Children's Home run by North Yorkshire County Council in North Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 1 SC034235 Registered provider: North Yorkshire Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority using the ‘No Wrong Door’ model. The home offers care for up to six children who may have social and emotional difficulties. The home can also care for a further two children in separate accommodation for up to 28 days.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, the home was providing care for six children. Five children were spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2023.

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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: SC034235 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/06/2023 Full Good 02/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/05/2022 Full Inadequate 15/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The relationships between the staff and the children are warm, caring, encouraging and nurturing. The staff are genuinely committed to making a positive difference in the children’s lives and helping them to make progress. This helps the children to have positive experiences while living in the home, build on their existing strengths and develop new interests and skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One professional stated that the staff support the children to ‘make things happen’. In addition, all the children in the home at the time of the inspection spoke positively about the relationships that they have with the staff and how the staff support them to do well in their lives. The support and encouragement that the staff give to the children have helped one child to achieve a national award, one child to pursue her interests in animals and learn to horse ride, and another child has gained skills in eyelash technology.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff help to support the children during key transitions in their lives, such as when they move into and move on from the home. When children move into the home, the staff ensure that children receive a warm welcome and that they are aware of their rights and entitlements. When a child moves on from the home, the staff remain in contact with the child. This provides children with continuity of care from adults they have developed a trusting relationship with. One professional said that when [name of the child] moved into the home, the staff were supportive and made sure that the child had a ‘lovely’ bedroom.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to make progress with their education. At the time of the inspection, all of the children living in the home were taking part in education. The virtual school head stated that the staff know the children well and works closely with her regarding the education plans for the children. In addition, the virtual school head said that, for children who are struggling with their education, the staff work well with the virtual school to design personalised education packages to ensure that the children are engaged with learning. This commitment has supported several children in the home to take exams and look forward to progressing their learning through enrolling in college courses. For one child, this has meant that they are looking forward to enrolling in a beauty course at college in the autumn.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to be physically healthy, attend routine health appointments, partake in exercise and eat a balanced diet. All the children living in the home have access to specialist support from the in-house clinician, who offers both planned sessions and other sessions on a ‘no appointment required’ basis. This has helped the children to access support in respect of their emotional well-being when they need it the most.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s care plans are individual, child-centred and ambitious. The plans support the staff to provide care that is tailored to each child’s needs. The children’s plans are Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 4 reviewed face to face every month, with the child. This helps the children to understand the progress they are making, celebrate their achievements and identify new goals that assist them to continue to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff value the voice of the children living in the home and support the children to be involved in day-to-day decisions about their lives. Children’s wishes and feelings have an impact in this home. This has meant that the children can make decisions about their lives such as in respect of what food they would like to eat, what activities they want to take part in, and the decor of the home. All the children living in the home have been recently involved in planning their holidays. Two of the children are looking forward to having a summer break abroad and the other children are planning holidays in the UK.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand the importance of the children spending time with the people that matter the most to them. The staff are proactive in helping the children to maintain relationships with the children’s family members and friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although children’s voices have an impact, not all children know how to make a formal complaint. This shortfall prevents children from being able to share any concerns they may have about the care they receive from the staff with external professionals, and potentially impacts their progress and safety while living in the home.

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

Children feel safe in the home, and they have confidence in the staff to keep them safe. One child said that the ‘staff care for me’, ‘always look out for me’ and ‘can tell if am having a bad day’. Another child said that she feels safe living in the home and has staff that she could speak to if she has any worries.

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

The staff help children to become increasingly safe by having conversations with them on a formal and informal basis. Focused conversations are child led, are aligned to each child’s vulnerabilities, and support children to understand risks and make safer decisions. One professional stated, ‘If staff have to have a difficult conversation with [name of the child], they approach this delicately, so relationships are maintained.’ In addition to one- to-one conversations with the children, the staff discuss with the children how they can keep themselves safer through fortnightly children’s meetings. These meetings have purpose and help the children to develop their understanding of topics such as staying safe online, exploitation, the risks associated with using drugs and alcohol, healthy relationships and being kind to others.

