Children's Home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 1 Registered provider: My Choice Children’s Homes 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 home is owned and run by a private organisation. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/07/2024 Full Good 26/09/2023 Full Good 15/02/2023 Full Good 02/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress because staff are committed to building strong and trusting relationships with them. Staff provide children with predictable boundaries and routines and ensure that children have positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they enjoy living in the home and that they feel safe and happy. The inspector observed interactions between children and staff that were mutually respectful and kind. Staff speak proudly and fondly about the children and have high aspirations for what they can achieve. There is a ‘board of positivity’ that provides a visual reminder to the children about the staff team’s pride in each of their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a comfortable and welcoming feel to it. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to their individual taste. Children are in the process of decorating the hallway with a painted mural, which they are all contributing to. This helps the children to express themselves and take ownership of their environment, which gives them a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are central to the way they are looked after and the way the home is run. Children’s meetings are held regularly and give children opportunities to make choices about the menu and activities. Managers and staff proactively advocate for children to ensure that their voice is heard in every care planning meeting, whether the child feels able to attend or not.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have individualised incentive plans that are worked on daily with staff support. Targets are set collaboratively by children and the staff team. Children generally do not receive consequences when they are struggling to manage their emotions and are showing this through their behaviour, but they may lose their incentives. This helps children to understand the impact of their actions but gives them the opportunity to have a fresh start every day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met by staff through careful planning and strong communication with external health professionals. When new children arrive, staff promptly register them with local health services, including the GP, dentist and optician.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children who are enrolled in full-time education have made good progress from their starting points. One is being supported by staff to revise for upcoming exams, and the other has achieved qualifications that will help them to start their chosen career. Children who have arrived more recently, and therefore do not yet have an identified education provision, are receiving learning opportunities from staff. Managers are proactively advocating for children’s education placements to begin as soon as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff carefully support children to share their thoughts and feelings about family Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 4 time and liaise with other professionals to ensure that any concerns are swiftly shared and resolved. Where appropriate, staff work closely with children’s families to promote a consistent approach to meeting children’s needs.

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

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities of each child and respond swiftly to any safeguarding concerns. When necessary, those concerns are escalated to external safeguarding professionals, such as the child’s social worker, the local authority designated officer and the police, to ensure that there is a multi-agency approach to keeping children safe from harm.

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

When behavioural incidents occur, staff make effective use of de-escalation techniques and remain calm and patient. As a result, physical restraint is used infrequently and only as a last resort. Records of all physical restraints are shared with the child’s placing authority. This transparent approach demonstrates a culture of openness and contributes to children’s safety. Robust management oversight of physical restraints takes place to ensure that its use was appropriate and proportionate. Children are given the opportunity to share their thoughts about the restraint. This helps to make sure that children and staff have a shared understanding about what happened and about how to reduce the risk of further incidents.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, staff follow protocols and liaise with other relevant professionals to ensure that the child returns home safely as soon as possible. Staff show empathy and sensitively support children on their return. Information about children’s whereabouts during the episode of going missing is shared with social workers and the police. Staff advocate for children’s social workers to complete return home interviews without delay to better understand children’s reasons for leaving the home and to help children to identify safer ways to manage difficult emotions.

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

Since the last inspection, three children have moved out of the home because managers realised that their needs could not safely be met. Managers have learned from these unplanned endings and improved matching processes. They ensure that new children’s needs are compatible with those of the children already living at the home. One of the children who left has moved to one of the organisation’s other homes. The child is reported to be thriving in their new home.

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

Staff diligently support the children to build and maintain positive relationships with each other. They have regular, open discussions about topics such as bullying. Children are helped to safely enjoy activities together. As a result, children are learning important social skills that will help them now and in the future.

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

Since the last inspection, an extensive refurbishment of the interior of the home has been undertaken. However, the inspector found that in the garden there were discarded items, such as broken furniture, that may cause harm to children. These were removed Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 5 during the inspection. Additionally, staff maintenance checks of the home’s cars are not carried out in line with the organisation’s policy. This means that the cars are frequently in the garage for repair and therefore not available for staff to take children out.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is ambitious and strives to provide children with good-quality, nurturing care. The staff team and children hold the registered manager in very high regard and feel safe and supported with them in charge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a tangible buzz of positivity from members of the staff team, who look forward to each working day because they appreciate opportunities to improve on their practice, learn from each other and provide consistently good care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager makes effective use of any learning that is identified when things do not go to plan. This results in improvements to processes and practice that enhance children’s experiences, safety and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recent recruitment has been successful and there is now a full staff team. When it is necessary to use agency staff, only agency staff who are familiar with the home are employed to work there. Consequently, children are being looked after by staff who know how to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a sharp focus on making sure that staff feel well supported. This is achieved by providing regular, meaningful supervision, opportunities to attend team meetings, good- quality training and reflective practice sessions. The overall approach results in an informed staff team whose members are inspired to provide good-quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recent return of the deputy manager and the upskilling of senior staff are helping to ensure that staff have strong role models who help them to fulfil their roles confidently. The registered manager understands the link between retaining a confident, stable staff team and improved outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has sound awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. There is a comprehensive development plan in place to address the shortfalls that they have identified and to further improve the service. The registered manager understands the need to keep the home, and the cars, regularly maintained so that there is no negative impact on children when they fall into disrepair.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager understands the importance of working in partnership with other professionals. They keep other professionals fully informed about children’s progress and challenge decisions made by other professionals when they believe those decisions are not made with children’s best interests in mind. Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 6

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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 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the garden is kept free of items that may pose a risk to children and that the organisation’s cars receive maintenance checks in line with the policy.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the last inspection and is restated. 29 May 2025

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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: 1250194 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: My Choice Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3a Mill Green Business Estate, Mill Green Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XQ

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Inspector

Emma Haskell, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1250194 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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