Children's home run by Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 1 Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited 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 provider and offers care for up to three children. The home states in its statement of purpose that care is provided for children who have learning difficulties, autism spectrum disorder and/or social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since April 2021.

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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: 2631690 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress from their starting points. Staff work closely with relevant professionals to ensure children’s educational and healthcare needs are met. Children’s attendance at school is good. Staff share strategies with school staff so they can support children effectively in the classroom. When meeting the health needs of children, staff seek advice from the relevant professionals. As a result, children are achieving positive health and educational outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children appear happy in their home and receive good-quality care and support. Children are provided with personalised communication books, which help them interact with others and reflect on their feelings and behaviours. Children are also supported to create memory books, which help them to remember their positive experiences in the home and out in the community. These serve as nice keepsakes for children. One child enjoys spending time with his friend at his friend’s house, and both children have enjoyed trips to theme parks and the beach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from a health professional and the social worker of a child who has recently moved from the home was positive. They recognised the commitment of the registered manager and the staff team when caring for the children. External professionals said that children’s needs are met and, importantly, when new areas of need are identified, staff seek support and guidance to inform their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have identified tensions in the relationship between the two children currently living in the home. Leaders and managers have consulted with relevant professionals to try and promote a positive relationship between the children. However, current strategies centre around keeping the children apart, with excessive use of visits to fast-food outlets. Staff have not been creative when identifying strategies to support and manage the relationship between the two children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is mostly warm and homely. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and designed to meet their individual needs. One child was excited to show the inspector how many lights he had in his bedroom and the ‘den’ he had built in his wardrobe. However, various minor maintenance tasks are to be completed, and some institutionalised features detract from the otherwise homely environment. For example, door alarms are used to alert staff if children leave their bedroom during the night, despite this not being necessary for one child. There is also a large industrial clinical waste bin in one child’s bedroom.

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

Restraint has been used 47 times since the last inspection. When restraint has been used, it has been proportionate and necessary to prevent harm from occurring. Staff reflect on the use of restraint, identify what may cause behaviours that challenge children and the strategies to avoid the use of restraint in the future. Leaders and Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 4 managers are responsive to the reflections of staff and act on their suggestions to improve the support offered. However, restraint records are not always accurate and do not include all the necessary information. The registered manager had already identified this shortfall and made alterations to improve more recent records.

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

When staff identified a concern about the conduct of an external professional, leaders and managers responded appropriately to ensure the welfare of children. The registered manager worked with external professionals to identify strategies to prevent similar concerns in the future. However, when a concern was identified by a member of staff about a colleague, there was a significant delay in reporting the concern. When reported, leaders and managers took appropriate steps to protect children from harm. Leaders and managers also shared the learning from this incident with the staff and arranged training to prevent shortfalls from reoccurring.

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

Care plans provide staff with the information they need to help keep children safe. Plans identify the needs of children, including around communication, relationships and health. This helps staff to meet children’s individual needs. However, some of the information in the plans is written in the first person, from the child’s perspective, despite children not having viewed these documents or agreeing to what is written. As a result, the reader may be misled about the child’s involvement in, and understanding of, their care.

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

Important conversations are used by staff to help children reflect on their feelings and behaviours. They give staff the opportunity to provide children with positive messages and guidance. Staff offer children lots of praise and recognition for their achievements, however big or small. As a result, children are supported to identify positive behaviours, which are celebrated by the team.

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

Leaders and managers had not ensured that safer recruitment checks were completed for one agency member of staff. Consequently, the registered manager could not determine their suitability to work with children. The registered manager took steps to correct this during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager knows the children well. She is committed to the care of children and has worked with the staff team and external professionals to ensure that the needs of children are met. Staff said that they feel supported by the management team, and they spoke with passion and care when they talked about the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly and include reflective practice sessions with the home’s psychology service. Staff are encouraged to reflect on the needs of children and the strategies used to support them. Staff supervision is reflective and seeks to improve the quality of care provided to children. During supervision, staff reflect on how they are affected by the care they provide. This allows staff to improve and develop their responses to children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 5 Staff are offered a range of training opportunities, and training compliance is generally high. However, many staff have not received training to support them to care for children with learning needs. Moreover, leaders and managers have not identified additional training opportunities that would help staff to meet the individual needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have not completed the quality of care review within statutory time frames. Previous reviews have lacked feedback from children and other stakeholders. As a result, the home’s development plan is not informed by the views of others. Independent monitoring of the home is not always completed, nor does it often identify recommendations for improvement. Consequently, leaders and managers are not able to effectively improve the quality of care provided to children. The home’s statement of purpose also requires an update, to include all matters specified in Schedule 1 of the Children’s Homes Regulations (2015). Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff use positive strategies to support the relationships between children. This specifically relates to the registered person supporting staff to find more positive ways of helping children to get along with each other, without using trips to fast-food outlets to keep children apart. 8 May 2023

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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

promotes their welfare. 8 May 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that internal and independent monitoring takes place within set time frames, includes feedback from children and relevant professionals, and sets actions to improve the quality of care.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that staff are provided with training opportunities that support them to meet the individual needs of the children in the home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing, homely and domestic environment. The home should maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. In particular, the registered person should review the use of door alarms on children’s bedrooms and the industrial clinical waste bin in one child’s bedroom. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, the registered person should carefully consider the appropriateness of recording the child’s information using first-person narrative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 8

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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: 2631690 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 27 Westend Office Suites, Westend, Stonehouse GL10 3FA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Samantha Summers

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2631690 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 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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