Children's Home run by Platform Childcare Ltd in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may experience emotional and/or social difficulties. At the time of the inspection, staff were caring for two children.

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Information about this children’s home

An experienced registered manager and responsible individual are in post.

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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 for children’s home: 2689391 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like where they live and the people who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children are fearful that their placement is not stable and they worry about their belongings not being there for them when they return from school. Staff recognise that these are real anxieties for children due to their lived experience. Staff work hard to build up trust with the children so that they can feel more settled. There was a good example of staff taking a child’s teddy with them on the school run. Over time, the child trusted that the teddy would go back to the house and would then come back to pick them up at the end of the school day. This is a good sign of progress because this child is slowly learning to trust staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Over Christmas, children watched some festive movies that focused on ‘happy families’. Staff reflected that this must have been painful for the children because they were separated from those they cared about. Staff supported one child to bake Christmas cookies and write Christmas cards for their family. The child’s social worker said that these cookies were given to the child’s family and that family time spent together was positive for the child. More advocacy was needed for another child to ensure that they knew whether they were seeing their family over Christmas or not.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although children describe school as ‘boring’, they are happy to attend. They go to the library with staff to choose new books to read. Staff read stories to children every night and this helps children settle for bed. The children said they like how some staff use different voices for the different characters in the story books. One child is learning Spanish at school, and because some of the staff team also speak it they can support the child with their homework. School attendance is excellent, and one teacher said that the child was ‘more settled than they had ever been’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although the manager does try to obtain information about each child before they move into the home, more needs to be done to ensure that the information is accurate and in context. For example, there needed to be more clarity about when a child had stopped taking their medication before their move. This was necessary to assess any possible side effects. Despite this, overall children’s health needs are well understood, and children are supported by staff to attend health appointments. For instance, when one child arrived with broken glasses, these were quickly fixed at the opticians.

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

The manager is reflective in her practice and she is encouraging her staff team to be curious about why children may sometimes behave in a certain way. For example, staff recognise that one child intentionally breaks their own belongings even though this makes them feel sad. Staff have been given clear guidance on how to manage Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 4 this situation. Staff reassure the child that they are deserving of nice things. Over time, the child is now starting to believe this and will trust staff to keep their belongings safe when they are feeling unsettled.

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

Children tend to gravitate to the games room to spend time together and with staff. This means that staff can oversee what technology devices children are using. When staff ask children to come off certain games, the children listen and respond. Children show staff what they are looking at online. This level of supervision helps to keep children safe.

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

Staff ensure that children have regular time on their own with adults, in case they want to talk to them about their feelings. Children also take part in regular physical activity, which helps to reduce their levels of anxiety. The emphasis on building strong relationships with staff helps children to feel more secure. This approach is working. Behavioural incidents for children have reduced and damage to the home is less apparent. Furthermore, children are slowly starting to accept more affection from staff.

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

Overall, routines for children are good, however, this is variable, with some routines slipping on certain days. For example, children should have their breakfast before they are allowed to use technology devices. However, on some days these boundaries have not been adhered to. Sticking to the boundaries is necessary because some children have anxieties about food and need to follow routines to feel safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a child-centred approach to care and she recognises that children’s progress is unique to them. The manager has a tenacious leadership style, and if an approach is not working for a child, then she will reassess staff practice. For example, the manager has bought special curtains that can easily be refixed if the child tears them down. The manager wants to ensure that the child has a nice bedroom, however she recognises that this is not something that the child can always cope with.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager supports staff to look at situations from each child’s perspective. For instance, after physical interventions by staff, there is a strong emphasis on repairing the relationship so that the children do not carry negative feelings for longer than necessary. As staff are building stronger relationships with children, they are learning what de-escalation techniques work better and as a result children are involved in fewer physical interventions. Staff said that they would like further training to better meet the therapeutic needs of the children in their care. This is an area that the manager is developing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager models the type of care that she wants to see in the home and staff are learning through observation. Although staff supervisions are taking place, the records are not always a true reflection of discussions held, and team meeting minutes are not clear or reflective. As the home only opened recently, the staff team Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 5 is relatively new and do not know each other well. There are times when discussions take place in front of the children about other staff members. This is an area for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s paperwork is of a good standard and is up to date. However, some of the children’s life story work is not known by staff. This is a barrier to children’s progress because it means that staff are unable to understand each child’s journey. The manager recognises that this is an area for development and that more professional curiosity could be shown at the point of a child’s placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, leadership in this home is good. Children like the manager, staff are well supported and stakeholders’ feedback is excellent. Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind and ensure they have a good understanding of each child’s background and family dynamics. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  The registered person should ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well- being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. The registered person should ensure that each child’s day plan is followed when this is necessary to provide consistency for the child. Health plans for children need more clarity at point of placement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and that they understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. They should ensure that staff receive training in accordance with the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should lead a team which provides high-quality care for all children living in the home. They should lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. They should also play a key role in shaping the ethos of the home through developing a culture of high aspiration for children which is demonstrated through the care, resources and opportunities offered to the children. The

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Recommendations

registered person should ensure that language used by staff in the home is not institutionalised. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should ensure that supervision records and team meeting minutes are accurate. It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 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: 2689391 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 2, First Floor, Millennium Court, First Avenue, Centrum 100, Burton-upon-Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2689391 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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