Children's home run by Evolve Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 1 Registered provider: Evolve Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is located in the countryside. The home provides care for up to four children who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties. At the time of the inspection, two children were under the care of the home. However, one child was living off site. The home shares a courtyard with another home, run by the same company. The homes were previously one home, but in 2022 they were separated into individual homes.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the first time that Ofsted has inspected the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 3

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improvement to be good

The home is welcoming, clean and tidy, providing ample space for children to relax or complete activities. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and meet their needs. Some areas of the home need improvement and redecoration. Several rooms in the home are locked, preventing children from entering. A room being locked caused escalation during an incident due to children trying to access items locked inside. Outdoor space is maintained to a good standard, adding to the welcoming feel of the property.

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improvement to be good

Advance planning for children who move to the home is thorough and robust. However, one child has experienced an unplanned ending due to staff being unable to meet their needs. At the time of the inspection a child had been accommodated outside of the home in unregistered accommodation while a new placement was sought. While staff are provided with training, a significant number of staff lack experience of working in this environment and/or caring for children with complex needs. This has resulted in children’s placements ending prematurely.

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improvement to be good

Children living in the home do not receive the required level of education. One child currently living in the home attends part-time education. The child living in alternative accommodation is provided with online learning, however, this does not equate to the required amount. Schools and educational provisions have been identified for individual children by staff; however, unavoidable external reasons have prevented these from being secured. The home does not provide children with educational opportunities and activities in lieu of formal education.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not include children in care and safety planning. Documents do not contain children’s views or feedback. Complaint forms are not easily accessible to children.

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improvement to be good

Children like living at the home. One child named a member of staff who they can talk to. At the time of inspection, one child was living in alternative accommodation and stated that they would prefer to be living at this home. However, they were pleased to have continuity of carers. When the inspector observed interactions between staff and a child, they saw them laughing and talking, and that the care provided to the child was personalised.

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improvement to be good

Children’s general health needs are met well by the home. Children are supported to access universal health services. Staff do not consistently provide children with a varied and healthy diet.

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improvement to be good

Staff support a child to access assessment through CAMHS. This has identified that the child meets the criteria for ADHD, which warrants further assessment. Staff have received training specific to ADHD, however, this is not embedded in practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 4 Staff support children to undertake activities and to have interests. One child is choosing not to take part in any activities and has done for some time. However, staff continue to offer the child the opportunity to take part in these.

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improvement to be good

Staff build positive relationships with children and do not shy away from having difficult conversations. Staff talk about children with warmth and positive regard, they take time to get to know children and offer positive praise. When staff are challenged by children’s behaviour, they remain calm and continue to provide children with a good level of care. This applies to periods of time following lengthy significant incidents, where staff continue to support children to settle into the early hours of the morning.

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

There have been 19 incidents of restraint used at the home. Most of these are guides and nurture holds, and take place for short periods of time. There has been one prolonged restraint, which was in response to a serious incident where a child’s life was at risk. Restraint is not staff’s initial response in managing difficult behaviours, and they attempt other ways to defuse incidents in line with risk assessments. Restraints are used to keep children and adults safe.

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

When children go missing, staff take effective action to follow the children and ensure their safety. There are robust procedures in place to help find children and return them home safely. Return home interviews are requested. Risk assessments are updated where necessary.

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

When a child makes allegations against staff, the child’s social worker and the local authority designated officer are informed within timescales. Staff arrange for the child to talk to an independent person. Clear chronologies are kept, and thorough investigations are completed to ensure that staff are safe to work with children. Debriefs with staff are reflective and consider how practice could be improved.

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

The home has safer recruitment practices. References are followed up verbally and gaps in employment are checked. The home is fully staffed and does not use agency staff. This ensures that children have stability and consistency, and supports the development of trusting relationships between children and staff. When managers identified that a bank member of staff was a trigger for a child, arrangements were made to ensure that the member of staff no longer worked in the home.

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

Risk assessments are thorough and detailed, identifying things that can trigger children. These documents demonstrate that the team continuously updates and assesses the levels of risk. Actions required to lower and mitigate risk are clearly recorded.

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

When a child has raised concerns about bullying by the other child in the home, staff have dealt with this sensitively. Staff have worked with each child to educate and support them to promote positive relationships, encourage the development of self- esteem and individuality, and repair relationships. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 5 Staff talk about boundaries being in place for children and understand the importance of them. However, there is little evidence that current practice is effective. For one child, staff are attempting to implement boundaries, but these are not yet established. This has led to incidents where staff actively ignore negative behaviours in order to avoid confrontation. An example of this is the child being awake and undertaking baking activities until the early hours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders are passionate about the children who live in the home. They know the children and have developed an understanding of their needs. They want children to do well. When they have a concern or identify a need for a child, managers communicate effectively with other professionals. Leaders and managers challenge others robustly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager acknowledges the need to improve areas of staff experience and knowledge. Staff are provided with training. However, at times this is provided too late, meaning that staff are learning through experience rather than being prepared in advance when caring for children who have complex needs. The manager informed the inspector that plans are in place to enhance team skills and knowledge with the aim of bridging gaps in the team’s skill set.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision records are comprehensive and evidence open and reflective relationships between managers and other members of staff. Supervision takes place regularly and focuses on development, training and current practice. There is a clear focus on the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff told the inspector that they feel supported to improve their practice by leaders and managers. Staff report that management is visible in the home and can be approached for guidance, support and advice when required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Plans for children are comprehensive and contain essential information about children. There is good management oversight of the home, particularly significant incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have employed carers who want children to do well and have their best interests at heart. When there have been concerns about staff practice, leaders respond well. However, performance plans are unclear and do not support staff and leaders to effect, monitor and evidence change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Family members report that staff maintain good commutation with them and keep them informed about children. Where a parent has had concerns regarding the care provided to their child, they have been able to raise this with staff and resolve this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A social worker reports that things are getting better for the child that they work with. When the social worker completes debriefs with the child following incidents of Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 6 restraint, they are reassured that the child has not been physically or emotionally harmed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 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

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives; 14 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 8 ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(b)(i)(d)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that children’s views and feedback are gained and included in documents. Also, that children can independently access complaint forms.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that children engage in educational and learning activities if they are not attending a formal setting, or are only attending on a part-time basis. 14 April 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— 14 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 9 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have the training and embedded skills to meet the needs of children who live in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, to ensure that staff performance plans are robust documents that clearly identify how practice can be improved, how staff will be supported to improve, and how improvement can be measured to ensure that staff are safe to work with children.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide children with a healthy and varied diet. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.8)  The registered person should ensure that the home is kept to a good standard of decoration and repair, particularly ensuring that where walls are in need of painting this is completed, and furniture in the kitchen is maintained to a good standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children have access to all shared areas of the home, particularly the downstairs living space; spaces should only be locked for the purpose of safeguarding children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that staff implement consistent boundaries

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Recommendations

with children; that staff support children to understand why boundaries are required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.14) Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 10

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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: 2677724 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Evolve Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite B, Blackdown House, Blackbrook Park Avenue, Taunton, Somerset TA1 2PX

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Inspectors

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2677724 12 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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