Children's Home run by Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group in Brighton and Hove

Inspection report children's home: SC482548 1 SC482548 Registered provider: Lioncare Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Five children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has been in post since 1 November 2023. He has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 7 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC482548 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/03/2023 Full Good 10/08/2021 Full Good 27/04/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: SC482548 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress because they are looked after by adults who are committed to building and to maintaining positive relationships with them. Children say that they like living at the home, that they trust the adults and that they appreciate the care and support that they receive. One child said, 'I may not always like the rules, but I know that they are there to keep me safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care that reflects their individual strengths. Case work sessions that address children’s vulnerabilities are carefully planned and sensitively delivered. Examples of progress include children developing significantly healthier personal care routines and learning how to manage their emotions. Children become more able to talk to adults about how they are feeling, resulting in a reduction in the frequency of behavioural incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Processes that are followed when children move into or out of the home are thorough and thoughtful. Moves take place at a pace that is suitable for children's individual needs. During their time at the home, children are encouraged and supported to learn the skills that they will need to live more independently in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s mental and physical health improves because adults ensure that children receive the professional support that they need. When managers identify signs that children would benefit from additional healthcare support, they proactively advocate for assessments to be completed. This ensures that children’s health needs are fully understood and met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to live together harmoniously as a group. When they are struggling to live alongside other children, they are given safe opportunities to talk about their differences. They are supported by adults to understand each other's views. Some children have built excellent friendships with other children because they have learned how to have empathy and respond kindly to others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to select education placements that give them the greatest chance of success. Most children attend and achieve well in education. When children struggle to attend, adults help them to stay in a healthy routine and plan how they will return to education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to explore and develop a sense of their own identity. They are given opportunities to take part in activities, both individually and in groups, that help them to develop their talents and interests. Children’s cultural identities are celebrated. One child explained how she was delighted to receive a box full of familiar, traditional food when they first arrived at the home. Inspection report children's home: SC482548 4 Children’s bedrooms contain items that reflect their individual personalities. One child proudly showed inspectors the collection of house plants that she is lovingly caring for. When children find it difficult to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy, staff provide nurturing support. However, the decor in some of the communal areas needs updating, and there is a lack of items that would make these areas homely, such as photographs of children.

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

Children’s safety and well-being are priorities for adults. Children’s relationships with adults are based on trust and respect and there is a culture of openness. Knowing that they can speak to adults if they are worried contributes to children’s protection and sense of security.

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

Before a child moves into the home, a risk assessment is completed to consider the child’s needs alongside those of children who already live there. For those children new to the organisation, managers seek information from the child’s placing authority. Sometimes children move to this home from one of the organisation’s other homes. This means that they are already familiar with the other children and adults. This enables managers to undertake a well-informed assessment of the likely impact of the child moving into the home.

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

Robust monitoring procedures have led to one child's risks while out in the community being understood more fully than they were prior to their arrival at the home. Relevant external safeguarding professionals have been involved in creating a plan that includes providing close supervision from adults to keep the child safe. Managers recognise the importance of keeping the plan under close review and ensuring that, when the child is ready, they can take manageable steps towards an increasing amount of independence.

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

Children are encouraged to think empathetically about the impact of their actions on others. The use of physical restraints and consequences are infrequent. When they do occur, the registered manager carries out a thorough review with the children and staff involved. This approach supports children to have a positive experience of learning how to make amends for their mistakes. Positive behaviour is noticed and rewarded.

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

Incidents of children going missing are rare. When they do occur, there is a robust response from staff to ensure that children return home safely.

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

Staff recruitment files demonstrate that safe recruitment practices are understood and implemented by the manager and the staff responsible for this area of practice. This reduces the potential for unsuitable adults to be employed at the home.

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

Incidents where children are at risk of harm are rare. When they occur, managers take swift and decisive action to ensure children's safety. Managers put measures in place to reduce the risk of a recurrence. Adults make effective use of handovers to ensure that there is a shared understanding of children's current risks. However, the precise actions that adults need to take, for example in response to the increased risk of self-harm for Inspection report children's home: SC482548 5 one child, are not always clearly recorded. The manager took steps to address this during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is passionate in his efforts to be a trusted figure for the children, and he has high aspirations for what children can achieve. This makes the manager a good role model for the adults. He is well-supported by an acting deputy and by senior managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Robust management monitoring ensures that the manager has very good oversight of the quality of care provided to children. There is a sharp focus on making good use of learning from incidents and other significant events to improve children's experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the importance of working in partnership with other professionals. He keeps them fully informed about children’s progress. He proactively advocates for children and challenges decisions made by others when he believes those decisions are not made with children’s best interests in mind.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that children have a say in the way that they are looked after. Children’s preferences are clearly described in written plans. When it is safe and appropriate, children are supported to make choices for themselves. In one example, a young person told adults that they needed a medication increase and was supported to contact medical professionals to explore this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Adults receive regular, meaningful supervision. Managers use these sessions to assess staff performance and ensure that staff know how to work therapeutically with children and meet their needs. Annual performance reviews provide staff with well-rounded feedback on their performance. Managers offer staff who are ready for career progression supported development opportunities. Adults also attend monthly group consultancy sessions that provide opportunities to reflect on the impact that children's care is having on their outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Adults speak very positively about working at the home. They describe excellent support from managers. Managers help to ensure consistency for children through good staff retention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are committed to ensuring that children’s views are integral to all decisions about the way that the home is run. Children say that they would speak to adults if they thought something needed to change. They are confident that their voices would be heard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One child told inspectors that they believed there was a risk of their placement ending if they did not behave in a certain way. This message is reinforced in the children’s guide. In practice, children receive therapeutic care in line with the model described in the home’s statement of purpose. However, the language used in the children’s guide is not always trauma informed. Inspection report children's home: SC482548 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children's home is a homely, domestic environment. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children's guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their plans include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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 children's home: SC482548 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Lioncare House, 58a Livingstone Road, Hove, Sussex BN3 3WL

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Inspectors

Helen Simmons, social care regulatory inspection manager Sonata Brisley, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC482548 8 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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