Children's Home run by Darlington Borough Council in Darlington

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 1 SC037861 Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to three children who may experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is managed by a local authority. The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/06/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/09/2019 Full Good 01/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 3

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improvement to be good

Children living at this home have mixed experiences. Children spend time in the community, which is not always positive for them because of the risk it poses. One staff said that the opportunity for children to engage in meaningful activities is sometimes affected by staffing levels. This has an impact on children investing in their home.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff have implemented changes to the day-to-day running of the home to protect and meet the needs of one child. This has impacted on all children living at the home. Two social workers said that children complain that adult attention is less available to them because of one child’s current needs.

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improvement to be good

One child living at the home has additional health needs. Staff support the child to understand their lifelong condition and help them to manage it. Staff are appropriately trained to meet this child’s needs. Children are helped to access services when they are involved in the misuse of drugs. However, the results of this help are not always effective at interrupting this behaviour.

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improvement to be good

All children attend an education provision that is appropriate to meet their individual needs. One child has 100% attendance and has completed GCSE examinations. Staff have helped one child to improve their attendance. The manager and staff know the children’s aspirations for the future. Children are supported to plan for the next stage in their education.

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improvement to be good

Conversations with children do not always target areas of need, as identified in the child’s plan, in a planned and proactive way. This will affect the progress that children can make.

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improvement to be good

Records of conversations with children showed inappropriate language. One record of a discussion with a child about their behaviour has a punitive and disproportionate response. The record is poorly written and uses language that is not helpful to the child.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments are not always reviewed after a serious incident. They do not always provide up-to-date information and some risk assessments have key information missing. It is not clear when the risk assessment has been updated and who the author is. This means that staff do not always have the correct information to enable them to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 4 All children who live at this home go missing, including those who are at risk in the community. This means that all children are at risk of harm when their whereabouts are unknown.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow individual protocols for each child when they are missing from home, including going out looking for them in the local area. Due to staffing levels and access to a vehicle, searching for children is sometimes reliant on support from other services in the local authority. Children continue to be at risk when they are in the community due to the inability of staff to respond to a situation which requires urgency.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always provide children with an opportunity to reflect when an incident has happened. This would reduce the likelihood of incidents reoccurring. This does not help children to understand risk and to manage their emotions and behaviour in making appropriate choices.

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good

Staff say they feel supported by the manager. Supervision is reflective and takes place regularly. The manager understands staff development needs and acts in a timely manner to ensure that staff are appropriately trained to meet children’s individual needs.

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good

Multi-agency working is embedded in practice at this home. Professionals gave positive feedback about the leadership and management of the home. One social worker said that the manager has supported the child well, despite the challenging situation regarding matching of children admitted to the home.

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good

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that children who move into the home are suitably matched. The manager does not have autonomy to decide which children move into the home. Despite the manager identifying significant risks and challenging the decision, senior leaders moved a child into the home. This means that children’s needs cannot always be met safely.

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good

Staffing levels are not always sufficient to run the home effectively. The manager frequently works on shifts to cover gaps in the rota. This has had an impact on the monitoring and management oversight of the home.

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good

Ofsted is not always notified about serious incidents which occur at the home. This prevents Ofsted from monitoring safeguarding concerns and actions to address these.

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good

Safer recruitment checks for agency staff are not thorough. This is because the manager is unaware of the content of some agency workers’ disclosure and barring checks. The manager is, therefore, unaware of any information that may be known Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 5 that makes a worker unsuitable. Not enough steps have been taken to ensure that agency workers are safe to work with children.

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good

The manager has not recorded or responded to a complaint made by a child. Staff did not respond to the complaint appropriately when it was made. The systems in place and lack of management oversight meant the complaint was not dealt with in line with procedure. The child revisited the complaint with their social worker. This means children feel unvalued and not listened to. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 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

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the registered manager is responsible for decisions regarding emergency placements, and that these decisions are in accordance with child’s relevant plans. 20 July 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that there is adequate staffing at this home and the use of a vehicle to allow staff to look for children when they are missing. That records provide up-to-date information. Also, that children are provided with an opportunity to reflect following an incident. 20 July 2022

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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— 20 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 7 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 the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received;

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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)(a)(b) (2)(d)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d)) 20 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; 20 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 8 a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all children’s care records are kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. In particular, this relates to children’s risk assessment records. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should support staff to understand the importance of avoiding language which blames children, and that records are written in a way that will be helpful for the child. (‘Guide to 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 for children’s home: SC037861 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington, County Durham DL1 5QT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Bell

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Inspectors

Rachel Webster, Social Care Inspector Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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