Children's home run by New Roots Children’s Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 1 Registered provider: New Roots Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. It provides care for up to two children who may experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living in their home. They feel supported by the staff team and feel safe in the area. One child said, ‘I could not have asked for a nicer place to live. They are the nicest staff that I have met.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to move to new schools and colleges. They have good relationships with providers and advocate on behalf of children. As a result, children make progress with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager assesses the needs of children as part of a pre-admission plan. However, this does not consistently include the location of the home. Furthermore, children’s relevant plans are not consistently up to date when children move in. As a result, one child’s placement ended prematurely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are persistent in developing relationships with children. They promote positive behaviour within clear and consistent boundaries. Children respond well to the high levels of nurture and warmth provided by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a range of activities, including going on holidays with staff. One child is currently volunteering at a local horse stables. This helps to give children a broad range of experiences and to learn new skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aware of children’s health needs and help them to access local services. However, the manager and staff are not aware of the local offer, which sets out the support available for children with special educational needs or disabilities. This is a missed opportunity to access additional resources for those children who may need them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team helps children to maintain family time with the people who are important to them. There is a focus on establishing the child’s support networks and links with agencies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children compile memory books while living in the home, including photos of their overall experiences and comments from children and staff. This contributes to their history and life-story work and enables them to reflect on their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s home is modern, bright and well furnished. However, children’s bedroom windows have restrictors on them as a blanket policy. There are also locks on some doors and cupboards. This may unnecessarily restrict children’s access in their home.

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

Safeguarding incidents are well managed. The registered manager promotes a Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 3 positive safeguarding culture which helps to protect children.

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

Staff know children’s vulnerabilities and follow clear risk management plans. In addition, the in-house psychologist helps staff to understand children’s behaviours by developing appropriate strategies for staff to follow.

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

Children have individual missing-from-home risk management plans. This helps to reduce the likelihood of children going missing from home and the length of time of each incident when they do go missing.

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

Staff support children to stay safe online. They have a range of strategies to protect children from online harms when on their devices. Staff also raise children’s awareness of vulnerabilities through key-work sessions. This includes stranger danger and bullying, for example.

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

Staff are trained to de-escalate incidents, and to only use physical intervention as a last resort. As a result, staff have not used any physical interventions. This helps staff to develop relationships with the children.

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

Managers recruit staff following safer recruitment processes. This reduces the likelihood of unsuitable adults caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed by an experienced and qualified manager. They have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. They are ambitious and continue to make improvements to children’s care. This includes developing management information systems to help monitor and evidence children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by leaders and managers. They attend monthly supervision and team meetings. This helps staff to reflect on incidents and their performance. One member of staff said, ‘This is the first job in which I have really felt supported by managers.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers use monitoring and review systems to learn from incidents. This includes obtaining feedback from children and staff. The manager evaluates each incident to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager continues to develop close working relationships with partner agencies. This helps to coordinate support for children. Leaders also encourage children to attend their statutory meetings. As a result, children have a better understanding of their plans and progress. One social worker said, ‘I can’t fault the level of care they provide.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff attend a variety of training. This includes core training plus training tailored to meet children’s specific needs. This helps staff to understand children’s needs and to provide a consistent approach. Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 4 Managers have designed internal development programmes to promote succession planning within the company. This helps to retain staff while also boosting their skills and confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager responds quickly to complaints from children and the community. The manager takes appropriate action to resolve any issues and replies in writing to the complainant. This helps to improve practice and maintain positive relationships with the community. Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 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, 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that they only accept placements for children once they are satisfied that they have received their relevant plans and can respond effectively to meet their needs. This should include reference to the suitability of the location of the home. 20 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; 20 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 6 is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that the need for window restrictors in children’s bedrooms are kept under review for each child. Similarly, the manager should review and revise the need for locks on the playhouse, garage and some of the cupboards in the house.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should make sure that managers and staff are aware of the local offer setting out the support available for children with special educational needs or disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)

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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: 2699772 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Roots Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 139 Stoney Lane, Rainhill, Prescot L35 9JY

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Inspector

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2699772 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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