Children's home run by Absolute Children’s Services Ltd in Staffordshire Moorlands

Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 1 SC481172 Registered provider: Absolute Childrens Services 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 home is run by a private provider. It offers care for up to four children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home. The children were spoken with during the inspection.

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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: 6 February 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2024 Full Good 18/01/2023 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Outstanding 21/08/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff demonstrate genuine affection for one another. When children come in from school, they hug staff and tell them about the aspects of their day that were important to them. When relationships are strained, the manager works with staff to identify ways to build trust between staff and children. Staff know the children well, listen to them and invest time in them to ensure they can work in their best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to actively participate in day-to-day and more complex decisions about their lives, as appropriate. They are helped to understand where it may not be possible to act on their wishes and where other action is taken that is in their best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school or other educational provision and are making positive progress. Staff are ambitious for children and support them to attend and do well in their education while involving them in decisions regarding their schooling. Children have access to a suitably skilled and experienced independent advocate. The manager ensured a child’s advocate was involved when decisions were being made about the child’s education placement to ensure they were actively heard. There is effective liaison with schools, colleges and virtual school heads.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy access to a range of social, educational and recreational opportunities, including activities in the local community. Children say the range of activities they could get involved with is one of their favourite things about living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health or are being helped to improve their health or manage lifelong conditions. Their health needs are identified and addressed, and they have regular access to specialist therapy. The manager’s arrangements for managing medication are safe and effective.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care and therapy are delivered by suitably trained and qualified staff. Children are helped to develop skills and strategies to manage their own conflicts and difficult feelings through developing positive relationships with staff and through therapy. There are clear, consistent and appropriate boundaries for children, and the manager ensures all staff maintain these. Children are supported to develop their independence according to their individual needs while protecting themselves from being in unsafe situations or with unsafe people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have appropriate contact with their family, friends and other people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint. The complaints policy is easy to understand, accessible and can be used anonymously. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 4

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

Staff understand children’s needs, which has significantly decreased the number of times that children go missing from care. Staff are aware of the response required if missing- from-care episodes increase and understand the plan in place for each child.

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

Staff understand the risks that using the internet may pose for children and have well- developed strategies in place to keep children safe and to support them in learning how to keep themselves safe.

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

Staff consistently promote positive behaviour and use effective de-escalation techniques. They use creative alternative strategies that are specific to the needs of each child and are planned and reviewed in consultation with them. Restraint or restrictive practices are used only when necessary to protect the child and/or those around them. All incidents are recorded, reviewed and monitored by leaders, and a discussion is held with children afterwards.

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

Children can identify a trusted adult they can talk to about any concerns. They report that adults listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately. Staff working in the home follow procedures for responding to concerns about the safety of a child and allegations. The manager understands incidents that are notifiable and sends notifications in a timely way to ensure children are supported and protected.

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

Safer recruitment processes are in place to reduce the likelihood of unsafe people working with the children.

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

Risks associated with children are understood and acted on by staff; however, two vulnerabilities had not been captured in children’s documentation. This meant managers could not be assured that all staff would respond consistently to these specific risks or that the risks could be regularly reviewed. There was evidence that staff were aware of these risks and managing them despite them not being in plans of care. For all other known risks, there were plans in place to reduce actual harm or the risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the leaders and managers of the home. A staff member said ‘The manager is supportive and is approachable to discuss work and personal issues.’ The manager recognises the emotional impact of work on the staff team. They work with them to support their well-being and positive morale, such as by adapting their working patterns to complement a work-life balance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children receive support from a full team of staff who are suitably checked and qualified. Staff receive frequent supervision and appraisals that aim to develop staff while remaining child focused. Training, development and induction activities are effective and ensure that staff have the knowledge and competence to meet the specific needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 5 Leaders and managers regularly monitor the quality of care provided. They use learning from practice and gather feedback from children and staff, and family where appropriate, to improve services provided. The manager has developed effective working relationships with other agencies and appropriately involves them in decision-making to secure positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands and ensures that children’s individual preferences inform their plans of support and future goals. The manager has created a variety of ways for children to have their achievements and positive milestones rewarded. For example, children nominate a ‘star of the week’ by nominating another child in the home to receive a reward based on their behaviour and actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Case records reflect children’s everyday lives and the support they have received. Leaders continuously develop the quality of records to capture more detail and enable children to see how they have been supported while living at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. They should ensure that all risks are captured in documentation so they can be reviewed if the risk changes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, Page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC481172 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Absolute Childrens Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 98 Grove Street, Leek, ST13 8DU

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Inspector

Vikki Thwaites, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC481172 8 regulates and inspects to 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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