Children's Home run by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council in Dudley

Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 1 SC038500 Registered provider: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who have had adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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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Inspection date: 16 December 2021

Date of last inspection: 26 October 2021

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Inspection date: 16 December 2021

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection date: 16 December 2021

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 2

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged requires improvement to be good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judged that it has declined in effectiveness.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This inspection was undertaken following concerns raised with Ofsted about the quality of care provided to children and to review whether action has been taken to meet the requirements raised at the last inspection. At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Safeguarding arrangements in the home are poor. Risk assessments do not always reflect children’s known and emerging risks and fail to provide staff with guidance, advice or strategies to follow. For example, missing-from-care risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance on keeping children safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff fail to follow children’s risk assessments. When children go missing from care, managers and staff fail to take appropriate action. For example, when one child went missing, staff did not complete local searches. This has the potential to increase the risk to vulnerable children.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff lack professional curiosity. They do not undertake regular checks of children’s electronic devices and mobile phones. Staff did not take any action when one child at risk of sexual and criminal exploitation returned to the home with new clothing, despite being aware of the potential risks. Consequently, children are not kept safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children who are known to be at risk of substance misuse and exploitation do not have the support of staff to engage them in effective direct work to help them to understand harmful behaviours. As a result, children do not develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from damaging or harmful behaviour.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff do not have a good understanding of de-escalation techniques, or when to use them, to help manage challenging behaviours to keep the children and themselves safe. For example, staff are reluctant to use physical intervention when there are serious concerns, or when a child is unable to regulate their emotions. As a result, this has led to situations escalating and damage being caused to the home. These are missed opportunities by staff to ensure that children are better supported to manage their feelings.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The manager’s review and oversight of physical interventions are poor and do not include sufficiently robust scrutiny to ensure that the use of restraint is necessary and proportionate. For example, physical restraint records do not contain all the required information, such as events leading up to the restraint and the measures used. This leaves children vulnerable and compromises their safety. Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 3 Managers and staff fail to act in a timely manner when children are not engaged in education. For example, staff do not engage children effectively each day in learning and education activities. Consequently, one child is left to their own devices during the day. Staff have limited awareness of the child’s activity outside the home and show little professional curiosity in respect of this. This has the potential to leave children at risk of harm.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home environment is poor. At the time of the inspection, children’s bedrooms were observed to require a deep clean and did not provide children with basic necessities. For example, one child has been sleeping on a bare mattress. Broken furniture in the home has not been repaired or replaced in a timely fashion.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Managers and staff lock internal doors without good reason. For example, the kitchen, lounge and dining room doors are locked, and this is common practice. This places unnecessary restrictions on children to move freely in their home and does not create a homely environment.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Managers’ monitoring and oversight of the home are poor. Managers have failed to address requirements made at the previous inspection. This means that little progress has been made, and repeated regulatory shortfalls remain a concern. As a result, the quality of care afforded to children is inadequate.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Managers have failed to ensure that the home has a sufficient number of staff who have received refresher mandatory training to update their knowledge and skills. For example, not all staff have received training in child sexual exploitation, internet safety, self-harm and administration of medication. This means that there are gaps in staff’s knowledge on how to keep children safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Following this inspection, a notice to suspend the home’s registration was issued along with two compliance notices under regulations 12 and 13. Ofsted will undertake a further unannounced visit to monitor the home’s progress.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/08/2019 Full Good 18/09/2018 Full Good 28/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 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, 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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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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;

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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)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vii)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. 24 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 6 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.

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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

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

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. (Regulation 11 (1)(b) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that they support children to keep safe. 24 January 2022

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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

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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to staff ensuring that risk assessments 24 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 7 are up to date.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the registered manager ensuring that all staff receive refresher mandatory training.

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Requirement Due date

It also refers to the registered manager ensuring that they use internal monitoring systems more effectively. 24 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 24 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 8 This particularly refers to the registered manager ensuring that staff do not lock internal doors within the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the missing child policy") setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the registered manager ensuring that the staff adequately respond to missing-from-home incidents, and that the manager evaluates the effectiveness of each response.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 24 January 2022

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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

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

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

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used, or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(b) (3)(a)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the registered manager ensuring that all relevant information is contained in behaviour management records.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 24 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 9

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Information about this inspection

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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: SC038500 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Council House, Priory Road, Dudley DY1 1HF

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Inspector

Patrick McIntosh, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC038500 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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