Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 1 Registered provider: Homes2Inspire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It provides care for up to two children who may experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home and contributed to the inspection. One child had moved out during this inspection period.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is being led by a manager who is not registered with Ofsted. The manager has applied to become registered.

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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: 2686745 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/10/2024 Full Good 13/09/2023 Full Good 19/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming and provides children with a comfortable environment. Children’s views have been considered when decorating the home. There are photos of the children throughout the home that capture happy memories for the children, such as holidays and birthdays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of maintaining children’s family connections. Children feel confident to invite their family members home. For example, one child recently enjoyed a takeaway with her sister at the home. Another child’s mother said, ‘I always feel welcome.’ She appreciated the support from staff. These positive experiences help children feel settled and strengthen their sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff have developed strong, trusting relationships. The staff provide consistent, nurturing care, which helps children feel valued and emotionally secure. The children respond well to this supportive approach. They recognise that staff genuinely care about their well-being. This helps children to build attachments, express their feelings and make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide effective and personalised support to help children to progress to the next stage of their lives. One older child became pregnant and was sensitively supported to move on to the next stage of her life with her baby. Staff helped her to learn the practical skills needed to develop her independence, which supported her to care for herself and her baby. This older child continues to benefit from positive, trusting relationships with two members of staff who maintain regular contact with her. This ongoing support is highly valued and contributes to her continued stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made notable progress since the last full inspection in October 2024, particularly in relation to their educational arrangements. Two children, who were not engaged in education, now have clear and appropriate education plans. One child has successfully returned to mainstream school after being out of education for almost three years. This demonstrates significant improvement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another child is now attending an education provision that meets their needs. Staff continue to work closely with the child and relevant professionals to build on this progress. This sustained and collaborative approach is helping children to re-engage positively with their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from well-coordinated support that helps them to access any specialist support services they may need. Staff understand the importance of reviewing support and ensuring that children engage with services at a pace that is right for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager is strong and resilient and continues to ensure child-focused care practice. For example, when a child was finding it difficult to attend an external service, the Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 4 manager arranged for the specialist worker to visit the home instead. This flexible and sensitive approach helps to reduce barriers and ensures the child’s individual needs are prioritised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s cultural and identity needs are a priority. However, this is not reflected in children’s care plans. As a result, opportunities are missed to clearly record, review and evaluate how children’s cultural needs are being met.

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

Children feel safe. One child has become increasingly safer because the number of times they go missing from home has significantly reduced. Now, if the child goes missing, they will contact staff and ask to be picked up and brought home. This demonstrates that the child feels safe and confident to turn to staff for help, and it reflects the development of trusting relationships that support them in making safer choices.

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

Staff support children in identifying and managing their risks and vulnerabilities. Staff have regular, age-appropriate discussions with children. They encourage them to understand potential dangers and help them to make safe and informed choices.

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

There are effective and collaborative multi-agency working arrangements for a child who is at increased risk of exploitation. The manager was quickly able to identify when the risk for the child was escalating and took swift action. Regular meetings with relevant professionals have been arranged to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place, demonstrating a proactive and well-coordinated approach to protecting the child.

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

Children have clear and individualised risk management assessments that outline their specific vulnerabilities and the actions required of staff to keep the children safe. These plans are sufficiently detailed and provide good and strong guidance for staff. Staff know the children well, including their individual risks and behaviours. They usually follow children’s plans. However, on one occasion, a child’s plan was not followed. This led to a significant incident of the child going missing from home. Leaders and managers responded promptly and appropriately, implementing any learning and sharing it with the wider team to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

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

Staff follow the home’s missing-from-care policy and promptly inform the relevant agencies when children do not return home. They carry out local searches and attempt to contact the children. However, staff do not consistently continue searching or maintain contact attempts throughout the night. This lack of persistence represents a missed opportunity to strengthen safeguarding practice and ensure children’s safety when they are missing from home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a manager who is both inspirational and aspirational for the children. She is highly experienced in caring for children and promotes a strong, child-centred ethos Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 5 across the home. She supports staff to embed this vision effectively, which focuses on creating a loving, family-oriented environment in which children feel valued and able to thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported at this home. They value supervision, which takes place regularly and is supportive. Staff attend regular team meetings. They also benefit from taking part in learning circles. This has helped them to reflect, and it is a learning opportunity that has a positive impact on the children they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager implements robust recruitment and vetting procedures, ensuring that all safeguarding checks are completed and verified prior to staff taking up duties at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager places a strong emphasis on advocacy and ensures that each child has access to an individual advocate. She is a committed and effective advocate herself, championing children’s rights and ensuring their voices influence care practice. Children are encouraged to share their wishes and feelings, and they consistently see these acted on, which helps them feel heard and empowered. For example, when a child expressed a preference for a particular education provision, the manager promptly arranged a visit to the school, ensuring that the child’s views were central to the decision-making process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established strong and effective relationships with external professionals and the children’s families. Stakeholder feedback was wholly positive and reflects the manager’s commitment to collaborative practice and high-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Point-in-time surveys have not been completed during this inspection period. This is a missed opportunity for leaders and managers to reflect and further develop the service offered to children and families. It is also a missed opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the home’s strengths and the areas that require further improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There was a clear escalation of risk for one child at a particular point. While this risk was well managed with the child and relevant agencies, there is no evidence that the team received immediate support or guidance following this incident to help them manage the escalation effectively. This lack of recorded managerial oversight or debriefing represents a missed opportunity to ensure that staff were fully supported and equipped to respond to the increased level of risk. Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 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

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff consistently follow children’s plans to support the reduction of risks for children. 2 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should seek children’s consent for the independent visitor to view their files. 2 January 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s heritage and cultural needs are reflected within the care planning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should ensure that learning from incidents is shared with all staff to improve practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 7  The registered person should ensure that there are plans in place to actively search for children who go missing from home over a sustained period of time. This includes clear arrangements and expectations of staff when children are missing overnight. (‘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: 2686745 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes2Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Black Country House, Rounds Green Road, Oldbury B69 2DG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Carla-Marie Dore

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Inspector

Becky Thompson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2686745 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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