Children's Home run by Abundantia Care Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 1 Registered provider: Abundantia Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties. The home is currently operating as a solo placement and is providing care for one child. The child has lived in the home since the last full inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by an experienced manager who registered with Ofsted in 27 July 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2022

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2022 Full Good 18/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 3

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outstanding

There is significant evidence of improvement and change in the progress and experiences of the child living in the home. This is due to the excellent quality of care that the child receives from the staff. The commitment and determination of the registered manager and staff promote the child’s life chances. One professional stated that the progress that the child has made is ‘unbelievable’ due to the care that the staff provide.

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outstanding

The child enjoys trusted and secure relationships with the staff, who know them extremely well. Staff work hard to get to know the child, their ongoing needs, and their likes and dislikes. This has supported the child to develop strong and secure relationships with the registered manager and staff. One professional described the staff as ‘absolutely outstanding’ due to the care they provide for the child.

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outstanding

Staff support the child to take part in a wide range of activities in accordance with their interests. This is helping the child to experience enjoyment and achievement, build their confidence, develop important life skills, and build healthy relationships with peers.

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outstanding

The staff take an extremely flexible approach in supporting the child to maintain relationships with family members and significant adults. This has helped the child to spend time with those who matter the most to them and celebrate significant events with them, such as birthdays and other important milestones.

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outstanding

Staff are ambitious for the child and support them to attend and do well in education. There is excellent liaison with the school, the child’s social worker, and the virtual school headteacher. The registered manager and staff go above and beyond to support the child with their education. This has supported the child to make significant progress with their education.

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outstanding

The registered manager and staff support the child to attend routine and specialist health appointments. They attend all health reviews in relation to the child and advocate on the child’s behalf. Regular support from a clinician has helped the staff to reflect on the child’s emotional needs. One professional said that the child’s behaviour has improved significantly as well as their ability to communicate and regulate their emotions.

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outstanding

The child’s plans comprehensively identify their needs. The child is consulted about their plans and actively contributes to them. The child is supported to actively take part in day-to-day and more-complex decisions about their life, in line with their age and understanding. When it has not been possible to act on the child’s wishes, they have been helped to understand the reasons why. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 4 The child has regular access to an independent visitor and their social worker, which ensures that they can share any concerns with relevant professionals.

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outstanding

The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard. The child’s bedroom is aligned to their specific taste. The staff continually help the child to personalise their bedroom. This supports the child to feel valued and helps to create a sense of belonging and permanence.

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outstanding

The child is happy and safe living in the home. The child said that the staff are ‘nice’ and that they can talk to them if they have any worries. Staff have an excellent knowledge of safeguarding procedures and follow them when incidents occur.

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outstanding

There have been no missing-from-home incidents with the current child. Staff understand what action to take should the child go missing and what they should do when the child returns home. The missing-from-home documents are extremely personalised and child focused, with the safety and welfare of the child at their core.

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outstanding

Risk assessments are thorough, dynamic, and easy to follow. They are reviewed and updated regularly and identify all known and emerging risks. They are comprehensive and easy to understand. This helps staff to understand what they need to do to further reduce risks, and has helped to significantly reduce potential harm to the child. However, more could be done to review the use of the child’s bedroom door alarm to ensure that it is appropriate and not an infringement on the child’s privacy and freedom of movement within the home.

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outstanding

The child is protected and helped to keep themselves safe from bullying, racism, and contextual safeguarding risks. Key-work sessions are planned and aligned with the child’s needs. They help the child to make progress and promote their safety and well-being.

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outstanding

High levels of support from staff are helping the child to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. This has resulted in a significant reduction of incidents. A strong understanding of the child’s experiences enable staff to respond with clear boundaries and clarity about what is safe and acceptable behaviour. Staff are persistent in their desire to understand the triggers for the child’s behaviour. Positive behaviour is consistently promoted with the child through incentives, praise, conversations with staff, and positive role modelling.

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outstanding

Physical intervention is only used as a last resort and has reduced. This protects the child and all those around them from harm. The use of physical intervention is proportionate, and the registered manager has good oversight of all incidents, which are recorded comprehensively. Debriefs follow any incident, promote learning, and help to reduce further incidents. The views of the child are sought, recorded, and understood. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 5 Effective and timely action in relation to any allegations against staff is helping to keep everyone safe. Good liaison with the local authority designated officer ensures that processes are followed. High levels of support to the child increase their confidence in the adults caring for them, and this has helped the child to feel safe and listened to.

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outstanding

The physical environment is safe. The locality risk assessment is comprehensive and provides good evidence of partnership working with external agencies. This provides transparency to placing authorities and helps staff to keep the child safe in the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager. She inspires confidence in her staff and is ambitious for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager, deputy manager and responsible individual are passionate about their roles. They have the highest expectations of themselves and their staff. They are passionate about the children in their care and influential in changing children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is fully staffed by suitably experienced and vetted staff, who are strongly committed to making a difference to children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The cohesive staff team enjoy working in the home. They benefit from learning from one another and describe an open culture where they can talk and challenge each other. Staff morale is high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Good staff development enhances their knowledge and skills. In addition to mandatory training, staff access specific training that enables them to provide a high standard of care to the child. Staff value the access to a clinician, who provides them with the opportunity to reflect on the needs and behaviours of the child. These discussions empower them to reflect on and learn about how they can best support the child and promote positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Practice-based supervision and team meetings help staff to reflect on their practice and development. The registered manager promotes a culture of high challenge and high support. This supports staff in their role, but also holds them accountable for the care that they deliver.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager uses learning from practice and feedback from the child and professionals to improve the experiences and care of children. This has helped the child to remain settled in the home and make progress. One professional stated that the registered manager and staff ‘want to be better, do better’. They described the staff as ‘reflective’, ‘progressive’, and ‘wanting to learn new things’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 6 Excellent working relationships between the staff, registered manager and partner agencies, including the child’s school, ensure that communication is open, transparent and up to date. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 7

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Recommendations

 The registered provider must ensure that 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. In particular, the registered manager should ensure that all decisions are informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, and be properly recorded and kept under regular review. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.10).

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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: 2638239 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Accounts Unlocked Llp, Repton Manor, Repton Avenue, Ashford TN23 3GP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Reynolds

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Inspector

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638239 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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