Children's Home run by BFG Together Limited in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 1 Registered provider: BFG Together Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home is registered to provide care for up to four children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a registered manager who is suitably qualified and experienced. Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 21 February 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides children with a good standard of care. The children living at the home benefit from stable placements, with both children having lived at the home for a considerable time. Trusting relationships have been formed between staff and children. The staff team is diverse, with each member of staff bringing something positive to the team and collectively meeting children’s needs very well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff spend time with children, giving them opportunities to express their feelings and share their views. Staff carry out direct work with the children. Some of this work is pre-planned to address specific issues, and some is unplanned and likely to be in response to an emerging issue or something brought up by the child. In all cases, this direct work is recorded well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are supported in their care of the children through monthly clinical consultation. Following the last inspection, the registered manager has stepped out of these consultation sessions to enable the staff to lead these sessions with the clinician in a way that is most helpful to them. This has led to an improved level of engagement by staff and has increased their confidence. Consequently, staff are working together more cohesively in meeting the children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both of the children have education provision, but this has been an area of concern. From their starting points, both children are making progress. One child has been out of education for a considerable time, and at the last inspection, there were concerns about the delay in identifying an appropriate education provision. While it is early days, a renewed impetus is evident. Managers and staff understand the importance of education, and they feel more confident in actively addressing the barriers to school attendance. There is regular communication with education professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between children and staff are respectful. Staff respond sensitively to children’s individual needs relating to family history, identity, religion and ethnicity. Staff recognise important and enduring relationships for children, and they work well to maintain and sometimes rebuild relationships, sometimes maintaining long- distance and complex relationships. Work with children can be insightful and highly therapeutic, for example helping a child to devise a script to assist them with sensitive, emotionally charged discussions with family.

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

Due to the current needs of the children living at the home, there are no plans to admit more children to the home at this time.

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

The children’s needs for help and protection are being met, but there is recognition that the staff may not be able to safely and effectively manage the increased risks Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 4 that more children would bring. There is a full awareness of the risks associated with bringing another child into the dynamic and managing the risks between the children.

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

Behaviour management in the home is good. Physical intervention is used very rarely to manage behaviour. Staff are able to identify children’s triggers and defuse potentially difficult situations at an early stage. Some staff are more confident and experienced than others, but incidents at the home are relatively low.

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

A good proportion of staff are qualified and experienced, and the skill mix of staff is working well. There are sufficient staff for the two children. Recruitment of staff is ongoing. This is managed well, with good adherence to safe recruitment practice, and a good-quality induction is provided. Consequently, children are safeguarded from adults who may pose a risk to them.

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

Staff training encompasses a wide range of subjects, enabling staff to safeguard children effectively. Clinical consultation is beginning to strengthen the staff’s understanding of the children and risks. A more therapeutically attuned approach is evident and is more in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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

There are incidents of children going missing from the home, albeit a very small number. They are managed very well by managers and staff. Staff are aware of contextual safeguarding and the need to be aware of and manage risks and issues in the child’s network away from the home in order to make children safer. Independent return home interviews take place when required.

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

There are some risks regarding the use of the internet. These are well managed, with appropriate safeguards in place. Staff approach these risks appropriately, acknowledging that the children are older and need to learn how to keep themselves safe ahead of leaving the home and, ultimately, the care system. There are well- developed strategies to support children to become safer online.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably skilled and qualified manager. The manager has a great deal of relevant experience, and she is well respected by staff. Many of the staff are young and/or lack residential childcare experience. However, each staff member brings a different dimension to the team, and collectively, there is a skilled staff team. Staff speak positively about the leaders and managers and say that they benefit from their supportive and approachable management style.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

As many of the staff are relatively new to residential childcare, professional development has been a priority. Staff have been provided with a broad range of training, and the therapeutic clinical consultations complement this well. All eligible staff who have completed probation are now working towards the required qualification. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 5 Staff and managers work proactively with other professionals. They have built good working relationships with placing authorities, education providers and health professionals. More recently, education plans have been given more focus, and this is beginning to make an impact. Staff provide detailed reports for children’s meetings. Leaders and managers escalate their concerns appropriately, and now with more impetus.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Work is being done to continuously improve the recording in children’s files, and professional discussions about the best way to achieve this are ongoing. Overall, the standard of recording is very good. Monthly updates provide a readily accessible summary of children’s progress and achievements, the work carried out and the challenges for the month. This provides excellent oversight for all parties.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management monitoring systems are effective. Information is easily accessible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is looking tired in places, but there are already imminent plans to refresh the home’s decor and maintain the comfortable environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The three requirements made at the home’s last inspection have been met. These requirements related to children accessing education, managing positive relationships between children and management monitoring. Positive progress has been made in all areas, albeit slower in some areas. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 6

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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: 2591033 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: BFG Together Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Castle Cavendish Enterprise Centre, 63-67 St Peters Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG7 3EN

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Inspector

Corrinne Barker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2591033 8 regulates and inspects 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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