Children's Home run by Parallel Parents Ltd in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 1 Registered provider: Parallel Parents ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home provides care to children between seven to 13 years old.

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Information about this children's home

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager and an operational manager. Both hold the required qualifications for their roles.

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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: 18 January 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2023 Full Good 07/12/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s progress is viewed as remarkable by people who know the children well, especially when considering their starting points. Staff promote positive relationships that are built on warmth and affection. This fosters a sense of belonging for the children in the home, where they can flourish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s achievements are evident throughout the home. There are celebration books that illustrate the varied activities that children can do throughout the week. Staff proudly display all the children’s certificates. This enables everyone to see children’s achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to help each child to have fun, form new friendships and enjoy life. Activities are a daily occurrence. Children enjoy going to dance classes, learning how to box, playing football, and going swimming. Children are supported to join clubs that reflect their interests and hobbies. When staff plan activities, they ensure that they take into account any multicultural events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In addition to the daily activities, staff ensure that throughout the year children have opportunities to take part in varied day trips and holidays that take them across the country. Children have been to watch concerts and football matches, gone camping, supported charitable events, and been on trips to Wales, Blackpool and Skegness to name a few. These have enabled the children to learn and celebrate the diversity of our world through these inclusive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are in full-time education and have excellent school attendance. Staff work closely with children’s teachers to overcome barriers that can impact on learning. This close work has resulted in children making good educational progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are ready to move on from the home, staff continue to offer outreach support. This gives children a level of consistency and security in their early days of their moves to foster care or back to live with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning is personalised to meet the individual needs of each child. Staff use their one-to-one time with children to ensure that every child is at the centre of their plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are innovative in finding ways to enable children to thrive physically, emotionally, and educationally. For example, staff have been creative in children’s meetings that help children to develop their self-esteem, learn how to stay safe, and to improve their self-image.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive and imaginative in celebrating children’s achievements, including promoting children’s self-esteem through taking photographs of all the activities, events and holidays that children have participated in. These memorable events are Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 4 then put into a child’s memory book that they will be able to take with them when they are ready to move in to foster care or back to their family’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well-being needs are met. For children with specific health conditions, staff engage with the network of health professionals to ensure that the right advice, care, and treatment are secured.

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

Staff quickly build constructive and warm relationships with the children. This creates a foundation to help children when they are struggling to manage their emotions. Staff are always there to offer hugs when children need help to feel secure and safe.

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

Staff help children to be aware of the need to have rules that are there to help them to stay safe. Boundaries are used to promote positive behaviour. When children struggle to self-regulate their emotions, staff can use a consequence. Although the children understand these, there is not always enough in-depth analysis of the data recorded to help the managers to have a full understanding of whether the measure is having the desired outcome.

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

Children are asked at weekly children’s meetings, and when they have one-to-one sessions with the operational manager, if they have any concerns or complaints. Children consistently report that they have no concerns. However, there was one incident when a child did raise a concern. Although this was professionally managed, it was not recorded in the complaints summary record.

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

Keeping children safe is at the heart of the staff’s everyday practice. Children are taught in an age-appropriate way to understand about stranger danger, car safety, and how to make safe decisions. When the locality risk assessment was reviewed, the staff extended this review in order to be able to take the children into the local community to help them to understand road safety, and learn where to find the local bus stop and nearest defibrillator. All the children were given cards with a reference point of the home.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the organisation’s safeguarding policies and procedures and are confident in raising concerns.

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

The two managers are good at escalating and reporting concerns to external professionals, including children’s social workers and the designated officers for the local authority. When a recent incident occurred, the managers were quick in reporting and sharing information with key professionals. However, on this one occasion, the managers omitted to send in a notification to Ofsted.

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

There is sufficient staff on duty, who have been suitably vetted before starting their employment and received a well-structured induction. Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and the operational manager are caring and enthusiastic in providing children with a high standard of care. There is a well-established monitoring system in place. This provides informative insight into the children’s care. Although these records are detailed, there is not always additional analysis of the data that has been used to inform the conclusions. The registered manager and the operational manager set high expectations of the staff. They are quick to tackle any potential weaknesses in practice. For example, following an incident, they systematically reviewed the information and swiftly brought in improvements to staff practice. The managers build effective partnerships with external agencies, including children’s social workers, independent reviewing officers, and the designated officers for the local authority. This close working ensures that the children receive the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

support they need at the right time. The managers have a good understanding of their role in developing the staff’s skills and knowledge. The use of research is becoming embedded into team meetings and is used to promote learning and inform practice. The managers are committed to providing staff with ongoing training and continuous professional development. Although training is good, an additional review of training is needed to assess whether the key role of the home in caring for young children is sufficiently captured in the training completed by the staff. Staff supervision enables each member of staff to reflect on their practice and consider their further development, while keeping children central in their discussions. Staff ensure that records are maintained to align with requirements set out in regulation. There are occasions when records are put in the wrong place. For example, a child’s family time had been entered in the reward book.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that in meeting regulation 19(2) they look at the effectiveness of consequences to help them to determine whether they are having the desired outcomes on improving a child's behaviour. This should include analysing the data. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that in meeting regulation 39, all complaints are entered into the summary record. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 23, paragraph 4.13)  The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occur. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 63, paragraph 14.9)  The registered person should ensure that in carrying out their reviews of the quality of care, including considering children's progress, that part of the evidence

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Recommendations

demonstrates how analysis has been used to help to support their conclusions. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 65, paragraph 15.4)  The registered person should ensure that in reviewing staff training needs, this aligns with the key role of the home in caring for young children. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that records that must be kept in the children’s homes hold the correct information. For example, ensure that family time is recorded in the right place. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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: 2624934 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Parallel Parents ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Parallel Parents Ltd, Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Michelle Moss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2624934 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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Inspector

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