Children's Home run by Hopedale Children and Family Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: SC444869 1 SC444869 Registered provider: Hopedale Children and Family Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to 15 children who have suffered adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 22 September 2020 and is suitable qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 19 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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: 4 November 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: SC444869 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/11/2019 Full Good 14/01/2019 Full Outstanding 19/09/2017 Full Outstanding 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC444869 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection nine children have moved to the home, and 11 children have left. The care provided to children is of mixed quality. Some children are settled and making progress; however, staff are struggling to meet the needs of other children.

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improvement to be good

Managers have identified that they are unable to meet the needs of one child who currently lives in the home. Although these concerns were shared with the child’s local authority, the child has continued to live at the home. Managers have not taken proactive and effective steps to further escalate their concerns. The child’s welfare and progress have suffered because of the registered manager’s failure to challenge the local authority’s decision making.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager does not fully consider the needs of the children living in the home when planning for others to move in. For example, one child has moved to the home who should not be in contact with younger children. The child is allowed to go on activities with the younger children who also live in the home. Although children are supervised, this decision exposes children to an unnecessary risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not carry out support sessions with children as set out in their individual care plans. For example, some children have not received key-work support for over three months. This is a missed opportunity for children to receive guidance and advice from staff on those aspect of their lives that they have been identified as needing support with.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff work in collaboration with the in-house therapist in providing therapeutic support for children to help them understand their feelings and emotions. However, the outcomes of these sessions are not always recorded. This undermines the effectiveness of the therapeutic support provided and makes it difficult for staff to review the progress children are making.

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improvement to be good

One child has a broken cupboard and wardrobe. The timescales for replacing these items are not clear. This slow response to addressing maintenance issues detracts from children’s experiences of living in this home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good relationship with the school that children attend. As a result, communication and partnership working is strong. Daily handover meetings ensure that staff and the school are aware of any issues affecting the child. This joined-up approach has been effective in successfully promoting children’s attendance and progress. Inspection report children's home: SC444869 4 The children currently living in the home speak fondly of the staff and say that they like the staff. One child shared that he enjoys going on activities with staff.

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improvement to be good

Most professionals speak positively of the registered manager and staff. One social worker shared that she is happy with the communication she receives from staff and is pleased with the progress that her child is making. However, another social worker advised that communication with staff had not enabled her to understand how staff were supporting the child.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not always effective at managing children’s behaviours. Staff do not have a strong understanding of the children’s behaviour management plans or the strategies they should use to keep children safe. Furthermore, children’s behaviour management plans do not always provide clear descriptors of how and when to use specific behaviour management interventions. This contributes to staff being inconsistent in their care of children.

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improvement to be good

Staff struggle to respond to children’s behaviours and de-escalate situations. As a result, some children are regularly restrained. However, not all staff involved in these restraints are trained to do so. This places children at greater risk of being harmed when being held. The potential risk to children is increased due to the use of ground-based holds.

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improvement to be good

Records of physical interventions when staff use ground-holds, are poor and lack detail. The registered manager has also failed to consistently review these incidents and consider whether the restraint was reasonable, proportionate and necessary. The combination of poor recording and lack of managerial oversight means that there are missed opportunities to learn from these incidents and improve staff practice.

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improvement to be good

The organisation’s behaviour management policy does not provide guidance to staff on the use of ground-based physical interventions. This means that staff are not provided with the clarity needed on when it would be appropriate to use such holds.

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improvement to be good

The quality of children’s risk assessment is variable. This is because risk assessments do not provide staff with the strategies and guidance that is tailored to the individual needs of children. This contributes to staff’s ineffective approach to safeguarding children.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager does not always follow internal policies for the safer recruitment of staff who have been employed from other services operated by the organisation. Specifically, the registered manager does not complete an interview with the staff to determine their suitability to undertake the role that they have been employed to do. Inspection report children's home: SC444869 5

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good

The registered manager is newly appointed. The registered manager is still developing his confidence and skills in managing the home. The registered manager’s monitoring of the home is supported by a quality assurance administrator. However, the registered manager does not yet have a good enough understanding of the home’s areas for improvement.

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good

Requirements and shortfalls identified at the previous inspection have not yet been addressed. This does not demonstrate strong leadership.

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good

The home’s management structure includes a second registered manager. This post is currently vacant. This has reduced the leadership capacity of the home and has contributed to the delay in managers driving forwards improvements.

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good

Staff speak positively about the support they have received from their managers. However, staff do not receive adequate training to ensure that they care effectively for children. For example, not all staff have completed training in first aid, safeguarding, internet safety, the use of physical interventions or fire safety.

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good

When staff do complete training, it does not always provide staff with the required skills and knowledge. For example, staff have recently completed training in global development delay and autism. At the time of the inspection, staff could not confidently explain how they would support and safeguard children with these needs.

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good

The registered manager’s six-monthly quality of care review report contains duplicate information, from previous quality of care reports submitted to Ofsted, in his evaluation of the quality of care provided to children. Furthermore, the registered manager has not considered the effectiveness of the care provided to those children who have left the home. This is a missed opportunity to identify and act on required improvements in staff practice. Inspection report children's home: SC444869 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

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

This is a repeat requirement. This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that he is effective in escalating concerns relating to child planning arrangements in the home. 31 December

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the children have furniture that is suitable to use and there is a system in place to address the maintenance issues. 31 December Inspection report children's home: SC444869 7 The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This is a repeat requirement. This specifically relates to the registered managers ensuring that children are supported with their behaviour towards other children. 31 December

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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

that staff— 31 December Inspection report children's home: SC444869 8 assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This is a repeat requirement. This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the children’s risk assessments provide clear guidance to staff on how to respond to incidents.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the staff have the training and skills to carry out their roles and responsibilities. 31 December

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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. 31 December Inspection report children's home: SC444869 9 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the impact risk assessment of the child moving into the home has considered the risks of all the children living at the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)(a)(v)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the children’s behaviour management plans provide clear guidance to staff, when staff have to use physical intervention holds requiring children to be taken to the floor. 31 December

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(c)) 31 December Inspection report children's home: SC444869 10 This specifically relates to the registered manager using his six-monthly monitoring quality of care review report to drive improvements to care provided to children.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they follow their own internal recruitment procedures for staff who have been recruited internally from schools to the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1).

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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: SC444869 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopedale Children and Family Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hopedale House, Off West Drive, Cheddleton, Leek, Staffordshire ST13 7ED

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Inspectors

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Melanie Griffin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC444869 12 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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