Children's Home run by Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: 2503915 1 Registered provider: Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This is one of two homes owned by an independent provider. The home cares for up to three children who have social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties and are likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children's home

There is a manager in post, who was registered with Ofsted in August 2023, and has a relevant management qualification. This inspection was supported by the responsible individual as the manager was not present during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. All three children were present during the inspection and were spoken to by the inspector.

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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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Enforcement action since last inspection: none

Inspection report children's home: 2503915 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/06/2022 Full Inadequate 11/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2503915 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the assurance visit in January 2024, one child has come to live in the home. The child had a well-planned move, which included visiting the home and meeting the staff and other children. As a result, the child has quickly settled and established good relationships with staff. The child says they like living in the home and that staff are helpful. Of the remaining two children, one child has lived at the home for almost five years, and the other for 18 months. Both children have made good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers are positive about the care their children receive. They say that staff are strong advocates for children, and that children are comfortable expressing any problems or concerns to staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s hobbies and interests. They go to the gym with children. They play football and organise football matches with children and staff from the sister home. One child recently attended an international football tournament in Germany with their favourite staff. Another child attends summer music festivals with staff. Creating opportunities to spend time with children enables children and staff to develop meaningful relationships based on shared interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support opportunities that enable children to take on appropriate levels of re- sponsibility and to develop life skills for the future. One child has acquired valuable business and money management skills by collecting and selling football memorabilia. The same child has grown increasingly confident in travelling to and from football matches, at first with staff support and then independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff place a strong emphasis on education, as they understand the positive impact it has on children’s lives. Staff have successfully supported one child to reintegrate into education despite them having a history of no school attendance. This child recently sat their exams and has enrolled on a course, at a local college, that supports their aspirations for a career in sport.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to attend routine health appointments, and staff prioritise children’s emotional health needs. A therapist provides advice to staff to help them support the children’s emotional well-being. However, staff do not always support children’s physical health needs. Managers and staff have failed to implement effec- tive strategies to support a child not to vape in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Arrangements are in place that support children to maintain positive relationships with people who are important to them. Staff also help children to establish them- selves in the local area and to make friends by supporting them to attend clubs that Inspection report children's home: 2503915 4 reflect their interests. This helps children to build and maintain lifelong social net- works that they can take with them as they progress into adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily records are often negative in tone and content and staff do not always praise and celebrate children’s positive achievements. Staff do not regularly update chil- dren's memory books with photos and comments of happy times spent with staff. This is a missed opportunity to record children's life story in a way that is helpful to children.

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

The manager and the staff know how to keep children safe. However, on one occa- sion, the manager agreed a request from a child without carrying out checks in the way a good parent would. Once the responsible individual became aware, they took appropriate action. The manager admitted their mistake and learning was taken from this incident. The child came to no harm.

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

Children do not go missing from the home. When a child leaves the home, as a strat- egy to manage their complex emotions, staff are guided by clear risk management plans. They follow children and sensitively talk with them until the children feel able to return. There are clear risk assessments if a child goes missing from the home, which give the staff direction about how to respond and manage this risk.

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

Incidents of children harming themselves have been managed well. The team’s ap- proach to supporting children who harm themselves is highly nurturing and caring. Staff are comfortable talking to the children and gently challenge them to consider the effect of their risk-taking behaviour. Staff talk openly with children and listen to their views on why they want to harm themselves. Staff help them to work through their emotions and to talk more openly about their worries.

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

Processes are in place to ensure that children are kept safe online. Staff talk knowledgeably about how they support children to use online devices safely. Additionally, managers have ensured that there are the necessary age-related restrictions on all devices. Staff are vigilant about online risks. On the rare occasion that an incident occurs that compromises children’s online safety, staff act quickly. They alert safeguarding agencies and complete targeted work to increase children’s learning.

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

The system for challenging children's negative behaviours is not yet restorative and is ineffective. Managers encourage staff to routinely record verbal challenges to nega- tive behaviours such as swearing or vaping in the home. Managers do not evaluate the effectiveness of this response or consider alternate responses. As a result, chil- dren receive negative verbal challenges, and their behaviour does not change. Inspection report children's home: 2503915 5

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

Since the assurance visit in January 2024, two strategic managers, who were a con- stant presence in the home, have left. Additionally, the registered manager has not been present in the home for some weeks because of concerns relating to an inci- dent. The manager from the sister home, who knows the staff and the children well, has provided support.

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

Staff say that as a team they have individual strengths, and they work well together. However, changes in management has affected staff morale.

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

Managers have not used monitoring systems effectively to address all actions from the previous inspection. Additionally, managers do not routinely monitor, and criti- cally evaluate significant incidents. Following an incident, managers do not always consult with staff or children to identify good practice as well as shortfalls in staff practice. Additionally, managers oversight of care planning is weak. This is because managers do not ensure that staff have access to children’s most up-to-date care plans. This compromises staff’s ability to deliver consistent planned care.

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

Managers do not ensure that staff receive the training they need to effectively re- spond to children’s needs. Behaviour management training for six staff is out of date and staff had not been trained in caring for children with attention deficit hyperactiv- ity disorder. More positively, managers have made progress in providing care in line with the home’s statement of purpose. A clinician now regularly visits the home and consults with managers and staff. The clinician has delivered training about children’s attachments and trauma to staff

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

Children receive consistent care. Staff from the sister home cover shortfalls in staffing on the rare occasion that this is necessary. This has enabled children to develop strong relationships with adults who know them well.

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

The manager has established strong connections with partner agencies. Professionals are positive about the communication with the team, about the care provided for children and all recognise the progress the children have made. Inspection report children's home: 2503915 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, 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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the regis- tered 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous im- provements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regu- lation 13 (1)(a)(c) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers monitoring of staff training and that following incidents, managers critically evaluate staff practice. Additionally, that managers ensure that staff have ac- cess to children’s most up to date plans. 06 October 2024

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Recommendations

 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. Inspection report children's home: 2503915 7 (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards' page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the system for challenging children's negative behaviours is restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards' page 47, paragraph 9.38)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards' page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged to develop positive relationships with others both in and outside the home as set out in the positive relationships standard. However, staff should be alert to the possibility that children may be at risk from such relationships including with other children in the home, staff, family members, friends and others outside the home, and they therefore should take appropriate steps to protect a child where there are concerns for a child’s safety. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards' page 43, paragraph 9.13)

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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 children's home: 2503915 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Union House, 111 New Union Street, Coventry, West Midlands CV1 2NT

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Leonard Pattinson

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2503915 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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Inspector

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