Children's Home run by Dorset Council in Dorset

Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 1 SC032163

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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 local authority. The home provides long-term care for up to two children who have physical disabilities or physical disabilities. Two children currently live in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/10/2023 Full Good 26/04/2022 Full Good 27/04/2021 Full Good 10/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in the home receive good-quality, well-planned care. Four professionals said that the children are central to everything that carers do. This has supported them to make progress with their communication, expressing their wishes and feelings, making choices and self-care. Carers celebrate children’s achievements, no matter how small. Children’s living areas are adapted for their specific needs. Communal areas are bright and contain children’s artwork and photos. However, measures in place to ensure children’s safety, and the age of the building, give the home an institutionalised feeling in parts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers advocate for children to receive good-quality education. As a result of this, children now attend school outside of the home. This provides them with more routine and stimulation. Carers continue to work with the virtual school, advocating for children to receive more time in education. Carers are proactive in developing schedules for children’s days, adding in learning experiences such as trips to the library. However, children are provided with limited opportunities to socialise and interact with other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are sought and considered by carers. One child emails carers using their electronic tablet, identifying places that they would like to visit and activities they would like to do, and carers respond to the child. Children enjoy experiences such as paddle boarding, swimming, picnics in the park and walks in the woods. These are documented in bright and informative monthly overviews, photos and videos. However, some written records of children’s day-to-day lives lack detail.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are given the time and support that they need to communicate. Carers use picture and word cards and devise personalised stories using pictures and words called ‘social stories’ to explain things to children and gain their consent. The positive impact of this is seen in documents written about children. Carers work with the speech and language team to develop their understanding of children’s communication needs and how to ensure that they can voice their true wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers work closely with health professionals to meet children’s health needs. Concerns about children’s ability to express pain and request medication have been addressed. Clear planning has been put into place to ensure that children’s actions are not misinterpreted and ensure that medication is not given unnecessarily. Carers are providing one child with support to get used to wearing glasses for reading.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers support children to develop safe and appropriate sexual behaviours. Children are given privacy, and their dignity is at the forefront of the support they receive. Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 4 Carers have sought and implemented advice from external professionals in relation to supporting a child to understand their body and their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers recognise the significance and benefits of the time that children spend with their family. Two family members said that carers have built positive relationships with them and support them to spend quality time with their child. Carers have been proactive in reaching out to family members to offer guidance and support in relation to meeting the care needs of a child when they are with their family. One parent spoke positively about how carers plan for special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas.

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

Carers form positive relationships with the children who live in the home. Children look to carers for support in communicating and completing day-to-day tasks. Carers are patient and kind towards children; they are responsive to their needs and talk about them with warmth and familiarity. Two parents and four professionals said that children are kept safe. One child used their electronic tablet to talk about their planned activities, ensuring that their written schedule was correct and showing some excitement about the day ahead. Another child showed the inspector around their home and showed how they make choices in relation to their day and what they watch on the television.

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

Children who live in the home are subject to restrictions to keep them safe. The level of restriction imposed on both children has reduced. Further planning to reduce monitoring for one child is currently being introduced. Regular reviews of the restrictions take place. However, full reflection and consideration as to whether they are all necessary does not always happen. This may lead to children having less freedom than they can safely have.

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

Carers are aware of the risks that children face. Documents that detail risks and methods to support children to be safe are easy to read and understand. Carers work with other professionals in planning for children. They embrace their expertise and recognise the benefits of a multi-disciplinary team around a child. Concerns for children are raised and escalated in a timely manner. Carers advocate for children and challenge other professionals effectively, achieving positive outcomes for children in education, health and care planning.

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

Incidents rarely happen in the home. When restraint has been used, it has been appropriate. The monitoring of children’s behaviours is robust and regularly reviewed, and carers use techniques devised to support children and manage their behaviours before they escalate. During incidents, carers are calm and child focused.

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

Following incidents or behaviours of concern, carers talk to children. There is a focus on the child’s emotional and physical well-being and their understanding of what happened. It is acknowledged that children are not always wanting to, or able to, Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 5 reflect on what happened or how they feel; however, carers still attempt this, wanting children to feel valued, cared for and listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a robust and experienced management team. The new manager was present throughout the inspection and has applied to be registered with Ofsted. The manager has good oversight of the home and provides reflective analysis and feedback on the care that is provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are present in the home. They are inquisitive and eager to learn and enhance their learning and development and that of the team. The manager works well with his team, which is committed to achieving the best outcomes for children. Caring for children in the home is collaborative.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers are wholly positive about the home and the support that they receive from leaders and managers. They said that the manager supports a calm and well-run home that focuses on the children. Communication between leaders, managers and carers is regular, ensuring that carers have the most up-to-date information about children. Carers receive regular, good-quality and reflective supervision. Carers have a voice and are listened to by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers attend regular, inclusive and reflective team meetings and team days. There is an open and collective approach to discussing children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Planning for children to move out of the home is comprehensive. The potential negative impact that moves can have on children is acknowledged. One child’s move out of the home was successful. Planning for two children to move to bespoke homes is ongoing. Carers are instrumental in this planning, advocating for the overall needs of the children, and this includes maintaining a core team of carers who the child knows.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safeguarding or practice concerns are promptly and appropriately addressed. Investigations are of good quality and provide clear recommendations for improvements in practice. Direct work to explore a child’s experiences and inform them of their rights during and after an investigation was brief. Managers are aware of this, and planning has been devised to ensure that this does not occur again in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recruitment practice ensures that checks necessary to determine whether carers are safe to work with children are completed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

and positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are given regular opportunities to be around and socialise with other children. 3 April 2025

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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. 3 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that communication with children to gain their views during and after investigations into the quality of care is child-focused. Also, they must ensure that children are kept informed about investigations and their outcomes.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, this refers to making clear and informative recordings of a child’s day-to-day experiences. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that restrictions on children are thoroughly and regularly reviewed to ensure that they are necessary to keep the child safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that, where possible, the environment in which children live mimics that of a home environment rather than an institutionalised one. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 8

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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: SC032163 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester DT1 1XJ

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 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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Inspector

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