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

The staff have a good understanding of contextual safeguarding and each child’s vulnerabilities. The children’s individual risk assessments and missing-from-home plans are up to date, contain all known and emerging risks, and set out what actions staff should take to reduce risk to children living in the home. Each child’s risk assessment is reviewed weekly with external professionals so that the impact of interventions can be measured as to how they are helping to reduce risk. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 5 Children are actively involved in designing plans that help staff understand how to help them when they are in crisis. The staff’s approach to helping children when they are in crisis is inclusive. For one child who struggles to explain when she is in crisis, the staff have helped her to identify a code word which signals to the staff that she is struggling. This means that the staff hold children as a last resort, in a way that is the least

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

restrictive and in a manner that reduces the risk of children being further traumatised.

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

Staff, overall, understand their roles and responsibilities in respect to safeguarding procedures. However, not all staff understand the whistle-blowing policy. Although this has had no impact on the children living in the home, this shortfall prevents staff from raising concerns they may have through appropriate channels.

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

The staff promote positive behaviour in the home by providing the children with structured routines and being clear about expectations. Where there are differences in opinion between the children and staff, or where the children are struggling to get on with each other, restorative conversations take place to strengthen relationships with the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified registered manager. The registered manager knows the children well and is ambitious for them and what they can achieve. The manager has high expectations of herself and her staff and is child focused. Further support is provided by the responsible individual and the deputy manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have several systems in place that support the monitoring and review of the safety and progress of the children living in the home, such as monthly care plan and progression reviews, case discussions, weekly meetings with senior managers and weekly meetings with the manager of the fostering team. These meetings have identified shortfalls in the progression of children’s care planning and have allowed remedies to be identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers value feedback from external professionals, families and children to review and improve the quality of care. The independent visitor visits every month and completes a comprehensive report.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported to understand their roles and responsibilities towards the children they care for via suitable policies and guides that are easy to understand. These are child focused and trauma-informed and support staff to deliver care in line with the home’s statement of purpose and in a trauma-informed way. In addition, staff have access to training that helps them to meet the needs of the children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Practice-based supervision takes place regularly and provides a space for staff to reflect on their development, well-being and the safety and progress of the children in the home. Performance issues are discussed, and support is looked at. One member of staff stated that she feels supported by managers as supervision ‘always happens and has a purpose’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 6 Most staff are happy working in the home and describe the team as working together. The manager acknowledges the challenges that have existed within the staff team and has taken action to continue to develop and support the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The daily and case records overall reflect the child’s time in the home. However, recording could be improved to support children’s understanding of how staff have helped them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have made several improvements to the decor of the home. However, more could be done to ensure that any repairs that are needed within the home are done in a timely way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although parents and professionals report a positive working relationship with the staff and the registered manager, they stated that communication between themselves, the staff and the registered manager could be improved on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of the children are made to the appropriate authorities. She takes the necessary action following the incident to ensure that the child’s needs are met and that they are safe and protected. However, not all notifications are received within the required timescale. This shortfall prevents the regulator from assessing the children’s safety in the home without delay. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 7

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Recommendations

 The registered provider must ensure that all children in the home are aware of the complaints procedure and remind children of this procedure as necessary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 4.13)  The registered person must provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming for children. This includes ensuring that repairs to the home are completed in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person must have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. This system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at a weekend or on a public holiday. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 63, paragraph 14.13)  The registered person should ensure that all staff are familiar with the whistle-blowing

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Recommendations

policy. (‘Guide to the Children s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.21)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. They must be written in a way that is sensitive and non-judgemental and enables the child to understand their time at the home and how staff have helped them. The home’s records need to be signed and dated by the author of the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.5 and 14.3)  The registered person should have a key role in developing the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons, including parents. This specifically relates to effective communication with children’s social workers, relevant persons and parents. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: SC034235 8

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Children’s home details

Registered Provider: North Yorkshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Inspector

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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