Children's Home run by Acorns to Oaks Children’s Care & Support Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: 2718813 1 Registered provider: Acorns to Oaks Children’s Care & Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for up to four children who may have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. One child spoke to the inspectors about their experiences of living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager were registered with Ofsted in April 2023.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: Not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 3

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inadequate

Some children make progress in all areas of their lives. However, leaders and managers do not consider the communication and medical needs of all children, or the home’s conditions of registration, before children move into the home. This has led to significant shortfalls in the care provided to one child.

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inadequate

Managers have not ensured that personal support plans provide clear guidance for the staff to follow to develop children’s independence and day-to-day self-care skills. This practice does not support children to achieve independent milestones.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff have relevant training to understand the communication and safety needs of each child. Due to the lack of training, staff have not been able to understand how to appropriately communicate with a child who is non-verbal. This has meant that the child has not been able to express their feelings, views and wishes.

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inadequate

Children are supported to attend most health appointments. However, leaders and managers have not ensured that they fully understand all children’s health needs. Specialist support has not been sought to develop the staff’s understanding of each child’s health conditions, including how to deliver personal care in a safe way that does not compromise a child’s physical health needs.

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inadequate

Most children are supported to enjoy structured time in the home and enjoy bedtime stories. This practice has contributed to most children settling in the home and developing supportive relationships with the staff. One child said, ‘Staff are nice. They look after us.’ However, managers and staff have not identified the likes and dislikes of all children.

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inadequate

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. They ensure that family time is well planned and an opportunity to create new memories. Children attend the same school that they attended before moving into the home. Staff have developed appropriate communication systems with school staff and recently arranged for a child to celebrate their birthday with friends from school. This initiative helps to maintain important friendships.

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inadequate

Children are encouraged to enjoy new experiences. One child has extended the variety in their diet and experienced new foods. Another was encouraged to enjoy a trip to the beach, where they could fly a kite and paddle in the sea.

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inadequate

Staff have undertaken direct work sessions with one child to develop their understanding of important topics, such as the risks they may face online and appropriate friendships. Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 4 The home is well maintained and homely. However, children have not been supported to personalise their bedrooms. The manager accepted that this is an area for improvement.

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

Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff understand the impact of children’s additional vulnerabilities on keeping them safe. Risk and behaviour support plans lack detail and do not contain all current risks. When risks are identified, they do not include specific strategies to support the staff team to keep children safe.

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

Staff have not received moving and handling or personal care training to safely support all children. Assessments of children moving into the home are poor and do not take into consideration the individual needs of all children or how they will be supported by the staff team. Inspectors identified shortfalls in personal care practices, safeguarding and communicating with children.

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

Appropriate action is taken by staff when allegations occur. However, the details of the allegations have not been shared with professionals or Ofsted in a timely way. This does not enable other safeguarding professionals to have oversight of actions taken to safeguard children.

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

Staff use praise and rewards to support children’s positive behaviour. When consequences have been used, they are discussed with some children. However, the manager has not always recognised that the measures used by staff should be recorded as a consequence. This reduces oversight of practice in the home and means that there are missed opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of consequences.

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

Staff effectively support children to regulate their behaviour. There have not been any instances of children being held.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not understand their responsibilities in meeting the individual needs of each child. They do not ensure that appropriate action is consistently taken to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A child has moved into the home despite their needs being outside of the home’s conditions of registration. Consequently, staff do not have the relevant skills, experience or training to meet the child’s needs. In addition, the ethos of the home has not been considered alongside the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and staff are developing positive relationships with professionals. One education professional said that communication about school is helping to support children. However, managers and staff have not sought specialist support to help Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 5 them meet a child’s health and communication needs. This has impacted on their ability to provide adequate and safe care for one child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and staff receive regular supervision. Staff are provided with opportunities to reflect on their practice and discuss the development of the team. However, managers have missed opportunities to discuss improvements required in care practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the home opened, staff have only had one team meeting. This is a missed opportunity to develop as a team and limits the opportunities to review care practices and plans for new children moving into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff attend induction training. Staff said that it helped prepare them for the role. However, the manager has failed to ensure that staff have received training to meet the needs of all children living in the home. This includes safeguarding disabled children, developing effective communication methods, moving and handling, infection control and personal care. This has not enabled the staff team to have the skills and knowledge to safely care for all children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

An independent visitor visits the home. The manager and responsible individual have failed to highlight and challenge factual inaccuracies in the reports. These inconsistencies do not support the regulator’s ability to maintain an accurate oversight of the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 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, The 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; 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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children’s plans contain all their known behaviours and risks and clearly detail strategies for staff to follow to keep children safe. The registered manager must ensure that plans completed for children moving into the home are detailed and robust. In addition, ensure that all staff have completed safeguarding children with disabilities training and that records clearly detail the individuals delivering personal care to children. 6 August 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. 6 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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; and

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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) (2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s plans contain consistent guidance for staff to follow, that all staff have completed training to meet the needs of all children living in the home, that there is effective management oversight of practice in the home to identify any concerns or areas for development and that action is taken to address anomalies in external monitoring reports.

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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

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Requirement Due date

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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 6 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 8 Specifically, the registered person must ensure that only children whose needs can be safely met move into the home. In addition, ensure that staff have the relevant skills, experience and knowledge to meet children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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

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provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice;

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ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (a)(b)(2)(iv)(vi)(ix)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children’s bedrooms are personalised in an age- appropriate manner and that children are supported to develop the necessary skills to aid their day-to-day self-care. 17 August 2023

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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. 17 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 9 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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regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review; and

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make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii);

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is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that there are systems in place to enable staff to effectively communicate with children who are non-verbal to ascertain their views, wishes and feelings.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met; 17 August 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 10 children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding; and

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understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well- being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there is clear information in children’s plans to enable staff to support children with diagnosed health conditions.

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

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 17 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: 2718813 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorns to Oaks Children’s Care & Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 3, 125-129 Witton Street, Northwich CW9 5DY

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Inspectors

Kelly McCurdy, Social Care Inspector Alexandra Pearson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2718813 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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