Children's home run by Kids

Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 1 SC454707 Registered provider: Kids 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 charity and offers short-break care for up to seven children with social and emotional difficulties, physical disabilities and/or learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, three children were staying at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The provision does not have a registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 31 January 2023

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2023 Full Good 11/05/2021 Full Good 21/10/2019 Full Good 31/07/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 3

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improvement to be good

Long-term challenges with staffing sufficiency have impacted the home’s ability to deliver personalised care to the children at times. Staff meet the children’s basic care needs, including keeping them safe. However, because of the staff sufficiency difficulties the team is unable to consistently help the children to make meaningful progress in some areas of their lives.

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improvement to be good

Leadership instability has meant that managers have not consistently attended multi-agency meetings to discuss children’s care. Records show that children’s plans and goals are not fully informed by the multi-agency network. For example, one child is making good progress using communication symbols at school. However, staff are not consistently using this same method of communication with them at the home. For another child, staff have created social stories and a reward chart to help them to make good decisions. However, staff are not using these tools consistently.

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improvement to be good

Staff said that three monthly key-work sessions are used to capture the children’s views, wishes and feelings about the service. However, this view is not supported by the children’s records, and limited examples were provided. The home has audio books and picture symbols to help the children to express themselves. However, staff were not observed to be using them during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Children have good relationships with permanent staff. Children who visited the home smiled when they arrived and saw staff. Parents spoke positively about the staff and the service. However, one parent said that staffing instability meant that their child’s overnight stay was cancelled. One social worker said that staff offered robust support to a child with complex needs and challenging behaviours. However, the social worker had not seen staff help two other children to make progress.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there has been limited progress in making the environment more homely. The provision is not entirely accessible for children who use wheelchairs.

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improvement to be good

Leaders who have recently joined the home have acknowledged that they need to develop better working relationships with multi-agency professionals. This will enable leaders to better understand how safeguarding concerns at home influence children’s emotional well-being, behaviour and needs.

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improvement to be good

The home has a positive approach to behaviour management, and there has been minimal use of restraint. When restraint has been used, it is appropriate and Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 4 proportionate. However, after incidents, the views of children and staff are not consistently ascertained. Leaders are not evaluating and monitoring incident records effectively. There is a lack of curiosity about children’s experiences and what the provision could do differently to support them.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments and behaviour support plans are clear, concise and child focused. When staff notice that children have injuries, they respond appropriately, and decision-making has been proportionate. Medication is safely stored and administered to children as required.

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improvement to be good

The recruitment of agency staff is thorough, and leaders ensure that they have the necessary training to care for the children. Leaders are aware of the home’s limitations, owing to low staffing capacity, and they will cancel children’s visits when necessary to ensure their safety and well-being.

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good

Leadership and staffing instability have been a concern for the organisation since the last inspection. The former registered manager left the home in June 2023. The deputy manager, who is new to the role, assumed interim leadership responsibility. They received mostly virtual support from senior leaders. The new manager, who is currently unregistered and new to short breaks, joined the provision in October 2023. The responsible individual, who had previously left the organisation, was reappointed in October 2023.

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good

Since joining the organisation, the manager and responsible individual have focused their attention on recruitment in the hope of stabilising the staff team. However, issues with staffing sufficiency and consistency have been unsettling for the children. It has impacted their experiences and ability to make progress at the home. For example, one child was observed to be asking about numerous staff who had left; they were reluctant to participate in activities that they usually enjoy.

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good

Staff said that they liked their jobs and are passionate and committed to delivering good care to the children. However, they are often working alongside agency staff who are less familiar with the children and their needs. Due to leadership instability and the deputy manager not having relevant training, there has been a lack of support for staff. For example, some staff have not had regular supervision. Staff are qualified for their roles and have up-to-date training.

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good

The organisation’s monitoring and oversight of the quality of care has been poor. Practice and records have not been adequately scrutinised, despite observations shared in independent visitor reports. Leaders have said that they are not always invited to multi-agency meetings, but this has not been robustly challenged. The staff have a fragmented understanding of the children’s lived experiences and needs because there is a disconnect between the provision and the children’s networks. Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 5 The organisation has not taken sufficient action to ensure that the requirements and recommendations from the previous inspection have been met. However, the responsible individual has a good track record and together with the new manager is committed to making the required improvements. They have devised a clear action plan. Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 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, 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 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; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(vii)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that all facilities in the home are accessible for children.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 21 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months. 21 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 7 In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that, when reviewing the quality of care, feedback from children is used to inform decision-making and identify areas of improvement.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the home’s development plan should consider the views and opinions of children, and be ambitious with regards to the physical environment.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)(f)) 21 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 8 In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)(d)) 21 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 21 March 2024

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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: SC454707 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 249 Birmingham Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B72 1EA

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Inspectors

Tara Webb, Social Care Inspector Nicola Lownds, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC454707 10 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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