Children's home run by HMO NE Ltd T/A ForeverCare

Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 1 Registered provider: HMO NE 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

A private company owns and manages this children’s home. It provides care for up to two children who may have social or emotional difficulties, or a learning disability. Two children were being cared for at the time of inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were present and spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024.

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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: 2591471 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/08/2023 Full Good 05/07/2022 Full Good 17/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. Children feel listened to and have trusting relationships with staff. Staff ensure the child’s well-being is prioritised and advocate for children to ensure their voice is heard. Children are making plans for their future and sharing their aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are accessing education provision, engaging in their learning and making progress. Where children are not attending an educational setting, staff support with transition plans and alternative learning, including home tuition. Professional feedback identifies the effort and support provided by staff as ‘inspiring children to re-engage with learning and look towards future aspirations’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported in line with their needs and plans. Where plans are unclear, staff challenge this to ensure children are provided with care that meets their needs. Staff have developed child-friendly plans; children understand the decisions being made about them. Staff support children to attend their appointments and to increase their understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who are placed a long way from their families are supported to maintain relationships which are important to them. Staff support children to spend time with family members to help maintain those relationships. Children enjoy access to a wide range of activities to support hobbies and interests or try new experiences and provide wider opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are accepted for who they are and who they want to be. Staff provide care which supports children to explore who they are to develop and understand their sense of identity. However, children have not been provided with their own identification documents from the local authority. This prevents children from having access to opportunities that are open to others.

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

Children feel safe and have trusted relationships with staff. Staff are knowledgeable about children’s risks and help children to understand them. Children benefit from direct work which helps them understand how to make safe choices.

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

Children’s behaviour is supported by a restorative approach from staff. Children are supported to understand the natural consequences of their behaviours. This means that children are provided with the opportunity to learn from their actions and negative consequences are rarely used.

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

Children rarely go missing from home. Missing-from-home plans are reviewed to remain current; staff understand the risk and ensure a well-coordinated response. Staff act in Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 4 line with a child’s plan to locate them and help them return home safely. Staff go out to look for children, and when they return home staff check their welfare and ensure a return home interview is completed.

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

Staff are skilled at de-escalating behaviours. Any form of physical intervention is a last resort to ensure immediate safety and is rarely needed. Incidents are detailed in written records by staff and children are given the opportunity to discuss what has happened to identify learning. However, the recordings do not show management oversight or reflective discussions with staff to identify change and prevent future incidents.

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

Staff undertake regular checks of the fire safety precautions in the home. Children have personal evacuation plans to ensure they can be supported to stay safe in the event of an emergency. However, fire drills have not been maintained. This means that children and staff are not practised at leaving the building in an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from having a qualified registered manager and a stable staff team. The registered manager follows safer recruitment processes to ensure staff are safe and can provide consistency of care to the children. Feedback from staff is positive, and staff have confidence in their manager and feel supported in their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision takes place regularly. Staff are supported to have reflective discussions about children and their own practice. Staff are challenged in supervision to assess their knowledge so managers are assured that staff are knowledgeable about risks identified for children and how they should act to reduce these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager uses a monitoring system to review the quality of care and the progress children are making. Consultation and feedback from staff and children are used to strengthen the monitoring tool, identify strengths and strive for improvement to continually develop the experiences for children and ensure the quality of care is meeting their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Case recordings are written with care. Key documents are written in a child-friendly format for children to read and understand. Use of language is considered, and child- centred referring to children as they identify themselves. Written records reflect the achievements for children and often include individual comments. These records would be pleasant for the children to look back on in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have access to a wide range of training opportunities to ensure they are knowledgeable and can offer care which is informed to meet a child’s needs. Staff are expected to complete a recognised qualification to ensure they are also qualified in their role. However, some staff have not completed their qualification in the required timescales. The registered manager has implemented a plan to address this and staff are aware this is a clear expectation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(b)(i)(ii)) 30 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where the placing authority or another relevant person does not provide the input to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, the home should challenge them to meet the child’s needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 5, paragraph 2.8)  All staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, should have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: 2591471 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hallgate House, 9 Grange Terrace, Sunderland SR2 7DF

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Inspector

Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2591471 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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