Children's Home run by Blue Elephant Childcare Limited in Devon

Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 1 Registered provider: Blue Elephant Childcare Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides care for up to three children with emotional and social difficulties. It is part of a local organisation that owns several homes.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was 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

Date of last inspection: 23 October 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/08/2022 Full Good 01/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live here are provided with a wide range of experiences. When children are reluctant to take part in activities, carers persevere and help to motivate them. Children are supported to prepare meals and to have a say in the running of the home. Their experiences are documented in attractive memory books. In addition to this, online books are made to document children’s journeys. These provide the children with forever memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers work with education professionals to provide children with positive learning experiences. A headteacher said that a strength of the home was communication. They said that a child had made good progress, academically and behaviourally, and partly attributed this to the care provided by carers. When a child was not receiving education in a formal setting, carers continually raised concerns. Carers supported the child to attend forest and farm schools and encouraged educational activities in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged to attend medical appointments. Carers have worked closely with medical professionals and the in -house psychologist to reduce a child’s need to access high levels of unnecessary medical support. This has led to the child accepting guidance and care from carers instead. Carers do not provide children with the guidance they need to have a stable and healthy diet. They are aware that children require this support. However, planning to implement changes is in its early stages.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers understand the importance of family relationships. However, they recognise that they are not always positive for children. Planning is in place to make this time positive and safety measures to reduce risk are implemented for the benefit of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Planning for one child to move out of the home was thorough. Carers worked with other professionals to ensure that the overall experience for the child was positive. The social worker attributed the success of the move to the progress the child made while living in the home and the support provided during and after the move. A sensitive piece of work was completed with the child who remained in the home, to support their understanding of why the other child moved on and they did not.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers do not always provide children with consistent boundaries. Carers communicate with each other about the care they provide to children daily. However, children have experienced differing boundaries and inconsistent guidance and support in relation to behaviours. At times, this has caused children to become confused and upset.

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

Children form positive and trusting relationships with carers. The child living in the home said that they like living there. They feel safe and have positive relationships with carers. Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 4 They seek out reassurance and affection from carers, which is reciprocated. They enjoy the activities such as walking in the woods, going to trampoline parks and doing arts and crafts. Some of the child’s artwork is displayed in the home. The child’s bedroom is personalised, containing an abundance of personal items, including books and toys.

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

Ways of working with children, particularly in relation to difficult or sensitive topics, are imaginative and carried out with patience and care. This enables children to express their wishes and feelings and to feel a sense of security in the home. Children choose to talk to carers about their lives, which allows them to begin to make sense of their life experiences.

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

Carers have good knowledge and understanding of risk. They have access to essential information about children. This includes regularly updated plans designed to support them to meet children’s needs and keep them safe. Plans that detail risk management strategies contain important information. However, some of this may get lost due to the information being included in the wrong document. Action to rectify this has already begun.

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

There have been a high number of incidents in the home. However, there have been periods when children have been settled. When restraint is used, it has been appropriate. Reports that detail the actions of children and carers during and after incidents are clearly written. Carers use planning to support the child, with the aim of keeping them safe effectively. It is acknowledged that children’s needs can change rapidly. This has meant that carers need to be increasingly reactive during incidents. Language in some records is not always child-friendly and could be viewed as negative towards the child.

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

Children do not go missing. However, carers recognise the potential for this to happen. They do not underestimate the risks if this were to happen. Planning for action in the event of a child going missing is robust.

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

Concerns in relation to children’s relationships are identified promptly. Measures are put in place to limit the likelihood of incidents between children who live in the home. The frequency of these incidents reduced over time. Work is carried out with children to support their understanding of relationships. This has included mediation involving both children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has good oversight of the home. He knows the children and is passionate about achieving the best outcomes possible for them. He regularly monitors their current risks and progress. Management oversight is clear throughout children’s files. Relationships within the wider management team are positive. This promotes a supportive and open culture in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The needs of the children are prioritised by managers. Effective monitoring and evaluation have identified that carers are unable to meet one child’s needs. This has Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 5 resulted in planning for the child to move to a specialist home. The initial planning highlights the home’s strength in working with other professionals for the benefit of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers like working in the home. They spoke positively about the culture and the positive working relationships within the team. They said that they receive good-quality support from leaders and managers. Records of their supervision show open discussion and a focus on their well-being, the children and safeguarding. Interactions between team members and those of the team with the child show positive and supportive relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safeguarding concerns and complaints are thoroughly investigated and well managed. Where necessary, concerns are shared with external professionals and additional guidance on how to manage concerns is followed. When actions to address practice concerns are set, these are implemented and monitored.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly. Team members are involved in important reflective discussions with managers. Details of these are clearly documented. There is an evident focus on learning and progression, with team members undertaking relevant research and presenting this to the team during meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recruitment practice ensures that checks necessary to determine whether carers are safe to work with children are completed. Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that boundaries set for children by the team are consistent. 22 October 2024

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Recommendations

◼ The registered person should ensure that carers understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, carefully consider the appropriateness of recording the child’s information using first-person narrative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) ◼ The registered person should ensure that carers educate children about healthy diets and relationships with food. They should support children to have a healthy and varied diet and promote good habits. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10) ◼ The registered person should ensure that details of risks and how to manage them are clearly documented and that documents are stored in a way that is easily accessible

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Recommendations

to carers. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12) Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 7

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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: 2568557 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Elephant Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 30, Chivenor Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 4AY

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2568557 9 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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