Children's Home run by Nurture Care Group Ltd in Wolverhampton

Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 1 Registered provider: Nurture Care Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to three children aged between five and 17 years old with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and associated complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and is registered with Ofsted.

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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: 19 January 2022

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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 for children's home: 2642297 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have now developed good relationships with staff and can identify a trusted member of staff to speak to if they have any concerns. The inspector observed positive interactions between the staff and the children. As a result, children are well cared for and feel safe in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s relationships with the people who are important to them. Children have regular family time with their loved ones and staff also support children to develop friendships. Families and friends speak positively of the impact the home is having on children. As a result, children continue to maintain positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access therapeutic interventions delivered by skilled clinicians. The clinicians’ input supports children to understand their trauma and lived experiences. The clinicians also support staff to develop strategies to respond therapeutically to children’s needs. Consequently, children are starting to develop strategies to manage their feelings safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and the manager ensure that sufficient action is taken to support children who are not settling into the home. The manager ensures that there are regular meetings to discuss decisions about their care and how to improve their experiences of living in the home. Discussions led by the therapeutic team are held to support effective planning for children. This practice ensures that the welfare of children is prioritised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value children’s education and interests. Children are supported to attend school and staff advocate for them when there are any challenges that impact on their education. Children are also supported to follow and develop their interests. Therefore, children are making progress academically as well as in their hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some areas of the home require improvement and repair. The disrepair and poor maintenance impacts on the overall homeliness and safety of the home environment.

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

Staff respond well to address risks linked to children’s unsafe use of the internet. They ensure that children are supported to develop skills to keep themselves safe online. Key-work sessions carried out with children are well planned and staff have systems in place to ensure that sessions are well understood by children. As a result, risks to children are well managed. Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 4 Leaders and managers ensure that there is effective communication with partner agencies. For example, staff from one child’s school have attended joint clinical and training sessions with the home’s staff to ensure that all agencies are supporting the child effectively. Emerging risks to children are shared in a timely manner and there is a consistent approach to managing known risks. This practice helps keep children safe.

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

Staff respond well to concerns of poor relationships between children. For example, staff carry out work with children to promote positive relationships between them. They also support children to develop their understanding of bullying and the impact this may have on others. There is good communication with all agencies involved to ensure that all children have adults to speak to if they have any concerns. As a result, children’s safety is promoted.

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

Staff take sufficient action to support children who present with self-harming behaviour. However, at times, their approach to children can be inconsistent. For one child, they have ensured that they manage the risks effectively and have sought guidance from the clinical team to ensure that the plans to reduce the risks are effective. This practice helps increase this child’s safety. However, the risks are not as well managed for another child. In addition, risk assessments for the child do not provide sufficient guidance for staff.

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

Children rarely go missing. The manager has escalated concerns with the local authority to ensure that children are interviewed and spoken to independently following an incident of going missing from the home. This ensures that risks to children are understood to help keep them safe. However, the recording of episodes of children going missing does not consistently outline the actions taken by staff to ensure that they have followed the children’s risk assessments.

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

The quality of recording is variable. Children’s care plans lack sufficient detail about contact arrangements. Furthermore, staff are not always clear when recording incidents of bullying in the home. These omissions affect the overall quality of care provided to children.

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

Staff use physical restraint as a last resort to manage children’s behaviour. However, the recording of restraints lacks sufficient detail, and the manager does not ensure that debriefs are consistently completed with staff. This practice does not support the manager to have effective oversight of restraints.

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

The manager has not taken sufficient action to ensure that the required recruitment checks are undertaken for all staff. The means that the manager has not reassured themselves that staff are suitably vetted to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably experienced manager. She is aspirational for children and is supporting staff to advocate for children’s needs and views. This ensures that positive outcomes are achieved for children. Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 5 Monitoring and reviewing systems have improved. There are good audit systems in place to identify shortfalls in staff’s practice. For example, the manager has taken immediate action when she identified that sanctions were not used restoratively. She has also taken immediate action when medication errors have occurred. Consequently, timely action is taken to prevent future shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and the manager ensure that they take sufficient action when carrying out investigations into staff’s practice. They ensure that the local authority designated officer and the regulator are kept informed of any updates. Investigations are conducted thoroughly and relevant protocols are followed. Consequently, practice issues are managed well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals and families comment positively about the care the children are receiving in the home. They say there is good communication and staff manage risks well. The inspector was told by professionals and families that they are pleased with the progress that children have made. This means that children are being looked after well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of care review report is detailed. The report provides a good overview of the progress that the children have made and how staff have supported them in this. This also provides a good outline of the strengths and weaknesses of the home, as well as actions to address these. This practice supports effective internal monitoring and reviewing systems. However, the report lacks consultation with children, families and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, supervisions have improved. The manager now ensures that these are carried out regularly and recorded well. However, the policy lacks clarity about the supervision arrangements for new staff who have not completed their induction. Consequently, it is unclear if new staff are being adequately supported. Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 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

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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments are detailed and provide sufficient guidance to staff to help manage risks to children.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, staff must ensure that they consistently take appropriate action when children go missing from the home or present with self-injurious behaviour. 10 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— 10 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 7 a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(b)(i)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff record a detailed description of the measure.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the manager must ensure that staff debriefs are completed following a physical restraint of a child.

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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, 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

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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that Schedule 2 checks are completed in respect of all staff who work in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 10 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s records are sufficiently detailed. Staff should ensure that they are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and accurate recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that the review of quality of care report includes consultation with children, their families, placing authorities and staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  The registered person should ensure that the home environment is adequately maintained and that all repairs are addressed in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s policy for the supervision

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Recommendations

arrangements of new staff is clear and that this supports their development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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 for children's home: 2642297 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nurture Care Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 31 Hollyoak Way, Cannock WS11 1DF

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Inspector

Mazviita Makiyi, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2642297 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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