Children's Home run by Hertfordshire County Council in Hertfordshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 1 SC379199 Registered provider: Hertfordshire 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 local authority home offers care for up to seven children who have been assessed as unable to live with their families and require a period of positive residential care. Four children were living at the home when the inspection took place.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since March 2023 and registered with Ofsted in November 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

Date of last inspection: 4 December 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: SC379199 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/12/2023 Full Good 07/06/2022 Full Good 28/07/2021 Full Good 28/05/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Four children were present during the inspection. Two children were spoken with. The manager was present throughout the inspection. Since the last inspection, two children have moved out and two children have moved in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive and warm relationships with the children. Staff were observed to be nurturing and thoughtful in their approach, which children responded to well. This helps children to feel cared for and safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in education. One child sat formal exams and is now attending college. Another child has high attendance at a mainstream school. Other children have individual, bespoke education packages with alternative provisions. The children are provided with educational opportunities that support their individual needs. This has helped children to develop their confidence and aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have allowed children to keep pets. The pets have a huge meaning to children, and they take immense pride in them. The pets were brought into the home in a bold and enterprising way, without an agreed plan. Staff recognised the meaning of this situation for the children and the therapeutic benefits of having pets. The pets were then agreed. This demonstrates that staff appreciate children’s feelings and are willing to negotiate with children in their best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Activities are encouraged by staff. Children enjoy outdoor activities, such as day trips to theme parks and holidays to the seaside. One child went on holiday to Spain. This provides positive experiences for children and supports them to develop their social, emotional and physical well-being. Numerous photos and other paraphernalia are collected from the trips. These provide the children with lovely visual memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children can see people who are important to them. One child was taken on holiday with their friend. Another child has sleepovers at her friend’s house. This ensures that children maintain meaningful, close social relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are comfortable to raise concerns. An advocate is used as an independent person for the children to speak with. Two children have made formal complaints, one of them to the advocate. These complaints have been investigated fully, and responses have been provided to the children. However, the responses are long documents with complicated words. It is unclear whether anyone has ensured that the children fully understand these outcomes. This is particularly unhelpful as both children are neurodiverse and require extra help to rebuild relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care plans do not cover all children’s needs. One child was seen with a vape, and staff reported that other children also vape. This is not in their care plans, and consequently, there is no meaningful strategy in place to help children to stop. Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 4 Care plans do not explain children’s individual neurodiversity and how this affects their day-to-day lives. This has meant that on occasion, staff have given children unhelpful advice that does not take account of their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff spend weekly time with children to review their achievements. This time should also coincide with planned key-work sessions to discuss prescribed topics. However, this is not always taking place. Records are descriptive and it is not clear which discussions have happened.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and has been decorated to provide warm and cosy ambiance. The communal ensuite bathrooms, and garden require some attention to bring them up to the standard of the rest of the home. These areas detract from what is otherwise a comfortable and welcoming house.

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

Managers and staff recognise children’s risks well. Children are helped to develop an understanding of their own risks. This has helped to keep children safer. Consistent routines and boundaries help to manage and reduce risks to children’s safety. The staff give the children consistent guidance and necessary supervision. Children are given opportunities to develop their ability to make safe choices. When incidents occur that demonstrate emerging risks, restrictions are increased. This is done alongside social work partners to ensure multi-agency working.

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

One child’s risks have been significantly reduced. Before moving to the home, the child was involved in several criminal offences. These have ceased. When the child first moved in, they had a high number of missing-from-home episodes and associated risks of child criminal exploitation. Staff have been able to build relationships with the child, resulting in a reduction of missing-from-home episodes and open conversations about where the child is going and who they are with. This means that the child is safer when they are out of the home.

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

There have been serious allegations made against a member of staff. Managers have ensured that relevant external agencies are involved, and when required, managers have challenged the responses from some agencies.

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

The group dynamic has been a trigger for incidents of verbal and physical aggression. Peer relationships can sometimes affect children’s happiness. Incidents of bullying are documented, and they are addressed by the manager and the staff team immediately.

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

The location risk assessment has a current date. However, the information in it is from last year. Reference is made to a child’s risks that are no longer relevant, which may be unhelpful to the child and staff. Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager speaks warmly about the children. She has high aspirations for the children and the staff team. She understands therapeutic work and encourages staff to have empathy for the children and their circumstances.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. She makes effective use of external and internal monitoring systems to ensure that high standards of care and staff practice are maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a period of instability when some staff have left for other roles in the organisation and others have left for different reasons. This has affected the children, who have voiced their concern. The manager has shown great resilience throughout this period. She has adopted strong leadership to bolster the motivation and commitment from the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff attend regular team meetings. A therapist attends these meetings. At these meetings, staff discuss risks to children. The meetings are safe spaces for staff to talk about strategies to work with the children. Areas of strength are discussed as well as what needs to improve. This provides the staff with a forum to share helpful practice and ideas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff induction clearly and concisely sets out the expectations of staff. Topics such as fire safety and a mobile phone policy are clearly defined. Staff probationary reviews are detailed. These include feedback from staff that demonstrates their competencies. These reviews help to prepare staff to meet all requirements of their job roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions take place regularly. However, the discussions that take place with staff are not reflective. Records of supervision sessions are basic and provide a list of topics without evidence of discussions. Actions are not always set, and there is no follow-up after the supervision sessions. Some sections are left blank. This means that records have little meaning. A staff member has raised concerns about staff, which were not acted on. The supervisor does not appear to have investigated these concerns further. Therefore, supervisors are not curious, and information shared by staff is being missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has undertaken a rigorous quality of care report. However, this was sent to Ofsted late, meaning that Ofsted’s oversight of the home is limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has ensured that staff have received mandatory training. However, this does not reflect the neurodiversity of the children. Further training in this topic is still required to ensure that staff fully understand children’s individual needs. Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home.

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that care plans explain children’s neurodiversity and how this affects their day-to-day lives.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that care plans identify the action to take with children in response to complaints they make that takes into account their neurodiverse needs.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure care plans provide staff with the strategies and advice children need in line with their neurodiversity.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that planned key-work sessions take place and that staff carrying out these sessions understand individual neurodiversity to provide effective help and guidance to children. 11 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that supervision sessions are reflective with clear and thorough notes of discussions and action points, and 1 December 2024 Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 7 ensure that during supervision sessions, supervisors show professional curiosity.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated. 1 February 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the location risk assessment contains up-to- date information about children and the area. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should ensure that all areas of the home, including communal and individual bathrooms, and the back garden, are kept to a high standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that all staff are adequately trained in neurodiversity to ensure that staff understand and can meet children’s needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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: SC379199 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hertfordshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Farnham House, Six Hills Way, Stevenage SG1 2ST

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Inspector

Hannah Phillips, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC379199 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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