Children's Home run by Accalia Care Services Ltd in Sandwell

Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 1 Registered provider: Accalia Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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: 1 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: 2494873 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/10/2021 Full Good 05/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/06/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children are currently living at the home. They are settled and happy. A parent said, ‘[Name of child] tells me he loves me now, where they didn’t before. I don’t think he could be in a better place.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from individualised support that is responsive to their known and emerging needs. Staff have implemented routines that allow children to understand what to expect. Children’s self-confidence has grown, and they are making good progress in many aspects of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s health. Children are fit and well. Staff lead by example and involve children in preparing healthy, balanced meals. Children also attend routine health appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education placements that are suitable to meet their individual needs. When difficulties arise, the manager works in partnership with education staff and the virtual school to identify alternative arrangements. This ensures that children’s opportunities for learning continue. One child has recently surpassed predicted expectations and completed all their GCSE exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s meetings are held every week. Children take part and share their views and feelings with each other. During these meetings, enjoyable debate topics are used to generate conversations with children and staff. This helps children to recognise each other’s feelings and discuss their opinions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Strong relationships exist between the children and adults who work regularly in the home. This was evident throughout the inspection when staff and children could be heard laughing and playing after school. Enjoyable and purposeful activities, such as visiting Harry Potter World, are used to strengthen these relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment has had some recent decoration, which included all three bedrooms being personalised. Further required improvements to the home’s decor are also planned. However, several communal areas have doors with locks on. The locks are not required as staff do not restrict children’s access to these communal spaces. However, having locks on internal doors detracts from the otherwise homely appearance of the house.

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

Staff are responsive to children’s individual needs. They work hard to manage and mitigate risks. The direct work carried out with children has improved and is helping them to understand and reflect on their behaviour. Staff understand children’s triggers and vulnerabilities. As a result, the risks for children are reducing. Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 4 When risk reduces, staff review the children’s safety plans. For example, the bedroom door alarm system is no longer in use for all children as this is not needed.

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

Children who live at this home rarely go missing. When a child does go missing, staff follow the steps in the child’s plan and search for them in the community. Staff have meaningful conversations with children when they return home. This helps to reduce the likelihood that children will go missing in the future.

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

Risk management plans are detailed, informative and easy to follow. They are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect each child’s known and emerging behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities. Staff are encouraged by the registered manager to update these plans. This helps staff to understand how best to support the children.

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

Incidents of staff physically holding children have reduced. When incidents occur, staff use physical intervention as a last resort to keep children and others safe. Low- level techniques are used in line with children’s preferences. Reflective work is carried out with staff and children following incidents. However, these post-incident conversations lack sufficient scrutiny from the manager. As a result, there are missed opportunities to learn and improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new registered manager is passionate and dedicated in raising standards and improving the care that children receive. Effective monitoring by the registered manager ensures that all staff receive regular feedback about their practice, performance and development. This helps to improve the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is aware of the strengths and areas for development in the home. Staff are positive about the new management arrangements and speak well of the registered manager and leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has positively planned one admission since the last inspection. Although this has been a success, the internal assessment carried out by the registered manager did not consider the location, environment or staff’s skills before confirming the admission.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision has improved significantly since the last inspection. All staff meet regularly with the manager, which provides an opportunity for reflection and professional development. The registered manager has completed annual appraisals for all staff since the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and oversight are stronger than previously reported, and areas of progress could be seen throughout this inspection. The manager is realistic about the progress so far, recognising that there is still more to do. She is completing the biannual quality of care review as a foundation for development. This Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 5 evaluative, analytical and focused approach will benefit the children and staff to further progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has met the requirements from the previous inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, 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. 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. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept which enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or

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Recommendations

trends of concern emerge. The review, including the debrief with staff, should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The statement of purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of the children the home is set up and equipped to provide care for. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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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: 2494873 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Accalia Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Radclyffe House, 66 to 68 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8PF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leaford Williams

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Inspector

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2494873 8 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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