Children's Home run by Together for Children in Sunderland

Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 1 Registered provider: Together for Children Sunderland Limited

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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. At the time of the inspection, six children were living in the home. Four children were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2017 and is suitably skilled and qualified.

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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: 1254835 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/05/2023 Full Good 03/10/2022 Full Good 11/01/2022 Full Outstanding 02/07/2019 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 at the home have staff caring for them who they trust and enjoy spending time with. There is evidence of a range of activities in the home. Children have an active voice in which activities they wish to participate in and gain the staff's support to do so. For example, recently, children went to a theme park for the day with staff. The children spoken to said that they had a good day, and enjoyed speaking about their experiences. Children are encouraged by staff to develop special interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s guide is accessible to the children in the home. Relevant information is included and there are details about how to make a complaint. Children in the home have provided feedback about the previous children’s guide and this has been considered by management and used to improve the latest version. This shows that children’s wishes and feelings are being heard and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

While educational attendance is low for some children in the home, staff are working towards improving the children’s educational progress. The staff have been keeping in regular communication with educational professionals and helping the children to understand the value of education through discussions and positive role modelling. This ensures that children are receiving the educational support they require to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has access to a psychologist who supports staff in implementing their therapeutic reparenting model with the children. This model is at the heart of the practice in the home, and feedback gained has been positive regarding staff’s understanding of it and how well they utilise it. The model of care has underpinned key documents for the children, such as their home plans and therapeutic reparenting plans. The psychologist spoke about one child making ‘remarkable progress’ and feels this is due to the staff’s implementation of the model of care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed and individualised recordings for children have been observed. Recordings are clear and show the emphasis on the experiences and progress of the children in different areas of their lives. Monthly summaries are used to inform the children’s progress towards their goals. The children’s voices are used extensively to inform these summaries. This demonstrates the knowledge that the staff have of the children they care for and their passion for ensuring that they do well.

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

Missing-from-home procedures are clear, coherent, and followed by staff. There is a detailed recording regarding a child being missing from the home, which includes the circumstances that led up to the event, during it and after. Children have missing-from- home plans that detail what staff should do in the event of a missing episode. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 4 Return-home interviews are offered to the children. This ensures that staff understand the triggers that lead to missing episodes and how to safeguard the children from the risk of harm.

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

Children are helped to understand, reflect on, and manage their behaviours and emotions by the trained and dedicated staff team. The home’s model of care is utilised throughout and personalised to each child to provide them with a consistent response. This can be seen in the children’s individual crisis support plans, which children have contributed to. This helps children’s emotional and behavioural progress.

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

The risks for each child are known and understood by staff and are documented in the children’s risk assessments and corresponding recordings. Risk assessments identify the different risks faced by a child and the role of staff in mitigating and managing such risks. However, the locality risk assessment does not take one key location into account, which is a location visited by children when they are feeling upset. This risk has been covered in personal risk assessments but should be included within an overarching locality risk assessment to safeguard all children from the risk of harm.

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

One child’s bedroom door does not meet fire regulations. This may cause a risk in the event of a fire. The registered manager has since made attempts to correct this issue after they were made aware. However, this could have an impact on the safety of the children in the event of a fire.

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

One child has been assessed as being competent to self-administer their prescribed medication, and staff keep their medication monitoring logs up to date. However, the child’s medication was observed to be on the bedside table in their bedroom and the door was not locked. This is a risk to other children in the home, especially children who have self-harmed and could have an impact on their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a stable staff team, with low vacancies, which creates consistency for children. Staff speak very highly of the home and its leadership team; some staff said that they find coming to work a joy and enjoy their time there. Staff find the management team to be supportive, and staff have regular, reflective supervisions, which are child-focused. This benefits the children in the home, who can rely on a secure staff team to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is clear oversight of the home from the manager, who actively and regularly monitors the quality of care using a range of auditing tools that are reflective and informative. The manager has an analytical approach and works with the staff to ensure that they are supporting the children the best they can. This ensures that there is management oversight of the children’s daily lives and interactions with staff. The manager consistently strives for excellence in the staff team to ensure that children are heard, supported, and cared for. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 5 The team works well with other professionals and families, who provided positive feedback about the staff. There is evidence of the manager challenging professionals when they do not agree with a plan for a child and the discussions held on what is in the child’s best interests. This helps to ensure that the best outcomes are reached for

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are suitably trained to meet the needs of the children and have a range of training opportunities to refresh or develop their knowledge. Management has utilised members of staff to contribute to training processes based on their knowledge. For example, one member of staff is delivering training to the team around social media. This means that children are supported by staff who understand their roles and responsibilities and approach the care of the children with knowledge and expertise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The use of door alarms in the home is reviewed regularly and agreed upon with other professionals. However, the rationale for the extended use of such surveillance and monitoring is not recorded. There is no expected end date, which makes the use of surveillance seem indefinite with limited opportunity for the child to work towards having their door alarms removed. As a result, children’s liberty is restricted, and this may impact their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home environment for children is welcoming and friendly. However, there is a lot of disrepair and damage in the property, including the children’s bedrooms. There is some evidence of management challenging the length of time that repairs are taking; however, the damage and disrepair remain evident and impact on the overall feel of the home. This is likely to have an impact on children, who deserve to have a home that is free of damage. 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, The 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

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; and

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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)) 1 July 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

the medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)) 15 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the risks to all children and the arrangements in place to protect them are identified and kept under review. In particular, the location risk assessment should consider areas that may cause risk to the children in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the property and grounds are well maintained and repaired to a good standard, including children’s bedrooms. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should record the rationale for the use of monitoring devices, such as door alarms, and keep this under review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16.) Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 7

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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: City Hall Floor 2, Plater Way, Sunderland SR1 3AA

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Inspectors

Ladean Wilson, Social Care Inspector Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1254835 9 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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