Children's Home run by Gracebridge Care in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 1 Registered provider: Gracebridge Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and may care for up to three children who may have emotional, social or behavioural difficulties.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected. Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are two children living at the home and no children have moved out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager communicates effectively with children’s schools to ensure that the required support is in place to meet children’s needs. For one child, this has resulted in a significant increase in their attendance at school. When there are difficulties with children’s behaviour, the staff work closely with the school to resolve this. Children are achieving or are on track to achieve their academic targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager ensures that the children are listened to, and he responds well to any concerns that they raise. One professional said, ‘The registered manager ensures that the child’s educational needs are met; even in the complexity of this child’s case, the registered manager is an advocate for him.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are committed to getting to know and understand the children. The children like the staff and have good relationships with them, particularly their key workers. The children can talk to the staff about any worries they have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are in good health. They have regular health checks and the staff encourage a good diet and regular exercise. The registered manager ensures that follow-up appointments are in place for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to spend time with their families. Both children see their extended family and previous carers regularly, which helps them to maintain and develop their relationships with important loved ones. This illustrates how the children’s wishes and feelings are understood and acted on by the staff and registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in lots of activities, such as football and trampolining. This ensures that they have fun. These happy moments are captured in memory books for children to look back on.

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

The staff work hard to keep the children safe. The potential risks to the children, such as exploitation, substance misuse, missing from home and violence, are clearly understood by staff. Each child has a detailed individual risk management plan that staff implement. The support from staff has resulted in children’s known risks reducing, and, for one child, this means that they require less direct supervision by staff.

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

Children work with staff to agree monthly behaviour goals that are linked to personalised incentives. This has contributed to the improved behaviours displayed Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 4 by both children. On the rare occasion that children display challenging behaviour, staff are effective at using appropriate de-escalation strategies. This means that the use of physical intervention is low.

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

Staff use a restorative approach to respond to children’s behaviours. This helps children to understand the consequences of their behaviour and to take responsibility for their actions. This approach has been successful and has contributed to children’s generally settled behaviour. However, discussions with children about their behaviours, including any imposed sanctions, are not recorded. As a result, the registered manager does not have good oversight of the use of sanctions.

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

The environment is safe and well maintained. Fire safety records and procedures in the home are good. However, on one occasion, a fire drill had not been completed as planned. When the manager identified that the fire drill had not been completed, there was a further week’s delay before the fire drill was completed.

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

Recruitment checks completed by the registered manager are safe and robust, with clear records to evidence this good practice. Children are cared for by staff that have the appropriate skills and training to keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a registered manager who is experienced and suitably qualified for the role. He has focused primarily on forming a cohesive staff team and ensuring that the children are well matched.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides staff with regular supervision sessions that give the staff opportunities to learn from and reflect on their practice. The registered manager has not always received regular supervision from the responsible individual. However, a new responsible individual has recently started in post, and they are committed to offering the registered manager the appropriate support, including having regular supervision sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff undertake a range of training to help meet the needs of the children. This training covers the home’s model of care, and exploitation. The home has a workforce development plan. However, this does not identify what training staff and the registered manager need to undertake to improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff understand that the children’s adverse experiences prior to admission affect their behaviour. Along with the support from a play therapist, they can give the children sensitive, nurturing and individualised care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s case records are detailed. These records reflect the support that the children receive and demonstrate that their wishes and feelings are taken into account. Children can see these records if they wish, which would provide them with a good account of their time at the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 5 The registered manager has introduced some new systems to monitor the quality of care that children receive. However, these are not consistently used and do not always identify shortfalls. For example, on one occasion, the registered manager had not signed off a physical intervention form and had also not monitored an accident reported for a child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Rotas are generally detailed. However, in some examples, a staff member is referred to by his nickname and it does not detail his surname. Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager not evidencing oversight of the restraint record. 27 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to a staff member being detailed on the rota under two different names, one being a nickname without a surname. 27 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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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: 2644474 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Gracebridge Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arden Lodge, 946 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham B27 6QG

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Inspectors

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Melanie Griffin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2644474 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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