Children's home run by Duty of Care Limited in County Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 1 SC476602

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Registered provider: Duty of Care 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

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. 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

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. The inspector spoke to both of them.

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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

Date of last inspection: 20 October 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: SC476602 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/10/2023 Full Good 15/08/2022 Full Good 21/12/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have lived in the home for several years. The stability this has provided them has allowed them to develop trusted relationships with staff, helping them continue to make progress since the last inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been continued success with education and learning. One child has finished their GCSEs and has successfully gone on to take a college course which they enjoy. The other child has been praised for their attitude to learning, which is described as outstanding.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to expand their experiences and engage in activities. For one child, this involves going to the bike club and looking at cars on the weekend in the local area. The other child is spending more time with their friends. A new friendship group has increased the child’s social circle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to improve their life skills to become more independent. This includes regular discussions about empathy, self-esteem, maintaining personal hygiene as well as more practical skills such as cooking and budgeting. This helps children prepare for later life, when they will be caring for themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the children’s health and well-being needs are met, for example working with a counsellor to talk about their feelings and well-being. Specialist help is being sourced in response to recommendations from a cognitive assessment. This ensures that the children have the support needed to help them flourish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff listen to and respect the children’s views about seeing their family. They support children to stay in contact, even when they live far away. This helps children keep links with people who are important to them.

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

Staff know the children well and have a good understanding about the issues they face. Staff know how to help children should risks arise. These strategies are detailed in the children’s support plans.

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

One child has learned other strategies to help them regulate their emotions. This now involves them talking to staff or going to the gym to exercise. As a result, there have been no incidents of self-harm since the last inspection.

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

Children are rewarded through personalised incentives that motivate them to achieve their goals. One child who loves cars is rewarded with toy model cars to add to their existing collection. Consequences for unwanted behaviours are rarely used. Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 4 When children are in crisis and make threats to harm themselves and others, staff use various distraction tactics to calm and reduce the incident. When these strategies have not been successful, staff use holds to keep the children and staff safe. When needed, the police have assisted to resume calm in the home. Good management oversight of all incidents ensures that children and staff are supported to talk and reflect on what has happened. The team has worked hard to support the child. Staff have remained committed, and more recently, things have settled down again.

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

Incidents of children going missing from home or school are rare. During the one incident when the child was missing from school with a peer, staff responded by going out to search for them. This well-coordinated response helps to keep children safe from exploitation.

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

Daily records provide clarity on what the children are doing and how the staff support and help them. They are factual but lack detail about conversations. The manager is aware of this and has plans in place to move this forward to help staff to write in a more helpful way to the children.

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good

The three staff vacancies have been an ongoing issue since the last inspection. While this has not had an impact on the care of the children, it has had an impact on the team, which has been covering extra shifts to ensure continuity of care for the children.

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good

The responsible individual’s involvement has not been robust enough, given the increase in the safeguarding concerns for the children and staff, some of which have included threats to kill. There is no evidence of help, support or guidance being provided to the manager or the team since the last inspection. As a result, the registered manager has been covering part of the responsible individual’s role, the manager’s role as well as some of the day-to-day rota. She is overstretched, and this is not sustainable. There is no evidence that the responsible individual has had any oversight of the care being provided or the paperwork. From discussions, it is apparent that he has been away for periods of time, reducing the amount of time and attention he can give the team.

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good

Currently, the provider does not have an escalation policy. While the manager does chase things, there is no framework around this. This means that escalation is not as robust as it needs to be. This is important for one child, who is waiting for a decision about local authority funding and a future assessment. Without this assessment, questions regarding this child’s diagnosis remain unanswered, preventing the child from accessing additional support. Without an escalation strategy, it is unclear how the manager will challenge this to prevent delay.

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good

The commitment from the registered manager is clear. She knows the children very well, is aspirational and wants the best for them. She advocates on their behalf to Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 5 make sure they have access to the support they need. She wants staff to feel included and supported and values their opinions.

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good

The small staff team is also committed to the children. Staff have remained working in the home during a difficult period. They are knowledgeable about the children and talk about them in a lovely way, with respect. The team is stable, and this has ensured consistency.

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good

The team is well supported by the manager and deputy manager. They feel able to talk about anything, whether it be work related or otherwise. The staff have regular supervisions, team meetings and specific training and learning to meet children’s needs. For example, recently, the team has done life-story work, with a view to helping children understand their beginnings to help promote their identity. Managers encourage reflective practice so staff can learn from what has happened and find ways of doing things differently.

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good

The team works well with professionals around the children. Those spoken with gave helpful feedback and are confident that the team has the skills to meet the needs of the children. For example, the psychologist who works with the staff has helped them explore other strategies to keep a child safe. Meetings with the psychologist have been happening every two weeks, ensuring that advice has moved on with the needs of the child and the team. Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 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 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)) 17 January

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience, and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (7)(b)) 17 January

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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

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation (5)(c)) 17 January Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 7

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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: SC476602 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Duty of Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 13 Front Street, Staindrop, Darlington, County Durham DL2 3LZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: David Heartfield

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Inspector

Miriam Dolman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC476602 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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