Children's Home run by Resicare Alliance Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 1 Registered provider: Aston Children’s Care Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager’s position is currently vacant. There is a temporary manager in post while the provider recruits to this position.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2503598 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/08/2022 Full Good 05/07/2022 Full Inadequate 29/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/06/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. Since the previous inspection, one child has moved on from the home and one child has moved in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and develop and share positive relationships with them. Staff are aware of children’s individual starting points and help children to recognise and celebrate their progress and achievements. This helps children to feel valued and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage with their education. They recognise that children have diverse needs and work in partnership with education professionals to help children to overcome these barriers. As a result, children’s plans are specific to their needs. This supportive approach has helped to improve children’s attendance. One child’s family member told the inspector that their child ‘did not like going to school and the home has supported them to attend regularly’. Another child’s school told the inspector that: ‘The home worked very closely with school and attended all meetings for the child’. As a result, children are making good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers regularly seek children’s views about the care that they receive and their home environment. For example, managers recently consulted both children and staff about plans to develop the home environment. As a result, identified areas of the home are being updated, and children plan to add items to their rooms, which will further express their personalities and interests. Consequently, children feel reassured that their voice is listened to. One child told the inspector that: ‘When staff are unable to give children what they are asking for, they always try to find a solution’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff understand the importance of children maintaining relationships with people who are important to them, and they support children to see their families in the home. Children’s friends are also able to visit and spend time in the home. This supportive approach ensures that children are not isolated from the people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers ensure that staff promote children’s health and well-being through providing healthy meals and supporting children to take part in activities out in the community. One child’s family member said to the inspector that their child ‘had been doing much more activities since living at the home and was not spending as much time sitting gaming as they used to’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide good support to children preparing for independence. Staff consistently use key-working sessions to raise children’s awareness and to assist children to Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 4 develop the skills and knowledge they will need to move into the next phase of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On one occasion, the home did not advocate well for one child transitioning into the home, and their care plans did not consider the support he would need to make his transition a positive one. As a result, the child did not experience a positive transition into the home. Managers and staff now work with the home’s psychologist to ensure that staff are fully informed and receive training on the specific needs of children transitioning into the home. As a result, staff are being supported to develop child-focused therapeutic care that meets children’s individual needs.

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

Managers and staff ensure that there are clear boundaries and expectations for children, which help to keep them safe. Staff use consequences that are appropriate and specific to the incident. Staff use key-working sessions effectively to help children reflect on and encourage positive behaviours.

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

Staff respond to missing-from-care incidents effectively. They take immediate action and work with the police to locate children and return them to the home. Children receive return home interviews, and the information from these is used to review the children’s safeguarding strategies. As a result, children know that staff care about their well-being and will act to keep them safe from harm.

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

The managers ensure that complaints made by children are acted on. Complaints are responded to in line with the home’s policies. Consequently, children and those people involved in children’s lives feel valued and listened to.

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

Overall, managers respond well to safeguarding concerns once they become known. They work well with the relevant professionals when allegations are made and complete investigations in a timely manner. These actions help to safeguard children and protect their welfare. However, at the time of this inspection, a child had not been provided with updates about the progress of the investigation into an allegation they made.

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

On one occasion, staff did not show sufficient professional curiosity and did not supervise the children sufficiently. This provided the opportunity for a child to bring an unknown young person into the home without staff knowledge. Managers have reflected on this incident and put in place strategies to prevent this happening again.

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

Staff are not always curious when children are using devises to access the internet. There has been one occasion when a child used their device inappropriately without detection by staff. In addition, staff do not use key-work sessions to support children to understand how to use the internet safely. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 5

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good

The home has been without a registered manager since October 2022. The provider put in place arrangements to oversee the management of the home until a manager was appointed. However, this interim manager did not apply to Ofsted within the required timescale. A new manager was appointed in February 2023. However, this manager has now withdrawn their application to register. The current interim manager has been in post for three weeks and will support the home until a permanent manager is appointed.

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good

The changes in manager have led to an inconsistent approach to the development of the home and delays in some actions. The responsible individual and the new manager now have a plan in place to make improvements to the care children receive. However, the impact of this is not yet known.

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good

Staff told the inspector that the changes in managers ‘was unsettling for the team’. Despite this shortfall, the managers have advocated well for children, worked well with professionals and have made changes and decisions to improve the care that children receive. This includes the decision to appoint a psychologist who is providing training to staff on therapeutic parenting to increase staff’s understanding of children’s individual needs.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions. Alongside team meetings and training, these have contributed to staff development and have had a positive impact on the care children receive. Staff told the inspector that managers are: ‘approachable, and they feel supported in their work, to develop their practice and to make personal progress’.

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good

External professionals comment positively on the home. One professional told the inspector that: ‘Staff are professional in their approach and have a good relationship with the young person’. Another professional told the inspector that the young person seems content living at the home, talks a lot about the activities they do and staff always present as very caring’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 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 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—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, to ensure that children receive appropriate levels of supervision at all times to prevent unauthorised persons from accessing and staying within the home without permission and that appropriate safeguards are put in place.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, ensure that staff show professional curiosity and sufficiently monitor children’s internet use, and that they educate children on how to safely use the internet. 21 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and 21 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 7 have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must work in partnership with the placing authority to ensure plans are in place to enable children to have a positive experience of arriving at their home.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that monitoring systems are used to develop the service and a consistent approach is taken to make improvements to the management of the home. 21 July 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

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. 17 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 8 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the person who is in day-to-day charge of the home submits an application to register with Ofsted. This is so that a decision can be made as to the applicant’s experience, qualification and skill to meet the role. In addition, ensure that anyone who is in the position of interim manager submits an application to register within 90 days as outlined within Ofsted’s guidance.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 21 July 2023

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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: 2503598 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aston Children’s Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 181 Penn Road, Wolverhampton WV3 0EQ

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Inspector

Sharon Bourne, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2503598 10 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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