Children's Home run by Yellow Door Services Ltd in Birmingham

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 1 Registered provider: Yellow Door Services Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is part of a private organisation. Staff provide care for up to two children who have experienced childhood adversity.

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered with Ofsted on 11 May 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

No children have been living at this home since 13 December 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At these inspections, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector has looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 2

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Outcome from the inspection

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the protection of children and the leadership and management of the home at this assurance inspection:

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Outcome from the inspection

 Children do not receive a positive experience when they leave the home. This is a result of staff not receiving the guidance to best meet the children’s needs.  Staff have requested that the police visit the home on several occasions, which has resulted in one child being criminalised because of poor behaviour management strategies used by staff.  Management oversight does not capture their lessons learned to inform future practice.  Staff supervision does not promote learning, development and reflection. Staff say that there is a poor staff culture and lack of team working. Managers have failed to provide support in response to this.  Risk and behaviour management plans do not provide guidance to staff to minimise and prevent incidents from happening.  House rules, structures and routines are confusing and unclear for the children and staff. As a result, routines and structures in the home do not

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Outcome from the inspection

promote their overall development and is not in their best interest.  Staff do not have the expertise and skill to implement behaviour management strategies, routines and structure for children.

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Findings from the inspection

This inspection found serious and widespread concerns in the leadership and management of the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Since the last inspection, two children have lived at this home and two children have moved from the home. At the time of the inspection, no children had been living at this home since 13 December 2023.

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Findings from the inspection

Care planning arrangements is ineffective, and children have left this home in a negative way. One child moved out of the home because staff did not receive the guidance to protect the child from harm and could not keep the child safe. Another child moved out of the home because staff did not receive the guidance to help the child to behave in a way that did not cause harm to themselves and others. This child moved from the home following an incident where they assaulted staff, which resulted in the child being criminalised. Due to these concerns, the requirement under regulation 14, the care planning standard, issued from the last full inspection remains unmet.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff do not implement consistent boundaries and routines. This has been confusing for children and the staff team, and has led to serious incidents occurring at the Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 3 home. For example, for one child, the rules relating to education time and use of the internet were not consistently implemented by the staff team. This caused the child frustration and anxiety. As a result, significant incidents relating to fire-starting, physical aggression, and damage to property significantly increased.

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Findings from the inspection

Safeguarding concerns are exacerbated by poor risk and behaviour management plans. Staff are not given clear direction on how to respond to new, emerging and known risks to the child. Risk and behaviour management strategies are generic, and do not help staff to minimise and prevent such incidents from happening. Staff do not know how to intervene effectively. This has resulted in an escalation of incidents where the child has caused harm to themselves and others.

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Findings from the inspection

Behaviour management strategies are not solution-focused and do not help staff to look beyond the child’s presenting behaviour. Staff have made numerous requests for the police to attend the home for assistance with behaviour management. This has resulted in a child being criminalised.

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Findings from the inspection

The registered manager and staff do not use professional curiosity to understand what is happening for the child. The registered manager said that the increase in a child’s behaviours was unexpected, and the home was in crisis and could not explain why this has happened. The failure to explore the reasons for the changes in children’s behaviour or to implement effective strategies exposes children to greater risk of harm.

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Findings from the inspection

Children’s care, risk and behaviour management plans are not individualised to meet their emotional, cognitive, and behavioural needs. In addition, learning following incidents is not captured to inform future care practices. For example, known triggers and indicators of changes in behaviours and useful de-escalation techniques are not detailed in children’s behaviour management plans. As a result, staff do not receive guidance that helps them to protect children from harm.

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Findings from the inspection

The registered manager’s and responsible individual’s oversight of the care and safety of children is inadequate. The registered manager and responsible individual said that they have carried out an internal review to the reasons why the first child moved out. Despite this, the learning following this child leaving the home was not implemented. As a result, staff did not have the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the second child moving into the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff’s supervision sessions do not promote learning, development, and reflection. Staff have shared concerns of a poor staff culture and challenges they face in providing day-to-day care to the child. The registered manager has failed to respond to these concerns. As a result, the staff team is not working as a team and has been ineffective in implementing boundaries, structures, and routines for the children to protect them from harm.

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Findings from the inspection

Not all staff who have more than two years of employment in residential care have a level 3 qualification. This means that staff have failed to meet the regulatory timescales in obtaining their qualification. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 4 The registered manager is due to go on planned long-term leave and submitted their voluntary cancellation form to de-register with Ofsted. In addition, the responsible individual submitted their voluntary cancellation form to de-register with Ofsted.

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Findings from the inspection

The provider said that they are unable to address the shortfalls from this inspection until they have appointed to these positions. The provider submitted their voluntary cancellation to de-register their registration with Ofsted on 15 January 2023 and have ceased operating as a children’s home. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 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 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—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the requirement that the registered manager must ensure that risk assessments provide guidance to staff in protecting children from harm and minimising incidents from happening. 1 March 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—

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Requirement Due date

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 work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 1 March 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 7 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the requirement that the registered manager and responsible individual must ensure that there are effective monitoring systems in place that review, monitor and evaluate the quality of care provided, the safeguarding of children, and staff performance.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that care planning arrangements are appropriate and in the best interests of the children.

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Requirement Due date

This is repeat requirement. 1 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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the requirement that the registered manager must provide supervision to staff that promotes their learning, reflection and development. 1 March 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s behaviour and risk management plan provides staff with the guidance to minimise and prevent such incidents from happening. This particularly relates to guidance that children should not be charged with offences resulting from behaviour within a children’s home that would not similarly lead to police involvement if it occurred in a family home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff complete the QCF qualification within regulatory timescales and there is a written development plan for those staff members who cannot complete within regulatory timescales. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Yellow Door Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 179 Birchfield Road, Birmingham B19 1LL

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Inspector

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2726464 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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