Children's home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 1 SC410535 Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 19 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/11/2018 Full Outstanding 19/02/2018 Full Good 28/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/08/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who— take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7(1)(c)) In particular, ensure that children’s views are actively considered in relation to their dietary needs. 08/03/2020

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(v)(vi)(vii)) 08/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if— the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(e)(i)) 08/03/2020

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risk to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards,' page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 4 In particular, ensure that risk assessments and behaviour management plans are kept up-to-date.  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in

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Recommendations

place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months: also see regulation 13 (2)(h) (the leadership and management standard). The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcome and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 64–65, paragraph 15.2) In particular, ensure that review of the quality of care takes into consideration the views of children, professionals and family members. Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a well-maintained home. The environment is welcoming and photographs of the children taking part in activities are displayed around the home, for example showing children enjoying themselves on a trip to Scare Fest and when taking part in a coffee morning to raise money for charity. Children who move into the home settle in well and have personalised their rooms. This gives children a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive and trusting relationships with staff. Children can identify key members of staff who they can talk to when they are feeling low in mood. When children find it difficult to manage their emotions, staff adjust their level of support to children as needed. This enables children to work through their conflicts and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in education and progress their learning. For example, one child is attending a work placement at a hair salon and will be starting a hair and beauty course at a local academy to run alongside this. The registered manager has advocated on the children’s behalf to ensure that they have access to appropriate educational or work placements. As such, children are working towards achieving their aspirations and potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take children to routine and specialist health appointments. The registered manager and staff work with children to ensure that children’s physical health needs are met. In addition, staff take children to external therapeutic appointments and facilitate external professionals to support children within the home when required. This promotes children’s health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s relationships with each other are mixed. While they can be positive, the dynamics between the children can also be difficult and sometimes the children fall out with each other. Staff help children to work out their issues with each other and try to support them to get along. This work is ongoing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Generally, children move on from the home in a planned way. However, one child’s moving on plan is not progressing in a timely way. The in-house clinical psychologist completed an assessment report which supported a move on from the home and made recommendations about what support the child needs and why this cannot be delivered at this home. The registered manager has not liaised effectively with the child’s placing authority to avoid drift and delay. This has left the child wondering if an alternative home more suited to meeting her needs is going to be found. She told the inspector she was losing hope that this would happen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a range of opportunities to express their views, including key-working sessions, completing feedback forms and children’s meetings. However, staff could not show how they have listened to one child and helped her to follow her dietary requirements in accordance with her faith. As a result, it is not clear how staff help children with their individual identities and needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 6

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improvement to be good

Managers do not always ensure that child protection procedures are followed. For example, although managers shared a historical disclosure of alleged abuse with a child’s social worker, the audit trail of actions taken is poor. It is not clear how and when the disclosure was acted on, or that it was shared with all relevant people promptly. The registered manager did not follow up with the social worker to understand what action is being taken. As a result, this child has not been supported effectively and there has been drift and delay in responding to a child protection concern. The registered manager took action during the inspection and an arrangement has now been made for the child to talk to someone about the disclosure they have made.

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improvement to be good

For the most part, staff update children’s individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans. However, impact assessments for two children did not accurately reflect their needs, one child’s risk assessment does not contain full information about her history and one child’s change to her medication was not recorded accurately in her behaviour management plan. These recording shortfalls have not had a direct impact on children’s welfare but, if unaddressed, inaccurate records have the potential to mislead those who read them, and this may then affect the care that children receive.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from home. When they do, staff follow procedures and work with children to understand why they went missing and to prevent this from happening again. On one occasion, a child was not offered the opportunity to talk to someone independent of the home about why they went missing. This is a missed opportunity to work with them to address and reduce this risk.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff understand children’s complex emotional needs well. This enables staff to respond to challenging situations and behaviours effectively, for example when children self-harm. Skilled staff pre-empt potential incidents and prevent these from escalating. This good practice promotes children’s welfare.

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improvement to be good

Good behaviour management means that staff rarely need to use physical intervention to keep children safe. When this is necessary, good management oversight is evident. This ensures that incidents are well managed and, when necessary, there is reflective learning for staff.

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improvement to be good

Good recruitment procedures help to ensure that only suitable adults are recruited to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and deputy manager are appropriately qualified and experienced. They form a strong leadership team within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak very highly of both managers. Staff receive regular supervision and feel valued and supported. This enables them to provide good care to children. Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 7 Staff enjoy working in the home despite some of the challenges in working with children with complex needs. They are well motivated and driven to improving children’s experiences and supporting their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff work closely with neighbourhood and partner agencies to understand risks associated with the local area. They work with children and put appropriate boundaries in place for children. This enables children to enjoy positive and safe time when they go out in the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager regularly monitors the quality of care provided to children. She has a good understanding of the strengths and needs of the service. She acknowledges some of the shortfalls identified on this inspection and has a plan to act on these and develop the service. The last two quality of care review reports did not include the views of children, parents or other professionals and information about how she is acting on these. However, these views have been sought and have been captured in alternative ways and at different times. The registered manager will consider how she can incorporate these into future quality of care review reports to reflect how she is using these views to inform the development of the service.

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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: SC410535 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, Erdington, Birmingham, West Midlands B24 9QR

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Inspector

Shazana Jamal, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC410535 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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