Children's home run by Infinity Care Home Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 1 Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Limited

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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. It provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted on 3 January 2024. This was the first inspection of the home.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy trusting relationships with staff who know them well. Staff offer nurturing, supportive care to the children, who are comfortable with staff members. Staff speak about the children with care and affection. The children enjoy a range of activities in and out of the home with staff, which supports them in building and maintaining relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the children’s health needs are met. Staff provide the children with healthy meals and take the children on physical activities outside of the home to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Staff support the children to attend regular, routine and specialist health appointments. Staff work alongside external agencies and family members to provide and review relevant medical provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children attend an appropriate education provision. When barriers to attending education have been identified, the registered manager has worked with external agencies to find a solution that works best for the individual child. This includes the registered manager advocating on the children’s behalf and escalating her concerns when the children’s needs are not being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to give back to the community. This includes attending charity events and raising money for local homeless charities. As a result, the children are learning how to contribute positively to society.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise and understand the importance of children spending time with people who are important to them. Staff support and, when appropriate, supervise family time. As such, the children enjoy regular time with family and friends. This supports their sense of self and identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Equality, diversity and inclusion are promoted in the home. Staff undertake direct work with the children to develop their knowledge and understanding of culture, identity and difference.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move into the home, they are welcomed sensitively and with care. Children visit the home beforehand and meet staff. Endings are a positive experience for children who move out of the home. The registered manager ensures that children can visit their new home and begin to build relationships with new staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a warm and welcoming environment. Staff help children to personalise their bedrooms according to their individual tastes and interests. There are photos of the children and people who are important to them throughout the home. Any maintenance issues are quickly addressed. The home has the use of external closed-circuit television systems and external door alarms in place. However, written consent from the children’s placing authorities is not in place. Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 3

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

Staff have the knowledge, skills and understanding to help keep children safe. Children’s individual risk assessments are clear, and safety plans are detailed, with guidance for staff to follow. Staff undertake direct work with the children to develop their knowledge and understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Staff work alongside external agencies and a clinical psychologist to develop and review strategies that staff use to help keep children safe. One child said, ‘I love the staff and they keep me safe.’

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

On the few occasions that children have gone missing from the home, staff have been proactive and professionally curious in their attempts to locate and return the children home safely. Practice is supported by detailed written information about the children from their placing authorities. There are clear safety plans in place, with guidance for staff to follow when children go missing from the home. Staff seek to understand the reasons why children go missing from the home, to try to reduce the risk of future incidents.

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

Children’s needs are known and understood. The children’s plans are clear, detailed and have guidance for staff to follow. Children have been involved in creating their care plans. The children are encouraged to attend multi-agency meetings about their care to share their views and wishes about the care that they receive. The registered manager undertakes regular consultation sessions with the children to gain their views and wishes.

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

Staff use rewards, de-escalation techniques and distraction methods to manage children's behaviour. Consequences implemented by staff are proportionate and appropriate to the behaviour displayed. On a small number of occasions, children have been physically held by staff as a last resort to protect children from harming themselves or others.

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

There have been instances of bullying in the home between children. Staff have been quick to respond to conflict between the children to reduce incidents of bullying. Staff support the children to understand difficult emotions and identify positive strategies to manage these. Consequently, incidents reduced prior to one child moving on from the home. There have been no further incidents of bullying in the home.

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

Prior to children coming to live at the home, the manager completes a risk assessment. This identifies the potential impact of known risks on the children already living in the home as well as on the child coming to live in the home. However, the registered manager has not consulted the placing authority of the children already living in the home in these assessments. This means that all the matching considerations of the children are not appropriately considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since January 2024. The manager is an inspirational, confident and ambitious leader. She knows the children well and Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 4 understands their needs. She has high expectations of staff, and enthusiasm for the children’s progress and achievements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they ‘love’ coming to work and feel supported by the registered manager. Staff describe the manager as being approachable and say that they feel valued. When staff are new to the home, the manager provides them with an experienced mentor to support their learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff communicate well with each other and provide consistent care for the children. Bespoke training ensures that they are skilled in meeting the children’s needs. The registered manager works with staff during regular, reflective supervision and team meetings to help them understand what is working well for the children and to reflect on areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partner agencies and family members say that they are happy with the care provided to the children by staff. The registered manager advocates on children’s behalf and shares relevant information to keep professionals and family members well informed of the children’s progress. One social worker said, ‘They are really quite exceptional carers; they treat [name of child] really well and go above and beyond.’ One parent said, ‘They really care for [name of child]. I go to bed safe at night knowing [name of child] is in really good hands.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person visits the home regularly. However, discussions with the children, their family members, staff and professionals are limited. This is a missed opportunity to independently gather the views of key people to support the development of the home and improve the quality of care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager's management and auditing processes have not identified that key documents, such as the statement of purpose and location risk assessment, have not been updated following changes in circumstances within the home. This means that staff do not have the up-to-date information when providing care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has submitted an application to vary the registration conditions of the home to include providing care for children with learning disabilities in line with the needs of the children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 5

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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 may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the child's placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(c)) 6 September 2024

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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 as recorded in the child’s relevant plans 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 independent person consults regularly with children, families and other professionals and records the outcome in their report. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.8)  The registered person should ensure that all records, including the statement of purpose and location risk assessment, are kept up to date. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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: 2759825 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 The Downs, Cheadle SK8 1JL

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Inspector

Leanne Carr, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2759825 7 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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