Children's Home run by Hazelmont Social Care LTD in Walsall

Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 1 Registered provider: Hazelmont Social Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2021 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are three children living in the home. They have all lived in the home for a over a year. Children receive consistently high levels of care and support. A strength of the home is the positive relationships between children and staff. The children develop a sense of belonging and have a range of positive experiences. As a result, children are nurtured and feel secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to access appropriate education to meet their needs. All children are in full-time education and their attendance has improved. When children have difficulties attending school, staff work closely with education professionals to ensure that bespoke plans are put in place, so that children still have access to education. This supports the children to progress educationally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health. Staff understand the children’s individual health needs. Staff are supported by the organisation’s clinical psychologist, who provides regular consultation and advice on how to support children. This further promotes children’s health and emotional well-being. When there are concerns that children smoke or use e-cigarettes, staff carry out work with children to help them understand the risks to their health. However, staff have not recorded this risk in the children’s health or placement plans. This is a weakness. It does not ensure staff have guidance on what actions they are to take if children smoke or use e-cigarettes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children enjoy a range of activities, both in and outside the home. Ensuring that children have fun is integral to the daily routines. Children are encouraged to develop their own hobbies and interests. All children at the home have been involved in external clubs. Because of this, children’s confidence and self- esteem improve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families and friends. This ensures that children continue to build relationships and attachments with those people who are significant to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes, feelings and views are highly valued. Managers and staff regularly seek children’s views, through children’s meetings and key-work sessions. Staff encourage children to participate in their meetings. One child has recently been asked to be the organisation’s child advocate. The child will meet with senior managers regularly to tell them of all the children’s views. This means that children can directly influence the care that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a lovely home. It is well decorated, clean and homely. The children’s bedrooms are nicely decorated and are personalised according to children’s wishes. Children are involved in the decoration of the home. Staff ensured the home was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Maintenance issues are generally completed in a Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 4 timely manner. The manager chases this up when things are not done in a timely way, to reduce the impact on children.

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

Children are looked after by staff who know them well. Staff use their experience and knowledge of the children and follow behaviour support plans to keep children safe. As a result, incidents involving children have reduced.

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

Staff manage children’s behaviours well. Physical interventions are only used as a last resort. Managers have oversight of all incidents, and they hold debriefs with staff and children following any intervention. However, the records of physical intervention are of variable quality. For example, not all records state the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. This is a shortfall. It does not give the manager the full information to review the physical intervention effectively.

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

Staff take prompt and appropriate action when children go missing from home. Staff follow missing-from-home procedures to ensure that children are quickly located. Staff support children to know about the risks of going missing and how to keep themselves safe. Multi-agency meetings are held when required to support children to keep safe and reduce missing-from-home incidents.

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

The manager responds quickly when there are allegations or concerns about staff practice. They ensure the local authority designated officer is always informed and all concerns are investigated. This helps children to be confident to raise any concerns, as they know staff will take them seriously.

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

Staff work directly with children to help them understand their needs and risks. Staff have used local police to support this work. Two children took part in a county lines workshop with police, which has helped them understand risks associated with county lines and how to keep themselves safe.

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

Children live in a safe environment. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks. Regular fire drills are completed to ensure that children know how to exit the building safely in an emergency. The manager also completes an annual review of the location of the home. They consult with local safeguarding partners to ensure that they have up-to-date information on the local area, to keep children safe.

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

Recruitment practices are safe. Staff who work in the home are subject to all necessary checks. This ensures that only suitable people work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a passionate and dedicated manager. She is ambitious and has created a culture where children and staff are supported to achieve their aspirations. Leaders and managers know the home well. They have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. They have Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 5 ambitious plans in place to support the continual development of the home. For example, following consultation with staff, they recently reviewed the therapeutic input into the home and have plans to improve the therapeutic support offered to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses effective monitoring systems to review the quality of care children receive. The manager is supported by the responsible individual, who knows the home well and visits regularly. These systems help managers to identify and act on shortfalls, develop the service, and ensure that children receive a good quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the staff team is well supported. Staff have regular practice-related supervision and annual appraisals that support their development. There are also regular reflective team meetings. These measures help staff to feel supported and to develop their practice. It also ensures children receive consistent, good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff complete the mandatory training required. They also receive bespoke training that is tailored to the needs of the children. Staff discuss safeguarding issues in team meetings. This provides opportunities for staff to discuss and reflect more on specific safeguarding issues. Training is focused on care, support and the safeguarding needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have good relationships with other professionals. These professionals speak positively about the standard of care children receive and the progress that children have made. The manager will challenge those professionals who are not meeting the children’s needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are creative in their approach to promoting tolerance, equality and diversity. The staff and children have developed their own monthly magazine. This looks at issues such as cultural festivities, world events and transgender awareness. This helps children develop an understanding of diversity and tolerance of others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On one occasion, the manager failed to notify Ofsted about a safeguarding concern. This means the regulator may not have all the relevant information to understand what is happening in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a regular independent visitor to the home who provides useful reports. However, the independent visitor does not routinely gain feedback from professionals. This weakens their evaluation of care in the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iii)(iv)(vii)) 20 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there are clear plans for staff to follow to work with children to change negative behaviours affecting their health and well-being, such as the use of tobacco and e-cigarettes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should ensure that they inform Ofsted of any incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should actively support the independent visitor to seek regular independent feedback from families and professionals and use the feedback to develop the service. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 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: 2654423 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hazelmont Social Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Midlands House, Gipsy Lane, Willenhall, West Midlands WV13 2HA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Elizabeth Barrett

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Inspector

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2654423 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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