Children's Home run by Together for Children in Sunderland

Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 1 Registered provider: Together for Children (Sunderland) 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 under trust arrangements. It provides care for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2017.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 1254835 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2022 Full Good 11/01/2022 Full Outstanding 02/07/2019 Full Good 26/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress from their starting points. Children are supported through a therapeutic approach based on supporting children and their experiences of trauma. The manager tracks children’s progress to better understand how to meet their needs. This helps staff to provide individualised care for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s engagement with education, skills or training has improved since children came to live in the home. Staff support children to re-engage with school after periods of absence. Some children struggle to understand the importance of education and stop attending their schools. When this happens, staff encourage children to return to school or try alternative forms of education. This helps to ensure that children receive the learning they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to attend health appointments. When children decline to attend appointments, staff work with children to raise their awareness as to why this is important. Staff act swiftly to support children in crisis to receive the medical attention they need. This reinforces for children that their well-being is important to staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to move on from the home in a planned way. The managers research how best to support children to increase their independence and broaden their life choices. Children are helped to develop skills for life due to this work. Staff remain in contact with children when they move on to provide advice and support if needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work hard to develop positive working relationships with children’s families. The manager has facilitated training for a child’s family member. This supported them to better understand their child’s experiences and how to support their ongoing development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prepare memory boxes for children when they are ready to move out of the home. Staff provide digital copies to help keep their memories safe. A copy of this also remains with the child’s files, should they wish to access it in the future. This supports children to understand their experiences and their time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The property is well furnished and decorated to a good standard. The kitchen has recently been refurbished and communal areas are homely. The home has a lovely garden area and a large summerhouse for the children to use. Children benefit from living in this nurturing home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Alarms are used in the home as a form of monitoring to alert staff when a child has left their bedroom at night. The manager does not assess the need for these alarms or review their use. This means children may be subject to unnecessary restrictions in their home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 4

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improvement to be good

Staff know the risks to children and can demonstrate how to respond. However, this knowledge is not captured in the children’s risk assessments or plans. For example, one child has previously set fires, but the actions staff must take are not included in their plan. This means that the responses to children may be inconsistent, or staff may not respond effectively.

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improvement to be good

Some children go missing from the home. The home has procedures in place to guide staff practice when children go missing. However, on one occasion, two children were not reported as missing in line with the home’s protocol. These children were assessed as high risk due to their age and concerns around substance use. This means that children who repeatedly go missing do not always receive the protection they need.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage children in direct work through key-worker sessions. This helps children to reflect on the impact of their behaviours and learn new skills. However, key-worker sessions do not always take place after a serious incident. Children are therefore not always involved in work to help them understand how to keep safe.

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improvement to be good

Physical restraint is only used in the home when a child presents a risk to themselves or others. Staff use de-escalation techniques to prevent children from experiencing physical intervention. When restraint is used, staff keep detailed records of these incidents. Managers complete a debrief with children and staff. This enables reflection and provides an opportunity to learn from these incidents.

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improvement to be good

The manager is aware of potential health and safety risks when there is damage in the home. Broken furniture in children’s bedrooms is removed and replaced without any unnecessary delay. This shows children that staff are concerned for their welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are ambitious in their goal to help children achieve their full potential. Leaders and managers aim to support children through their therapeutic approach to caring and meeting the needs of children. The home uses its resources well and staff have consultations with a psychologist. This provides advice and support to staff to help them understand children’s trauma and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff develop positive relationships with other professionals to help meet children’s needs. Professionals speak highly of their experience of the home and staff and the progress children make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is responsive to the needs of the children when things are unsettled in the home. For example, the manager carefully considers whether to introduce new children to the home. This shows that leaders and managers are making decisions in the best interests of the children they care for. This helps staff to better support Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 5 those they already have in their care. Managers have monitoring systems in place, but they are not always effective. Managers use these systems to ensure that children’s records are present on files and are up to date. The monitoring does not show how managers ensure that children’s care plans and risk assessments help staff respond to children consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are well supported by the managers. They regularly receive reflective supervision and appraisals that are child-focused. Team meetings incorporate discussions about safeguarding concerns to encourage learning from practice. This helps managers to explore ways to improve their care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safe recruitment is in place to ensure that adults who work in the home are appropriately vetted. New staff are supported through an induction programme and are then expected to gain essential qualifications. However, one member of staff has not completed the required qualifications within the timescales set out in regulation. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 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 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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;

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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)(ii)(v)(vi)(vii)(e)) 5 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. 5 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 7 (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 24 November

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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: 1254835 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Together for Children Sunderland Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sunderland City Council, City Hall, Plater Way, Sunderland SR1 3AA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Majella McCarthy

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Inspector

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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