Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 1 Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is suitably experienced and has been in post since July 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/08/2023 Full Good 25/10/2022 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 3

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improvement to be good

Children have positive experiences of moving in and out of the home. One child was supported to move out in a planned and positive way. When children move into the home, they are welcomed with sensitivity and care. However, despite the actions taken by staff, one child already living at the home said they felt unprepared for a new child moving in. This is something that staff are continuing to support them with.

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improvement to be good

Staff advocate for children. However, opportunities to actively challenge other professionals to reduce restrictions for one child around how they spend time in the community and them having a mobile phone of their own have been missed. This does not ensure that the child is supported to make progress in line with their plans.

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improvement to be good

Children are helped to develop trusting relationships with core staff. Children say that their views about their care are listened to and acted on by the manager and staff.

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improvement to be good

Children are given choices about their menus and activities. Healthy living is promoted by staff, and a range of activities are on offer that provide children with new experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff support and encourage children to spend time with the people who are important to them. Where appropriate, staff supervise family time. External professionals and parents say that the staff interact well with families to support the children to develop relationships that offer stability for them in the future.

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improvement to be good

One child attends an appropriate educational provision full time and is making good progress. The other child, who recently moved into the home, is currently accessing internal educational provision. The registered manager is ensuring that staff also support the child to engage in learning in the home until a suitable external provision is identified.

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improvement to be good

Staff liaise with other health professionals and support children to attend routine health appointments.

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improvement to be good

Equality, diversity and inclusion are promoted and supported at the home. Staff support and encourage children to develop their understanding of their identity and culture.

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improvement to be good

The home is warm and welcoming. Staff help children to personalise their bedrooms according to their individual tastes and interests. There are photos of the children and people who are important to them throughout the home. Any maintenance issues are quickly addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 4

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improvement to be good

The quality of risk assessments is varied. Assessments for one child who has recently moved into the home do not accurately reflect the child’s behaviours or the strategies required to enable staff to manage their behaviour and risks. Consequently, staff are unsure of the strategies they should use to manage and reduce the risks for the child.

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improvement to be good

Although incidents at the home are infrequent, staff are not always aware of how incidents at the home impact on children. One recent incident led to a child locking themselves in their bedroom to feel safe. There was limited reflection or discussion following this incident to improve and develop staff learning. The child also spoke about going out more to avoid the dynamics in the home. This does not demonstrate that the child feels supported to understand the changing dynamics in the home or their emotions around this.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from the home. When children do go missing, staff are proactive in looking for them and ensuring that they return home safely. However, on one occasion, staff were unaware for several hours that a child was missing from home after the child had left the home in the early hours of the morning. Door alarms on external doors were in place but had not been effective. This compromised the child’s safety and is something that leaders and managers have taken action to address.

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improvement to be good

Children have clear boundaries and good routines. There has been no reason for staff to use physical restraint, and consequences for negative behaviours are rarely used in the home.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment processes, such as carrying out reference checks, are not always robustly followed. This means that leaders and managers cannot always be assured that people working in the home are suitably experienced and safe to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The manager has positive relationships with children and understands their needs. He has established an open and honest culture in the home where children and staff feel supported and listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Some experienced members of staff have left the home, and there are a number of new staff working in the home. Children have struggled to adjust to the staff changes, and support around this is ongoing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Training records are not well maintained. This limits management oversight, and records do not easily reflect when training has been completed within timescales. The team has received training in the provider’s model of therapeutic care. This is continuing to be embedded into everyday practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Staff receive supervision regularly. Sessions are reflective and used as an opportunity to highlight good practice and address areas for development. Regular team meetings focus Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 5 on children’s progress and any areas of concern. However, records do not show how staff have used the meetings to reflect on their practice and interactions with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The communication by the manager and staff with children’s social workers is positive. One child’s social worker said, ‘I feel that the staff work well with [name of child] and that they always keep me up to date on what is happening for them.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the quality of risk assessments and staff understanding how to keep children safe. Clear strategies must be in place to help staff to manage and reduce risks for children. 14 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 7 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 registered 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager using professional curiosity to evaluate incidents to consider patterns and areas for learning. This should be reflected in their oversight of the home in records and reviews of care.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that the training matrix is kept updated to show the training completed by staff; that records of team meetings demonstrate how staff reflect on their practice as a team and that recruitment processes and checks are robust, to ensure that staff have the experience and qualifications needed to fulfil their role. 14 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be 14 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 8 inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that children’s plans reflect their current and emerging needs and that appropriate challenge is provided to a child’s placing authority to ensure that the child’s needs are being met.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the team delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. This relates specifically to ensuring that the provider’s chosen model of practice is embedded in everyday practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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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: 2638535 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 19 Lancaster Road, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9LD

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Inspectors

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Justina Henry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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