Children's home run by ABBI HOUSE LIMITED

Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 1 Full inspection

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately operated children’s home provides care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties and/or learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2024 and holds a suitable qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This was the home’s first inspection since being registered in May 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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to develop positive relationships with children and understand their individual communication styles. They carry out good-quality direct work with children and hold meaningful conversations to help them to learn about life and risk. As a result, the child living in the home is developing in confidence and is able to share their wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of education. They identify barriers and seek to overcome them. The home has an education lead who works to ensure that if children are out of education, they continue to learn each day in the home. The registered manager has been instrumental in ensuring external professionals working with one child reviewed their education, health and care plan as it did not adequately reflect the child’s positive attributes. This was a barrier to the child being offered an education placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is spacious and there is a large garden with sensory play activities for children. Children’s sensory needs have been considered. At the entrance to the home, there is tactile and visual wall, which supports the child living in the home as it acts as a prompt in their routine when they may have to wait before going out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home was registered, two children have moved in. The first child’s move followed a detailed transition plan. However, this child’s needs could not be safely managed by staff, and they moved out of the home after four weeks. Another child moved in before the first child left. Assessments completed by managers did not fully evaluate the needs of both children and how appropriate it was for them to be living together. In addition, no work was done to support the child living in the home to prepare for the new child moving in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff have supported one child to continue to have weekend overnight stays with their father and siblings at their family home each week. This helps the child have consistency and routine, and spending time with their family benefits them emotionally. While there is a plan in place for this, this does not fully consider how staff and family ensure all the child’s needs are being fully met during time with their family.

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

Staff provide clear routines and consistent boundaries that help children to feel safe and secure. Visual weekly and daily plans give structure to the week and help children to prepare for what is ahead of them. When things do not go to plan, staff take time to help the child understand so that they are better able to manage the situation. This helps to reduce any anxieties the child may have and helps them to feel secure. Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 3 Feedback from children’s social workers is positive. They have no safeguarding concerns. One social worker said, ‘The staff team ensure that [name of child] is kept safe within and away from the home setting through supervision and risk assessments. The home have been proactive in the care planning process’.

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

Staff know children well and understand their presenting risks and needs. They manage these risks well and ensure their individual needs are met. When safeguarding incidents occur, staff respond appropriately and ensure that children are kept safe. However, for one child, some strategies to manage their behaviour were not clear in all their care planning and risk assessment documents. Inconsistency in children’s plans has the potential for responses from staff to vary and not be in line with how best to support them.

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

Physical intervention is only used as a last resort after staff have exhausted all de- scalation techniques. However, following the use of physical intervention, children and staff are not always spoken to and written reports are sometimes not completed in full. This absence of oversight and evaluation means that managers fail to fully consider how appropriate incidents of restraint are managed and hinders opportunities for staff to learn.

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

Children are cared for by staff who have undergone the necessary recruitment checks. This helps to ensure that staff are safe to be working children before they begin doing so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is enthusiastic about ensuring staff provide high standards of care, and children are at the forefront of everything she does. She has a clear desire to improve outcomes for children and speaks enthusiastically about them. She is honest and transparent and clearly recognises the home’s strengths and areas for development, which drives improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of the manager and feel well supported. Staff are empowered and given opportunities to develop in their roles. One staff member said, ‘I feel so well supported. The well-being of staff is really valued, and we have support from a mental health nurse who always checks in with us.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with a wide range of training that informs their practice and helps them meet children’s individual and diverse needs. Team meeting discussions are reflective and provide a comprehensive overview of the progress children make. This allows all staff an opportunity to discuss progress, generate ideas and have a consistent approach to the care provided. The team is also supported by monthly clinical supervision in these team meetings. This level of support helps ensure that children are cared for by knowledgeable staff. Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 4 The registered manager maintains effective oversight of the home. Monthly audits ensure that any issues are picked up in a timely way. Daily monitoring checks conducted by staff also help manage potential risks to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s engagement with others involved in children’s care is strong. There are highly effective working relationships between staff at the home, children’s families and professionals working with children. A parent said, ‘My child is making progress. Their move to this home has been so positive. I am kept updated about everything and staff are always available to talk.’ Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 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—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; and

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that managers demonstrate child-centred planning when children move into the home and ensure children who are living in the home are prepared for new arrivals. 14 May 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure, and any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and 16 April 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 6 has signed the record to confirm its accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure (Regulation 35 (3)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the manager ensures that records of physical interventions contain all necessary information and enable incidents to be understood to aid future learning. In addition, the manager must ensure that debriefs are completed with the child and these are recorded appropriately.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand, for each child, what the placing authority has recorded in the relevant plan as an appropriate level of contact with family and friends and ensure that there is a clear plan in place for staff to follow. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff have clear and unambiguous expectations of behaviour for children, and in particular ensure that there is continuity between children’s plans to ensure consistency of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)

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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: 2781200 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 11 Grosvenor House, St Pauls Square, Birmingham B3 1RB

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Inspector

Kate Savage, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2781200 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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