Children's home run by Kids Inc Residential Services Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2704185 1 Registered provider: Kids Inc Residential Services 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 and provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. They also provide care for children who may have a learning disability.

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Information about this children's home

There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

There has been no registered manager since October 2023. An acting manager has been in post since February 2024. The acting manager was absent at the time of the inspection.

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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 children's home: 2704185 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/05/2023 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2704185 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s overall experiences and progress are good. Staff develop strong relationships with children and understand their needs well. One social worker commented how the staff have supported a child to make progress with their education and developed a better understanding of their own emotions. The social worker said, ‘The child has built up trust and felt safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education. Children have made progress with their education since living in this home. One child was not attending school and has now been supported to complete exams. Staff supported another child to maintain their previous school placement despite considerable travel. This child now aspires for their future and has maintained friendships and stability with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their physical and emotional needs. A psychotherapist is available to provide regular support to children where this is needed. The psychotherapist visits the home and provides consultation to staff, developing their understanding of the emotional support children may need. This support is developed around the individual needs of children. Communication between staff and health professionals is robust and children’s health needs are regularly reviewed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers give careful consideration when children move into the home. This includes how the team can meet their needs alongside assessing the impact on children already living in the home. The children’s guide is not child friendly and uses language that children may not understand.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop effective ways of communication. More recently, children’s meetings have become more creative and visual. This supports children to be involved in sharing their wishes and feelings. The manager responds to requests made by children. This ensures children feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a range of activities within and outside of the home. Staff support children to develop positive peer relationships and contribute to the local community. This includes raising money for charities. Children enjoy holidays together. Staff create folders for children to record happy times and when they have had new experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the value of continued family and friend relationships. They support children to spend time with family and other people who are important to them.

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

Children’s individual risk management plans are thorough and detailed and are regularly reviewed by the manager. They consider previous emotional challenges for children and how they are best supported by staff. A social worker said the staff work well with the Inspection report children's home: 2704185 4 child and remain focused on the boundaries. Staff use curiosity with children where there are concerns about their presenting behaviour. This reduces the likelihood of a safeguarding concern escalating.

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

Staff only physically intervene with children as a last resort. This is to prevent children from harming themselves and others. Children rarely go missing from home. When one child went missing from home, this was a limited amount of time and staff took the appropriate actions to locate the child.

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

Children know how to make a complaint. When children make a complaint, investigations are thorough and completed in a timely manner. The manager responds to children however the response is not always child friendly.

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

Where searches of children’s bedrooms are carried out, this is done sensitively by staff and is proportionate. The recording does not always set out what items were removed or why. They also do not reflect decision making around returning items to children.

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

Consequences given to children by staff are disproportionate and not restorative. Some consequences do not relate to the behaviour. For example, when not attending education, children are not allowed to use the gaming station for seven days. This limits children’s ability to learn from their behaviour. This has been reviewed in a recent team meeting with the manager, but positive change is not yet fully embedded.

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

There is no registered manager. There is an acting manager who has been in post since February 2024. The responsible individual provides regular support to the acting manager, team, and children.

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

Management oversight of the care provided to children by staff requires improvement as this is inconsistent. There is a lack of critical reflection. This includes the manager’s quality of care review which lacks the necessary evaluation. There are missed opportunities to learn from practice and improve the care provided to children.

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

The quality of professional supervision sessions and team meetings are variable. The recording of supervision is minimal and there is limited evidence of reflective practice. Clear actions are not determined and there is a lack of support for staff after supervision and team meetings. One member of staff has not had supervision for over seven months. This limits the professional guidance staff receive on developing their care practice.

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

Child protection procedures are not followed consistently by leaders and managers. The manager does not seek local area designated officer (LADO) advice where there are concerns relating to staff practice, as set out in the home’s child protection policy. Decisions made by leaders and managers about staff practice are not robust and based on their own research. Inspection report children's home: 2704185 5 General maintenance around the home is not addressed in a timely manner. This is despite the independent visitor referring to this in several monthly visit reports.

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

Staff feel supported by the acting manager and have commented that morale across the team has improved recently. One member of staff said, ‘The management team are approachable and value my thoughts and recommendations, also providing me with areas to enhance my professional development.’ Inspection report children's home: 2704185 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 with 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 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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received;

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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)(b)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 09 August 2024 Inspection report children's home: 2704185 7 The registered person must implement a system to ensure effective monitoring and oversight of the home. In particular, ensure that improvements are made to the training and supervision of staff, team meetings, evaluation of incidents and encourage reflective practice. If children make a complaint, the responses provided need to be child friendly in language.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

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Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for liaison and co-operation with any local authority which are, or may be, making a child protection enquiry in relation to a child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about past abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the alleged abuse or neglect occurred;

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response;

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Requirement Due date

describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect; and

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Requirement Due date

describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the policy is implemented consistently and ensure appropriate actions are 11 July 2024 Inspection report children's home: 2704185 8 taken where there are concerns which relate to the protection of children.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure any sanctions 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. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure the staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This also includes ensuring language is child focused. ('Guide

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Recommendations

to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure the home environment is maintained to a high standard and maintenance needs are addressed without delay. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure 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 Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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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: 2704185 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Kids Inc Residential Services Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 201i 5300 Lakeside, Cheadle SK8 3GP

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Inspector

Kathryn Hurley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2704185 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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