Children's home run by Evergreen Children’s Home Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 1 Registered provider: Evergreen Children’s Home Limited

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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 registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have social and/or emotional difficulties. The home is owned and operated by a private provider.

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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 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 provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 14 May 2018. Two compliance notices were issued as a result of this visit. These notices related to ensuring that young people lived in a safe home and that staff were safely recruited. Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/03/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 25/04/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 3

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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 registered person must notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(b)) 10/08/2018

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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 and are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 10/08/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that there is effective planning and strong working relationships between the staff of the home and the placing authority. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a home that is safe, nurturing and meets their varied needs. All young people are making good progress as a result. The educational achievement of young people is, in relation to their starting points, good. All young people are engaged in appropriate educational activities and are making good progress. Staff have a ‘can do’ attitude and young people clearly benefit from an enthusiastic staff team. Staff ensure that young people are enabled to pursue their favourite interests and hobbies. Relationships between staff and young people are good. One teacher commented that, ‘The young person has built close and positive relationships with staff.’ Key-working sessions are regular and ensure that young people’s views permeate through the home. All staff know the young people well and discuss a wide range of issues through regular one-to-one sessions and wider group meetings. Although key-work sessions are of a

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

good quality, there is a lack of overall planning. For example, it is not always clear how the planned key-work sessions link to the aims of the placement or requirements of the Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 4 local authority. Young people’s health needs are met, and staff ensure that medical consultations take place as and when required. When young people require additional support, this is swiftly arranged and staff ensure that young people attend any appointments.

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

Young people are safe and feel safe in the home. Restraint has not been used in the home since the last inspection and incidents of challenging behaviour are rare. Where they do occur, the staff team is quick to intervene and support young people to display positive behaviour. This results in a calm and settled home. All staff are trained in the home’s chosen method of restraint should this ever need to be used. Sanctions are used infrequently and are appropriate. Young people are fully supported to share their views and concerns about all aspects of their care. Staff have good relationships with young people and there is an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. A young person told the inspector that ‘I feel safe in this home’ and ‘This has been my home for a long time. I trust the staff.’ Risk assessments have been revised since the last monitoring inspection. A range of risks, and potential risks, are now considered. Staff ensure that emerging risks in the

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

locality, for example county lines, radicalisation and extremism, are considered and reflected in their planning. Staff are appropriately curious about young people’s lives and are alert to potential community issues, for example gang-related language and changes to behaviour. This inquisitive nature shows the young people that staff are both interested and genuinely concerned about their welfare. There have been no incidents of young people going missing from the home and all staff know how to manage such an incident if it should occur. The last monitoring inspection found significant shortfalls with regards to the recruitment of agency staff. These have now been resolved. All staff, irrespective of their employment status, are appropriately vetted prior to their employment starting. Similarly, the shortfalls in the environment have been rectified and young people are no longer at risk. The home is safely maintained and staff complete regular checks to

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

ensure that young people’s safety and well-being is met. All other required checks, including fire safety, are up to date. The home environment is well presented and safely maintained.

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

The home is currently without a registered manager and has been now for 22 weeks. The organisation continues to take steps to recruit an appropriate manager. In the interim period, the responsible individual, who also was the home’s previous registered manager, is in day-to-day charge. The organisation recognises that this is not sustainable. There has been good progress since the last monitoring visit. The two compliance Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 5 notices are met, and the other regulations have similarly been addressed. For example, the home’s statement of purpose has been updated. However, this has not been sent to Ofsted as required. One young person’s file is missing the most up-to-date care plan from the local authority and a pathway plan. This limits staff having access to all essential information about the young person’s care needs. The responsible individual has worked hard with the staff team to affect positive change.

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

There are new monitoring systems in place and these have highlighted further areas of development. Staff training has improved, and all staff are now up to date with their training needs. A new training plan has been introduced. All staff are appropriately qualified, and where new staff have joined they have been quickly enrolled on the required level three training courses. All staff, including the responsible individual, are now appropriately supervised by competent persons. This means that young people now benefit from a staff team whose practice is routinely, and regularly, assessed and monitored. Staff feel invested in and listened to. Staff told the inspector that ‘we communicate and listen to reach other’ and ‘we reflect on each other’s work and challenge where we need to’. Feedback from involved agencies is positive and the management of the home is proactive in seeking the views of other professionals. Comments from these partners

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

include, ‘There is a friendly and family atmosphere which is extremely beneficial for the young people’, ‘Staff members have been effective at advocating on the young person’s behalf and helping the young person to build trust’ and ‘The young person settled in well at the home and has been nothing but positive about their experience while being there.’

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Information about this inspection

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: 1241407 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Evergreen Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fairgate House, 205 Kings Road, Tyseley, Birmingham B11 2AA

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Inspector

Pete Hylton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1241407 7 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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