Children's Home run by Bright Life Living (Stirchley) Ltd in Birmingham

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 1 Registered provider: Bright Life Living (Stirchley) Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home opened in January 2022 and is owned by a private company. It is registered to care for up to three children who may have specific social and emotional difficulties and are likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has suitable skills and qualifications to manage the home and has been in post since the home opened.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

Since the last inspection, one child has moved in, but they moved out quickly. Leaders and managers carried out extensive enquiries with the child’s previous carers and local authority to understand the child’s needs as far as possible before they moved in, to help them be ready for their arrival. However, owing to increasing risks within the local area that posed harm to the child, the child had to move on in an emergency. The registered manager has reflected on this and has developed practice based on the learning from this.

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The care of children

The two children who lived at the home at the time of the previous inspection are still living in the home. They are settled and have developed trusting relationships with the staff team. Staff regularly engage the children in educational discussions to help them develop their social and emotional skills. For example, staff have engaged children in quizzes and interactive discussions on grooming, social media and sexual health to support them as they mature into young adults.

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The care of children

The registered manager has also introduced ‘feedback chats’ with children so that, when incidents happen, children have an opportunity to give their views. Follow-up work is then undertaken to support children in understanding why decisions have been made about their care.

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The care of children

Staff support children with their behaviour by using reward charts and ‘daily affirmations’. They give children certificates of appreciation, which children proudly display in their bedrooms to celebrate their achievements. This is helping to remind children that they are valued.

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The safety of children

The registered manager has introduced clearer risk-management plans and supervision arrangements for children around the use of the internet. Most plans for managing children’s risks are clear and support staff to keep children safe. However, one child’s plans were not fully updated when new information emerged, to reflect what measures are in place to safeguard them from potential self-harm.

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The safety of children

When a child had complex risks around exploitation, the registered manager collaborated with other professionals to keep the child safe. The intelligence-sharing between the registered manager, police and social care helped staff to plan effectively to keep the child safe as incidents evolved. Staff dynamically risk-assess during incidents to make sure the child’s safety is prioritised. Follow-up work is done with the child to try to help them learn how to keep themselves safe and build relationships with the staff team. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 3 When children struggle with their mental health, staff consult specialist services and try to find different ways of engaging the child in getting the help they need. Leaders provided additional urgent therapy for one child, and staff listened to the child when they were finding things difficult and offered them advice and guidance

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The safety of children

Conflict between children is rare. However, recently, two children had a physical altercation. Staff ensured that the children did not harm one another. However, staff did not use the home’s therapeutic approach to help the children to calm before the situation escalated. The registered manager did not identify this in her oversight. However, she did ensure that staff mediated effectively between the children afterwards. This has helped children to work through their difficulties and build positive relationships with one another.

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The safety of children

On the whole, staff take urgent action to ensure that children are safe when they go missing from home. However, there have been times when staff have not followed plans to ensure that children are proactively looked for. For instance, in one incident, staff chose to stop following a child when they were intending to go missing. The registered manager’s oversight of these incidents is inconsistent. Often, the registered manager does not pick up on shortfalls at the time and address these with staff to help them to improve. However, recently, the registered manager has given refresher training to the staff team, to help staff understand how to protect children in missing-from-home incidents.

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The safety of children

When children make allegations of harm against other children or adults, managers and staff do not always follow safeguarding procedures. On two occasions, there were significant delays in reporting allegations to the local authority designated officer and the child’s social worker. Direct work with children to advocate for and listen to the child was poor. Some incident records were difficult to access or were missing essential information. Leaders are aware of these shortfalls in practice and have recently upskilled the staff team to improve staff’s understanding of safeguarding procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has worked alongside a clinical therapist to provide staff with monthly consultations to support them in meeting children’s attachment needs more effectively. She has also introduced additional training for the team around child exploitation, managing allegations and managing missing-from-home incidents. This training helps to provide staff with the skills to meet children’s needs more effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered manager has now introduced a monitoring system whereby she checks through incidents and care plans for children each month. She reports her findings to the responsible individual. However, this system is not effective as the registered manager does not always identify shortfalls. This demonstrates a lack of managerial insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the service. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 4 The independent visitor has continued to review the quality of care monthly since the last inspection. However, the independent visitor does not consult with children, families or professionals effectively. Managers have not recognised this in their own reviews and therefore have not acted to make these visits more effective. As a result, opportunities for learning regarding the quality of care are lost.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

At the previous inspection, five requirements were issued under regulations 5, 11, 12, 13 and 14. At this inspection, two requirements under regulations 11 and 14 were met. Requirements under regulations 5, 12 and 13 were not met and are reissued. A further three requirements are made at this inspection. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that they seek to involve other professionals in children’s care, in line with children’s relevant plans, and that consultations with other agencies take place when there are incidents.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated from the previous inspection. 25 April 2023

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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— 25 April 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 7 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that there are clear risk-management plans and that these are updated when new information emerges. Staff should follow these plans and have the skills to spot signs that children may be at risk and then take effective action to keep children safe.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated from the previous inspection.

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h)) 25 April 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 8 This requirement is restated from the previous inspection.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the following items, which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner—

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Requirement Due date

children’s case records (see regulation 36);

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Requirement Due date

other records (see regulation 37). (Regulation 38 (i)(j)) 25 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that Ofsted is notified of serious incidents. 25 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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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; and 25 April 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 9 to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that, when the independent visitor visits, they properly review the care in the home and consult with professionals and children.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bright Life Living (Stirchley) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Wheeleys Road, Birmingham B15 2LD

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Inspector

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2656172 11 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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Inspector

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