Children's Home run by HAVEN CARE GROUP LIMITED in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 1 Registered provider: Haven Care Group

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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 run by a privately owned company and was registered in January 2020. It is registered to care for up to four children who have had adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours.

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Information about this children's home

The home is led by a manager who took over from the registered manager in April 2024 and 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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/05/2023 Full Good 19/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/04/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were four children living in the home during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last full inspection, six children have moved into the home and three children have left. Staff and leaders have managed these transitions well for children. Also, the home’s responsible individual has overseen an improvement in care planning and assessment processes. As a result, children’s needs are assessed more effectively before they move into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive relationships with children. This is because staff provide individualised and consistent support, which is relevant to the children's needs. Children said that they felt safe, that the home was nice and that they liked living in the home. One child said that they feel that staff allow ‘the home environment to be more normal’ for them. These relationships help children to feel secure in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's views, wishes and feelings are regularly sought by staff through direct work, one to one conversations, and children's meetings. This ensures that children can participate in the day-to-day decisions that affect their lives. This also helps them to feel listened to and valued and contributes to developing their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, staff support and encourage children to engage with their education. Four children are in mainstream school and staff work hard to help children to overcome their barriers to learning. For one child, whose school attendance has deteriorated, an education professional said that ‘carers are working proactively on strategies to improve this and provide regular updates, as well as accommodate wellbeing visits from school.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the time that children spend with their friends and family. Family time is planned well so that children spend time with their loved ones in a way that benefits them. Additionally, staff plan for children’s friends to visit the home and spend time with them. One child shared that they were able to see their best friend from school regularly. These connections help to improve children’s networks and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s physical environment is improving, and staff are working hard to make it more homely for children. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and suitable to meet their individual interests. However, there are still some areas in the home and the garden that require some improvement and redecoration.

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

Children said that they feel safe. Evidence of one-to-one work completed by staff with children following incidents is good. For example, staff have completed direct work with children in relation to bullying, racism and when children have made homophobic Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 4 comments. This work helps children to learn from their experiences and understand the importance of respecting diverse cultures and identities.

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

Staff and leaders respond effectively when children disclose information and make allegations against staff. Internal investigations are completed in a timely manner and leaders always speak to children to ensure their views are considered. In addition, children are always provided with outcomes. When further actions are identified, leaders ensure that actions taken are fair, and that learning from investigations is applied to practice.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. On occasions when this has happened, staff have responded well and followed children’s protocols, including going out to search for children. They have collaborated with the relevant professionals to return children safely to the home. These actions help to promote children’s welfare.

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

Children benefit from clear boundaries and routines in the home. These are well understood and accepted by the children. Staff were able to describe the strategies they use to keep children safe. However, leaders have not always ensured that children's recorded risk assessments and support plans reflect the strategies that staff described.

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

Overall, staff respond appropriately to manage children’s anxieties and keep them safe. They use physical restraint as a last resort. Staff and children are spoken to following every incident and children's views, wishes and feelings are considered. This helps staff and children to learn from their experiences. However, some staff responses to children in crisis are not always supportive. The home’s new manager and responsible individual have identified this as an area for development and are working with staff to enhance their understanding of therapeutic care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The new manager has taken over from the outgoing registered manager in April 2024 and has settled in well. He is energetic, child-focused and is starting to develop the staff team. The manager is well supported by the home's responsible individual, and they know what is needed to continue to improve the home. The responsible individual had identified shortfalls in the previous registered manager’s performance and a plan had been put in place to support their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leadership and monitoring systems in the home are improving. However, they are not yet consistently effective in making continual improvements to the home. For example, monitoring systems had failed to identify shortfalls in staff practice when managing some incidents and recording errors in children’s records. In addition, there have been delays in making some improvements to the home’s environment. These shortfalls have the potential to compromise the quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Overall, staff complete training which is relevant to the needs of the children. Supervision sessions are beginning to be used to provide staff with additional support and guidance. However, leaders are not yet using training and their leadership systems Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 5 effectively to fully develop staff to improve their overall confidence and ability to manage complex incidents. Furthermore, staff are not routinely provided with copies of their supervision records. As a result, they are not always clear on their areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

An independent person has conducted external monitoring of the home every month. While these visits are completed within the required time frames, they do not consistently focus on improving the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Overall, leaders establish positive relationships and work in partnership with professionals. Feedback received from health, education, and social work professionals was positive about the management team and staff. However, on two occasions, leaders have failed to escalate concerns and hold a child’s placing authority to account when the placing authority has not performed effectively to meet a child’s care planning and educational needs. Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 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 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirement Due date

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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders should ensure that they have clear monitoring and review systems in place to identify shortfalls, improve practice and understand the impact the home has on children's progress and experiences.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to staff development in the home and ensuring that the home has suitably skilled staff to work with children.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 12 June 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 7 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; and

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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. (Regulation 5 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders should ensure that they challenge the placing authority's performance and hold them to account in relation to care planning and education planning shortfalls which have a detrimental impact on the progress of children. 12 June 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children's home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person's report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1)(5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the independent person's oversight and reports must provide specific actions that the registered person may take to improve the quality of care received by children in the home. These actions need to be specific to the needs of the children and support the continuous improvement of care practices. 12 June 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that the children's home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. In particular, the registered person should ensure that any damage caused to furniture and flooring in the home is addressed without delay. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. This relates to providing factual and accurate information in physical intervention reports and children's risk assessments. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62 paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 8

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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: 2548333 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Haven Care Group, Unit 6, Barberry Court, Parkway, Centrum One Hundred, Burton-on-Trent DE14 2UE

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Inspectors

Dean Wilton, Social Care Inspector Caoimhe Richards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2548333 10 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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