Children's home run by Thoughts of Others Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 1 SC049714 Registered provider: Thoughts of Others 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 private children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for two children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. They may stay after the age of 18 when this is part of a plan to move on. The organisation operates a school nearby and can provide therapeutic services.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Arrangements to keep children safe from the risk of fire are inadequate. The registered person has not implemented the requirements of the fire service.  The registered person has not taken sufficient action to meet four previous requirements from the last inspection.  Some children have not received the mental health support they need.  Staff do not administer or record children’s medication in line with their prescription advice.  Safeguarding arrangements are not yet fully effective because there is poor managerial review, so that lessons can be learned after allegations or when children go missing from care.  Internal and external monitoring is still ineffective or non-existent. There has been no formal review of the quality of care. Independent scrutiny omits key safeguarding information.  Staff still do not have the skills or training to meet the significant needs of children. They do not have good enough support, supervision or appraisal.

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Key findings from this inspection

 A high number of different staff are working at the home. This means that children still do not have continuity of care, because they have to try to form relationships with 56 different people.  Children’s records, including of restraint, lack the required information and do not give children an accurate account of incidents and their life in the home.  The home’s statement of purpose has still not been shared with people who need clear information about the service.  The registered person has not made effective partnerships with the local police or health services and so works in isolation from services that can help children.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children benefit from timely assessments and support from counsellors, psychologists and speech and language therapists.  Children make good educational progress at the organisation’s school or through home-based learning.  Approximately five key members of staff, whom children said they know, form good relationships with children and help them to understand their histories.  Staff help children to keep positive family relationships and they host relaxed meetings with them.  Placing authorities and parents are positive about the impact that the service has had compared with children’s previous experiences in care. Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 20/12/2016 Full Good 17/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 27/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 4

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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, 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person: to 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; to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; to ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; to 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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)(c)(e)(f)) 29/10/2017

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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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h))* 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. If a home has a website, the registered person must ensure that a copy of the statement of purpose is published on that website unless the registered person considers that such publication would prejudice the welfare of children in the home. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)(4)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and 29/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 5 disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23(1))* The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once a month. The independent person must produce a report, and they must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI and the placing authorities of children. (Regulation 44(1)(4)(7)(a)(c)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs and; seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5(a)(b)(d)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1) and (2)(c)) 29/10/2017

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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: that staff 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; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(i)(d)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a)) and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform 29/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 6 their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(b)(c)) The registered person must ensure that 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 all elements of this regulation. (Regulation 35(3)(a)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which: include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI if a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated, or there is any other incident relating to a child, which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(d)(e)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(2)(b) and (5)) 29/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The design of the home should provide staff that sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26.)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home has experienced staffing difficulties and children have had mental health and safeguarding crises over the summer period. Despite this, children are still making some progress, and placing authorities and parents are satisfied with the quality of their care. However, poor arrangements to keep children safe from the risk of fire jeopardise children’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered person has not challenged one placing authority to update a plan for the child’s educational and health needs. The plan has not been updated since 2015, and this was before the child came into care. This child has had no named mental health professional following her discharge to the home from a psychiatric hospital in March 2017. Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 7 The registered person has not taken action to follow up the independent psychology assessment recommendation for a full review of the child’s mental health and referral to occupational therapy for a review of her sensory needs. The registered person has not acted on the placing authority’s directions, made in July 2017, to pursue local arrangements for the child’s mental health needs. This has resulted in a lack of skilled mental health support for her. She has experienced extreme crises and self-harm following depression. Untrained staff were not able to manage serious incidents that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

