Children's Home run by Barracare Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 1 Registered provider: Barracare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to four children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is appropriately qualified and is 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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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: none Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. Overall, children have developed positive relationships with staff. However, one child said that they do not have positive relationships with all staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to make good progress. Staff understand children’s starting points and support them to develop their strengths. Children can reflect on the progress they have made and how staff have supported them through listening to their views and making them feel valued. Consequently, children’s experiences in the home are positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with people who are important to them. Their families say that they are kept informed by staff about the children’s progress and staff support them to see their children regularly. Children’s families are consulted, and they say that they feel involved in decisions about the care given to their children. As a result, children are supported to maintain relationships with the people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education is valued. Staff ensure that they advocate for children when they are experiencing difficulties within their education setting, and any barriers to children making good progress are explored and addressed collaboratively with their school and social worker. As a result, children are cared for by adults who care about their future and who aspire for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. For example, staff support children to attend health appointments, and they are encouraged to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and well-being. Children are supported to understand risks relating to smoking and their sexual health. This ensures that children make well-informed decisions about their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff manage concerns appropriately when there is conflict between children. One-to-one work is carried out with children to help understand and improve their experiences of living in the home. The children’s social workers are informed to ensure that effective support is implemented to help all children. This ensures that conflict between children is addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The impact risk assessments of children moving into the home are recorded poorly. The assessments do not fully consider the risks and the impact that the children may have on each other. The manager does not fully consider the training needs for staff to enable them to sufficiently meet the needs of the children. As a result, poor matching may have a detrimental impact on the progress and well-being of children in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 4

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

The children benefit from regular and individualised key-work sessions that are in line with their targets. They are encouraged to share their views and engage in decisions about their lives. Consequently, the children feel listened to, and this is helping to reduce their risks.

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

Overall, the manager’s response to allegations is good. She has identified shortfalls when staff have not taken appropriate action when a child made an allegation against staff. The manager ensures that appropriate action is taken to safeguard staff and children when allegations are made. There is good communication between the staff, social workers and local authority designated officers. Good oversight and scrutiny of allegations help to protect children from harm.

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

The manager ensures that staff are safely recruited. This means that staff working with the children have been suitably checked to ensure that they do not pose any risks to children.

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

Staff ensure that there is good communication with partner agencies when risks to children are identified. For example, staff ensure that regular meetings with partner agencies are convened to discuss any concerns and how to respond to these. This ensures that a joined-up approach is taken by all agencies to support children and to make them feel safer in their home.

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

Overall, staff respond appropriately when children go missing from the home. Children do not go missing for long periods, and staff respond appropriately when they return home. The manager ensures that children receive return-from-home interviews with an independent person to help explore any harm they may have experienced. This practice helps to manage risks to children effectively. However, the missing-from-care protocol and risk assessments do not contain specific procedures for staff to follow. This may impact on the effectiveness of how missing- from-care episodes are managed.

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

Staff do not always respond appropriately to risk, and supervision arrangements of children are not consistently effective. For example, when one child presented with thoughts to self-harm, staff did not contact the emergency services immediately. In addition, staff do not take sufficient action to ensure that children do not go into each other’s bedrooms or that effective systems are in place to monitor children when they are spending time in their bedrooms. This has resulted in safeguarding concerns in the home.

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

The quality of risk assessments is variable. Some risk assessments are very clear and sufficiently detailed. However, some lack pertinent information in relation to risks associated with children. For example, staff did not consider in their risk assessment how free time in the community is managed for a child who has historically been at risk of child sexual exploitation. The manager ensured that this was addressed immediately. However, this shortfall could have resulted in staff poorly managing the risks to this child. Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 5 Physical restraint records are not sufficiently detailed. Staff do not record a detailed description of physical interventions. Debriefs with staff lack reflection, and the manager’s oversight does not identify shortfalls in staff’s practice. In addition, incidents are not always recorded within the required timescales. This practice does

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

not support effective monitoring of physical restraints.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a strong leader who is very experienced, knowledgeable and suitably qualified. She is reflective in her practice and transparent in her approach. She can identify shortfalls and considers action plans to address these. As a result, the areas of development for the home are reviewed and addressed in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy working at the home. They are motivated to provide good-quality care so that children enjoy their lives and make progress. There is a strong sense of teamwork and mutual support among staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular supervision sessions take place and are of a good standard. There is evidence of high support and high challenge within the registered manager’s discussions with staff. The strengths and developmental needs for staff are identified and support is put in place as appropriate. Consequently, children are cared for by staff who are receiving regular support to strengthen their ability to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care plans for children are comprehensive and meet their individual needs. These identify short-term and long-term aims and objectives for the children. The registered manager supports staff to understand the plans for children to enable them to be effective. Consequently, children have plans that consider where they are in their journey, the impact of their lived experiences and how to meet their needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that concerns are escalated to external partners when necessary to do so. For example, one child has experienced difficulties with accessing education. Therefore, the home has challenged relevant agencies to ensure that this is progressed. There is good communication with partner agencies to ensure that a joined-up approach is taken and plans for children are progressed. This means that children are cared for by staff who advocate for their needs and who address any barriers to accessing the services they are entitled to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff do not consistently record accurate information in children’s files. For example, some records lack clarity about information that has been shared by others and how this informs risk management plans for children. As a result, records do not consistently help to provide an understanding of children’s experiences. Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 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

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

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;

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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)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that they take sufficient action to manage the risks posed by children going into each other’s bedrooms and ensure that that there are effective monitoring systems when children spend time in their bedrooms.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, staff should ensure that they take effective action when children self-harm. 13 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 18 August 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 7 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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should ensure that matching risk assessments consider the training needs of staff to meet the needs of the children and consider the impact on all the children.

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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 the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; 13 May 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 8 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure that physical restraint records are sufficiently detailed.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s records are kept up to date. Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and accurate recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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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: 2647022 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Limes, Barkerhouse Road, Nelson, Lancashire BB9 9NL

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Inspector

Mazviita Makiyi, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2647022 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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