Children's home run by South West Childcare Services

Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 1 Registered provider: Keys Group

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider and registered to provide care for up to two children who may have social and emotional difficulties or a learning disability. At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home. The inspector spoke with the child currently living in the home and the child who had moved out since the last inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/05/2023 Full Good 19/07/2022 Full Good 29/11/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 3

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improvement to be good

Children are making progress in this home, but more could be done to ensure their welfare is fully promoted. The overall judgement is directly impacted on by the shortfalls reported in how well children are helped and protected and the effectiveness of leadership and management.

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improvement to be good

The home is decorated to a high standard with modern decor and is welcoming and homely. There is good use of a small, enclosed, outdoor area and children are encouraged to be involved in the ongoing development of the home. There are pictures, photos, artwork with matching soft furnishings throughout the house. The children’s bedrooms are personalised and decorated in line with their tastes.

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improvement to be good

The children spoke fondly of staff and living in the home. Staff take time to understand the children’s individual needs, which support the building of trusting relationships. Interactions are calm and nurturing, and this is helping the current child to feel safe and talk about past experiences and feelings.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the value of education and ensure that children’s educational needs are met, and that children are supported to attend school. Outside of school, staff support children to gain confidence and learn new skills by exploring hobbies and interests such as gymnastics, swimming, cooking and trips to local areas of interest.

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improvement to be good

Moves in and out of the home are well considered and individual for each child. Managers ensure that children are able to meet staff, are visited in their placements and able to spend time at the home prior to moving in. This helps children to build relationships with the staff before placements begin. The majority of moves out of the home are planned and involve a similar transition plan for the child to their new home. If appropriate to do so, staff keep in touch with children who have left, which was shared as a positive by one child.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported by staff to have positive relationships with friends and loved ones. Staff help children to understand difficult decisions made about family time to ensure their safety.

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improvement to be good

The current child’s health needs are not being fully met and they are not receiving the help which they need. Managers are not doing enough to address this shortfall.

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improvement to be good

Staff are beginning to understand children’s cultural needs, but there are some gaps in knowledge about wider issues of diversity. Children do not have access to independent advocates and the role of advocacy is not fully understood by managers. Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 4 Some of the language used by staff in records is labelling and not child focused. There is a plan to address this, but changes in practice have not yet embedded.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding is not fully understood by all staff. Timely and robust processes are not always being followed when a child has raised concerns about staff practice. There are inconsistencies in the reporting and recording of incidents, which have resulted in staff being uncertain on how to act on concerns. Action was taken during the inspection to ensure that all concerns were retrospectively reported to safeguarding professionals as required.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not ensured that all members of staff working with children have completed their mandatory safeguarding training.

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improvement to be good

Consequences and rewards to manage behaviour do not always promote a restorative approach. Some of the consequences given are not proportionate or relevant to the behaviour and, therefore, not understood by the child.

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improvement to be good

There is management oversight following serious incidents, but the learning is not always followed up on what led to a repeat of some incidents. There is work taking place to better understand the behavioural needs of the current child and, more recently, incidents have begun to reduce in number and severity.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers ensure that debriefs take place with staff after serious incidents or complaints, but these debriefs sometimes lack reflection and actions to follow up and improve individual practice.

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improvement to be good

The children have said that they feel safe in the home and this is a view shared by professionals.

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improvement to be good

There are some examples of positive multi-agency practice to promote safeguarding in the home. Staff have a good understanding of online safety and work with professionals to monitor and address concerns.

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improvement to be good

Staff use de-escalation effectively and work hard to distract and calm children during periods of distress. Staff are mindful of the impact of physical intervention for children who have experienced trauma, and use restraint rarely and only as a last resort.

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improvement to be good

Plans to minimise risk are up to date and reviewed regularly with clearly understood actions for staff to follow. Leaders and managers are taking steps to ensure that learning from incidences is embedded into practice.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment is robust and followed for all newly recruited staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 5

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

Leaders and managers are not consistent in ensuring that safeguarding professionals and the regulator are notified of all significant events. The system for staff to record concerns raised by children is not overseen by leaders and managers. This left some safeguarding concerns without appropriate follow up. Leaders and managers have taken immediate action to address some of these shortfalls.

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

Leaders and managers do not always use learning from incidences, complaints or feedback to inform and improve practice. There is a lack of critical challenge to accurately understand how the home is performing.

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

Supervision takes place regularly but at times, lacks challenge or reflection on practice. In some cases, the focus is on procedure rather than practice. There are some examples of reflection, but these lack deeper exploration on learning or practice improvement.

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

The home is managed by a passionate and experienced registered manager who has been in post for several years. The strengths of the home are well understood and the manager brings stability and knowledge to the staff team.

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

Professional feedback has been consistently positive about the leadership in the home and the progress being made by the child who currently lives here.

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

Team meetings take place regularly and staff are able to reflect on practice with the in- house clinical team. Leaders and managers openly address practice issues and actions agreed for ongoing development.

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

Staff feel supported by leaders and managers and are passionate about the work they do. Leaders and managers ensure that there are enough staff to care for the children, and agency staff are not used. Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the homes child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff understand plans to keep each child safe, and take appropriate action in response to risk. 27 August 2024

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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— 29 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 7 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 account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that there is robust oversight of the care provided to include effective policies. In addition, the registered person should ensure that there are systems in place to monitor and improve practice.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

and incident requiring police involvement occurs inn relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 31 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 8 In particular, the registered person should ensure there is timely notification of all serious events.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all children have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16)  The registered person should ensure that all children are able to maintain and develop their cultural or religious beliefs as far as practicable and where appropriate, through participation and instruction, and by observing religious requirements including dress and diet. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.22)  The registered person should ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well-

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Recommendations

being needs are met. When a child needs additional health or well-being support, staff should work with the child’s placing authority to enable proper and immediate access to any specialist medical, psychological or psychiatric support required, and challenge them through regulation 5 - engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met, if this doesn’t happen. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, pages 33 and 34, paragraph 7.3 and 7.10)

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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: 1248071 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Inspectors

Stacey Pellow, Social Care Inspector Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted Inspection report for children’s home: 1248071 11

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