Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 1 SC410537 Registered provider: Positive Pathways 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

A private provider owns the home. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional, behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2018 and is suitably qualified.

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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 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/03/2018 Full Good 27/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 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 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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)(d)) This is in relation to monitoring fire safety checks and dealing with maintenance issues promptly. 28/09/19

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32 (1)) 28/09/19

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Recommendations

 Many children placed in homes may undergo a difficult transition and what should be simple aspects of their care take on a substantial significance in this context. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored

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Recommendations

securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 4 homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. They said that they can talk to the staff about any worries that they have, and this helps them to feel safe. However, on occasions when children have raised issues around maintenance and decoration, there has been a delay in acting on these. For example, one child requested laminate flooring for her room on a few occasions before any progress on this was made. This can lead to children feeling frustrated and not listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming, and children told the inspector it feels like their own home. Children’s friends and families regularly come to the home, when appropriate. Staff also take children to visit family members. One parent said, ‘This feels like a normal family home and I feel very welcome when I come here.’ Another parent commented that the manager keeps her regularly informed and this helps her to feel involved in her child’s care. Helping children to maintain positive and safe links with their friends and family helps them to develop a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities at home and in the community. Staff regularly host a cultural evening in which the children learn about different cultures through food, presentations and games. Children contribute to these evenings, particularly when a culture they know is celebrated. For example, one child was fasting during the Muslim month of Ramadan. Staff and the other children opened the fast together. The children said that they really enjoy these events as it helps them learn about different cultures and beliefs. In the community, the children enjoy taking part in festivals, trampolining, going on day trips, and holidays to the organisation’s caravan. At times, staff struggle to get one child to participate in community activities. However, the staff persevere and offer this child alternatives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have access to a clinical psychologist employed by the organisation. Monthly meetings with the psychologist enable the manager and staff to discuss children’s emerging needs and behaviours. The effective use of this provision has led to children’s behaviours being understood and managed more positively by staff. The manager and staff use the guidance and advice from the psychologist to write detailed behaviour management plans for each child and how to implement the agreed strategies outlined in these plans. This has a positive impact on children. One child told the inspector, ‘I feel staff understand me better now.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally engage well in education. Staff support children to attend school regularly and also offer support with their learning. Staff communicate well with the children’s teachers, which ensures that information about children’s needs is appropriately shared. This supports children’s progress at school. Staff celebrate children’s achievements, and this encourages the children and helps to motivate them. Children are clear about their next steps, and plans are in place to help with transition to Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 5 college. This helps the children plan for their future and feel less worried about changes to their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally develop age-appropriate independent living skills to help them with their transition into adulthood. For example, children learn to manage a budget, cook their own meals, and complete household chores such as doing their laundry and cleaning their rooms. However, staff are not always consistent with some expectations. For example, one child has a pet cat and struggles with cleaning the cat litter tray and keeping her room clean. Staff do not always help the child with this task, and this leads to her room smelling unpleasant and being unclean for short periods. This does not help this child to develop age-appropriate responsibilities or develop a sense of pride in her environment.

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

Staff write detailed plans for children and follow the guidance contained in these plans. Staff regularly review children’s plans and keep abreast of any changes by making sure that they read these documents. This good practice allows staff to have a good understanding of children’s needs and how to meet these.

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

Staff do not use restraint regularly as a form of behaviour management. There has only been one incident of restraint since the last inspection. The manager reviewed the restraint to ensure that it was balanced and proportionate.

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

Children do not regularly go missing from the home. When they do, staff follow missing- from-home protocols to ensure that the children return to the home safely. There have been incidences when children were absent from the home without authorisation. In most cases, the children were with friends and either wanted to stay longer or overnight. In these circumstances, staff-maintained contact with the children and followed relevant procedures. Recently, the manager and staff have reviewed children’s plans for spending time in the community. They have done this in conjunction with the children and their placing authorities. Children are clear about expectations and pleased that boundaries now allow them more age-appropriate freedom and responsibility.

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

Staff understand and address the risks that relate to children harming themselves. As a result, the frequency of self-harming incidents has significantly reduced. Where this is an ongoing concern, staff understand potential triggers and implement strategies to minimise risk.

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

On occasions, staff have not completed the weekly fire safety checks. This has been addressed in team meetings and recently improved. However, weekly fire checks are still not embedded into practice. Fire safety checks have been raised as a shortfall at the last two inspections and a lack of consistency in carrying out safety checks means that any issues are not identified and responded to promptly. This has the potential to compromise children’s safety.

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

Generally, staff who are recruited to work in the home are subject to good recruitment checks. However, in one case there is a not a clear audit trail about decision making. Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 6 This makes it difficult to assess whether this decision making was robust.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced. She has high aspirations for the home and has worked hard since the last inspection to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children said that they can talk to the manager. They feel confident that she will listen and take appropriate action. This helps them to feel safe and valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and stated that they feel listened to, valued and supported. The home is adequately staffed, with new staff, including a deputy manager, being appointed recently. Internally, one member of staff has been promoted to a senior post. The manager hopes that the new leadership team in the home will continue to provide stability and consistency to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff who are new to the home receive an appropriate induction to help them to familiarise themselves with the home’s policies, procedures and the children’s case files. This helps them to settle into their role and know what is expected of them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have completed training relevant to their role. Staff continue their professional development and have access to online training courses. The staff’s learning and development is monitored well by the manager and discussed in supervision. This enables staff to develop their skills and knowledge to help them meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s case records are generally of good quality. One child’s file health plan did detail up to date accurate information regarding her specific health needs. This has not had a detrimental effect on the child. However, a recommendation is raised to ensure that children’s files contain all relevant information.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 7 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Park Business Centre, Hastingwood Industrial Park, Wood Lane, Birmingham B24 9QR

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Inspector

Shazana Jamal: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC410537 9 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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