Children's Home run by Orchard Children Homes Ltd in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 1 Registered provider: Orchard Children Homes Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately run and provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since May 2024. A new suitably qualified manager has been appointed. The manager has not yet submitted her registration application to Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home. Two children had recently left 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 requires improvement to be 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming and feels like a family home. There are personal touches throughout, including framed pictures of the child. The home is furnished to an appropriate standard and is clean and well presented. The child’s bedroom has been personalised to their taste and they say they are happy with the space.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have good relationships with the child. It is clear they know their likes and dislikes and promote their well-being. The child feels confident to go to the staff with any issues or concerns they may have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child says they feel safe and happy in the home. They want to stay until they are 18 and say they have good relationships with the current staff. The child feels supported by the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s meetings are held once a month. This is not in line with the statement of purpose, which states they should take place weekly. There has been a lack of management oversight or response to the child’s requests in recent meetings, indicating that the child’s voice is not being sufficiently heard by the manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

For one child, a move back to a parent was successfully managed. The child and parent both felt well supported during the move, and staff adhered to the plan provided by social care, resulting in a positive outcome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child experienced an unplanned move from the home. Following this move, the child’s belongings were left at the home for nearly a month. While the manager attributed this delay to the local authority, more proactive steps should have been taken to address the issue. As a result, the child did not experience a positive conclusion to their placement.

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

The child feels protected and is safeguarded from harm. There have been few incidents of concern in the home.

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

Since the last inspection, there has been only one instance of physical intervention. Staff are skilled in de-escalating situations and take early action to prevent incidents from escalating further. However, after the one intervention, staff debriefs were not conducted appropriately and no debrief was completed with the child.

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

There is a clear system in place to manage missing-from-home episodes, and staff demonstrate a good understanding of the process. For one child, there has been a significant decrease in these episodes. Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 4 Although risk assessments are updated, they contain outdated information, meaning they are not fully reflective of the child’s current risks. For example, the child’s father recently passed away, but the plan has not been updated to consider whether the child requires emotional or bereavement support. Additionally, the plan written for the child still includes arrangements for spending time with their father, which lacks sensitivity and could cause distress if the child were to review it.

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

The manager has implemented a new lone-working policy, due to there currently being only one child in the home. However, the child’s risk assessment does not address lone working or outline how any associated risks could be mitigated. The staff lone working risk assessment is not child-specific and lacks detailed measures that staff members should take to prevent risks associated with lone working. Furthermore, it has not been signed by any staff, indicating they may not have read it.

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

The manager ensures safer recruitment processes are followed. The appropriate checks are made before staff start work with children. This helps to ensure the children’s safety.

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

The manager is new to the role and requires further development and upskilling. The responsible individual has identified areas for development and a clear plan is in place to address these needs.

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

The home has experienced issues with staff turnover; however, the current staff team is more stable, and recruitment efforts are ongoing. Training is provided to staff, however, the records of this training are inconsistent, making it difficult to accurately track the training completed by staff.

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

Staff supervisions are not being held regularly. One staff member had not received supervision for four months. Additionally, staff have expressed concerns about lone working, feeling that their views on this matter are not being heard. The decision to implement lone working was not discussed with staff members beforehand. Although staff describe the manager as approachable, they feel they are not fully supported in their roles.

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

Monitoring of the home requires improvement. The manager lacks thorough oversight of the home, with assessments not being read carefully before being signed off. Additionally, there is insufficient oversight of staff members and their performance due to the lack of regular supervisions.

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

Feedback from families is positive. One parent felt well supported by the staff during their child’s move back to their care. They also felt that the staff formed good relationships with their child and were effective in managing their behaviour. Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 5

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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

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;

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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)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring there is adequate oversight of the home to ensure it is meeting the needs of each child and that there are clear systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care the home is providing. 21 November 2024

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 21 November 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 6 This relates to ensuring risk assessments are up to date and reflect all current risks for the child.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring all staff have regular and meaningful supervision. 21 September 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition is planned and to help each child to prepare for leaving the home, both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9)  The registered person should ensure children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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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: 2680525 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Orchard Children Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Orchard Children Homes Ltd, 2nd Floor, 118 Calais Road, Burton-on-Trent DE13 0UW

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Inspector

Lauren Barwell, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2680525 8 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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