Children's home run by Northamptonshire Children’s Trust Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 1 Registered provider: Northamptonshire Children’s Trust Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a local authority and is registered to care for up to four children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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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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

Date of last inspection: This is the home’s first inspection

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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 for children’s home: 2608892 2

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Recent inspection history

This is the home’s first inspection Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite many children coming to live at the home at a time of crisis, all children make progress before they move on from the home. Children have gone on to the next stage of their life successfully. For example, in the last year, two children have moved on from the home because they were ready to live independently. This is very good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s emotional health and well-being are seen as a top priority. Staff have the skills to help and support the children well in this area. Children who have struggled to manage their self-harmful behaviours have been helped to reduce them and they have become more settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are in some form of education. Children are supported and encouraged by staff when things go wrong. Staff work to remove barriers to education at the earliest opportunity so that children can make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children, some of whom have suffered trauma in their life, all receive the help and support they need. Staff care a great deal about the children. They invest a lot of time in ensuring that each child benefits from a high level of support. One-to-one sessions with staff take place regularly. Staff are not afraid of talking to children about difficult subjects, such as the child’s behaviour or actions towards others. Children feel free and able to talk to the staff about their emotions and feelings. They learn about themselves and how to move forward in their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care plans identify what type of help and support children need and how to respond to this. Children are involved in the process of care planning, so they invest in their placement. When a new child moves in, the placing local authority provides an overarching care plan for the child. However, these plans are rarely specific about how the child’s needs will be met at the home. This can lead to a delay in delivering the most tailored day-to-day care from the outset.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Occasionally, there are difficult dynamics between the children. Staff manage any incidents appropriately. Children learn about how to live with others and about how their actions might affect others. This learning equips them with future life skills. All professionals asked are extremely positive about each child’s placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a pleasant place for children to live. It is clean and homely and bedrooms are personalised. However, the kitchen is not up to the same standard as the rest of the house. It looks tired, with areas that are worn. The kitchen floor is stained from years of use and needs replacing. A pane of glass was broken, and this had happened several days earlier. Maintenance work needs to take place in a timelier manner so that children can continue to feel proud of their environment. Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 4

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

There are times when children feel unsafe because of their previous experience of trauma and their complex needs. However, risk - taking behaviours are very well managed and monitored by staff. As a result, risks such as self-harm , violence and aggression have started to reduce. This is very significant for some children as they are now engaging with relevant support to reduce the risks for the first time. Children are safe and protected.

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

Behaviour management is good. Restraint is rarely used and is only carried out when necessary and proportionate to the situation. Staff are trained in how to reduce the need for restraint, as well as how to physically intervene if they need to. Children are helped to reflect and learn from behavioural incidents. However, their voice about the actual restraint and how it was carried out by staff is not captured. This means that there could be a lack of evaluation of the quality of staff practice. It does not enable the child to provide their perspective in scrutinising the effectiveness of the intervention.

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

When children have been missing from the home, they are helped to return at the earliest opportunity. The police are very positive about how staff work with them to help to keep children safe and protected. The records do not show that any action was taken at night during a recent missing episode for a child. The manager is clear that this is a recording issue rather than a practice issue. He is already seeking to improve this to make sure that staff’s practice can be scrutinised properly.

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

When a safeguarding issue arises, there is a swift and effective response from the manager. He is very good at making sure his investigations are thorough and evaluative. Children are protected in line with appropriate procedures.

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

Children’s individual risk assessments are of a good quality. Staff recognise that each child’s sense of safety is radically different, and their approach to risk is highly individualised. All professionals were very positive about children’s increased safety. One professional told the inspector: ‘I cannot fault them.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers set out to provide care for some of the most complex children and they achieve some good outcomes. Leaders and managers have done a good job in difficult circumstances. They have kept the home going during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some children and staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Leaders, managers and staff have pulled together to cover staff shortages.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable and well motivated. One member of staff told the inspector about her views of the home, saying: ‘I absolutely love it here, it’s like a breath of fresh air.’ Staff genuinely enjoy their jobs and enjoy spending time with children. Children also enjoy their time with staff and there are some very strong relationships. Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 5 Staff are well trained and supported to care for the children. Staff are good at what they do. They have a very good understanding of each child’s needs. They focus very much on the positives. If children want to look back on their records in the future, they will see that staff cared about them, encouraged them and always saw the positives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders understand that traumatised children do present with complex needs and risks, but they match these children against the skills of the staff group and the other children well. This means that each child has the opportunity to develop and make progress. Decisions are made about admissions based on a thorough risk assessment process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy have very good management oversight. They know the children’s needs very well. They have a strong presence in the home, and they make sure that the children are always at the centre. They lead by example, ensuring that good-quality care is provided to children. Staff reported very positively about their managers. One said: ‘Through all my years of working, these two guys are the most supportive management team I have ever worked for.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35 (3)(c)). Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment

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Recommendations

that is welcoming and supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that there is effective care planning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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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 for children’s home: 2608892 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northamptonshire Children’s Trust Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: One Angel Square, Angel Street, Northampton, Northamptonshire NN1 1ED

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Inspector

Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2608892 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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