Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 1 SC398480 Registered provider: Hillcrest Childrens Services (2) Limited 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 company. It provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent registered manager, who is suitably experienced and qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were three children living at the home. All children were present and spoke with the inspectors.

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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: 13 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: SC398480 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2024 Full Good 01/03/2023 Full Good 29/06/2021 Full Good 29/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children at this home have good experiences. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff caring for them. One child said, ‘The best thing about living here are the staff and the other young people.’ Staff know the children well and celebrate their achievements. The interactions between staff and children are fun, caring and natural. Children’s views are sought and influence the care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children moving into the home are helped to settle in quickly. Two of the children living in the home received short notice of their move to the home. Staff made sure that in that time the children were made to feel welcome. This included staff visiting the children, showing the children the home online and taking the children out to buy things for their room when they arrived. Despite the short notice, one child we spoke with told us that the move had been okay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to prepare when they move out of the home. Moves are thoughtfully considered to help children settle in their next home quickly. Their time at the home is celebrated. For example, a party was held for one child, and presents were given. The child has also kept in touch since leaving. This helps children to feel loved and supported and shows them they have adults in their lives who care about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children regularly spend time with people who are important to them. Staff prioritise children’s family relationships. For one child, the manager worked sensitively with a mother to help her understand her child’s needs. This has helped the child and their mother to rebuild their relationship.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to understand their culture and identity, and they treat children’s differences with dignity and respect. For one child of Scottish heritage, the staff have arranged a trip to Scotland, and they plan to find their family tartan. For another child, staff are exploring groups to help them explore their gender identity. This contributes to children’s self-worth and feeling understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build effective working relationships with children’s schools, social workers and medical professionals. Most of the time this results in children receiving the right support at the right time. However, for one child, there was a slight delay in them attending medical appointments in a timely manner. For another, staff have not provided structure to the child’s day while they await a school place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm and welcoming. It feels cosy with beautiful features and good-quality furniture. The home is personalised with lots of photos and artwork created by the children. There is a large, well-maintained back garden that is child-focused and includes a memory garden for children to reflect in. At the time of the inspection, the children had proudly decorated the home for Halloween. This gives the children a sense of belonging. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 4

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

Children feel safe living in the home. Staff provide consistent care to children in line with their plans. They help children to develop good habits and behaviours by using incentives. As a result, consequences and restraint are rarely used. When incidents do occur, managers maintain good oversight; they update the child’s plans and share learning with the wider team.

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

Children have positive relationships with staff. Staff establish clear routines and boundaries, which help children to feel settled. There have been no incidents of children going missing from home or other safeguarding incidents since the last inspection. However, if incidents do occur, staff know what to do. This helps children to feel safe and secure.

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

Children know how to make a complaint. When a complaint is raised, it is taken seriously and dealt with fairly. These positive experiences build trust and help children to manage disagreements well.

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

Safe recruitment processes are in place. Appropriate checks are carried out on new staff before they work at the home. This ensures children are cared for by suitably vetted staff.

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

For the most part, environmental risks are thoroughly assessed. The necessary checks are completed. However, some areas of risk in the home are not adequately risk assessed, limiting staff’s ability to keep children safe. One child has a risk of using a ligature. Despite this, the ligature risk audit for the home does not include all the rooms in the home that children can access. Similarly, the home is at the top of a steep drive, and managers have not established a clear risk assessment or plan for when it is icy. Neither example has resulted in any harm to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are dedicated to the children they care for. They have high expectations of the care children should receive, and these are shared by their staff. Staff speak positively about working at the home; they feel supported. While there have been some recent changes to the staff team, the workforce is largely stable. This helps ensure that children receive consistency in their care and are supported to achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is currently in the process of transferring to another provider. Staff are positive about these changes and what it will mean for them and the children. Staff have had opportunities to meet the new providers to ask questions. This in turn helps provide reassurance to the children during the changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive support and guidance to help them care for children. Inspectors were unable to fully view training records during the inspection as they were in the process of Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 5 transferring to a new system. However, staff told us about the comprehensive training they receive and demonstrated that they had good knowledge of the children’s specific needs and how to care for them effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are cared for by a suitably qualified workforce. The majority of staff hold the relevant qualification needed for supporting children in residential care. Other staff are in the process of obtaining this qualification within the relevant time frames. This ensures that children are cared for by staff who are appropriately skilled to do so and know how to best support them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work well within children’s professional networks. They are competent in sharing information, communicating and advocating for children. Feedback from professionals is unanimous in praising the positive contribution the home makes to the children’s lives. There are systems to help managers understand the progress children and staff are making. They use these to improve the support both children and staff receive. Because of this they can clearly demonstrate the progress children have made, even in a brief time. For example, one child used to regularly go missing from a previous home but has not done so from this home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where children placed in the home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. This specifically relates to the lack of suitable structured activities in place for one child who does not yet have an educational placement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This specifically relates

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Recommendations

to the management of risks in the home environment including ligature risks and potential hazards with the steep driveway. (‘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: SC398480 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Childrens Services (2) Limited

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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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Inspectors

Louise Naylor, Social Care Inspector John Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC398480 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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