Children's Home run by Steps 4 Life Care Limited in Walsall

Inspection report children's home: 2503605 1 Registered provider: Steps 4 Life Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides residential care and therapeutic services for children aged between eight and 17 years old. It is registered for five children who present with social, emotional and/or mental health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home was registered by Ofsted in April 2020 and is working towards a level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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

Date of last inspection: 18 December 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2503605 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/06/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2503605 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care from a dedicated staff team. Consequently, children make good progress physically, emotionally, socially and educationally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children’s moves into and out of the home are well planned. One social worker described how a child’s parents were able to visit before their daughter moved into the home and how this helped to secure a smooth transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One parent told the inspector that, ‘My daughter likes the staff and they have become like friends and family.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children receive child-centred care and support that responds to their individual needs. Staff spend time helping children to personalise their bedrooms and to make sure that children’s artwork, photographs and poems are proudly displayed around the home. Furthermore, staff make sure that the home’s environment remains beautifully decorated. This child-centred care helps every child to feel proud of where they live.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

During the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been involved in growing their own vegetables and, with staff support, have built a barbecue in the garden. This has been thoroughly enjoyed by everyone in the home. Staff proudly showed the inspector pictures of the children enjoying the lovely garden. This participation helps children to build positive childhood memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children form appropriate relationships with each other. They enjoy games nights which include healthy competition between them in trivia and computer games.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively promote children’s quality of life, by doing all that they can to ensure that children have access to appropriate information about their care and support that considers their identity, culture, beliefs and sexuality. Children have completely redesigned the welcome guide to the home and the ‘children’s chat’ meetings records. The registered manager reads the notes and responds to any requests with enthusiasm. Consequently, children feel highly valued and listen to.

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

Children’s risks decrease. Children no longer go missing from home and risks around self-harm decrease as children feel supported and cared for.

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

Children feel safe. One child told the inspector that they feel safe because of the ‘good vibes. It’s never negative vibes.’

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

Staff receive a range of safeguarding training. They are clear about their responsibility to raise practice concerns about colleagues or about allegations raised Inspection report children's home: 2503605 4 by children. When concerns have been raised these have been promptly shared with the necessary professionals and investigated.

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

The registered manager ensures that staff who are recruited to work in the home are subject to all the necessary checks. This helps to ensure that staff who work at the home are safe to do so.

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

Staff provide well-planned therapeutic care which is supported by the organisation’s therapists. This partnership working helps staff to keep children’s risk assessments and behaviour plans up to date. However, the quality of records of incidents and risk assessments can differ and they are not always written in a way that is helpful for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate, child focused and keen to develop the service. He receives excellent support from the senior management team, who have helped him to drive forward improvements within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular, good-quality supervision. One member of staff reflected that although she found the constructive criticism given ‘difficult’, this has really helped her to develop her practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on staffing availability at times. However, the registered manager has worked long shifts to help maintain consistency of care for children. He has reflected on the positives this has brought in him being able to support staff practice. However, in the longer term this could start to have an impact on his ability to sustain good management oversight. Inspection report children's home: 2503605 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 6, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they have sufficient capacity to ensure that the Quality Standards are met for each child in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have 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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Steps 4 Life Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arbor House, Broadway North, Walsall, West Midlands WS1 2AN

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Inspector

Louise Battersby, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2503605 6 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 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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