Children's home run by North East Autism Society in County Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 1 SC416136 Registered provider: North East Autism Society

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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 run by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children. At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. All children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2012. At the time of the inspection, there were interim management arrangements in place. Ofsted had been informed of this arrangement.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspectors were aware during this inspection that a serious incident that occurred at the setting since the last inspection is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the incident were considered (where appropriate) alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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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: 11 September 2023

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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: SC416136 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2023 Full Good 20/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/01/2022 Full Good 14/01/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children at the home have developed a sense of belonging because of the support given by a consistent staff team that looks after them. Children often ask to return to the home after activities and outings as this is where they feel comfortable. For one child, this sense of home was of particular importance after being placed at the service following several placements that were unsuccessful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s preferred methods of communication, and consistently support and promote these methods so that children can participate fully in their daily lives. Staff understand when and how to use methods such as Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) and Makaton. Staff are familiar with children’s language needs and challenges, and can understand children’s speech and support them to talk to others when requested or required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and promote the well-being and health of each child. Children’s day-to-day needs are met, such as routine, privacy and personal space, and they are encouraged to eat nutritious food and attend any health appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s rights are respected and promoted. Children’s needs and triggers of certain behaviours are considered and they are enabled to enjoy a range of social, educational and recreational opportunities, including activities in the local community. For one child, they have begun to form relationships with peers because of this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff research and make adaptations for children to ensure that they are given a chance to participate in activities that interest them. For one child, staff were looking into how they could support them to attend a football match, while considering the potential impact of noise and duration.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have contact with family and other people that are important to them where it is assessed as appropriate. Staff consider children’s views on this and try to facilitate additional visits where possible. One family member told us that the whole family had been made to feel at home when they visited and said, ‘When I want to visit, I am never made to feel uncomfortable.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence in an individualised and age- appropriate way. Every month, staff use children’s meetings to identify life skills that children can work towards. For two children, this meant learning about road safety through education and modelling behaviour. Pictures of progress in these life skill sessions were shared with people who are important to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are preparing to leave the home, staff consider their physical, social, mental and emotional needs. Transition plans are carefully developed to ensure the move has a minimal negative impact on children. For one child, staff from their new Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 4 placement were working in the home. This enabled staff to be familiar with the child’s needs, but also the child had familiar faces when moving to the new placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s complaints policy is easy to understand and is accessible, and includes an easy-to-read format for children. There have been no complaints made, but children are reminded and encouraged that they can make complaints and are given this information in a way they can understand.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people attend education and have good attendance. However, when there are delays in ensuring children’s needs are met appropriately, staff do not challenge the local authority with urgency on behalf of the child. For one child, there is a delay in obtaining their education, health and care plan from the placing authority, which means staff do not have up-to-date information to support the child’s learning and development.

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

Leaders and managers take action to address concerns and carry out investigations into allegations or suspicion of harm. They engage with the relevant authorities and notify them of issues and changes to the running of the services as required. Support is given both to the person making the allegation and the person who is the subject of the allegation.

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

Staff consistently promote positive behaviour and use effective de-escalation techniques and alternative strategies to reduce unwanted behaviours. Physical intervention is used only when necessary to protect the child and those around them and the least-restrictive practice is used. Staff record all incidents of physical intervention, which are then reviewed and monitored by managers. Child-focused debriefs are conducted following interventions, using the child’s preferred communication method.

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

Leaders and managers ensure safe recruitment practices and regular monitoring of staff to prevent unsuitable people from being employed to work with the children.

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

Risk assessments are in place but are not always individualised. For one child, the risk assessments are generalised and there is no plan of care in place for a particular area of support the child needs. Therefore, staff do not have the specific guidance to respond consistently to manage the risk, and the risk cannot always be reviewed when things change.

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

Staff do not consistently explore children’s experiences and understanding following incidents. Following a physical intervention, children receive a full debrief to support them in understanding what had happened and explore their feelings. For other accidents and incidents, the same level of exploration does not consistently occur to ensure that staff understand children’s experiences and behavioural triggers, and support children to keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have suitable contingency processes in place to ensure the running of the home, even in the absence of the registered manager. Staff have told us they feel these measures have been effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers monitor the progress that children make and can demonstrate the positive impact that living at the home has had on individual children’s lives. Care plans and daily logs reflect the work that is carried out with children. The records reflect children’s achievements and relate to children’s development and plans for their futures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff receive regular supervision and team meetings are held frequently. Minutes of these meetings are available and reflect discussions about children’s presentation, progress, and developmental opportunities for staff. The service has plans to develop the agenda for these meetings to further focus on staff reflection in these areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of children living in the home are made to the appropriate authorities, including Ofsted as the regulator.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose sets out the ethos and objectives of the home. It is personalised and includes pictures of children living in the home, but consent for these photos to be made available has not been revisited as part of the statement of purpose review. The statement of purpose needs to be made available to placing authorities and others if requested, and was publicly available on the provider website. Therefore, the confidentiality and protection of children placed at the home must be considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home welcomes external scrutiny and has recognised when reports by the independent visitor have not been of a robust quality. This has been challenged by leaders and managers, but has not yet seen the improvements needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Actions and learning are not always implemented in a timely way. Not all requirements issued at the last inspection have been addressed, such as ensuring that all paperwork for children is on their files. Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 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

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. (Regulation (12) (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that all risk assessments for children are personalised and capture all known risks. 3 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans:

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation (5)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the important documents, such as children’s education, health and care plan, are obtained from placing authorities. 3 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that the content of the statement of purpose is kept under review. It should be considered to ensure it maintains the confidentiality and seeks consent from parents or social workers of the children placed within the home for photos to be included, particularly if this is in the public domain. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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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: SC416136 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North East Autism Society

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 Lumley Court, Drum Industrial Estate, Chester Le Street, County Durham DH2 1AN

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Inspectors

Vikki Thwaites, Social Care Inspector Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC416136 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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