required hospitalisation. This lack of access to essential therapeutic help is in contrast to the weekly provision of counselling services for another child by the organisation’s independent psychologist, which is going well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Arrangements for the safe administration of medication were a shortfall at the last inspection. Since this time, the situation has deteriorated. Staff without up-to-date relevant training administer medication and oversee the records. Records have significant gaps, which show that medication has not been given on many occasions. Guidance for staff about prescribed medication administered ‘as and when’ to control behaviour is still not good enough. It is inaccurate and relies on the child telling staff when it is needed. There is no record of the medical authority when staff have changed the dose and frequency of this medication. These chaotic and risky arrangements do not ensure that children get the medication they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The majority of staff working with children are not permanently employed at this home. This means that children do not form sustainable relationships. One child told inspectors, ‘I sometimes don’t trust new staff. There have been a lot of new staff.’ The importance to the children of a few key staff, including the manager and acting deputy, is clear, as seen in their dependence on them for activities, conversation and advice. Staff and children see the manager and acting deputy as key to stability and leadership in this home. They were both on holiday over the summer, overlapping for a five-day period. This weakened the staff team’s ability to manage the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children worry about the relationships they have with staff, especially after restraint, injury and allegations. Children feel insecure because they do not always have staff whom they know and trust caring for them. Children said that they want to spend more time with staff they know and like. They have raised complaints and concerns with the manager about how some staff have spoken to them or treated them. One child told inspectors they had confidence in the manager: ‘He sorts out problems and will always sit down and talk to me even if he is busy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the lack of coordinated care, staffing inconsistency and the subsequent impact on children’s well-being, placing authorities are clear that their children have made progress. A parent told inspectors that they had seen their child smiling and far happier than before. They described how they ‘are overwhelmed at her progression, hygiene, schooling and concentration. She was very unhappy but she now smiles. This is novel to them. For years, she has been an unhappy child. [The home] have done that.’ Children improve their self-help skills. They bathe and take pride in their appearance. Both children have worked together on a planned charity craft fundraiser. The manager Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 8 makes sure that children get opportunities to practise their independence. Children cook for themselves and staff. They help with shopping and make cups of tea for visitors. The manager is aware of the difficulties for some children when they move from being

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

dependent on key staff towards self-reliance, and the feelings of rejection that can result. One placing social worker told inspectors, ‘The placement is working well. It looks after her emotional well-being.’ A health professional told the inspectors, ‘For untrained staff, they are doing a good job.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home has worked well with parents to make them feel welcome when they visit from a distance. Staff have helped children improve their relationships with parents. One child told the inspectors that ‘contact is amazing’ because of the manager’s input. They have also offered to provide therapeutic support for parents to improve relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some staff deliver creative key-working sessions with children. The manager motivates staff by the insightful way he speaks and relates to the children. Some staff demonstrate good communication skills with children, using texts and writing letters to supplement the conversations they have with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children value education and staff support their attendance at the organisation’s school. One child’s confidence is growing and she is leading physical education sessions for her class peers. Another has just had her first half day at the school after several years of missed formal education. Her social worker told the inspector that she, ‘rarely engaged in education. Different child now ─ really proud and making an effort.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home provides sufficient space for children to live and play. They each have a private lounge. There is a good-sized garden with furniture for eating outside and a trampoline. Staff encourage children’s creative skills. Children enjoy craft and have boxes of materials for making things. They are making plans for going to music events. They enjoy social activities with children from the organisation’s other homes.

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

The arrangements to keep children safe from risk of fire are inadequate. The organisation has not taken the action required by the West Midlands Fire Service at their visits in January and May 2017. Ofsted referred this risk to the fire safety authority immediately after the inspection. Fire extinguishers have not been serviced annually as required. They are not easily accessible. Instead, they are stored in a locked cupboard, out of reach. No staff have been trained how to use fire extinguishers. The registered person has not identified or trained staff to act as fire marshals, or trained the manager for advanced fire responsibility. A child’s bedroom door was not safe because it did not close. A sofa prevents an automatic door release mechanisms from operating. Managers have not fitted a heat sensor in the laundry room or door that closes in the event of fire. Children do not have individual evacuation risk assessments as stated in the

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

organisation’s fire risk assessment. This means that staff and children are at serious risk should there be a fire.

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

Other elements of safeguarding practice require improvement. The registered manager’s Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 9 review of the organisation’s implementation of its safeguarding policy and missing from care policy is not good enough. For example, the review after one child went missing did not identify that a child went missing while in the care of a member of staff who had only worked four shifts in this home and therefore did not know the child well. Five children have made allegations about injury and staff practice of restraint. These allegations have all been referred to the local authority designated safeguarding officer, but did not meet their threshold. The registered manager has still not fed back to the local authority safeguarding officer the outcome of an internal investigation in May 2017 about such an allegation, nor are there any records of this investigation.

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

Recording of safeguarding issues does not evidence any follow up about lessons learned or steps taken to improve staff practice. This is important, especially as one internal investigation identified that staff omitted significant detail from the restraint record. This does not support the improvement of children’s experience of behaviour management and of their physical safety during restraint.

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

Records do not always show that staff take effective action when they suspect that children have in their possession dangerous items that have gone missing from the home, such as sharp craft blades which they might use to self-harm. Room search records do not evidence the manager’s scrutiny or what staff do next when missing items are not found.

