Children's Home run by Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 1 Registered provider: Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It provides care for up to four children who need support to manage their social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably qualified registered manager.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/04/2022 Full Outstanding 17/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lots of space to play and explore outside the home. Children’s bedrooms are personalised, clean and tidy, and reflect their individual likes and tastes. Children like to spend time doing activities with staff. For example, children and staff have regular cookery competitions, which help to build positive relationships. Staff and children also enjoy going on holidays and having fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Not all children attend full-time education. However, all children have either part- time jobs, tutors, or college placements. Where one child is receiving minimal tutor support, the manager has escalated this to try and get more education provision for the child. Outside of education, most children struggle with friendships. The manager is continuing to support children to make friends because they understand the importance for children’s social and emotional development. Where children do have friends, they are invited to the home, which is a good and positive experience for all.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are understood very well by staff. Staff are supporting children to stay active and keep fit. For example, staff regularly play sports with one child, and are supporting him to reduce his sugar intake. Another child has recently joined the gym. Staff also support children to spend time with psychotherapists, who are part of the staffing team. Children engage well in these sessions and greatly benefit from them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have built some good relationships with the core staff team. However, children have been negatively impacted by a high staff turnover. The manager is mindful that staff retention is an area for ongoing development and a priority for them.

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

The manager’s thresholds in relation to risk are not always clear. For example, staff are asking a child whether they wish to consider wearing a voluntary electronic surveillance tag. This is to help the child to feel safe in the community. This child already has a location tracker on their phone and agreed to staff completing nightly phone checks. The manager’s risk assessment is that this child is not involved in exploitation, so it remains unclear why this level of surveillance would be necessary. Similarly, children have always had nightly phone checks. However, there is little evidence to warrant why these checks are necessary for all children. This is not child-specific risk management, but instead a blanket approach to managing risk.

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

Children are given sanctions when their behaviour is unacceptable. However, these sanctions are not always proportionate, or their effectiveness reviewed. For example, the sanctions log stated that one child needed to use a plastic bowl and plate because they had intentionally broken crockery. This was recorded as a Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 4 sanction but with no end date. It is important for children to know when sanctions will end. Additionally, the child could feel singled out from peers when eating at the table. It is necessary for sanctions and safety measures to be specifically tailored to each child’s needs but with a clear review and end date.

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

From their starting points, children are now more able to understand their feelings and process their emotions. Staff have supported children to articulate when they are feeling upset or frustrated. Overall, children trust core staff with their feelings. This is good progress.

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

Overall, when behavioural incidents happen for children, these are managed well. For example, the manager is working in conjunction with the home’s psychotherapist to try to reduce one child’s level of physical intervention. This has involved the therapist observing the child’s bedtime routine and then making adaptions. Staff work hard to support this child to feel safe at bedtime. They have done this by wearing pyjamas at work and reading imaginative bedtime stories.

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

The manager and leaders have not ensured that Ofsted have been notified of all serious safeguarding notifications. This prevents Ofsted from knowing when serious incidents have taken place and the action taken to ensure that children are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to their role and is supported by a hard-working deputy manager. The children like the management team and have a close relationship with them. On one occasion, the children were supported by staff to arrange a surprise birthday party for the manager. This is very thoughtful and testament to the strength of the relationships at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and have opportunities to undertake training courses. Staff said that they feel supported by the manager and valued by the company overall. Feedback provided by external agencies is positive, and they are satisfied with the care being provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although staff have a good insight into children’s interests and personalities, there are gaps in how well staff know each child’s family history. For example, staff did not know who some of the children’s fathers were. It is necessary for the manager to obtain this information when a child moves to the home. This is helpful in terms of understanding and contributing to each child’s life story work, knowing about significant relationships, as well as being fully informed of any risk factors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In the home, the downstairs bathroom is not accessible for children. When staff or guests wish to use it, they need to use a key to unlock it. Although the manager states that this room is locked for safety reasons, there are no child-specific risks that would warrant this. Similarly, there is no evidence of children asking not to use the downstairs bathroom. Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 5

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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 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

or 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.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)(5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the responsible individual ensuring that notification are made to Ofsted of serious incidents. 20 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children can access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded, and be kept under regular review. Information on restraint and deprivation of liberty is contained in the protection of children section of the Guide from paragraph 9.41. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards April 2015’. Page 15, paragraph 3.10.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards April 2015.’ Page 16, paragraph 3.14.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should support staff to understand factors that affect children’s motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child’s relevant plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5.)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should monitor and review the patterns and trends of the turnover of staff, whether agency or directly employed, and be able to understand and, where possible, to address any negative trends. This specifically relates to the registered manager recruiting enough staff to meet the care needs of the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.19.)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 7 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: 2613829 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 51 Abbey Green Road, Leek ST13 8SA

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Inspector

Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Ellen Monk, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2613829 9 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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