Children's home run by Parallel Parents Ltd

Inspection for report children's home: 2626293 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

This children’s home offers care for up to four children who may have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours.

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Information about this children's home

The home was re-registered in August 2021 following a change in the company ownership.

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Information about this children's home

The home has a registered manager in post who is suitably qualified.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 21 February 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: 2626293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2023 Full Good 25/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is comfortable and well-furnished. A games room has been created, which includes an arcade game and pool table for children to enjoy. Photos of children engaging in a variety of activities are evident throughout the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel settled and happy in the home. Children like to spend time with each other and those who care for them, engaging in a range of activities, such as gaming and swimming. The children also enjoyed a summer holiday away with staff to the seaside during the school holidays last year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Nurturing staff care for children well. Children develop close and trusting relationships with those who care for them. Staff spend time getting to know children, working closely with them to help them share their thoughts and feelings. As a result, children know that staff are interested in their welfare and care about them. This supports them to gain in confidence and develop their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are in education. Even those who historically have struggled in school are now attending regularly. Staff support children’s education by attending education meetings and parents’ evenings. One teacher stated that the support from staff has been ‘phenomenal’, and they have gone out of their way to support a child’s interest in the performing arts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to visit the home before they move in. This helps reduce children’s fear of the unknown and helps them to settle quickly into their new home. Staff also support children well when they move out of the home. This helps to ensure that any move is positive and successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff advocate well for children and support them to remain in contact with their birth families and those close to them. For some children, this has meant family time has been increased to overnight, unsupervised stays. This helps children to maintain and develop positive relationships with their birth families, and as a result, develop a good sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in all areas of their development. They are healthy and are gaining in confidence and independence.

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improvement to be good

Although staff place a strong focus on keeping children safe, this has not always been effective. On one occasion, staff did not follow the appropriate procedures to ensure that a child was adequately safeguarded. This was not discovered until the manager returned from annual leave. On realising this, she swiftly notified the Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 4 appropriate professionals and has since ensured that all staff have conducted further training in managing allegations. As a result, staff have increased their knowledge of safeguarding procedures, reducing the potential for this to reoccur.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage well with children to help them develop the skills and strategies to keep themselves safe. Staff attend workshops where they can discuss important topics with children, such as internet safety, racism and grooming. They also regularly meet with children on an individual basis to discuss any worries they may have. However, on one occasion, staff did not sufficiently support a child following an incident with a peer to make sure he felt safe.

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improvement to be good

There are a range of risk assessments in place to help safeguard children. However, children’s impact risk assessments that are carried out before they enter the home are not effective. They do not sufficiently demonstrate that managers have fully considered the needs of the other children in the home. While there has been no impact, it is a shortfall to be addressed moving forward.

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improvement to be good

The current children in the home do not go missing from care or place themselves at risk of harm. Physical interventions are conducted appropriately and only when necessary to keep children safe. There is an effective use of positive incentives and rewards to help encourage positive behaviour. However, the use of consequences within the home is high. Although these are fair, they are not restorative in nature to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are motivated and committed to the development of a staff team that delivers good-quality and child-focused care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has good oversight of the running of the home. This ensures that she knows and understands the home’s strengths and weaknesses well, taking effective action when needed. She has good systems in place to monitor the running of the home and the care of children. However, the report on the quality of care for children lacks analysis and evaluation. This does not sufficiently support the development of care in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a consistent team of staff who are well qualified. Staff are motivated and receive a wide range of training opportunities to meet the needs of the children they care for. They conduct reflective sessions following any incident to see if they can learn and develop their practice. The manager also makes good use of team meetings to further support and develop staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported and receive good-quality supervision that helps them reflect on their practice. This keeps staff motivated and focused on the way they respond to children’s needs. One member of staff said, ‘I feel very supported by my manager and feel as a staff team we communicate well. Everything at [the home] is centred around the young people we work with and creating positive outcomes for them.’ Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 5 The manager has developed effective working relationships with placing authority social workers and other external professionals. Social workers, teachers and others are overwhelmingly complimentary about the care children receive. They consider that the significant support staff offer is instrumental to the progress that children are making. Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 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 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(vi)) 12 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the

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Recommendations

impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 64, paragraph 15.2) Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 7

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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: 2626293 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Parallel Parents Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road Heavily, Stockport SK2 6LR

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Inspectors

Suzanne Young, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2626293 9 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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