Children's Home run by Wakefield Council in Wakefield

Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 1 SC033808 Registered provider: Wakefield Council Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority service provides short-break care for up to six children on a planned basis, with additional capacity for a seventh child on an emergency basis. Short-break care is offered to children who have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities, including sensory impairment. The service currently supports 44 children. The service does not provide short breaks to children for one night per week. This is due to young people accessing the premises.

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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: 19 January 2022

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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: SC033808 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2022 Full Good 27/01/2020 Full Good 26/02/2019 Full Outstanding 20/02/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are provided with a good level of care. Staff spend quality time with children, and this helps children to feel safe. Children have close, trusting relationships with staff, who listen to and respond to children’s wishes, feelings, and any concerns they may have. One child recently talked about their worries about attending short breaks with another child. Staff are proactive in looking at solutions to reduce the child’s worries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s unique personalities, complex needs and communication styles. Staff support and encourage children who are nonverbal to use tools to share their views. A social worker noted how a child is better able to share his wishes because of the support offered by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s guide is available to children in several forms, including picture form which helps to support some children’s understanding.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals and parents are confident that staff are strong advocates for children. One professional discussed how the manager and staff are currently advocating for a child to have greater support from mental health services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who attend the home experience lots of enjoyable activities. These also offer children a chance to develop their confidence and social skills. Children enjoy activities in the house and garden, which range from planting vegetables to playing on the trampoline and swings. Children have enjoyed several trips to the park, camping trips, day trips and shopping trips.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with parents to ensure that children access education. One social worker explained how a child seems less anxious when supported by staff to attend school. Staff also offer outreach support to families. This helps parents to improve their children’s school attendance on days when they are not staying for short breaks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence according to their individual needs. The home now offers a transition evening group that supports children and young adults to develop their independence skills. These additional provisions mean that children on short breaks have greater opportunities to develop their independence. One child who enjoys both services talked about enjoying cooking and going out shopping. The manager and staff are also proactive at looking at how they can further develop their offer of independence support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s general health and work with parents and occupational health services to ensure that children’s needs are safely met. A child is being supported to have appropriate equipment to safely aid his independence skills when staying for short breaks. Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 4 Staff celebrate children’s outcomes, and children feel proud of their achievements. Children have photos of themselves receiving certificates, and one child attended an award ceremony. These opportunities support children to have special memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s individual needs are known when they are introduced and welcomed into the home. Children are supported to make choices regarding their personal space, which helps them to feel happy. One child said their bedroom is ‘comfy’ and favoured this part of home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to embrace their identity and individuality, which has a positive impact on children’s confidence and self-esteem. This includes supporting children to ensure that their individual clothing and activities reflect their wishes.

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

Children are supported to be safe when attending their short breaks. When staff had concerns about a child’s safety, they listened to the child and acted to ensure their safety while investigations were ongoing.

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

The manager and deputies have positive links with the local authority designated officer, and investigations into allegations are appropriately shared. When one child made an allegation of harm, staff ensured that immediate actions were in place to keep the child safe. However, there was no record suggesting the child had any health needs and additional records relating to any potential injuries had not been completed. This did not impact on the child’s safety, but it meant that management had not appropriately reviewed the safeguarding procedures.

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

The number of times that staff have had to hold children is low. However, one physical intervention of a child appeared proportionate, but it had not been identified and recorded as a hold. This does not enable the staff and managers to reflect on practice.

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

In the very unlikely case of a child going missing from home, there are missing-from- home procedures, and information is readily available to share with the police.

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

Staff offer children individual support and implement boundaries when there are concerns associated with sexualised behaviours, difficult emotions and internet use. This structured support helps to keep all children safe.

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

Safe recruitment of staff means that only those who are safe to work with children do so.

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

The physical environment is safe and secure. Staff ensure that children have specific support around fire safety, and because of this, one child now has fewer anxieties about fire drills. Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 5 The home is reasonably maintained, although some communal areas have started to look tired. The manager is working to improve the children’s bathroom and sensory room.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team and staff care about the children. They have high aspirations for children and try to make their experiences enjoyable when attending their short breaks. The manager has relevant experience and knowledge to carry out the role and is aware of most strengths and areas for development within the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are gaps in management oversight monitoring and reviewing systems to ensure that quality of care is provided to children. Children’s care plans are not always clear about the strategies for staff to adopt to support children. The dates and actions in two children’s plans were not clear. This makes it unclear how children’s targets and progress are reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the home’s statement of purpose is kept under review. Not all staff understand the benefits and objectives of the statement of purpose and need further support to develop their knowledge on the support offered to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have a strong team ethos and feel supported by managers. Staff have reflective and regular supervision that focuses on children’s experiences and staff’s individual support and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have effective working relationships with parents. Parents speak positively about the care offered to their children and feel confident leaving their children for their short breaks. One parent spoke about how staff really know their child’s needs, which helps their child to feel relaxed and happy. Another parent said, ‘Staff are great at keeping me updated and share information in communication books.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have appropriate training to support their development. However, some staff that may have been absent from work and/or working part time have outstanding training to complete. The manager has plans in place for staff to access training dates without this impacting on the care offered to the children. Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 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 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure appropriate oversight of incidents, evidencing consideration has been given to children having potential injuries, and that children have clear daily living care plans that identify clear actions to support children’s needs and have up-to-date target dates for review. 31 March 2023

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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; 31 March 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

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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Recommendation

 The registered person should support staff to have a clear understanding of the statement of purpose and the particular importance of this in relation to caring for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)

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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: SC033808 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Wakefield Council Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Bond Street, Wakefield WF1 2QW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Cheryl Whitehouse

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Inspectors

Gina Lightfoot, Social Care Inspector Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC033808 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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