Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 1 Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 9 August 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2023 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. One child has lived at the home for over a year. Two of the children have recently moved into the home and staff are supporting them to settle in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children have moved on from the home since the last inspection. Two of the children experienced a planned move and they received good support from staff to help them settle into their supported accommodation. One child lived at the home for a short time and moved on to receive the specialist support they needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good help to develop independence skills. They learn how to apply for identity documents, open bank accounts, understand what benefits they may be able to apply for, as well as what they will need for their home and how to look after their home when they move in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers work well with teachers, the virtual school and children’s social workers to support children when they find it difficult to engage with their learning. They look at different ways of trying to re-engage the children, for example, offering reduced school timetables for a period of time. However, staff do not consistently support children to get up and ready for the day. This sometimes inhibits children’s engagement with education and other meaningful activities during the school day that are offered by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to voice their wishes and feelings through spending quality time with staff, during individual support sessions and in children’s meetings. Consequently, children have a say in decisions about their care and future plans. This makes them feel valued and empowered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend quality time with family and friends. Children continue to build positive relationships with those dear to them and they are developing and maintaining good social networks around them. Children are offered opportunities to engage in activities such as swimming, boxing and going to the gym, the park and the cinema but at times they choose not to engage in these activities.

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

For the most part, staff respond appropriately when children go missing from home. They search for the children at known addresses, and contact the police, social workers and family members to try and locate them. When children return home, staff offer them reassurance and explore with them why they felt the need to go missing from home and how they can support them to prevent them from going missing again. Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 4 Recently, children have gone missing from the home during the night. In most cases, staff have been alerted to this via bedroom door alarms and they have responded appropriately. However, on one occasion, a child left the home in the early hours of the morning without staff knowing. Staff said they were exhausted due to having to deal with challenging incidents in the home in the preceding days and so had not heard the alarm activate. A request made to senior managers for waking night cover was not

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

responded to promptly, which meant that the risk of a similar event happening again was not mitigated. However, this was addressed when the registered manager returned from leave.

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

Managers and staff focus on building positive relationships with children. This enables them to help children to learn how to manage their emotions and behaviours appropriately. Children develop an understanding of what is and is not acceptable behaviour. Staff are able to de-escalate children’s challenging behaviours quickly and provide them with the support they need.

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

Children receive some good support to raise their awareness of and understand more about the dangers of misusing drugs. Children access specialist support when this is needed.

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

Children develop some trusted relationships with staff and this enables them to share worries that they have. When concerns are shared, staff and managers liaise with relevant professionals promptly and appropriately. They share information readily and take advice about how to respond to these concerns. This good work helps to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and knowledgeable, and she offers stability to the staff team. She is child-focused and has good insight into the needs of the children. The registered manager has plans to develop the service to maintain good standards and to continuously improve the quality of care given to children. She wants the children to have positive experiences of living at the home and to achieve better outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, which is meaningful and reflective. New staff are well supported through their induction and probation period. Staff who have worked in the home for longer have an annual appraisal and the registered manager supports them with their professional development. When there are issues around staff practice, the registered manager addresses them, which helps staff to reflect and improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff engage in a range of training opportunities. This provides them with the skills and knowledge they need to meet children’s needs well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from external professionals about the quality of care children receive is positive. They say the registered manager and staff communicate well with them and that the children are making good progress. One child’s independent reviewing officer commented that the communication from the manager and staff was ‘excellent’ and that Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 5 the plan for their child to move into the home was managed really well and enabled them to settle quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On some occasions, support provided to the registered manager and her deputy could be improved. For example, when the registered manager was on leave, a senior manager only visited the home once, despite staff managing some challenging situations. In addition, when the registered manager experiences competing demands, support is not always offered promptly and willingly. Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 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

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

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Requirement Due date

in particular, when requests are made to senior managers for additional support, these must be considered promptly. 31 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that those with a leadership and/or management role should be able to deliver their leadership and/or management responsibilities. In particular, ensure that support provided to the registered manager and to staff in the registered manager’s absence is effective and prompt. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to children’s behaviour. In particular, ensure that staff provide good and consistent support to children to help them develop good daily routines. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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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: 1234430 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Park Business Centre, Hastingwood Industrial Park, Wood Lane, Erdington, Birmingham, West Midlands B24 9QR

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Inspector

Rumbi Mangoma, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1234430 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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