Children's home run by Norfolk County Council in Norwich

Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 1 SC462583 Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home provides short breaks for children who are in a family crisis, and emergency care for children who do not have a permanent placement. Up to four children can stay at the home at any one time.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2022 and is currently on maternity leave. There is an acting manager in post. The acting manager is not yet registered.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/07/2021 Full Good 04/02/2020 Full Good 26/09/2018 Full Outstanding 21/11/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences when they visit for short breaks. They enjoy and look forward to their breaks. As well as benefits to children, short breaks are welcomed and appreciated by families. The breaks help children to remain living with their families. Since the last inspection, several children have stayed at the home as an emergency when their placements have broken down. For these children, staff have been able to provide a level of stability for them at a very uncertain time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff undertake detailed planning for children’s breaks. When children first start visiting, there is a clear process to introduce them to the home and to staff. This includes children and families visiting the home and spending time getting to know staff, in advance of children staying overnight. When children have come to the home in an emergency, managers and staff have worked closely with other professionals. This has ensured that staff can use others’ knowledge of children to understand their needs and strategies to meet these. The social worker for one child, who moved to the home in an emergency, said, ‘There is nothing the staff could have done better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to have positive friendships. The matching of children who visit together is carefully considered, with all staff contributing to this. This helps to ensure that staff’s knowledge of children is used effectively in the matching process. This has helped children to make progress in building and maintaining positive relationships with their peers. Staff help children with these relationships. When there was a recent issue relating to two children who have built a close friendship, staff worked with the children restoratively to help them overcome this. Good support from staff has helped children, some of whom have previously suffered from social isolation, to build important friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with a wide range of experiences. Regular activities are based on children’s preferences and they can choose the things that they want to do. Several children went on holiday with the staff during the summer. Some children had not previously been on holiday, so this provided them with an experience that they had not had before. Children’s experiences are well documented in memory books. These books contain photos of children and staff and lots of positive comments from staff about the time that they spend together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Plans have been in place for a refurbishment for some time. However, managers ensure that the environment is maintained to a good standard. Work has taken place to decorate several areas. This has included children’s bedrooms, which have been decorated to a high standard and equipped with new furniture. The bedrooms provide a welcoming environment for children, which they look forward to staying in. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 4

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

Staff work effectively as a team and with the wider network around children to ensure that children are safe. Staff understand risks to children, and clear safety plans help to reduce these risks. The plans are informed by all relevant information and include clear strategies for staff to follow.

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

When a child has moved to the home in an emergency, managers and staff have been proactive in working with other professionals to ensure that they understand risks to the child. Some children’s previous placements have broken down due to significant safeguarding risks to them. At times like this, children are particularly vulnerable and have a great deal of uncertainty in their lives. By working closely with other professionals who have a good knowledge of children, staff have been able to understand and reduce risks for them.

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

There have been some incidents of children being reported missing from the home. Staff are proactive in response to such incidents. They work in line with clear plans, actively search for children, and they communicate effectively with other professionals and children’s families. When children return, staff welcome them and are non-judgemental. Managers ensure that return home interviews take place. These interviews are recorded on children’s files so that staff are aware of the information that children share about these incidents. This helps to provide staff with a greater understanding of risks relating to children going missing.

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

Staff manage behavioural incidents well. Staff respond in ways that help children to calm down at times of distress, and they manage any conflict effectively. Conflict between the children is rare. Managers have good oversight of any incidents. They undertake detailed reviews and ensure that debriefs take place with staff and children. This helps to identify any learning that can be taken from them.

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

A concern was recently raised in relation to a comment a child had made to a family member. However, there were some discrepancies in what was said at different times. The comment raised potential concerns about staff practice towards children. The manager did not identify the discrepancies and therefore failed to follow up on the comment to ensure that it was fully understood and that any concerns could be appropriately addressed. This meant that potential concerns relating to staff practice could have been missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been changes in management since the last inspection. However, staff have been well supported through these changes and say that managers provide them with good levels of support. The acting manager has been in post since November 2022. She is suitably experienced and qualified to level 5.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers actively seek feedback from children as well as other professionals. They use this to identify areas for development. Children’s views are valued. Children are given choices about the time that they spend at the home. Managers have Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 5 developed creative ways of gaining feedback, which children are well engaged in. This has included the use of an emoji board to help children think about what they like about the home. Children’s likes and dislikes are sought on an ‘all about me’ document when they first come to the home. However, these are not routinely updated, despite the fact that some children have been accessing short breaks for a significant period. This means that these documents are not an accurate reflection of children’s current likes and dislikes, which can change over time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are well attended and include detailed discussion of children’s needs and how these are being met. The meetings are used as a forum to reflect on any incidents and patterns of behaviour. This gives staff the opportunity to think in depth about how they are responding to children, to share good practice and consider areas in which they can improve their care. Actions from meetings are monitored well to ensure that areas for improvement are taken forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is highly experienced and settled. This has provided good levels of continuity of care for children. Staff are provided with a good range of training. When additional training needs are identified, this is promptly actioned by managers. This helps to ensure that staff’s knowledge and skills are kept up to date and reflect the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers build effective working relationships with other professionals and families. Managers attend and contribute to meetings. Feedback from managers about how children present has helped to increase the knowledge of other professionals and has contributed towards assessments that are undertaken for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions have not always taken place in line with the home’s policy. This has included at times when staff were managing frequent incidents. While staff can access support in other ways, this has meant that the individual support that supervision provides for staff has not always been available. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that any potential allegations against staff are appropriately explored and responded to. 6 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 6 March 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. In particular, ensure that documents outlining children’s preferences are kept up to date. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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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: SC462583 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Norfolk County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 2DH

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Inspector

Joe Matkar-Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC462583 8 regulates and inspects 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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