Children's Home run by Darlington Borough Council in Darlington

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 1 SC037861 Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides a short-break service for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The post of registered manager has been vacant since March 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, no children were staying at the home. Six children were accessing services.

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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 inadequate

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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: 18 December 2024

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2024 Full Inadequate 05/12/2023 Full Good 20/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 3

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improvement to be good

One child was spoken to during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers are not yet providing good help and care to ensure that children have a positive experience in the home and make good progress. The shortfalls in leadership and management affect the quality of care provided to the children.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health and well-being are not promoted by staff. Staff do not understand children’s emotional health needs, and children’s plans do not contain any information to support this. This prevents children from accessing the right services to promote their emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow up complaints that children make. When children raise a concern, staff do not help them understand what happens with their complaint or what the outcome is. This does not provide children with assurances that their complaints are taken seriously and dealt with in line with the local authority’s procedures.

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improvement to be good

Support for children moving into the home has improved. Children are encouraged to build relationships with staff before they stay overnight at the home. This includes children going out on activities and spending time getting to know staff and the local area. No children have moved on from the home since the previous inspection. This was raised as a requirement at the last inspection and will therefore be restated.

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improvement to be good

Staff build positive relationships with family members. Feedback from children’s families is positive. Family members say that staff regularly communicate with them and that their children enjoy spending time with staff. One family member said, ‘They are brilliant, and all staff have the time of day for the children.’

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to participate in various activities. Children enjoy days out and spending time with staff. Staff seek children’s views about their interests and involve them in planning activities. Staff take photos of children’s experiences in the home and keep them in memory books. This means that children have positive memories of the fun times they have.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments do not reflect all their information. Each child's risks are not clearly defined, nor do they align with the needs outlined in their local authority plan. Furthermore, staff do not fully understand the needs of the children in their care. Consequently, staff are not always clear on how to respond when children are at risk of harm. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 4 When staff have concerns for children’s safety, they do not always follow up with further discussions to help children understand why they are worried. The records of the key- work sessions that are carried out are descriptive. However, they do not demonstrate the children’s learning or understanding of the concerns. Children are not consistently provided with the opportunity to reflect on risks and learn from incidents that have happened.

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improvement to be good

The manager did not notify Ofsted of one significant safeguarding concern. The incident was managed well, and multi-agency partners were informed. However, this hinders Ofsted in maintaining oversight of how the home responds when children are at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks that children may face when using the internet. Staff have been proactive in carrying out work with children to support them in learning how to keep themselves safer online.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment practices are followed, and staff are suitably vetted before they work directly with children. Staff receive an induction, which includes the local authority’s mandatory training. This helps to ensure that children are cared for by safe adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager left her role in March 2025. A new manager is in post but has not yet applied to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not have a strong grip on how the home cares for children. The systems in place to monitor the home are not effective and have failed to identify poor practice and outcomes for children. The manager’s lack of oversight has resulted in shortfalls not being identified or addressed. This prevents the manager and staff from being aware of children’s changing needs and how to respond to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not carry out a review of the quality of care that children receive, which would enable them to identify areas for improvement. There is no management oversight of children’s experiences and outcomes. This means the manager and staff do not understand the impact the service has on children or implement learning from their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not escalate matters to the local authority when there are concerns about the plans for children. Furthermore, they do not challenge the local authority when information provided on children’s referrals is insufficient to allow the manager to assess the appropriateness of the placement. This does not support careful consideration of what is in the children’s best interests and means that staff do not have all the necessary information to care for children safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that all staff have the relevant qualifications and training to meet the children’s needs. Staff have not all completed the local Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 5 authority’s mandatory training, and one member of staff is significantly overdue. Furthermore, training specific to the children’s needs, such as criminal exploitation, has not taken place. This means that staff do not have the skills to meet children’s changing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff feel supported by leaders and managers, and they say that senior managers are present and accessible. Staff receive regular supervision sessions, where they can discuss their well-being and reflect on their experiences. Annual appraisals take place so that staff can identify goals and reflect on their professional development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 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 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; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)) 20 May 2025

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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; and 20 May 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 7 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)(h))

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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; and

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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—

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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)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii)) 20 May 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(b)(c) (2)(a)(iii)) 20 May 2025

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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

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and 20 May 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 8 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 (a)(c))

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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

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

(any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 27 June 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. Children must be able to take up issues or make a complaint with support and without any fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Children must be aware of this procedure and be reminded of it as necessary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  The registered person should notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should ensure that children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being. Staff should have the relevant skills and

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Recommendations

knowledge to be able to help children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 9 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: SC037861 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Darlington Borough Council,

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington DL1 5QT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Bell

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Inspectors

Natalie Clark, Social Care Inspector Laura Roberts, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC037861 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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