Children's home run by Hertfordshire County Council in Dacorum

Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 1 SC422231 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 home provides a short programme for children that helps families to stay together by providing support for children and their parents and carers. The provider offers planned short stays and emergency admissions.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left the home in February 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager was appointed in April 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

There were no children at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 12 February 2024

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/02/2024 Full Outstanding 15/02/2023 Full Outstanding 06/09/2021 Full Good 23/10/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Since the last inspection, 57 children have been supported for short stays or in an emergency. Nine children are currently receiving support. The breadth of work undertaken with children and families is exceptional. There were no children at the home at the time of the inspection. However, two children were spoken with on the phone, and a third child shared written feedback. Children were resoundingly positive and enthusiastic about their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One child wrote, ‘Being at [the home] has truly enriched my life and helped with my self- esteem, confidence, decision-making, anxiety and relationship with my mum. I have made friends and memories here and will always remember this time in my life and associate it with positivity and love. They [staff] are all so welcoming, loving and amazing people. The [home] has become a home I will remember and a place I will think back to when feeling down.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

This home offers a bespoke service that works with children and their families to help them engage in specialised therapeutic support. Support is provided by a multi- disciplinary team, including health and education. The support families receive reduces the likelihood of children needing a long-term residential children’s home. The service includes a rapid-response team that parents or children can contact in an emergency. This helps parents to build resilience over time knowing there is support available at any time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are creative and dynamic in their approach to helping children rebuild relationships with their families. Staff support children at the home, at home with their family and in the local community. Children and their families participate in regular family therapy, which is underpinned by the behavioural approach and model of care. The wide-ranging support helps children, parents and carers to think about trauma and behaviour in new ways. A parent said, ‘It helped us massively to improve as a family.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are highly skilled in working therapeutically with children at a pace to suit their needs. One child struggled to access the community safely or manage crowds and loud noises. Over time, staff helped the child to attend a fun fair and a festival event. This is a significant achievement from their starting point. Since this time, the child’s parent said they were able to take their child out in the community and to a theme park as a family. This is helping children to have experiences they may not otherwise have achieved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are persistent in gaining children’s feedback across the time they spend at the home. Staff get to know children from the point they move into the home to gather their wishes and feelings. Staff keep in touch with children after they move on as part of the ongoing commitment to building lasting relationships. Children feel listened to and valued. A number of children return for visits. Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 4 The home is a large purpose-built house. It is exceptionally well furnished, with four themed bedrooms available for children. This gives children a unique space to relax in. Children can access a fully equipped art room and a music room. One child asked for a sensory room, and they are working with staff to create this room together. Children feel connected to the home even if they only visit for short stays, which helps to create a sense of belonging for them.

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

Children are often extremely vulnerable and would be at high risk in their community. Staff are knowledgeable about children’s vulnerability and extensively risk assess children’s needs to ensure they are provided with safe care. Although incidents occur, rapid responses to children’s needs help to keep them safer. A parent said their child no longer self-harms, because of the support provided to their child.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, staff follow children or take necessary action to locate them. Staff work confidently with the police and other local agencies to think about children’s safety in the community. One professional said that staff work well with health services and the police to support incidents in the community. Staff go above and beyond when children go missing from their family home. Staff will go and help parents to search for children, speak to children and help them to return home in safer ways. This additional layer of support in the community helps children and families to build resilience at times of crisis.

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

Staff have regular, detailed and reflective conversations with children. Records are written directly to children and use language that shows kindness and empathy to children about their worries and behaviour. Staff help children and parents to explore their feelings and behaviours. This helps to give children and their families the right tools to live together at home.

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

Recruitment checks of new staff are thorough. The manager is considered in her approach to recruitment and only recruits the right staff for the team. Any vacancy is managed by the current team, so children receive consistent care from staff they know well.

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

The manager has developed a tool to help her reflect on staff’s well-being and potential vulnerability to challenging work. This increased understanding of staff’s needs helps to manage staff retention. One member of staff has left the home since the last inspection. Several of the staff have worked at the home for many years because of the quality of the staff team and support they receive. This helps to provide continuity to children over time.

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

Children have needed to be held to keep themselves safe. These incidents have been necessary and proportionate. One child, who moved to the home as an emergency with high needs, was held several times. Although these holds were necessary to keep the child safe, it was not always clear if the child was spoken to independently. The quality of staff debriefs was not well recorded. This was a particularly challenging emergency Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 5 stay for staff, and in this instance the reduced quality of recording did not help the manager or staff learn from these incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has left the home. There was a planned transition for the new manager, who is known to the staff, children and their families. This has helped to maintain strong relationships throughout times of change. The manager is confident and enthusiastic about her role. The manager’s focus is on the success of the support that enables children to stay with their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers have a clear vision and are ambitious for children to make sustained and positive changes. Since the last inspection, the new manager has worked to adjust the model of care offered by the home. The new model is focused on family relationships and working collaboratively in a much more flexible way. This means the package of care offered to each family is bespoke and best meets their individual needs. For some families, the support is intensive and short term, whereas for other children and families support is over a longer period. These changes have allowed more families to be supported by the service at any one time while still maintaining the high-quality care offered by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an excellent overview of records. She shows attention to detail and care when creating care plans for children. This helps them to have settled stays when they visit the home. Records show that the manager is proactive in challenging staff practice to ensure that staff are working to the highest standards. Her oversight consistently links back to the model of care and ethos of the home. The manager is a champion for the model of care used. This translates into staff’s practice and understanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive substantial training in the model of care and behavioural approach alongside relevant training outlined in the home’s statement of purpose. Staff’s knowledge is reinforced by monthly meetings with behaviour leads and a consultant to ensure that staff deliver exceptional quality care. New staff are supported to develop their skills through the internal training academy. In addition, staff receive training from guest speakers and charities. The manager has forged excellent relationships with a Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services CAMHS service to allow staff to shadow other professionals to broaden their wider knowledge of services. This helps staff to understand children’s experiences when accessing a range of different services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular and reflective supervision sessions. Staff use these conversations to explore children’s needs. These help to feedback into wider team meetings with the therapeutic leads and effectively plan the right support for each child. Staff spoke positively about their experience of supervisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and staff team are extremely passionate about working to support families to stay together. Parents and professionals are extremely positive about the support they receive. Parents said: Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 6 I have nothing but praise for the staff. They are amazing. The support we received from family therapy – it was an amazing experience. Our child is happier. They are more assertive in what they want; it has brought out real confidence in them. They can be themselves unapologetically when they visit the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

My child is a completely different person: they smile; they are happy. They have invested in time with [my child] that has set the pathway for change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff were incredible for them [the child]. It was a therapeutic environment for them. They [the staff] were so supportive and genuine.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A social worker said, ‘They are a phenomenal resource to have.’ A mental-health professional said, ‘They are an amazing service, and I wish there were more services like them.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure records of restraint are kept and enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline, and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. In particular, ensure that children and staff are spoken with in a timely manner. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: SC422231 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: Hertfordshire County Council, Farnham House, Six Hills Way, Stevenage SG1 2ST

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Inspector

Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC422231 9 regulates 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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