Children's Home run by Resilience North East Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 1 Registered provider: Resilience North East 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

A private provider owns and manages this home. The home provides care for up to three children who experience emotional and social difficulties, and who may have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living in the home at the time of this inspection. The inspectors spoke to both children.

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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 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/08/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/04/2023 Full Inadequate 07/06/2022 Full Good 21/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff speak about the children in a warm manner. Staff understand the children’s needs well. They adopt a nurturing approach and this means that children are at ease in their company. Children seek out adults when they are unwell, or to confide in. This means that children feel supported by those caring for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move into the home in a gradual manner. The manager completes an assessment to ensure that the children’s needs can be met. Children are supported to have visits prior to moving in. This helps to alleviate any worries that children may have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress, and staff take time to develop the children’s independence. One child has been supported to broaden their diet through staff’s support and encouragement. Furthermore, there has been a reduction in the times that children struggle to manage their behaviour and emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use the children’s preferred methods of communication, including for those children who are non-verbal. Children are supported to engage in discussions about their care and have important issues explained to them in a way that they can understand. Staff support these explanations by using social stories. Staff know children well and recognise the changes in their behaviour. This resulted in staff making sure that one child received necessary medical treatment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop positive relationships with parents. There is regular communication, and parents feel able to discuss aspects of their child’s care. This allows children to see parents and carers working together in their best interests. When talking about staff, one parent said:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

‘I love them all, they are really great. I was worried at first but when I visited and can see the progress and how happy [name of child] is, I cannot fault the carers. He is thriving and flourishing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Neither child is attending formal education. Staff support children to access educational activities, such as trips to science museums. Prior to this academic year, staff supported children to attend school or college. The manager liaises with the local authority to secure education placements for the children. However, there has been limited escalation, which means that children are not able to reach their full academic potential.

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

Staff ensure that children have personalised, up-to-date ‘My Plans’ and risk assessments. These documents are regularly reviewed when there are any new or changing needs and give staff clear guidance on how best to support each child. This means that children’s needs and risks are understood by those caring for them. Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 4 Staff encourage children to be as independent as possible. Staff maintain a consistent approach and praise children when they do tasks well. They recognise the need for children to feel proud of their achievements. This has supported children to develop their skills in completing tasks around the home, such as helping to cook and accessing a range of activities.

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

Staff do not need to physically hold the children currently living in the home. For children who have left the home, this was necessary, on occasions, to keep the children safe. However, staff use de-escalation techniques in the first instance to try to keep the children calm. Staff take time to explain to children about their behaviour. This means that, currently, physical intervention is low.

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

Staff understand the children’s health needs. They know what medications the children take and why they are needed. There is an online system to record medication and procedures for safe administration.

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

Senior leaders investigate allegations against staff and take effective action. Children can raise any worries about staff, and the manager addresses these in a timely manner. This allows children to feel that their views are taken seriously. Furthermore, work is done to repair relationships between the children and staff involved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Most of the staff do not hold the relevant qualification that is necessary for their role; however, they are enrolled to undertake this. Prior to a child moving into the home, training was not provided to help staff to understand the child’s communication needs. This is currently being explored by the manager, but impacts on the staff’s ability to fully support the child to help them to communicate their needs. Staff can access other training to meet the needs of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive supervision sessions; however, these are not always regular. Furthermore, the sessions do not always have a focus on the children, and there is limited professional curiosity about each staff member’s ability to fulfil their role. This limits reflective practice to help inform the manager about the staff’s development needs. A recent audit alerted senior leaders to the shortfalls relating to supervision sessions, and they have plans to improve the quality of these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager uses monitoring tools. However, these are not effective in capturing and analysing the progress that children make. Additionally, there is limited tracking of key events. This impacts on future planning and has led to plans for children being delayed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is in communication with partner agencies regarding children’s plans. However, there is limited escalation to challenge when tasks or documents have not been completed. For example, there is drift in transition planning for children. This limits children’s plans from progressing. Furthermore, children are not supported to access an Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 5 independent advocate or to complain to partner agencies when delays or changes to plans occur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Daily records completed by staff vary in detail and quality. This impacts on children having access to records that are reflective of their time living in the home. The manager is aware of these inconsistencies and has plans to address them with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff describe the managers as being supportive and having an open-door approach. They say that they can freely speak to managers about any concerns or ideas to improve care for the children. Staff say that they enjoy coming to work. This means that children are cared for by staff who feel valued and supported. Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 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 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.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a) (2)(c)(f)(h)) 6 November 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where the placing authority or another relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, the home challenges them to meet the child’s needs (see regulations 5(c)). Staff should act as champions for their children, expecting nothing less than a good parent would. The registered person should consider the use of an independent advocate (see paragraph 4.16) if the child’s needs are not being met. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 12 paragraph 2.8)  The registered person should ensure that there are systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 7

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Recommendations

and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61 paragraph 13.2)

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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: 1248773 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Resilience North East Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fellingate Care Centre, Fox Street, Felling, Gateshead NE10 0BD

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Inspectors

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Mark Cryer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1248773 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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