Children's Home run by Absolute Children’s Care Limited in Worcestershire

Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 1 Registered provider: Absolute Children’s Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home that provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s manager is registered with Ofsted.

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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: 2525807 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/05/2023 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, four children have moved into the home and four children have left. The four children who left moved on in a planned way, and these were all positive moves for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience nurturing relationships with staff, who also provide structure and boundaries. This helps children to feel secure and able to accept the support and guidance offered to them. The strength of these relationships has been critical in helping the children to make progress in all aspects of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff show children acceptance and unconditional positive regard. This helps children to feel valued and increases their self-worth. As a result, children feel able to express their identities and be themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff go above and beyond in supporting the children to access education and maintain their school place. Both children living in the home have recently struggled with their attendance. Staff use incentives to encourage children back into the classroom. They also attend school with them to help children feel safe and supported. Staff are strong advocates for the children, sharing their views with others while developing strategies to help them overcome the barriers to their learning. Despite recent challenges with attendance, children have made progress with their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with support and guidance to consider their future and provide opportunities to explore their aspirations. Consequently, children have completed courses which increase their ability to find employment in their desired field. In addition, children learn to look after themselves, to clean, to cook, do the laundry and develop an understanding of how to manage their finances. This ensures that children are well prepared for their next steps towards independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children need services or support that the home is unable to provide, staff research and explore different resources. When children require services from other statutory agencies, staff liaise with the relevant agencies and advocate for them to receive this. Consequently, children receive the support they need, when they need it, helping to improve their health and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to explore their hobbies and interests, for example, the manager has arranged for the loan of a horse for one child who has a passion for horses. Children are able to have fun with staff. They have been on activities such as bowling, day trips and to a holiday camp.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of children having time with their family and work hard to provide opportunities for them to meet up with them. The sensitive support staff provide to the children helps them to negotiate the challenges in their relationships with family Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 4 members, and to improve them. This has meant that children have been able to spend time with their family members unsupervised. Two siblings were able to return home to their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to go out with their friends and have them visit the home and stay overnight. This enables children to experience friendships as children should, and to develop a sense of belonging and identity with their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Before accepting children into the home, the manager identifies their risks and those of the children already living in the home. However, this assessment does not identify how children’s risks may impact on each other. In addition, the assessment does not consider whether the home is the right environment and/or if staff are capable of meeting the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to personalise their rooms and the home’s kitchen has recently been renovated. However, areas of the home require cleaning and some woodwork and walls require attention. These shortfalls detract from an otherwise warm and welcoming home.

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

Children feel safe, are safe and are settled in the home. This is reflected in the lack of allegations or safeguarding concerns in the past 14 months and that there are rarely any other incidents.

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

Staff provide support and guidance to help children reflect on their feelings and to understand what has caused them to feel this way. This means that children are more able to talk about their emotions and link them to what they have experienced. With this increased understanding, children are more able to identify when they are feeling upset and find ways to express this more positively.

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

There has only been one incident of physical intervention since the previous inspection. Staff attempt to avoid the use of physical intervention and only use it as a last resort. Children’s plans do not refer to the specific method of physical intervention staff should use for that particular child. This could result in staff using ineffective or inappropriate physical interventions, which may be unsafe or may prolong the incident.

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

There have been two incidents of children going missing from home since the previous inspection. When children go missing, staff respond by looking for them and informing the police. On one occasion, a child was reported missing in line with their protocol, while on another occasion there was a short delay. The time frames and actions detailed in children’s missing-from-home protocols are confusing and contradictory, which may have contributed to this delay.

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

Staff do not record when they implement consequences for children’s behaviour. This hinders the manager’s oversight of consequences to ensure that they are used proportionately, are not punitive and are effective in helping children learn and improve their behaviour. Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and committed registered manager who goes out of his way to ensure that children have all that they need to grow and develop. He is very hands on and has excellent relationships with the children. His values and ethos have been embraced by the staff team, who also go above and beyond to ensure that children are provided with the right support to help them to progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children receive care from a consistent staff team who know them well. This has enabled children to get to know staff, trust staff and form strong bonds with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are able to share their views on the support they receive from staff and any suggestions on how things can improve. This helps the manager to understand if the children are happy with the quality of care they receive, but also allows the children to influence their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff have developed strong and effective relationships with children’s parents and the professionals around the child. External professionals and parents described the communication from the manager and staff as excellent. When there are concerns, staff are proactive and quickly meet with parents and professionals to find solutions. All external professionals and parents spoken to highlighted the good progress children make while living at this home. They say that this is down to the staff’s nurturing approach and the excellent relationships they develop with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is receiving support from a consultant social worker to increase the staff’s understanding of the home’s therapeutic approaches and implement them in their practice. However, this practice is not yet embedded nor is the understanding of the research and models behind the therapeutic approaches. In addition, not all the staff have received training in the home’s models and approaches. This hinders them from delivering care to the children in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not always submitted his quality of care review to the regulator as required by regulation. In addition, his most recent quality of care review does not show how he will use his findings to improve the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are aspects of the manager’s monitoring that require improvement, due to the shortfalls found at this inspection but also due to important documents missing required information. This includes the workforce development plan, which does not include details on the process for managing and improving poor performance. In addition, the home’s location risk assessment does not identify the risks present in the areas around the home or the strategies for managing them. Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 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 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that staff receive training in the home’s therapeutic models and approaches, as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose. 3 October 2024

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 21 August 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 7 the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that consequences are recorded in line with this regulation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”). 03 October 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 8 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that the home is nurturing, supportive and homely. In particular, that all areas of the home are well maintained and regularly cleaned. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that any use of restraint should be suitable for the needs of the individual child. In particular, specify in children’s plans what physical interventions are suitable. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.54)  The registered person should ensure that staff actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, ensure that children’s missing-from-home protocols provide staff with clear guidance on the steps they must take to protect the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that the location risk assessment identifies any risks presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce development plan details the process for managing and improving poor performance. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2525807 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Absolute Children’s Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 142 West Malvern Road, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 4NJ

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Inspector

Melissa McMillan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2525807 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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