Children's Home run by Durham County Council in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 1 SC449096 Registered provider: Durham County 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 operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. All the children were spoken to during the inspection.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/08/2023 Full Outstanding 02/08/2022 Full Good 31/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 04/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take time to develop trusting relationships with the children. They adopt a nurturing approach, and this supports children to discuss their worries with them. Children describe a sense of belonging due to the stability the staff provide them with. One child refers to staff as “family” and another said, ‘The staff really care, and they actually love me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend an education provision in line with their individual needs. The staff seek to ensure that they work closely with education professionals. The manager strongly advocates on behalf of children and challenges planning when it is not deemed suitable. As a result, children’s attendance at school or college is increasing, supporting them to reach their academic potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress while living in the home, especially those who have lived in the home for a longer period. Staff have discussions with children about their plans and support children to achieve their outcomes. Staff take an interest in what is important to each child, such as staff attending one child’s football matches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to move into the home in a planned way. Staff make efforts to meet children ahead of them moving in and write letters to them. The manager carefully considers the needs of each child to make sure that there is not a detrimental impact on those children already living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff also support children to leave the home, taking into consideration their age and agreed plans. Staff support children to visit the home they are moving to and provide them with items such as cooking appliances. Staff remain in touch with children who have left. These children continue to share big events in their life with staff. One child who has left said, ‘It was just perfect – best time of my life. I would be in jail if not there. They saved me. I have no complaints at all.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated to a high standard and there are personal touches throughout to make it a comfortable environment. Children personalise their bedrooms. Staff make sure that the children’s sentimental items are protected and celebrated. Staff support children to develop memory books of their time living in the home to ensure that memories and experiences can be cherished.

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

Staff understand the children’s trauma that they have experienced. They work closely with partner agencies to ensure that the children’s needs are met. Staff are tenacious in building relationships with the children’s families. This supports children to witness staff and family working together in their best interests. Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 4 Staff take a proactive response when children go missing from home. They actively search for the children and communicate with their network of associates. This ensures that children return safely. Staff understand things that could cause children to become distressed and put in place plans around these times. This ensures that risks do not escalate.

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

Staff rarely need to physically hold children, instead they use guides. They discuss the children’s behaviour with them and offer advice. This supports the children to learn from the times that they struggle to manage their emotions and as a result incidents within the home are low. Additionally, staff engage children in discussions about sensitive topics, such as sexual health. This enables children to receive guidance about important aspects of their life.

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

There are few incidents of bullying within the home. Staff respond quickly to any concerns raised by children. They remind children of the need to respect one another. When children make allegations against one another, the manager is responsive. She implements safety plans and emotional support, while investigations take place for each child.

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

Staff ensure that the children have personalised care plans and risks assessments. Children contribute to their plans and share what is important to them. Staff ensure that there are reviews held of these plans. However, some sections do not always include the proactive steps staff should take and there are some inconsistencies within other documents, such as documents about the bedroom searches.

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

Staff and managers do not always know the risks associated with the children’s online use. Children access online games that are not age appropriate and they can often access games and online content throughout the night. This is having a detrimental impact on their sleep hygiene. Staff have responded when incidents have occurred. However, responses are reactive rather than preventative in nature. The manager has plans to implement more effective safety plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good overall understanding of each child. She has high aspirations and commitment to ensure that children are supported. This filters through to the staff team to ensure a high level of care is afforded to the children. Children speak about the manager in high regard and say that they enjoy spending time with her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some changes in staffing. However, the manager ensures that there is a strong focus on staff development and support for new staff in the home. There remains a stable core team to ensure that the children receive care from consistent adults that they know well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are happy with the supervision sessions and team meetings they attend. They are reflective in nature and there is a focus on staff well-being as well as the needs of the children. The manager advocates on staff’s behalf to ensure they are Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 5 supported. She also refers staff to other agencies to provide further support for staff. This results in staff remaining in the team, again providing consistency to the children. However, long-term agency staff do not receive the same supervision session opportunities. This prevents them reflecting on their practice and the needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective auditing and monitoring tools. She is confident in being able to use them to identify areas of development and implements plans to address shortfalls. The manager does not have easy accessibility to all aspects of staff’s recruitment files. This prevents her having full oversight of her staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)) 9 September 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and that they understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of all staff, including agency staff, safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change, negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being. This includes, but is not

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Recommendations

limited to, internet use and the importance of healthy sleep routines. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18) Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 7  The registered person should ensure that information can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. Electronic records should be held at the individual home in accordance with data protection principles. In particular, the registered person should have access to all aspects of safer recruitment documents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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: SC449096 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Durham County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Durham County Council, Resources, County Hall, Durham DH1 5UL

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Inspectors

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Claire Webster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC449096 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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