Children's Home run by Acorn Residential Care Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 1 Registered provider: Acorn Residential Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to two children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since 15 September 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/06/2021 Full Good 11/12/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 3

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improvement to be good

There have been several changes in the staff who work at the home. Despite this, staff have good relationships with the one child currently living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Four children have moved on from the home since the last inspection. Two of these children moved on as staff were unable to meet their needs. In part, this was because the registered manager, who is no longer in post, had not adequately considered the children’s needs prior to them moving in. This included a failure to obtain all relevant documents, such as an up-to-date local authority care plan.

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improvement to be good

Children have mixed experiences of living at the home. For some children, staff have struggled to meet their needs, and this has been detrimental to their safety and welfare. Improvements, some of which are still being embedded, have meant that the current child has had better care.

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improvement to be good

Previously, children did not engage with children’s meetings, reducing their opportunities to share their views. However, the child currently living at the home is engaging and feels listened to and valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not always supported children to engage in community-based activities. However, the current child enjoys trampolining and collecting trading cards.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living at the home is not attending school despite wishing to do so. This is because there has been a delay in reviewing the child’s education, health and care plan. Ineffective escalation by the previous registered manager has contributed to this matter not being resolved. The interim manager has now submitted a complaint on behalf of the child, to which they are awaiting a response. Although the child’s education needs are not adequately met, the child is receiving tutoring at home.

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improvement to be good

The home is clean and comfortable and is decorated to a good standard. Damage caused by children who are no longer living in the home has been repaired. This ensures that the current child has a pleasant and well-maintained place to live.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to live healthy lifestyles. Staff support children to achieve age-appropriate targets, such as learning to brush their own teeth. Staff also support children in attending their medical appointments. Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 4

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improvement to be good

Children have not always been safeguarded while living at the home. This is because children moved into the home without sufficient consideration of the location of the home or staff’s ability to keep them safe. Despite staff’s efforts, they were not equipped to meet some children’s needs and, as a result, those children have had to leave the home.

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improvement to be good

Children, who no longer live in the home, have gone missing from home and placed themselves at significant risk of harm. The poor planning prior to these children moving into the home was a contributing factor to these behaviours. Notwithstanding this, the previous registered manager and staff responded promptly and appropriately to these missing-from-home incidents.

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improvement to be good

Management oversight of incidents is not consistent. A serious incident was not evaluated or reviewed effectively by the previous registered manager. Consequently, no lessons were learned from this incident despite it resulting in a child moving on from the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow agreed strategies identified in children’s risk assessments. On one occasion, staff prevented a child from leaving the home without consent from the placing authority that they could do so. Although staff’s actions were not pre-agreed, they acted on the understanding that it was in the child’s best interests.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living in the home says that they feel safe at the home. Risk assessments include all known risks and give staff specific actions on how to manage these risks. Staff have adhered to the risk assessment for this child.

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improvement to be good

Although staff have struggled to manage some children’s behaviours, staff have worked hard to promote positive behaviour. Staff encourage children to reflect on their behaviour and discuss what happened. This approach, while not always successful, supports children to learn from their experiences.

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improvement to be good

On one occasion, the previous registered manager did not escalate their concerns about the outcomes of a review into an allegation. This does not demonstrate a robust approach to allegation management.

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good

The home has been without a registered manager since September 2022. An interim manager is in post, and they are working hard to make improvements to the care provided to children. There are early indicators that this is working. However, the interim manager is realistic about the need for the ongoing development of the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 5 The responsible individual has been proactive in supporting both the interim manager and staff. As a result, staff and the manager feel supported.

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good

Supervisions and appraisals occur regularly. Records of these are generally detailed. However, in some examples, records contain duplicate entries about different staff. This means that it is not clear how accurate these records are.

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good

The manager has not undertaken a review of the current staff’s training and development needs. Training records for staff are not up to date or accurate. It is therefore unclear what training staff have completed. Based on the available information, not all staff have undertaken training specific to the needs of the child living in home. This compromises staff’s ability to provide effective and consistent care. Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 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)) 13 December

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)) 13 December

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 13 December Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 7 that arrangements are in place to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home has sufficient and suitably trained staff (including someone in a management role) on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home and that those staff are able to respond to emergency placements, where accepted. The registered person must demonstrate every effort to achieve continuity of staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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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: 2509731 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Residential Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 13a Pitsford Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18 6LJ

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Inspector

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2509731 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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