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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 1 SC398377 Registered provider: Hillcrest Childrens Services (2) 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

A large, private company owns this children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent registered manager who has been in post since December 2023 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children live at the home. All were spoken to by the inspector.

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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: SC398377 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/04/2024 Full Good 09/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite only living at the home for a short time, the children have made progress across various aspects of their lives. Since the last inspection, two children have moved out. For one child, this was due to staff being unable to adequately meet their needs at the time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to try to ensure that children moving into or out of the home have a positive experience, even in difficult circumstances. For example, when two children moved in at very short notice, staff quickly obtained provisions that the children might need and like to help them settle in. Consideration was also given to the needs of a child already living at the home, who helped staff to welcome the new children. These positive experiences have helped the children to settle in quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to engage in education. All children attend education full time and have good attendance. Staff have supported children to maintain the educational placements that were in place prior to them moving into the home. This has helped to minimise disruption to their education and lay the foundations for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to adopt good routines. For example, one child has gone from struggling to settle at night to settling on their own. This was established through working with the child to identify what could be put in place to help them. The child has clear visual aids to help them with their daily routines, which are appropriate to their age and understanding. This has had a positive impact on their participation in education and activities, and their relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been significant improvements to the home environment over the last few months. The home is warm and inviting. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and reflect their individuality. Children’s requests about the conditions of the home are acted on. At mealtimes, children and staff sit together and enjoy conversations. This helps children to enjoy, and feel proud of, their home.

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

Children feel safe living at the home. Staff are consistent in implementing clear routines and boundaries that help children to understand what is expected of them. For example, agreements about the amount of time that children spend online are consistently adhered to and enable children to participate in other activities and build strong relationships with staff. This has helped children to feel safe and settled and has contributed to improved behaviour.

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

Children are cared for by staff who have a good understanding of their needs. Consequently, incidents are few in number. When incidents do occur, staff take time to understand the reasons behind the child’s behaviour and use professional curiosity. This Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 4 enables staff to better support children and identify strategies they can use when a child is distressed.

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

Staff help children to make positive choices through incentives, rewards and sanctions. Children are set clear and achievable goals in exchange for personalised rewards. This has been effective in helping to establish good routines and behaviours.

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

Allegations raised by children are taken seriously and appropriate action is taken to ensure that children are effectively safeguarded. Children are notified of the outcome and, where appropriate, supported in any reconciliation with adults to help them both move on. This helps to give children confidence that their concerns will be acted on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the assurance inspection in December 2024, staffing issues and challenges in keeping one child safe had contributed to an exhausted staff team. Leaders decided that no further children would come to live at the home at that time and the child needed to move from the home due to a lack of suitably trained staff to meet their needs. Despite the challenges, staff continued to support the child until they moved to a home that could better meet their needs. New staff were recruited and trained, and work was undertaken to build the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have worked hard to deliver the changes needed to ensure that children receive high-quality care. The manager has high expectations of the staff team, who speak affectionately about the children. When incidents occur or consequences are imposed, the manager identifies any learning and shares this with staff to help them reflect and learn. Feedback from children, colleagues and observation is also obtained to help the registered manager maintain good oversight of the care provided and take action to help staff improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported and enjoy coming to work. Staff receive regular supervision, which focuses heavily on staff development. The registered manager tests staff knowledge of safeguarding through scenario-based questions. They also obtain feedback from children and colleagues and observe staff practice. This helps the manager to identify and act on any shortfalls in practice and provides assurance as to the quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views and wishes are heard. Staff are creative in the way in which they obtain feedback and involve children in the running of the home. Children’s meetings have been adapted to better meet the age of the children. Children are asked to score how they are feeling, how school is and how well they have got on with staff. Any changes in scores are used to help explore any issues or concerns arising, so that action can be taken to support the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from external professionals is unanimous in their praise of the leadership of the home and quality of care provided. Professionals are positive about how children are helped to move into the home and how quickly they settle. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 5 For the most part, the registered manager has good oversight of the home. While there is no evidence that this is having any adverse impact on the children, there are some shortfalls in relation to the management of ligature risks and oversight of staff training. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 6

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that staff access all appropriate resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This specifically relates to the registered manager having full oversight of staff training records and ensuring that required training is completed by staff in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This specifically relates to the potential ligature risks within the home. (‘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: SC398377 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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Inspector

Louise Naylor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC398377 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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