Children's Home run by Durham County Council in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 1 Registered provider: Durham 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

The home is run by a local authority. 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

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Both registered managers are not currently in work.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 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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good

Date of last inspection: 18 February 2025

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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: 2624251 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2025 Full Good 07/08/2023 Full Good 01/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 3

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improvement to be good

Children living in the home have mixed experiences. Staff supported one child effectively, which enabled the child to return home. However, varying factors, such as a lack of staffing sufficiency, contributed to one child needing to move out of the home due to their needs not being met.

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improvement to be good

Shortages with permanent staff working at the home leave children being cared for by unfamiliar adults. This impacts on children’s ability to develop trusting relationships and make progress. Although recently this has started to improve, there has been significant instability for children.

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improvement to be good

Educational progress for children is mixed. Leaders attend meetings and contribute to plans to re-engage children in education. However, on a day-to-day basis, staff do not promote a positive routine or consistently provide educational activities for children to engage in. This does not help children to develop or reach their academic potential.

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improvement to be good

Children move into the home in a planned way and benefit from visits before moving in. However, poor-quality assessments do not reflect how any challenges to meeting the children’s needs will be addressed. Furthermore, the assessment does not identify additional support for staff in line with the children’s presenting needs. This prevents staff from having the necessary skills and knowledge to care for the children effectively. Senior leaders have since identified training for staff to attend, but the impact of this is yet to be seen.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to spend time with family and those important to them. Staff strive to develop positive relationships with parents. One parent said, ‘They [staff] are very good at communicating. All things get discussed; they always ring me back.’ This allows children to see adults working together in their best interests.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage children in discussions about frustrations they have and their behaviours that impact on one another. Staff validate children’s feelings while also offering guidance on how to resolve matters. Additionally, staff engage children in other discussions, such as about vaping and education plans, to provide children with advice and understand the barriers that they experience.

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improvement to be good

Those who know the children well say that children like living in the home and they like the home environment. The home is in a good state of repair, and children have personalised bedrooms. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 4

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improvement to be good

Leaders ensure that children have care and safety plans that reflect the children’s needs and any risks relating to the children. However, due to the staffing shortfalls, staff working with the children do not always have time to read the plans, preventing them from fully understanding children’s needs and providing them with effective personalised care.

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improvement to be good

Inconsistent staff impacts on the children receiving clear routines and boundaries. Staff have not always been able to meet children’s behavioural needs effectively. On one occasion, staff contacted the police to support them, which was not proportionate to the situation arising.

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improvement to be good

There is a chaotic approach to managing significant behavioural incidents and how they are recorded. Staff have missed opportunities to implement identified strategies for children, or when some strategies are implemented after behaviours have escalated, they are not helpful to the child because early intervention has been overlooked by staff.

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improvement to be good

When children need to be held, there is poor management oversight. There is a lack of professional curiosity to understand the triggers and identify any lessons learned. This prevents staff practice shortfalls from being addressed promptly. Often, no discussion is held with the child afterwards to understand their feelings and promote reflection about their behaviour. Furthermore, the managers have not identified when medical follow-up may be needed for a child. Senior leaders have completed retrospective oversight, which has contributed to creating an action plan aimed at learning from shortfalls and developing staff practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage children in discussions about their behaviour, but this is not consistent. The discussions are reactive in nature rather than being planned to enable children to reflect on a broader level about the impact of their presenting behaviours. This prevents children from learning from the situations to prevent reoccurrences.

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improvement to be good

When children raise concerns regarding staff practice, safeguarding procedures are followed. Concerns are investigated thoroughly by senior managers. Appropriate partner professionals, including the local authority designated officer, are notified. This enables children to see that their concerns are listened to and acted on.

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good

The absence of the registered managers and staffing shortages have impacted on children’s overall experience and ability to make progress. Senior leaders are reflective about the shortfalls and the impact that they have had on children’s experiences. They have identified the issues, and they have plans to address them. However, these plans are not yet fully effective. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 5 Managers and staff from the provider’s other children’s homes have supported in the absence of the registered managers and staff in this home. Consequently, this has led to inconsistent adults caring for children and management support for staff. Staff speak positively about the presence and guidance from senior leaders, who are working through the impact of instability.

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good

Staff supervision sessions have not consistently occurred. This limits staff in reflecting on their practice and identifying any support required. This is now improving, and supervision sessions have been booked.

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good

There are some gaps in monthly team meetings occurring; however, senior leaders are addressing this. The most recent team meetings have included reflective discussions about the children’s needs, using external agency support to debrief regarding the previous weeks.

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good

Senior leaders have appointed an interim manager. The manager is aware of the shortfalls and is actively involved in implementing the actions to address the concerns. The manager is in the process of applying to be registered for this home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons 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; 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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

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

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; 24 October Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 7 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

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi))

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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 the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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)(d)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 24 October

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 24 October Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 8 receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a) (3)(a)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 24 October

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Recommendations

 The registered persons should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to respond to the health needs of children and administer basic first aid and minor illness treatment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)  The registered persons should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 9 Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 13.2)  The registered persons should ensure that the necessary support is given to children to enable them to access their education or training. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph

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Information about this inspection

The inspector 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: 2624251 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Durham County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fostering & Adoption Team, Spectrum 8, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham SR7 7TT

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: Cheryl Bearpark and Michaela Myers

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Inspector

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2624251 11 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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