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

However, the manager has improved his overview of safeguarding issues that affect this home. The registered manager now has access to the records kept by the organisation’s safeguarding officer. He now knows the detail when staff who are subject to allegations in other homes are deployed in his home. Two recent safeguarding concerns raised by health authority staff about restraint at the hospital have yet to be concluded at the home.

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

Children have a history of vulnerability to sexual exploitation and of going missing. Staff are not trained in helping children who go missing from care, but have taken action after each incident and worked with the police and the placing authority to ensure a safe return. Risk assessments for children address their presenting needs. However, the assessments do not take account of the impact of the high number of different, less familiar staff taking care of children. Some children have entrenched patterns of self- harm; others have recently begun to threaten self-harm. Staff are not trained in how to respond to these risks. Staff try to reduce the risk to children through calming, ‘talking’ strategies and, if not successful, by immediately restraining to prevent further harm. This results in significant physical intervention for one child in particular. There is no formal analysis or reporting on patterns of self-harm in the home, or of the success of the

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

interventions by the registered manager, or of the impact on children of the distress of others.

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

Some restraint records lack staff names and details of the holds used. Staff said that managers do not help them to review their actions after restraints and challenging incidents. Similar records of discussions with children after incidents and restraints are not always in place. Audits identify that records are incomplete but the events are not Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 10 clarified. Managers’ scrutiny does not always identify that staff are trained to carry out restraint.

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

No children at this home have a deprivation of liberty order. Staff keep them safe through constant supervision and high staffing ratios of up to three staff to one child. Children do not go out alone. Key staff look for the meaning behind the behaviour and have some important conversations with children about their feelings and how to keep themselves safe. Staff supervise internet use on the home’s tablet, but they are not trained in protecting children online. Staff know they must only use work mobile phones to communicate with children and to take photographs of them. One child told inspectors that she knows she is ‘safe and sound. Staff are on the ball here.’

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

The local police have minimal contact with the service. The local authority designated officer has no concerns about safeguarding practice. Core staff are recruited safely. Placing authorities told Ofsted that their children are considerably safer since they have lived at the home. They are confident in the ability of the staff to keep them safe. A parent said that they can sleep well at night, feeling their child is much safer than in the previous years and in previous placements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The service has been judged good at the last two full inspections, but has dipped in performance at each interim inspection. Serious inadequacies in health and safety arrangements and failure to act on four previous requirements now threaten children’s stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has been in post since September 2016 and is appropriately qualified and experienced. The organisation told Ofsted in December 2016 that the manager would not routinely work on shift. The manager and acting deputy both still work extensively on shift. The responsible individual told inspectors that it was still their plan to enable the manager to come off shift. However, there is no fixed date when this will be commenced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The statement of purpose has now been updated. It is now clear that a pre-requisite of any future admission is that the placing authority will pursue a deprivation of liberty order for any child. However, the registered person has not shared the updated version with Ofsted or anyone else. It is not available on the organisation’s website. Parents, placing authorities and advocates do not have the information they need to know how the home operates, so cannot be sure that children are receiving the service intended. This requirement is only partially met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered person does not have an effective system for monitoring and review of the quality of care. Consequently, there is no improvement. The registered person has not evaluated the impact of the quality of care on children’s experience. As a result, they are not part of any plan for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered person has still not ensured that or evaluated whether the staffing model Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 11 provides children with the continuity of care they need. This was a previous requirement and it remains unmet. Too many different staff still care for children. The staff deployment model of 12 to 15 core full-time staff provides less than half the staff hours required to fill a rota. The staffing model is reliant on core staff working long hours and overtime. High numbers of ‘pool staff’ from other homes are used. This means that 43 ‘pool staff’ support children at this home. This is significantly more than the core staff complement and is an increase from 35 pool staff in March 2017. There have been occasions when there has only been one core member of staff on shift. Staff told inspectors that several staff have left. Staff do not know who the other members of the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

