report children's home: 2569358 6  The registered person should ensure that staff record information in children’s documents clearly and in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2569358 7

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Inspector

Jacqueline Tate, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2569358 8 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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