Children's Home run by Darlington Borough Council in Darlington

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 1 SC037984

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Registered provider: Darlington Borough 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 children’s home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspection took place on 3 and 4 September 2024, but the inspector also returned on 12 September 2024 to gather additional evidence.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC037984 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/03/2024 Full Good 29/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/08/2022 Full Inadequate 01/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they feel safe and happy living in the home. The home environment is welcoming, and children’s bedrooms are personalised and updated as their tastes and interests change. Children play board games with each other and staff. This contributes towards the family feel of the home. One social worker credited the staff for the good progress one child has made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are making good progress, particularly with their education. Staff support the children well to attend school, even on days where there have been incidents. One child, who was previously not attending school, has completed their GCSE exams. This is because of the compassionate relationships that staff have with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a variety of activities to participate in. The children have also been on holiday together, which they say they enjoyed. These opportunities help children to strengthen their relationships with each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the children to develop and maintain friendships out of the home. For example, one child has met with their friend after they moved to a different school. Staff also build positive relationships with children’s family members, which helps to support children when they return to the care of their family. Some children stay in touch with the staff after they have moved on. This increases children’s support networks.

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improvement to be good

When an allegation is made against a staff member, investigations are not always completed appropriately by leaders and managers. One investigation report does not consider information shared by other professionals and all known elements of the allegation. This prevents an effective evaluation of any disciplinary action that may be required. The report is also not shared with the home’s manager. This prevents the manager from putting effective strategies in place to mitigate risk, which leaves vulnerable children at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Some staff prevent children from moving freely around the home. This can cause children to become upset, which on one occasion led to an incident. These inconsistencies place unassessed and unreviewed restrictions on children’s liberty.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete checks on children’s electronic devices to help to keep them safe. However, when staff identify that inappropriate content has been accessed by children, this is not always clearly documented. This prevents the manager from tracking any patterns in behaviour. Despite this, staff help children to understand Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 4 why such content is inappropriate, which helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff know children’s risks well. Risk assessments are regularly updated as children’s risks change. Children have their own version of their care plan that they contribute to. This helps children understand how staff try to help them to keep safe and care for them.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from home, staff follow the necessary steps to try to find them. The positive relationships that staff have with children’s family members help staff to locate children more quickly and therefore improve their safety.

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improvement to be good

Consequences are restorative in nature. Children are supported to repair damage in the home that has been caused when they are upset. This helps children to understand the consequences of their actions.

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good

The manager’s monitoring and review processes are not always effective. Staff and the manager escalate requests to a child’s social worker when information is missing or required. However, this is not always productive, as there is no clear process in place. In addition, not all children’s documents reflect the most current information. This hinders staff from having the most up-to-date information required to care for the children.

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good

The manager failed to notify Ofsted of one serious incident. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of safeguarding practice, to be assured that it is effective.

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good

The manager’s six-monthly review of the home lacks evaluation of the home’s priorities. This prevents the manager from having an effective plan to learn from success or strengthen areas for development.

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good

The language used to describe children’s behaviours in documents is not always language that cares. This means language can be considered as stigmatising and unhelpful to children when they access their files.

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good

The manager is passionate about providing good care to the children. She is supported well by a deputy manager. Staff report feeling well supported. This is evidenced by the stability of the staff team. Supervision sessions are held regularly and are reflective in nature. This helps the manager to be assured that staff understand the risks that children face and how to mitigate these risks. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 5

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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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b)(e)) 1 November

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; 1 November Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 6 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)) 1 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

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Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response;

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Requirement Due date

describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect. 1 November Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 7 The registered person must keep under review and, as necessary, revise the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)(e) (6))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children are able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that the home works in close partnership with all those who play a role in protecting and caring for the child, but particularly the child’s local authority and statutory social worker. The registered person should evidence what they have done to achieve engagement, including any actions taken to escalate concern. In particular, the registered person should ensure that

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Recommendations

there is a clear escalation policy and process in place which can demonstrate the effectiveness of any escalation that is required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.3)  The registered person should ensure that case records are kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, the registered person should ensure that

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Recommendations

staff use language that cares when writing about the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review as set out in regulation 45 should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the quality standards every six months, but should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 8

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Recommendations

possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2 and page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC037984 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Darlington Borough Council, Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington DL1 5QT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Bell

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Inspector

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC037984 10 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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