core team are. The manager described having a largely inexperienced staff team and mainly working on shift to reduce the impact of that on children. It is a worsening picture of staff stability and continuity. Children and staff told inspectors this was difficult for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staffing model and arrangements to train and support staff are a fundamental issue. The result is that children are receiving an inconsistent quality care. The core staff team is under-resourced. The manager and deputy provide leadership, but cannot do this while working on each shift. There are no other senior staff in the team. When the manager and deputy are not on shift, children and staff struggle to manage. Children have experienced crises because of a lack of continuity in staffing and consistency of care. A parent told inspectors that this is their view too.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered person has not led and managed the home in a way that is consistent with the ethos and aims of the service. This is in respect of the support, supervision and training of staff. The manager manages and supervises only 14 of the 56 members of staff who work with children. Core staff do not meet as a team with their manager to discuss children’s needs or reflect on strategies and plans for children. This prevents the manager from using supervision and staff meetings to guide and support the staff working with children as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered person does not help staff to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. Staff supervision sessions are not held once every two months as required by the organisation’s policy. The manager showed the inspectors the supervision records of six staff members working at the home. Only three of them had received supervision within the last two months. One staff member, who had been subject to allegations, had not had supervision for over six months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Because there is no effective system for monitoring the service, the registered person has not evaluated the impact on staff of the emotional and physical pressure of the work. Staff have been frequently bitten and punched. There is no analysis of the level of accidents and injuries to staff during incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not have sufficient space and privacy in which to work or sleep. The only office seats one person. There is no other space for the manager to talk privately with staff, or for staff to talk confidentially without being overheard. Staff sleep in an overcrowded small room, filled with children’s effects or they have to bring a mattress downstairs and Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 12 sleep on a child’s lounge floor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The organisation’s systems for professional development of the staff team have still not improved the skills, experience and qualifications of staff working with children. This was a previous requirement and remains unmet. The registered person did not provide any information about whether core staff have been appraised annually as evidence of staff competency and skill. Only four of the 15 core staff members have achieved the nationally recognised qualification in working with children at diploma level 3. This is fewer than at the last full inspection in December 2016. Not enough staff have training in the key issues faced by children, in particular self-harm, child sexual exploitation, medication or radicalisation. No staff are trained in helping children who may go missing from care or in child mental health. A staff team that is less well qualified than a year ago cares for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of care has still not been reviewed. This is an unmet requirement from the last full inspection in December 2016. The registered person has still not learned lessons after significant events, or developed a plan to improve. There has been no formal consultation with parents, placing authority or children, or analysis of their informal feedback. The registered person did not distribute Ofsted’s annual survey link to children, parents and stakeholders, so denied them the opportunity to give their views to the regulator.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The arrangements for independent scrutiny of children’s well-being and safeguarding are not working reliably. This was a previous requirement and remains unmet. The registered person has appointed two different independent visitors since the last inspection in March 2017, but only two visits have taken place. The current visitor did not report on significant safeguarding issues because they did not have access to the information at the home. This leaves children without independent insight of their welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered person has not made effective relationships with local child health services for children who are looked after, local child mental health services or the local specialist police. A recent mental health crisis for one child resulted in a hospital admission. The local area safeguarding officer had to get all parties together to focus on the gap between the placing authority and the local health services responsible for community mental health support. This external direction has now resulted in identification of key responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not have active links with local police support networks for children’s homes and children who go missing from care. This lack of linking with key local professionals is a serious omission, especially considering that both children have risks related to sexual exploitation and going missing from home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not always notified Ofsted when there has been an allegation against staff, or of serious incidents such as allegations of abuse while children have been missing from care. This prevents Ofsted from making sure that children are protected. Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 13 Children’s records are an unreliable account of their experience in the home. Many records are often not signed or dated, so the author is not known. The authenticity of reports attributed to senior managers is also in doubt. For example, the registered manager presented a managerial review of a child’s missing episodes during August. He was unsure which senior manager had created this document for him. It was dated before the child went missing and gave the wrong gender of the child. Another child’s report for a local authority review in July still had blanks for missing detail to be inserted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records of such poor quality do not provide children with an accurate account of what happened to them in this home, currently, or when they look back in later life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has a good understanding of children’s needs, and staff are confident in his advice and guidance. He is a hands-on leader, who demonstrates his respectful approach with children by example. Placing authorities and parents said that he keeps them in touch with their children and they trust him. However, organisationally, he and the responsible individual have been less effective. It remains for the registered person to take the necessary action to improve the service. The registered person must demonstrate that they have the insight and capacity to move the service forward and to provide stability for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Ofsted has issued two compliance notices in relation to monitoring and review systems and the safe administration of medication. Ofsted will return to monitor progress within eight weeks.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 14 Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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 children’s home: SC049714 15

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Thoughts of Others Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Thoughts of Others, 99 College Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B73 5DL

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Inspectors

Christy Wannop, social care inspector Dawn Bennett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC049714 16 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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