Children's Home run by Changing Lives Care Group Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report fornchildren’s home: 2769507 1 Registered provider: Changing Lives Care Group 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

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at building positive relationships with children. Staff use a nurturing, therapeutic parenting approach in their communication and care. The staff know and understand children’s histories and they are thoughtful and sensitive about the impact of children’s previous life experiences on their needs and behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers work closely with placing local authorities, to ensure that they have all relevant information to plan a safe, supported transition for each child into the home. This helps children to settle quickly and start making progress. The children are provided with child-friendly information about the home so that they are prepared for when they move to the home. Children benefit from a comfortable, personalised environment. Their views and preferences about their daily care arrangements are sought and are listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from improved daily routines. There is good school attendance and very good daily communication between staff in school and the home. This ensures that children have the support they need to participate in education and reach their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child who currently lives at the home has an up-to-date personal education plan and education and healthcare plan. This plan includes helpful information about the child’s communication needs. This information has not been used to inform the child’s placement plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote family time, so that children maintain relationships with friends and family important to them. Staff are supporting a child to know and understand more about their identity and heritage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of activities that they choose, inside and outside of the home. Staff are proactively encouraging activities outside of the home to enhance the child’s confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health is improving because of good daily routines. Sleeping patterns have improved. Children have caught up with preventative health appointments, and a healthy diet and exercise are proactively encouraged.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently use positive reinforcement and celebrate children’s achievements and progress. Staff maintain a memory book for each child, and they have a teen-friendly care plan so that children understand and contribute to decisions about their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is good evidence of planned direct work with a child to support them to understand their needs and to settle in the home, after significant changes in their life. Good multi-agency working is reducing the risk of further change for this child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 3 The social worker for a child said she believed that staff know and understand the child’s needs and that they have developed trusting relationships that have supported the child to engage with essential services.

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

Staff know children’s needs, behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities. Any emerging behaviours or risks are shared with the team around the child and are subject to continuous assessment.

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

There are detailed behaviour management plans and risk assessments that are reviewed and updated following any incident or concern that might emerge, new information being shared, and/or assessment that risks are reducing.

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

One risk assessment, concerning the risk of allegations of harm to a child, requires further information and clarity. This will ensure that advice and information in the assessment is congruent with child protection policies and procedures.

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

Children have been referred to specialist services such as the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) and a local project aimed at reducing violent behaviour. These are supporting staff to meet children’s needs and reduce risks. There have been reduced self-harm incidents and reducing incidents of aggressive behaviour for one child.

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

When children become heightened or distressed, staff are skilled at using techniques to de-escalate and distract children. Records of interventions are detailed and include reflection with the child and staff. Staff always monitor a child’s welfare following any incident of concern.

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

There have been a small number of incidents when staff have used physical intervention to prevent a child harming themselves or others. Of these incidents, a small number involved liaison with the police to assist staff in managing these incidents.

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

Staff can consult with a therapist and psychologist and have received therapeutic parenting training to inform their practice and their understanding of children’s needs and behaviours. This supports a consistent care approach by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an experienced registered and deputy manager who are aspirational for children and staff. Staff report they feel supported, that they have development opportunities, and they have a visible manager who knows the children and staff well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are committed, enthusiastic and resilient. Staff demonstrate a caring, nurturing approach to their care practice and there is a great deal of fun and energy between staff and the child in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 4 Staff have received mandatory training as part of their induction, and training relevant to meeting the needs of the children they are and will be working with. Some staff are undertaking relevant qualification training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been minimal changes to the staff since the home opened. There has been some use of bank and agency staff to supplement the team to ensure that sufficient staff are on duty. This is due to a change in the staffing ratio for one child, in response to increased risks, and was recommended by the multi-agency team around the child. This has helped to maintain the placement for the child. However, it has meant that the child experiencing changes in the staff group. There have been occasions when the child has referred to being unhappy about ‘new faces’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have received regular supervision and managers have addressed performance and considered the welfare of staff. There is limited evidence of reflective practice captured in supervision records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings have been held regularly with good attendance from staff. The records generally reflect task-focused meetings. A small number of meetings have included discussions with the therapist and training by the psychologist.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers respond to the independent visitor’s reports and recommendations. Management monitoring of the quality of care to inform practice requires further strengthening in some areas, including:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

 The use of negative, blaming language about a child in some records.  Following a small number of serious incidents involving the use of physical intervention, harm to staff, involvement of the police, there has not been robust lessons learned following reviews of incidents. Considering whether anything differently could have been done may reduce the risk of similar incidents occurring.  Records and plans generally would benefit from more evaluation and analysis to inform practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is very good partnership working and positive feedback from partners about the impact on children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 5

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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 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’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

Managers should use monitoring systems to review the quality of care in the home. This includes but is not limited to:

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Requirement Due date

- The use of language about a child in some records. - Ensure that there is a lesson-learned exercise of serious incidents of concern. - Records to include more evaluation and analysis to inform practice in the home. 1 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that advice to staff, in children’s risk assessments, is clear that any allegation of harm or abuse must be addressed in line with the home’s child protection policy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.17) Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 6

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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: 2769507 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Changing Lives Care Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office 7, 35-37 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JN

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Inspector

Cathey Moriarty, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2769507 8 regulates and inspects 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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