Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 1 SC410539 Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on March 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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: 28 November 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2019 Full Good 16/07/2018 Full Good 04/12/2017 Full Good 28/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in the home achieve stability. Since the last inspection, four children have turned 18. Most of these children had lived in the home for several years. Three of them have since moved into semi-independent accommodation. One child has returned to live with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently three children living in the home. The environment is homely and has a family feel. Children feel relaxed. They told the inspector that they like living in the home and describe it as ‘my home’. Children have extremely positive relationships with staff. Staff have worked in the home for a long time. They have lots of experience working with teenagers and understand their needs well. This helps children to feel safe, secure and gives them a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff advocate for children. They escalate concerns when children require specialist support. On one occasion, they challenged the diagnosis of medical professionals successfully. As a result, a child was able to access the appropriate support they needed. This child subsequently moved into semi-independent accommodation. They visit the home from time to time as do most children who leave.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise and support children’s identity. The home provides children with a safe space. This nurturing environment helps children to explore their needs safely. As a result, children trust that staff will respond to them in a sensitive and empathic way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to improve their health and emotional well-being. Some children have received their childhood immunisations for the first time. This is because of the reassurance and support they receive. Children are also supported by their medical professional and staff to reduce the medication they take for the conditions they may have. This is because staff help them to develop safer ways to manage their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Given their starting points, children make good progress with their education. Some children’s attendance at school has dramatically improved. One child, who had missed a whole academic year, is now regularly attending school. Educational professionals describe having a close working relationship with the registered manager. As a result, children have re-engaged with their education. They are ambitious and have improved self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, transitions into the home are positive. The manager and staff always meet children to spend time with them before they move in. This is so that they can get to know what children like and dislike. It also helps to alleviate any anxieties children may have about moving into the home. However, one child did not experience a positive transition into the home. The manager did not challenge the Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 4 placing authority about the transition arrangements. The placing authority also failed to provide necessary information about the child. This resulted in the child going missing on the day they were due to move in.

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improvement to be good

In general, children’s risk assessments are thorough. They identify risk and the strategies for staff to use to keep children safe. However, the strategies are not always effective in respect of safeguarding children online. Neither do risk assessments clearly include the rationale for children’s bedroom door alarms.

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improvement to be good

The home has restrictions in place to monitor children’s use of the internet. Staff also complete checks on children’s devices to ensure that they are being safe online. However, these checks are not completed or recorded consistently by all staff. Furthermore, one child plays computer games which have an age restriction of over 18. Therefore, this child is exposed to material of a frightening and violent nature.

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improvement to be good

The records of children’s matching risk assessments are not thorough. They do not consider in detail the needs of children already living in the home, or the skills and experience of staff. However, this has not affected the safety of children.

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improvement to be good

There is a shortfall in the safe recruitment of staff. Senior managers had not verified why one member of staff had left their previous employers. This included six settings where they had worked with children or vulnerable people.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from care, staff follow a clear protocol. They follow the children and persuade them to return home. If staff lose sight of the children, they continue to look for them by searching areas where they think they may go. When children return home, staff welcome them back. This good practice promotes children’s safety.

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improvement to be good

There are clear safety plans in place for when children spend time out in the community. Staff keep in touch with them and take the necessary action if they have been unable to. Safety plans are clearly linked to the home’s location risk assessment. This is extremely thorough and considers well the risks in the local area. The manager has excellent links with the local police and other partnership agencies.

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improvement to be good

Children support each other and they respect and accept each other’s individuality. Children are regularly praised and rewarded for positive behaviour. Physical intervention is not used in the home. Children develop safe ways to regulate their feelings. One child told the inspector, ‘I take myself away now, I never used to, I know now when I need some space.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has an experienced registered manager who holds the relevant qualification. Staff and children speak highly of the manager. Staff say, ‘He is very well balanced. He listens to my point of view and accepts me the way I am.’ The manager believes positive relationships are important to ensuring children’s safety. This reinforces the manager’s high expectations of staff who are caring, nurturing and child focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team. This provides children with continuity of care. Staff have access to a wide variety of training. The manager sources training to meet the individual needs of children and staff. Children also have access to the home’s online training system with staff support. They use this to learn about topics which are relevant to them, such as online safety and the risks of substance misuse.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care children receive. Monthly clinical support meetings also provide an opportunity for reflection on children’s progress. The manager understands the strengths and areas in need of development in the home. As a result, they are aware of children’s progress and celebrate their achievements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision where they reflect on children’s progress and their practice. The manager uses a reflective model to help staff empathise with children’s experiences. This enhances and improves their future practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some information in the home is not always recorded in a clear and coherent way. For example, handwritten notes are sometimes illegible. The manager does not ensure that they record minutes of meetings or monitoring promptly. This means that some information may not be as accurate as it could be. However, this shortfall does not have an impact on the care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have excellent relationships with professionals. All professionals spoke highly of the manager and the care children receive. One social worker described the home as, ‘The best home I’ve ever been to in 20 years.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 6

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person escalating concerns about the performance of a placing authority in respect of one child’s transition to the home. In addition, this relates to their failure to provide pertinent information in relation to one child’s needs prior to them moving into the home. 5 April 2022

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 5 April 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 7 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children’s online use is monitored consistently. They should also ensure that any work undertaken with children about how to keep safe online remains effective.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should ensure that children do not have access to age-restricted material.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the rationale for children’s bedroom door alarms is clearly recorded in their risk assessment as well as when this will be reviewed.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that staff are safely recruited. 5 April 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they record in detail how they have fully considered the impact of other children moving into the home on children who are already resident. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that information recorded about children is clear and legible. In addition, they should ensure that any handwritten notes are recorded promptly to maintain accuracy of this information. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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’. Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 9

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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

Sarah Berry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC410539 10 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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