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

Inspection report for children's home: 2764431 1 Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Limited

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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 a privately run children’s home. The home is registered to care for up to two children who may have learning disabilities or social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the home was registered in May 2024 staff have cared for six different children. At the time of inspection two children were living in the home. Both children contributed to this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2764431 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

not previously inspected not previously inspected not previously inspected Inspection report children's home: 2764431 3

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improvement to be good

Since registering, children’s placements have been short and for such reasons stability for children has not been achieved.

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences of joining and leaving the home are variable. For one child it was rushed and was not done in a child focused way. However, for other children their transitions have been more positive.

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improvement to be good

The home is not presented in a way that creates a welcoming environment, furthermore cleanliness needs to improve. Home improvements are planned by the manager but have not yet been achieved.

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improvement to be good

Children do not have full access to the house. This is because the environment is being restricted by staff to manage children’s behaviour. For example, some internal doors are locked to support children to leave for school in the morning without them getting distracted. Although this works and the children get into the car to go to school, this is not good practice. This is because staff are unable to support this transition without some internal doors being locked.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children with their sensory needs, for example, staff learnt how to make edible playdoh. Children enjoy doing this activity with staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s medication and health needs. Staff appropriately challenge information shared with them and advocate for children’s rights in relation to medication.

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improvement to be good

The manager has prioritised children’s cultural needs by interpreting nursery rhymes and incorporating an Islamic prayer on a wall in the hallway. Staff work hard to try and overcome language barriers with parents.

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improvement to be good

There have been some good examples of staff being proactive and keeping children safe. However, this has lacked impact because children have moved out before staff have had the opportunity to build on any progress made.

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improvement to be good

Staff use physical intervention proportionately. However, for disabled children, not enough is being done to ascertain children’s views following a physical intervention. This is because staff are not yet confident understanding each child’s form of communication. This is important to ensure that children feel safe. The manager is working with external professionals and has a plan to address this. Inspection report children's home: 2764431 4 Staff respond well when children leave the home without permission. Staff work effectively with outside agencies and children’s family members. Staff actively encourage children to return home and remain in contact with them. On occasion staff have walked with children for several hours to ensure their safety.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to understand risks and promote positive decision making. Staff are professionally curious when talking with children. Staff are confident to talk about sensitive topics and have had good discussions with children about consent and sexual health.

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improvement to be good

Children are comfortable to tell staff if they have harmed themselves. Staff responses are nurturing and supportive. Staff create a safe space for children to talk to them about how they are.

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

Management oversight is not consistently robust. The manager has not always ensured that children’s plans reflect children’s current care needs. On occasions, children’s records have missed out important details. This is an area for development.

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

Staff supervisions are reflective and staff are supported to develop their skills. Although this is positive, supervisions do not always take place on a regular basis. Furthermore, staff have not always felt supported by leaders and managers. Staff feel that this has improved in recent weeks and that the team are now working effectively together.

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

Despite training and creative workshops being delivered to staff. Staff are not confident in meeting children’s needs in full. This leads to staff not always offering consistent care. The manager plans to find more creative ways of testing staff knowledge. This is to ensure that staff are confident in transferring skills to practice.

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

The manager has an action plan to develop staff practice and improve the overall care that children receive. This involves continuing improvements to the home to make it more appealing to the children who live there. Inspection report children's home: 2764431 5

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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, The 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 care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that arrangements are in place to— plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority; that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular this relates to the manager ensuring that when children move from the home, this is done in a planned way and for this to be as positive experience as possible. It also relates to ensuring that children's care plans and other care documents are up to date and clear to follow. 16 January 2025

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(h)

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Requirement Due date

In particular this relates to the manager ensuring that staff have the confidence to meet children's differing needs. It also relates to ensuring that there are robust plans in place for oversight 16 January 2025 Inspection report children's home: 2764431 6 when the manager is not at work. This is to ensure continuous improvements in the quality of care provided.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that just as in a family home, children have access to all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded, and be kept under regular review. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10).  The registered person should ensure that staff are aware of the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be

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Recommendations

helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4).  The registered person should ensure that the home environment is clean, homely and domestic. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9).  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident. In particular this relates to children with differing communication needs. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this (regulation

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Recommendations

7(2)(b)(iii)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60).  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, receive regular supervision of their practice, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2).

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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: 2764431 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Ellen Monk, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 2764431 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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