Children's home run by ROC Family Time Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 1 Registered provider: ROC Family Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have learning disability, physical disability and/or sensory impairment.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted on 30 June 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection. Both children were observed by the inspectors.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 for children’s home: 2688209 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living in the home. They have made progress in various aspects of their lives, such as improved physical and emotional health, relationships and behaviour. There is a positive atmosphere in the home, where children are seen playing, smiling and enjoying time with staff. One parent said that their child is ‘happier’ and the staff are ‘amazing’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop trusting relationships with staff. The small staff team invests time in getting to know each child and spending quality time with them. These relationships help the children to feel safe and increase their confidence to explore the world. For example, children who would previously avoid socialising have joined groups where they spend time with other children and try new activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s feedback is used to make changes in their home and influence their care. The staff support children to communicate using different communication methods, for example mood cards. When children make suggestions, these are taken seriously and acted on. For example, one child requested a bath instead of a shower. The provider has commenced planning for the bathroom refurbishment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to visit their families. Relationships between the staff and children’s families are very good and are supported by regular communication and updates on the children’s well-being. Children are encouraged to display family photos in the home. This helps children to maintain relationships with their family and for their parents to feel involved in the children’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children are making progress in education and their attendance at school is good. Other children are receiving support to work through the barriers to education. However, the quality of communication between the staff and education providers is not always effective. This means that the staff do not know all the children’s educational targets or the plans for children to return to formal learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health has improved. When children move into the home, they are quickly registered with local health services, which enables individual health reviews to take place. For some children, they have been supported to attend health appointments which were overdue. Children have good routines which promote a healthy diet and good personal care. The staff support children to settle at bedtime. They read to the children and sing songs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Home conditions are good and there is a homely atmosphere. Children’s bedrooms are well maintained and suitably equipped with their personal belongings, toys and photos of their family members. One child scored his room ‘nine out of 10’. Other rooms are spacious, so the children can enjoy time together cooking, playing and experimenting with crafts. Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 4 When children move into the home, the manager carefully plans to support the child to settle and minimise the effect on the others already living in the home. Before children move, the manager consults with relevant professionals and, where appropriate, children meet the staff and visit the home. Children receive an audio book which provides information about the home. In one example seen, some of the language in the book was not child friendly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans are not detailed enough, and they do not link well with other assessments, such as education, health and care plans. In addition, the manager does not have an effective system in place to track the children’s progress. This is a missed opportunity to fully capture the progress children have made since living in the home.

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

The staff know the children well and provide help in all aspects of their lives.

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

The staff have a good understanding of children’s individual vulnerabilities, and they provide children with guidance on ways to be safer at home and in the community. However, in some risk assessments, information is missing and the strategies which staff should follow are not specific, and like the children’s care plans, do not link well to other documents. This has the potential to lead to inconsistent or unclear practice.

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

Incidents involving children are de-escalated effectively by the staff. Children are well supported, which helps them to quickly settle and talk about the incident. Debrief sessions take place and enable the children to reflect and express their views. The staff use children’s feedback to provide them with additional support and to avoid incidents reoccurring.

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

The staff use a nurturing approach to caring for the children and, through this, children are encouraged to develop positive behaviour. However, behaviour support plans are not detailed and do not provide sufficient guidance for staff to follow. This means that some staff may respond differently to children’s behaviour, which can be confusing to children.

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

Children are supported to understand what to do if there is a fire in the home. The manager consults with fire experts and implements strategies to reduce the risks. However, when a new child moves into the home, the manager does not review the risks or consider the children’s individual support needs in the event of a fire. This could potentially lead to unsafe practice.

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good

The quality of management oversight varies. The manager is new to the role and developing her confidence as a leader. She has a clear understanding of her own Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 5 development needs and is well supported by the responsible individual and other senior leaders in the organisation. Recent audits by the responsible individual have identified some of the shortfalls found in this inspection.

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good

The manager does not ensure good oversight of the children’s experience in the home. For example, she does not review all incidents or scrutinise how the staff manage the children’s behaviour. This means that she cannot provide assurances that staff are practicing in accordance with the home’s policies and procedures and caring for children in accordance with their needs.

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good

Staff feel well supported and describe the manager as approachable. Staff receive regular practice-related supervision which helps them to reflect on their work. Most of the staff are new to the role of working in children’s residential care and they do not have the required qualification. Staff have completed the provider’s training programme. However, the manager has not considered what additional training staff may require to ensure that they have the necessary skills to meet all the children’s needs.

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good

Overall, the manager advocates for the children. However, there are some examples where the manager has not escalated issues to other services in a timely manner. In one example, this affected the pace and progress of a child’s assessment by another agency.

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good

Children’s files do not contain the required information, for example up-to-date education plans, health and care plans and medical reports. This means that the staff do not have all the relevant information about the children to ensure that they provide consistent care in line with the children’s assessed needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 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 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;

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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)(a)(c)(h)) 29 December

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)) 29 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; 29 December Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 7 are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to documents in the children’s records, such as education, health and care plans, health assessments and signed local authority placement plans.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education targets and their next steps for learning. If a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff should seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the headteacher of the virtual school, special educational needs coordinator, learning mentor or teacher. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. The rationale for consequences should be understood by staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that staff regularly review risks to each child, that risk assessments are accurate and reflect the arrangements in place to protect children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that children’s plans form the basis of their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.1)

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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 for children’s home: 2688209 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ROC Family Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hope House, Burnhope, Newton Aycliffe, Durham DL5 7ER

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Inspectors

Catherine Heron, Social Care Inspector Catherine Clasper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2688209 9 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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