Children's home run by Blossom Care Group Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 1 Registered provider: Blossom Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It provides care for up to three young people with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

A permanent and experienced manager is now managing the home. He has submitted his application to register with Ofsted and is awaiting his fit person interview.

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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: 15 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, leaders temporarily closed the home between February and May 2022. Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. Careful consideration has been given by managers to the matching of children. This has helped the children to settle into the home well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. Staff know the children well and offer them individualised care and support. This helps the children to make progress and have positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that children have various opportunities to share their wishes and feelings. This is done through regular meetings as well as general discussions on issues such as bullying and exploitation. This helps staff to have meaningful discussion with children and enhances children’s learning about important topics.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are attending school and college. For one child, the college placement was sourced by the manager in line with the child’s aspirations. For another child who struggles to attend school regularly, staff work closely with teachers and parents to try and address any barriers to increase their attendance at school. A new timetable is now in place for this child to address this issue, and staff encourage the children to go to school every day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a range of activities in the home and in the community. There is a clear structure to the day, which helps children have purpose to their day and develop good routines. Children have been to theme parks, gone trampolining and had movie and pamper days. The range of experiences available to children promotes their confidence while having fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are being met well. Children are encouraged to attend routine appointments. There is good liaison with external agencies to ensure that children have specialist support when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment feels welcoming. Children have access to private space as well as space to come together to relax with staff and have an evening meal. This creates a homely environment for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is strong promotion of family time. One child’s grandparent came to the home to have dinner, which the child had cooked. On another occasion, staff arranged for a child to spend the day at a theme park with their brothers and sisters, which they enjoyed. This helps children keep in touch and maintain positive relationships with people who are important to them. Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 4 Staff undertake direct work with children. At times, this is well planned and targeted, but this can be inconsistent. At other times, staff have not always provided good evidence of the work they have done, for example around vaping for one child. This is a missed opportunity to consistently address concerns with the child about the impact of vaping on their health.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour. This is done through rewards and praise which children are generally responding well to. When children need support to help them calm, staff provide it, and they de-escalate situations well. As a result, the number of significant incidents is low.

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

Staff promote children’s emotional health and well-being. They recognise when children might feel low and there are potential risks of self-harm. When this happens, staff support children to help them to identify alternative ways to express their feelings. Referrals have been made to community therapeutic support services to offer additional support to children.

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

Staff work with children to help them understand risks around online safety. Work with one child has been carried out around online gaming and safety due to the time they spend playing online games.

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

There are effective links with partner agencies that help to safeguard children. Staff follow safeguarding procedures and make appropriate referrals when safeguarding concerns arise. They engage other agencies well to ensure that children receive the support they require to promote their safety and well-being.

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

Children do not go missing from home often. Generally, staff and managers understand risks associated with children who go missing from home. However, this is not always clear in the written records. For example, information in children’s missing-from-home protocols and missing from home risk assessments is not aligned. This has the potential to cause confusion as staff are not always following the same procedure. In addition, the manager did not receive feedback from a return home interview. This is a missed opportunity to further their understanding about why children go missing from home.

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

Children know how to make a complaint. One parent made a complaint on behalf of their child. The manager carefully considered the complaint and provided an outcome to the child. However, the parent did not receive a written outcome of the complaint. This can leave complainants not being clear about what happened following their complaint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A manager is permanently employed and is in day-to-day charge of the home. The manager is driven and has brought a new sense of direction to the home. He has Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 5 worked hard in a relatively short period to develop the staff team. He has high expectations and understands the needs of the children and the staff team well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is regular monitoring by managers in the form of audits and reviews of incidents and children’s meetings. This ensures that if there are any issues, they are picked up promptly and addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strong focus on staff training and support promotes staff development. The manager has introduced additional learning topics to upskill the staff. For example, staff have completed training in county lines, autism spectrum disorder and self- harm. The manager also undertakes regular mentoring with staff to support their learning journeys. In addition, the manager uses team meetings as another opportunity to train staff and enhance their learning on things like emotional intelligence and understanding of the regulations relevant to their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment procedures are robust. This ensures that staff working in the home have been safely recruited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff have an effective induction. One new member of staff informed the inspector that he feels welcomed and well supported. Staff supervision records are detailed and show that staff have time to reflect on their practice. Another member of staff informed the inspector that he is learning a lot from the manager and is clearer about his role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Positive feedback was received from a teacher, a social worker and family members who shared that the manager works with them to help children make progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that missing-from-care documents are clear about the missing-from-care protocols, that records are accurate and feedback is gained from return home interviews. 15 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff undertake direct work with children that is linked to their outcomes and behaviours and that records of this work are recorded fully. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)  The registered person should ensure that a written outcome of a complaint is provided to the complainant. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13) Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 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’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blossom Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 56 Rolleston Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire DE13 0JZ

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Inspector

Shazana Jamal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2560305 9 regulates and inspects 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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