Children's home run by Keys Care Limited in Belfast

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 1 SC066469

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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 runs the home. The home is approved to provide care for up to three children. The home may provide care for children with social and emotional difficulties. Two children were living at the home at the time of inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2021.

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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: 26 February 2024

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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: SC066469 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2024 Full Good 18/01/2023 Full Good 11/08/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in this home experience stability and consistency. Children feel loved. One child’s parent shared that they “couldn’t ask for a better home for [their child]”. This is the foundation on which children’s progress is made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Manager’s complete thorough assessments before children move into the home. This ensures staff have a good understanding of their needs and risks. These are well considered alongside the needs of children who already live in the home. Children move in at a pace that suits them. This supports the likelihood of children having a positive experience. Children move on after care and sensitive planning. Staff continue to promote a sense of belonging for children by maintaining appropriate relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans are holistic and informed by statutory documents. Their needs and experiences are clearly recorded. This helps staff to understand children’s behaviour. Children are involved in writing their own plans. This supports their investment into the care they receive. However, not all requests from children are followed up in a timely way by the manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have recently moved to suitable education settings that meet their needs. This was achieved through staff working collaboratively with education. Routines within the home support good attendance and staff promote communication with schools to support positive experiences for children. Staff are proud of children and celebrate their achievements. The outcomes for one of the children have been highly positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote and encourage children’s relationships with their family members. Staff supported one child to meet up with a parent for the first time in over a year despite the significant distance. They advocate for and support sibling relationships and try hard to maintain these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are understood and met. Consistent routines and boundaries within the home means one child now feels safe at night and settles to sleep much easier. Age-appropriate independence is promoted with incentives, including around self-care tasks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is welcoming and homely. Children have access to toys and books, in the communal areas as well as their rooms. Their rooms are personalised to their own tastes and children are happy with how their rooms look.

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

Children have valued and trusted relationships with staff. Staff show children appropriate love and affection. They respect the need for children to have their own Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 4 personal space is respected and valued by children and staff. Children feel loved by staff.

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

There are clear expectations around behaviour. Staff know children well and understand their behaviour in the context of their experiences. Staff deal with incidents well and can support children to de-escalate. There have been incidents where physical intervention has been needed to ensure safety. When physical intervention does take place, this is proportionate to the risk and is for the shortest amount of time possible. The manager ensures timely conversations with children and staff take place after incidents. However, these conversations do not always focus on learning and informing care. This is a missed opportunity to ensure care plans and risk assessments remain as dynamic as possible.

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

Risk assessments are well written with clear strategies for staff to follow. Staff have a good understanding of risks present for children and how to respond to them. Some risk assessments could be clearer around understanding how safety can be increased and what it would look like when safety is achieved. Where children may pose a risk of harm to themselves, therapeutic support has ensured a measured and appropriate response to incidents.

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

When children go missing staff generally follow them. One instance out of five, staff were unable to due this due to staffing constraints. This led to the police being called to safely return a child home. Return home interviews take place and staff have conversations with children to try and understand the reasons why children are leaving the home.

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

Allegations are managed effectively. When allegations may form a part of a children’s behaviour pattern, this is sensitively recognised and managed without impacting on the safeguarding of children. Appropriate liaison takes place with the relevant professionals. However, on one occasion this was not shared with Ofsted using the correct process or in a timely way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective systems in place to ensure good oversight of the running of the home and children’s documents. She knows the children well and spends time in the home. This allows her to understand the progress that children are making and advocate for children when progress is not happening. When gaps in skills are noted, this is addressed pro-actively with training for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy working in the home. They are well supported by the manager and the rest of the team. Staff receive regular supervision which offers space for them to discuss children’s needs, reflect on their practice and consider and developmental needs. This is further supported by training remaining up to date, including training identified to meet children’s specific needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 5 The manager’s evaluation of the quality of care is child-focused and analytical. It evidences the manager’s ambition for children to be the best they can be. It also evidences that the manager has a good understanding of the developmental needs of the team and a clear plan is in place to address this. The report did not contain feedback from staff, despite the manager being able to share examples of staff feedback informing change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recruitment of new staff takes place in line with safer recruitment. Induction and probation periods are effective. New staff have been recruited which will complement the staff already working in the home and ensure continuity of care is maintained for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has completed the location review and has ensured that children’s cultural needs are considered within this. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 6 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have a clear understanding of how to increase safety for children so that the least restrictive options are in place to manage risks. Risk assessments should reflect what safety would look like so that this can be worked towards. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff are able to reflect and act upon how their own feelings and behaviour might be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. Discussions after incidents should consider what worked well as well as what can be learnt. This should then feed into children’s plans and risk assessments to inform and improve their quality of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15)  The registered person should ensure that the six-monthly quality of care review

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Recommendations

includes feedback from staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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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: SC066469 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Pinsent Masons Llp, The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 3LP

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Inspector

Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 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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