Children's Home run by ROC Family Support Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 1 Registered provider: ROC Family Time Ltd

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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. It can also provide short- breaks care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

An interim manager is managing the home.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 15 January 2024

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2024 Full Good 14/02/2023 Full Good 07/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 3

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improvement to be good

Shortfalls in leadership and management of the home, and poor safeguarding practice, have had an impact on the overall experiences of the children.

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improvement to be good

Some children’s experiences living at the home have been poor. Four children have left the home at short notice because staff have been unable to meet their needs or keep them safe. This does help children to feel wanted or valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff work with health professionals for guidance on how to meet the children’s health needs. They receive training on how to administer medication for children with specific health needs, such as diabetes care. Management oversight of one child’s health record is not consistent or thorough. This may lead to errors in administering medication.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage most children to attend and enjoy education. However, despite support from professionals, staff have not successfully helped one child to return to school. They have not provided opportunities for the child to learn informally in the home to help build their confidence and courage to return to formal education. This is not aspirational for children.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers escalate their concerns when children’s care plans are not progressing well. They have been proactive in ensuring that a child received a specialist assessment to support the child’s needs. This enabled staff to understand how best to help the child.

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improvement to be good

Professionals speak positively about the care staff give to the children who recently moved into the home. Children have short transitions into the home. Children receive a warm welcome and opportunity to personalise their bedrooms. Staff often meet with the children before they move in, but this has not been the case on every occasion.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote positive activities and reward children for their achievements. Children attend after-school activities and staff actively encourage the children to have interests. The manager and staff contribute to the plans for children to spend time and enjoy relationships safely with people who are important to them. This helps to promote the children’s self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments and the risk management of safeguarding concerns are inconsistent. Strategies have not been consistently effective to ensure that staff safeguard children from one another, in response to incidents that occurred. Also, there has been a lack of effective risk management after incidents of fire-setting in the home. The manager did Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 4 not rigorously provide clear and robust oversight of these incidents. This does not keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Supervision of the children in the home is at times poor and ineffective. On three separate occasions, a child has facilitated entry to the home of a peer unbeknown to staff. The manager cannot locate the record of one these incidents, demonstrating poor record-keeping. Furthermore, their oversight of the incidents is inconsistent. This poor practice could lead to unsafe people entering the home without staff knowing.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff’s attempts to promote positive peer relationships have not been effective. Changes in the staff team have disrupted the children’s ability to form trusting relationships with the adults who care for them. As a result, children felt less safe with one another. This led to some children experiencing intimidation and negative influences to participate in unsafe behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager ensures that timely repairs are made in the home. However, a shortfall in the safe storage of equipment resulted in a child being able to access equipment and use it as a potential weapon. This avoidable risk increased the risk of harm to children and staff.

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improvement to be good

When children are missing from home, staff respond appropriately. They take time to talk to children and help them to learn from their actions. Staff help children to participate regular key-work sessions relevant to the children’s needs. When children complain, the manager appropriately reviews the incidents and provides children with an outcome.

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improvement to be good

Two children recently admitted to the home say that they feel safe and want to live in the home forever. They know how to complain. They like the adults looking after them and enjoy spending time with them. Children said there is nothing they would change.

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

The previous manager has not provided consistently effective leadership to the team. The new acting manager is keen to make a difference and address the shortfalls. They are applying to register with Ofsted.

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

The acting manager has appropriate monitoring and reviewing systems to support their oversight of the children’s care and staff’s practice. The acting manager aspires for the children to receive good-quality care and helps them to make progress. The independent visitor provides valuable scrutiny, which the new manager benefits from.

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

Safe recruitment practice is followed by managers. This helps to ensure that only suitable adults are appointed care for the children.

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

Staff speak positively about teamwork and team support. They express high morale and enthusiasm to ensure that children have good experiences. They have a variety of Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 5 training opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills to help them be effective in their roles.

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

Staff receive monthly practice-related supervision. They benefit from the support provided by the home’s psychotherapist to develop their understanding of the children’s complex needs. When staff have not felt confident, leaders and managers have made reasonable adjustments to ensure that staff felt well supported.

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

Team meetings reflect a committed staff team eager to learn and improve practice. Children are a focus of the discussions. Staff also benefit from group supervision. These sessions help to strengthen staff resilience, allow them to contribute to discussions and support each other. Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v)) 20 April 2025

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

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 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; 20 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 7 help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(vi)(vii)(x)(xii)(xiii))

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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

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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; 20 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 8 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)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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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 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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 20 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 20 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 9 that arrangements are in place to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff maintain accurate and timely records of significant incidents, in accordance with the home’s recording policy. 20 April 2025

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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: 2571902 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ROC Family Time Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hope House, Burnhope, Newton Aycliffe, Durham DL5 7ER

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Inspector

Tenji Wesa, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2571902 11 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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Inspector

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