Children's home run by Horizon Transitional Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 1 Registered provider: Horizon Transitional Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is own by a small private company. The home provides care for up to three children with a range of complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

During this inspection period, leaders have made the decision to move from caring for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties to solely caring for children with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities is already a condition on their registration.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has registered with Ofsted and has the appropriate skills and qualifications for the role.

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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: 7 September 2021

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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: 1268535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/09/2021 Full Good 05/11/2019 Full Good 22/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live in the home. One child has lived in the home for more than one year. Since the previous inspection, four children have moved on from the home. Three of the children moved in line with their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is comfortable and warm. It provides dedicated sensory space for children and a newly renovated garden with ample space to play and enjoy the child-friendly equipment. Children’s photos are displayed throughout the home. This helps children to feel a sense of belonging and contributes to their memories and life story. One child has placed a framed photo of their dad in the front room, and staff understand the importance of this for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with good routines, guidance and boundaries. They place importance on eating meals together and spending time playing and creating a child-friendly environment. As a result, children have established good routines that they recognise through the repetition of activities, such as bathing, bedtime stories and getting ready for school. Consequently, children’s sleeping patterns have improved and their behaviours are more settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff have positive relationships with each other. Children seek developmentally and age-appropriate emotional warmth from staff. Staff are openly receptive to providing children with cuddles, tickles and praise, and they meet children’s emotional needs. Staff talk about children with a sense of care. One staff member said, ‘they [the children] love staff and the staff team love them’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite children’s verbal communication being limited, staff understand them as they know them well. Staff pick up on children’s cues, and will use play and redirection to support children’s emotional well-being. Staff recognise children’s behavioural needs and provide them with support to help them feel calm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to see people who are important to them. This includes supervising family time for one child. Staff have advocated for family time to be face to face to support relationship building and in recognition that virtual family time did not meet the child’s needs. Staff have built a positive relationship with the parent, who spent time with their child at the home over the Christmas period. The child’s parent said, ‘He’s [the child] treated like a prince and they treat me with respect and humanity. My son is very happy there and he loves the staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend schools that are suited to their individual needs. One child has vastly increased their attendance and duration of school hours since living in the home. Professionals from both children’s schools state that the children have made positive progress since moving in to the home, have positive relationships with the staff, and are nicely presented for school. Staff from the schools say that there is positive Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 4 communication with the staff at the home, who share a communication book that provides a holistic approach to children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities. Over Christmas, this included a trip on the polar express, as children enjoy watching this movie. Other activities are related to children’s known likes and interests, and encouraging children to try new things. Children benefit from going swimming, bowling, trampolining, taking walks and visiting local attractions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At bedtime, staff read to children and support them until they fall asleep. One child’s bedroom reflected their likes and was personalised with photos of their family. The other child’s bedroom lacked the same level of individuality and required improvement to the décor. The bedroom was repainted during the inspection. The refitting of a window restrictor had damaged a window frame in the bedroom. This was fixed during the inspection.

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

Children who currently live in the home do not go missing. Due to their age and vulnerabilities, they are closely supported by staff to ensure their safety and meet their needs.

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

Children who have previously lived in the home who did not have learning disabilities received well-coordinated responses when they were missing from home. Staff remained in contact with children and informed appropriate professionals and family members to ensure children returned home at the earliest opportunity. On occasions, this involved the responsible individual collecting children at their request to return home.

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

Staff are sensitive to children’s personal care needs and meet these with dignity, while supporting children to develop their self-care skills. As a result of this nurturing approach, children are making good progress, which staff talk proudly about.

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

One child moved in to the home with a fear of water. Staff have worked with the child to reduce his fear. As a result, he now enjoys playing in the bath. Teachers have recognised the positive progress that the child has made and how much they now ‘love sensory play, especially wet play’.

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

Staff are supporting children’s communication with the use of communication aids and verbal communication. As a result, one child’s verbal communication has vastly improved from their starting point. Staff and professionals recognise the child’s progress and talk proudly of their achievements.

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

Children have become more familiar with day-to-day activities and this has had a positive impact on their experiences and progress. One child who moved in to the home had been using child reigns when in the community. Staff supported the child to increase their social experiences. The child held staff hands when out of the Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 5 home and responded positively to the boundaries put in place to help keep them safe.

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

Children who currently live in the home have not required staff to restrain them. Staff only use physical restraint as a last resort to prevent children from harming themselves or others. They use a range of strategies to try to de-escalate these incidents. Records are well written but are not always recorded in the specified time frame. Some fail to report where the restraint has taken place, and debriefs have not always taken place under previous management. As a result, this impacts on records being available in a timely manner, and the registered manager’s ability to have all the required information to review the incident and identify learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have reviewed the care and progress of previous children who have lived in the home. As a result of this review, they have chosen to provide care solely to children with learning disabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers understand that the home has been through a transition period. In recognition of this, staff have received an array of training to support them to care for children with learning disabilities. Training includes the use of communication tools to help children to communicate their wishes and feelings. There is further training planned for the manager and staff team to develop alternative communication methods. The manager is booked on to training that will provide him with the skills to train new staff in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that morale is good, and they feel well supported by managers and staff alike. Staff have praised the ‘family’ feel of working at the home and the homely environment that children receive. The manager and a support worker who previously worked in the home have returned. They attribute their return to the support received from senior leaders and positive experiences of working in this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about the manager; they feel that he is a good leader and has made positive changes in the home. They say that he is ‘honest’ and ‘loyal’, and pushes them to develop their skills and encourages their personal development. Despite this, there are some gaps in staff supervision and annual appraisals. As a result, this creates a missed opportunity to formalise and review staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows children well and develops positive relationships with them. Staff are positive about the impact that he has on children and their experiences. One child enjoys a cup of tea made by the manager on his return from school as part of his routine. Another child climbed onto the manager’s lap and put his hand on their ribs to indicate that they wanted to be tickled, and giggled as this was done. These actions demonstrate the positive relationship that the manager and children share. Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 6 Due to the high levels of staff that are currently required, agency staff are regularly used. There have been benefits to this as some of the agency staff have been recruited as full-time members of staff. Staff state that agency staff who have worked in the home have had the relevant knowledge and experience to help to care for the children and have been a positive support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safe recruitment processes are implemented for new staff and agency staff. However, further due diligence is required to ensure that information received by the employee matches information stated in references. This specifically relates to the dates of employment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person visits the home on a monthly basis. However, there are many occasions when these visits are at a time when children are in school. As a result, children are not seen or spoken with. This creates missed opportunities for the visitor to observe children in their home and their interaction with staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 7

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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

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; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure. (Regulation 35 (2)(a)(iii)(b)(i)) 30 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the visitor visiting the home at a time when children can be seen. 28 February 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice, in particular by ensuring due diligence regarding staff employment dates, that staff receive supervision at intervals specified by the home’s policies, and that all staff receive an annual appraisal in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 8 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: 1268535 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Transitional Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Carthorne Cottage 55 Woodfield Avenue, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV4 4AG

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Inspector

Jodie Lewis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1268535 10 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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