Children's home run by Blue Elephant Childcare Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 1 Registered provider: Blue Elephant Childcare 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 and managed by an independent organisation. It provides short- and medium-term care for up to three children. At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 13 October 2022

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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: 1278020 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/10/2022 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Good 26/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home meets the children’s needs. It is spacious and well-furnished, and photos are displayed on the walls of the children doing different activities. The large outdoor space is regularly used by children. The home needs to be refreshed particularly the walls and some doors. Locked doors and the office space detracts from the homely feel.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living in the home and feel safe. They can name carers who they can talk to. They also said that carers regularly talk to them about risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress. One child no longer goes missing or misuses drugs and alcohol. For another child, the number of incidents has significantly reduced. The children are provided with clear and consistent boundaries, which they have adapted to. One parent spoke positively about the care provided to their child and the level of communication she receives from carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to engage with tutors who come to the home. Carers communicate with tutors to keep fully informed of children’s progress. Carers support children to engage in some educational activities; however, these are not regular and are not planned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers provide children with a variety of activities in the local area and further afield. There is a clear focus on children receiving stimulation, boundaries, routine and support. The inspector observed wholly positive interactions between carers and children. Carers form positive relationships with children, which allows children to talk to them about things that go well in their lives and their worries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported with their moves out of the home. The impact of these moves on children is recognised. Carers support and prepare them through robust planning and targeted conversations. Children are provided with memory books and are involved in making these. These books provide a narrative of children’s journey while living in the home.

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

Risks are identified and understood by carers. Planning to manage and reduce risk provides carers with some strategies to help safeguard children. When required, carers share information in relation to risk with other professionals, which promotes multi-agency information-sharing and working. However, at times, language is institutionalised.

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

Incidents are managed well. Reports are well written and thorough. Carers show resilience and maintain the support they provide to children, particularly during more challenging times. Restraint and physical intervention have been appropriately used Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 4 to protect children and others. Use of these restrictive practices is a last resort with carers attempting to engage children in other ways first.

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

When children go missing from the home, carers take prompt action to find children and return them home safely. Carers talk to children to ascertain their wishes and feelings once they are home and settled.

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

Risks in relation to child sexual exploitation are recognised and addressed. Carers carry out targeted work to educate children. They implement robust safeguarding measures. To protect one child, carers have worked with the police to devise a clear safety plan.

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

When children self-harm, they receive timely and appropriate physical and emotional care. Carers talk to children to try and understand the reasons for their actions and implement strategies to support them. An example of this is carers learning to crochet and doing this with a child in the evening to prevent boredom and to allow them to have calm, quiet time. As a result, there have been no incidents due to boredom. Concerns in relation to children’s mental health are shared with relevant professionals, and children are supported to attend all health appointments.

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

When appropriate, carers support children to have positive relationships with family members. This includes promoting telephone calls and attending face-to-face family time. However, carers are not always aware of all the risks in relation to family time. Risk assessments and agreements in relation to family time have not been obtained from the local authority. Carers do not have specific training to ensure that they have the skills to keep children safe on these occasions.

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good

Carers speak very highly of leaders and mangers and their commitment to children, particularly the registered manager. Leaders and managers know the children and carers well, which helps to develop positive relationships. Carers say they feel supported and like working in the home.

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good

Management oversight of the home is inconsistent. At times, it is robust and reflective. However, at other times, it is descriptive and provides no actions or guidance. Due to this, carers are not fully supported to reflect on and develop their practice, particularly in relation to incidents.

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good

Leaders and managers regularly review the quality of care provided to children. Evaluation of incidents and the overall running of the home takes place regularly to inform practice. However, this information does not feed into care planning for children.

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good

Strategies and plans devised to support carers in providing children care are brief and lack detail. They are not always up to date and can contain contradicting information. Lack of management review has led to conversations being recorded Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 5 inaccurately. This could have a detrimental impact on daily practice and on the child if they were to review their files in the future.

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good

Carers are provided with regular and job-specific training. Two new carers said that they have found training to be beneficial. When the need for specialised training is identified, this is sourced and provided to carers. Team meetings take place regularly. There are detailed discussions about the children, practice and the running of the home.

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good

When children raise a concern about a carer, it is reported to the necessary professionals. Thorough investigations are carried out to make sure that children are cared for by adults who are appropriate and safe. Children have not been provided with information that informs them of the outcomes of their complaints.

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good

The quality of supervision recordings is inconsistent. There is a lack of reflection, discussion and advice. Actions for carers or managers to carry out are not specific. This is particularly concerning due to several carers being new to the team and to working in residential care. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children who do not receive full-time education are provided with informal educational activities that are regular and planned. 16 January 2024

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 16 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 7 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(g)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children receive feedback in relation to the outcome of any complaint that they make.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that all plans and documents that provide information about children and those that provide guidance for carers to care for children are up to date, detailed and directive, do not contain contradicting information and contain the correct information.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that they have oversight of all work carried out in the home and that this oversight is clearly recorded. This should be reflective and provide carers with clear actions and direction.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that all carers receive reflective practice-based supervision. Actions from supervision must be clear, specific and reviewed.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, ensure that carers who support children to spend time with family members receive training to allow them to do so in a safe and child-focused way.

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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— 16 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 8 that staff—

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that carers who support children to attend family time have all the information they need to ensure that children are safe. This includes clear guidance and agreements with the local authority in relation to their role, the risks and how any risk should be managed.

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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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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that records of children’s experiences do not include institutionalised language. 16 January 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should review the need for locked rooms in the upstairs areas of the home. They should review how and when carers access the locked office space. Improvements to these would reduce the institutionalised feel of the home. In addition, they should ensure that the home is kept in a good state of repair, particularly the internal walls and doors. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 9

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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: 1278020 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Elephant Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 30, Chivenor Business Park, Barnstaple EX31 4FT

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Inspectors

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1278020 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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