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Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 1 SC064050 Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately operated. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home, and all three were spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager registered with Ofsted in October 2025.

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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: SC064050 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/07/2024 Full Good 07/11/2023 Full Good 03/08/2022 Full Good 20/10/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a kind, friendly welcome when they move into the home. Before they move, children can watch a video about the home, visit, meet the existing children and staff and decide when they move in. This ensures that children feel included in their plans and this helps them to settle quickly. Children identify with trusted adults in the staff team who offer a listening ear.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from nurturing, predictable care from staff that mirrors positive parenting and role modelling. This promotes the children’s sense of security, stability and self-worth, so they can thrive. Staff support children to adjust to the boundaries while feeling cared for and protected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from living in a freshly decorated and colourful home that provides a warm and homely atmosphere. The photos around the home of children and staff portray unity. Staff encourage children to maintain clean and tidy bedrooms, which remains a work in progress for some children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to appreciate the value of education. Good partnerships with education providers support children’s regular school attendance and recognise children’s achievements. Staff support children to attend planned and emergency health appointments. This promotes children’s physical and mental well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s leisure activities broaden their social interactions. Children’s memory boxes include photos that remind them of the good times they experienced while living at the home. Staff place great care and effort in helping children celebrate their birthdays and other special occasions. They support children to participate in cultural events that also promote equality, diversity and inclusion. Children’s involvement in community service and charity work provides excellent opportunities for them to understand and care about other people’s struggles and build emotional intelligence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships between the staff and families support children’s connections with their families. Children’s friends can visit and stay over as appropriate, which replicates positive family life. Children understand their rights and know how to make a complaint, and staff take children’s concerns seriously.

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

Staff understand children’s specific vulnerabilities and risks. They spend time talking to the children to help them to know that staff worry about them and become risk aware. Professionals reported no safeguarding concerns at the home. The positive partnership working between the home and multi-agency professionals complements staff practice. This ensures that everyone is working together to safeguard children effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 4 Staff usually adhere to the individual protocols when children go missing from home. On one occasion, staff did not detect that a child had left the premises. This prompted a lesson learned discussion to improve practice and prevent a further occurrence. When children return home, staff show concern and talk to them to understand why they have gone missing. Children are offered a return home interview, which provides opportunities

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

for them to speak to someone independent.

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

Staff, including the in-house therapist, guide children to channel their emotions in more constructive ways. Clear and consistent parental boundaries are enhanced by the positive relationships between children and staff. This also enables sensitive conversations to take place. No children have needed to be held to keep everyone safe.

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

Staff have a sound understanding of allegations management and whistle-blowing. This enhances their capacity to protect children without fear or favour. Serious incidents have been notified to Ofsted within improved timescales. This helps Ofsted to have a clear oversight of safeguarding matters.

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

The regular health and safety checks conducted around the home keep everyone safe. The opportunities for unsuitable adults to have access to vulnerable children are reduced by safer recruitment practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership and management at the home have experienced a period of transition and an unsettled period since the new manager took charge eight months ago. Several staff were resistant to the efforts that the manager was making to change the negative culture at the home. This led to instability for at least one child, and incidents increased. Consequently, poor and inappropriate staff practices were investigated, and the staff involved no longer work for the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ably supported by the responsible individual, deputy manager and senior staff. They have delivered their shared vision of a supportive and learning culture that is embraced by the current staff team effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is reflective and aspirational for children to achieve the best possible outcomes. He knows the children very well. The manager’s expectations are filtered through to the staff team through handovers, team meetings, staff supervision, discussions, training and development opportunities. The care and respect from the manager make the staff feel valued, supported and motivated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers challenged a placing local authority about the poor transition for one child who moved out of the home. This led to an apology from the local authority and an acceptance from them to learn from the event. Positive feedback from professionals and family members about the service supports children’s experiences and progress. Furthermore, very positive feedback from a neighbour after years of disapproval is testament to the positive leadership and management of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 5 The manager thoroughly understands the strengths and areas for development of the home. These are informed by the internal and external monitoring systems for continuous improvements. The manager has not included the actual opinions of the children when completing the review of the quality of care. This does not offer sufficient insight into what children think about living at the home at any point in time. One

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

requirement raised at the last inspection has been met. Not all the recommendations have been satisfied, and two have been restated. Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that the children’s guide helps children to understand what the day-to-day routines of the home are (‘what happens in the home’). The children’s guide should explain to children the use of bedroom door alarms in the home, the reasons why they may be used and what needs to happen for the door alarms to be de-activated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should have a workforce plan that can fulfil the workforce- related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should detail the process for managing and improving poor performance. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should undertake a review that includes the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care

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Recommendations

they receive in it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 64, paragraph15.2)

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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: SC064050 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen B63 4AH

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Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC064050 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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