Children's home run by Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 1 Registered provider: Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

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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 operated by Birmingham Children’s Trust and provides long-term care for up to three children who may have experienced social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of inspection, three children were living at the home. All the children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2022.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: 2711552 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2025 Full Good 17/10/2023 Full Good 09/05/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have secure relationships with staff, who know them well. Staff invest time in them and set them appropriate boundaries. This provides children with stability. Children say that they like living in this home. One child said that the staff ‘care for me and love me. There is always someone there for me.’ Another child said that since being in the home, she trusts people more.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support from staff to engage in a range of activities. They have recently returned from a holiday where they tried new activities. Children attend dance and martial arts classes. One child is volunteering at a local school and is part of the Child in Care Council. Children enjoy taking part in these activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to make decisions about their lives, and they are consulted regularly about their views. They agree on the weekly meals and what activities they would like to do. They are also involved in what rewards they would like to work towards. One child said, ‘This makes me feel involved.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to see their friends and family in a safe way. Staff work well with parents. One parent said, ‘When I visit my child in the home, staff make me feel welcome. It feels natural and nice.’ This helps children to maintain relationships with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint. The manager investigates complaints and children receive written feedback. However, investigations into children’s concerns are not always completed in a timely way, and the manager does not always ensure that identified follow-up actions are completed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school and are making good progress from their starting points. Staff celebrate their educational achievements by giving rewards and displaying certificates. However, staff have not always provided sufficient support to help children improve their attendance. This is because the manager does not have effective oversight of children’s attendance and the barriers preventing them from attending school regularly. The home has recently implemented new plans for the children’s morning routines. However, these measures have only been in place for a short time and therefore their effectiveness could not yet be seen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s health needs and their emotional well-being. One child said that staff help to distract her when she feels stressed. An external professional said that one child’s ability to manage conflict is improving. Referrals are made to specialist services when children need additional help with their emotional well-being. However, when services are not provided in a timely way, staff and managers are not proactive in escalating their concerns with other agencies. Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 4

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks that the internet may pose for children. However, strategies in place to help children keep themselves safe online are not effective. One child has been subject to at least hourly checks of their phone for the past three months. Despite this, risks around their internet use have been increasing. The manager has not maintained effective oversight and has not reviewed if these measures are appropriate and effective.

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improvement to be good

There has also been a significant delay in safety planning, and the manager has not challenged or escalated this with external professionals. This does not ensure effective planning with the local authority to reduce risk of harm. In addition, it does not ensure that children can take risks appropriate to their age.

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improvement to be good

Risks associated with misusing drugs are not responded to appropriately. One child who used substances while at school became unwell on their return home. Staff took immediate steps to keep the child safe by seeking medical attention. However, the manager did not have sufficient oversight of this incident. As a result, the information was not shared with professionals or parents and opportunities to work collaboratively to reduce the risk of future harm were missed.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they feel safe in the home. They have trusted staff that they can speak to about their concerns. As a result, one child shared their concerns with staff when they felt threatened when out in the community. Staff took immediate steps to keep them safe and updated their risk management plan. However, there was a four-day delay in police being told of the incident. This impacted on the police being able to take prompt action to safeguard children.

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improvement to be good

Risk management plans identify known risks and provide strategies to keep children safe. However, plans are not always updated to reflect new concerns following incidents. As a result, staff are not always clear about what action they need to take keep children safe and agreed strategies in place to safeguard children have not been followed consistently.

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improvement to be good

When children self-harm, staff provide appropriate support. One child’s risk of self- injurious behaviour has significantly reduced. The child said key-work sessions with staff have helped her to feel less anxious and to build her self-esteem.

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

The home is managed by a registered manager who is suitably qualified and experienced.

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

Management oversight of incidents is inconsistent. The manager does not always identify appropriate follow-up actions and when actions are identified, these are not always completed. This is affected by poor case records, as outcomes are not recorded consistently. There are also inconsistencies in where children’s information is stored and Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 5 communication with external professionals is not always recorded. This means that staff are unable to locate children’s information promptly and, at times, are unclear on the action they need to take to keep children safe. This has in some instances impacted on the consistency of care provided to children.

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

The manager has monitoring and review systems in place, but these are not effective. The home’s action plan does not always identify shortfalls. When the manager has identified shortfalls, he has taken limited action to address them. As a result, issues around inaccurate record-keeping have not been addressed and the strategies in place to support children have not been reviewed regularly to ensure risk assessments are accurate and strategies are effective.

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

Staff say they feel well supported. There are regular team meetings to support their development. When supervision takes place, this is effective. However, the manager does not have sufficient oversight of whether supervision has taken place. As a result, most staff had not received supervision during March and April.

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

Staff receive appropriate training to meet children’s specific needs. They have completed training in line with the organisation’s policy. The manager does not have oversight of what training staff have completed, as he does not update monitoring systems. As a result, one staff member has not completed their childcare qualification within the statutory timescales. They are now enrolled on the course.

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

The responsible individual has oversight of the shortfalls identified. He has shared a plan with the regulator to address these concerns and has been providing more management support to the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that information is shared with other professionals in a timely way to keep children safe.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to risk management plans for children accurately reflecting their individual risks and how to manage those risks, and that the manager must have oversight of these plans. 13 October 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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child 13 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 7 and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the manager follows the complaints and safeguarding policies set out in the home’s statement of purpose. This also relates to the registered manager’s monitoring systems identifying where there are shortfalls and taking appropriate action to resolve these.

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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 involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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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 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. (Regulation 5 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to escalating concerns when children’s needs are not being met in line with their plans. 13 October 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: 2711552 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Avenue Road, Aston, Birmingham B6 4DU

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Inspector

Jenny Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2711552 9 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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