Children's home run by Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 1 Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to five children with emotional and social difficulties. It is owned by a private provider.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of this inspection.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is run by an experienced manager who is registered with Ofsted.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 14 February 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2024 Full Good 13/12/2022 Full Outstanding 29/06/2021 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, three children have moved out of the home. This report considers the experiences of all the children who have lived at the home during this period.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have comprehensive care plans. These offer a good sense of who children are, what is important to them and their historical experiences. They inform staff of the aims of their care and how children can be supported to meet their goals. Plans are regularly reviewed and contain up-to-date information, for example, the details of friends that children are spending time with while out in the community. This information has proved useful to staff if children have not returned home on time.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs, particularly their mental health needs, are understood very well by staff. Children engage with external professionals, particularly mental health services. Additionally, a private psychologist is commissioned by the provider. They provide therapeutic work with the children and consultation to staff. The manager has ensured appropriate multi-agency meetings take place to ensure an agreed approach to working with the children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have regular one-to-one discussions and meaningful conversations with staff. These discussions demonstrate that staff are curious in their work with children and work with them in a caring and compassionate manner. When serious incidents take place or children’s behaviour becomes a worry, there is a focus on educating children and enhancing their understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Children can share their feelings in children’s meetings, but these are not always done with the children together and this can limit the impact of children’s opinions on the care they receive.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are good systems in place to understand the needs of children when they move to the home and the potential impact on other children living at the home. The manager proactively seeks additional information if this is missing from the referral information about the child. This helps to ensure that informed decisions are made regarding a child moving into the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see people who are important to them. Staff work with social workers to review family time arrangements when this is in the best interests of the child. For one child, this has meant an increase in family time with her mother.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a large home and have spacious bedrooms. Some repairs are required to the home and there are plans for these to be carried out imminently. One child’s bedroom was untidy. Staff are not yet supporting children to keep their personal spaces to an acceptable standard. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 4

p.3

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

Children have individualised behaviour support plans that provide staff with clarity on how to manage children’s behaviour. These plans identify levels of risk and help staff to understand the children’s behaviour in a wider context. They clearly guide staff on the actions they need to take before, during and after the behaviour presents. Where bespoke risk assessments are required, these are completed by staff, but they are not always thorough or robust.

p.4

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

When serious incidents take place, the staff manage these well and managers also provide good oversight. Reports are thorough and contain necessary details to understand actions taken by staff. The recent implementation of safeguarding chronologies has ensured that complicated and interlinked incidents are responded to thoroughly, necessary actions are taken and professionals are informed in a timely way.

p.4

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

Since the last inspection, there has been an increase in incidents when children have harmed themselves. Staff responses to children are consistently warm and empathetic. Children are supported with first aid or taken for medical attention if required. The manager has ensured that advice is sought from the involved clinical psychologists following incidents and that strategies to manage the behaviour are reviewed and reflected in risk assessments. This has ensured that staff are implementing more nuanced ways of discouraging self-harming behaviours and keeping children safer.

p.4

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

Children seek staff out for support when they have hurt themselves. They trust staff to meet their needs. Staff understand the importance of building relationships with children and these connections have been used effectively to de-escalate incidents in the home. One child said, ‘I like the level of respect they show. You actually feel listened to.’ Children share information with staff when they feel a peer may be at risk and staff then take appropriate action to safeguard children.

p.4

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

There are systems in place to monitor dangerous items or chemical products at the home, following incidents when these have been accessed by children. There has been a focus on ensuring staff understand the specific risks they pose to children and adapting practice to prevent such incidents occurring again.

p.4

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

Staff understand the risks to children being criminally exploited. Good advocacy by the manager has meant that specialist workers in substance misuse and child exploitation are now working directly with one child. The manager is not risk averse; he understands the importance of working with children to develop safety plans for when they spend time alone in the community. A recent agreement with one child has led to better communication from the child and a reduction in episodes of them going missing.

p.4

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

When there have been concerns about staff practice, these have been thoroughly explored by managers and steps taken to prevent further concerns. The manager assists staff to reflect appropriately after challenging events and to adapt their practice moving forward. During one incident, staff appropriately challenged others when an inappropriate intervention was used. This prevented a child being inappropriately Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 5 deprived of their liberty. The manager must be proactive to ensure identified refresher training is completed by staff when there have been practice concerns.

p.4

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

Children are often spoken to following incidents and meaningful conversations are recorded by staff. However, staff are not yet planning key work with children outside the context of incidents, to explore risk-taking behaviours. As a result, there have been some missed opportunities to be curious with children and to reinforce that staff care for them and want to keep them safe.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by a committed and thoughtful manager. He liaises appropriately with external professionals and advocates strongly for the children. There was consistently positive feedback from external professionals about his leadership and insight. One professional said, ‘The manager is an excellent leader. He approaches situations with pragmatism and candour.’

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the home. He ensures there is appropriate reflection and guidance following from any incidents. The manager focuses on what can be done differently, understanding children’s behaviour as a way of communication. He focuses on the children’s feelings and how they have experienced incidents, as well as the effectiveness of the actions taken by staff.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said they feel the manager supports them and always makes time for them, offering good advice and role modelling therapeutic care. The manager is well supported by senior managers and colleagues. There is a culture of support where managers can learn and plan together.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are clear career pathways for staff to move into more senior positions within the company. Staff are nurtured and supported to take on greater responsibilities and build their confidence. Consequently, they are invested in the work they do and the children they care for.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff support systems are effective and valued by staff. Staff can come together regularly in team meetings. These create space for open discussion about children and the opportunity to learn from each other. Staff also receive regular good-quality supervisions. They feel the manager ensures their views are heard and that they can influence practice in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 6

p.5

Recommendations

 Staff should have the skills and confidence to communicate easily and understand the importance of listening to, involving and responding to the children they care for. Staff should understand that they have a responsibility to observe, notice and respond to children who are expressing their views, acknowledging that it is not the sole responsibility of the child to ‘tell’. They should also understand how children might communicate their feelings through their behaviour or non-verbally, especially where the child has a disability which does not allow them to communicate as others might. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.10)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority,

p.6

Recommendations

must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping, and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child.

p.6

Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.6

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: 2567607 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Almond Care Ltd, 4 Barling Way, Nuneaton CV10 7RH

p.7

Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2567607 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8