Children's home run by South West Childcare Services

Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 1 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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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 owned by a private provider and offers care for up to three children. Care is provided for children with autism, children who experience social and emotional difficulties and children with learning learning difficulties or a combination of these needs.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a suitably qualified manager who registered with Ofsted on 6 September 2024.

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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: 11 October 2023

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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: 2567039 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/10/2023 Full Good 23/03/2023 Full Good 28/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector spent time with all three children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in this home and communicate that they like living here. They are looked after by caring staff who take time to understand and celebrate their individual personalities. Children are supported to build long-lasting and trusting relationships with staff and each another.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take time to understand children’s specific communication needs and use a variety of creative methods to engage the children effectively in day-to-day decision-making about their lives. Children are supported to talk openly about their feelings and worries and this helps them to understand their emotions and behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of education and support children to attend school. When this is not possible, managers advocate for children to have bespoke educational packages. Staff support children with a wide range of age-appropriate, social and recreational activities which complement their education. Memory books capture special days and memories in photos so that children can look back and remember their positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to maintain healthy routines and sleep patterns. Staff encourage children to be involved in meal planning and preparation and ensure that the children’s favourite foods are included. Staff encourage the children to eat together but are flexible in catering for children’s individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to ensuring that children enjoy regular, meaningful time with their family. Family members are welcomed into the home and staff support the arrangements for children to see their loved ones. Staff have built trusting relationships with family members, which has helped to develop a consistent network of trusted adults around the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is welcoming and homely, with photos and pictures on the walls to celebrate memories and special occasions. The children’s bedrooms are personalised to their tastes. Children have been kept at the centre of planning and the home has recently undergone significant improvements, with additional spaces being created for children to play, relax and game together. Staff have a sense of pride in the home and have been directly involved in the decoration of the new spaces.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Independence planning for one child is not clear and this is having an impact on their progress as they approach adulthood. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 4

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

Children are kept safe by knowledgeable staff who respond in a timely way to safeguarding concerns. The physical environment is well maintained, safe and secure, and protects children from the risk of harm. Concerns raised about staff practice are responded to appropriately and thoroughly investigated.

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

Staff understand the unique vulnerabilities of each child and p lans to minimise risk for the children are clear and concise. Incidents are well managed, with management oversight and some learning from practice. There are some good examples of ongoing, multi- agency and individual work with children to address specific issues or behaviours.

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

Children are supported to build positive relationships with one another. Staff take time to understand the reasons for any disagreements and carefully consider ways to minimise any conflict or distress.

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

Staff support children to take age-appropriate risks as part of their development and learn skills to help keep themselves safe. Children enjoy spending meaningful time with their friends in the community without any unnecessary restrictions. An age- proportionate approach is taken in relation to monitoring mobile phones and internet use. Staff have open conversations with the children about any concerns and there is an educative approach taken.

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

Leaders and managers fill vacancies by following a robust safer recruitment process. Medication is safely stored and administered by knowledgeable staff.

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

Staff use a variety of de-escalation techniques to support children who are experiencing distress. Restraint is used as a last resort but when it is used the records do not always accurately reflect the incident. Oversight is not used effectively enough to learn from these incidences to prevent them occurring again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an enthusiastic manager who has a good understanding of children’s needs and areas for continued development within the home. Staff say that they enjoy their role and feel supported by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children are cared for by a permanent staff team who provide consistent care and support to help them to experience positive outcomes. Plans to fill vacancies are carefully considered to ensure minimal disruption to the children. Agency staff are not used and any temporary vacancies are filled with known and trusted in-house staff from a nearby home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 5 Supervision takes place regularly and is used to support staff development, with some reflection on practice for improved outcomes. Staff benefit from regular team meetings and reflective practice that is child-focused and led by clinical specialists. This helps to enhance the care and support that children experience and ensure positive outcomes are achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that staff are up to date with mandatory training and organise bespoke training to support staff to respond to the individual needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers understand the importance of building relationships with children’s families and the multi-agency network. Professional feedback is positive about staff, the care of the children and the progress they are making. Professionals speak positively about the communication between themselves and the manager and praise the progress children are making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight of records is inconsistent. In some areas, there are gaps in information and there is duplication in other areas. This results in some confusion for staff around expectations and impacts on the correct information being recorded about the children to support staff to care for them. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that management monitoring of records is effective. This includes ensuring that records of restraint are kept that enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another place- ment or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child to de- velop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. As the home will have a day to day understanding of young people’s capabilities and needs, children's homes staff will have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons. (‘Guide to the Chil- dren’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17. , paragraphs 3.27 and 3.28)

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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: 2567039 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Kelly-Marie Heffernan

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Inspector

Stacey Pellow, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2567039 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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