Children's Home run by First 4 Care Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 1 SC390293 Registered provider: First 4 Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private provider. It provides care for up to 3 children who may be experiencing social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home. Neither child was spoken with as part of the inspection due to various circumstances.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in March 2009, and the manager registered with Ofsted in November 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

Date of last inspection: 9 December 2025

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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: SC390293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/12/2025 Full Good 03/03/2025 Full Good 23/08/2023 Full Good 17/05/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 3

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Summary of findings

Children have made progress in this home from their starting points. They are supported by a small core staff team whose members prioritise building positive relationships. Staff know the children well and understand their needs. Risks are clearly identified for children, and the team responds well to managing these risks. Children are well supported to maintain relationships and connections that are important to them.

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Summary of findings

There is an experienced manager in place who has a good level of oversight on safeguarding and experience with children. The staff team members feel well supported by the manager and are afforded good support, training and development opportunities.

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Summary of findings

Two children were living in the home, although one child moved out during the inspection. There was a transition plan in place that allowed for the child to be supported through outreach work, but effective care planning was not completed in line with their needs and risks. The physical home environment is not welcoming or homely for children and does not support a nurturing environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made progress from their starting points despite their own personal challenges. The staff team builds positive relationships with children and supports them to make progress through relational work. Staff know the children and their specific needs well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported effectively to develop their independence. The staff team implements personalised plans with clear targets. Staff work directly with children to build independence skills, both through activities in the community and learning in the home. Staff monitor and review children’s progress against their independence goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. Staff promote and facilitate family time and share information with families in a timely and appropriate way. One family member commented that the staff team members are ‘diamonds’ and that they ‘can’t thank them enough for everything they have done’. Children are also supported to spend time with friends in the community, including participating in sleepovers. These arrangements are risk-assessed appropriately, with clear plans in place to help keep children safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are captured regularly through weekly meetings and are recorded in ‘Our Voice’ documents. These records are presented in a child- friendly format. Staff listen to children and respond appropriately, providing positive praise and using children’s views to drive practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 4 The home environment is not welcoming for children and does not reflect a nurturing and homely environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has very recently moved on under difficult circumstances. The transition plan in place allows for outreach work for the continuation of consistent relationships for the child. Despite this, managers have advocated for a provision for this child that is not in line with their needs and risks. This is not in line with effective care planning for children and could place children at greater risk.

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

Children have detailed risk assessments in place that reflect changing needs. They are regularly updated by the staff team. Despite there being a number of separate risk assessments, they all interlink and reflect an accurate picture. These are used together with a behaviour support plan for children whereby presenting behaviours are detailed alongside successful de-escalation strategies.

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

There has been a high level of incidents in the home involving risk for children. A number of these have required police assistance. This has unfortunately contributed to children spending time in police custody. However, these incidents are well managed by the staff team. There is a theme of staff working well together to manage risk and support children. Incidents are well recorded and multi-agency professionals are quickly informed. The manager has good oversight of these incidents and supports debriefs for staff and children.

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

Children are well supported when they go missing from the home. Staff know and understand their specific missing protocols and keep records up to date. There is effective multi-agency information-sharing when children are missing from the home. Children are offered meaningful support from the staff team when they return home, and managers advocate for independent return home interviews for children.

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

The recording of physical interventions is detailed and appropriate. Records are clear and enable patterns and multiple interventions to be easily identified. Debriefs are carried out consistently with both staff and children, supporting reflection and learning. Staff attempt multiple de-escalation strategies, and physical intervention is used only when there is a risk to self or others.

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

The staff team and managers do not consistently sign visitors in to the home. This does not ensure that visitors in the home are safe for children, or accurately reflect who is in the children’s home at any one time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is present and visible in the home. He has positive relationships with children and the staff team. He has a good level of management oversight across Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 5 documentation for children, including presenting risks and achievements. The manager knows the children well and speaks about them with warmth and affection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision and training. Senior staff members have completed supervision training and offer support to new staff members. Mandatory training is completed as part of a considered induction period, and staff benefit from weekly spot supervisions during this time. Staff consistently participate in debriefs following incidents with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a small core staff team in place, whose members know the children well. When staff ratios have needed to increase, the managers have identified familiar staff from other homes and have used one consistent agency member of staff. This supports better relationships and familiarity for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has appropriate monitoring systems in place to ensure good management oversight. Monthly audits are reflective and provide a detailed overview of this period for children. Managers’ reflections on incidents identify lessons learned and key lines of enquiry for future practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from access to a clinical team that provides additional reflective support and training. Staff say that these sessions are both helpful and meaningful. Home team meetings for staff have not been taking place consistently. This is a missed opportunity for continued development and support. Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 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

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a record is kept of all visitors to the home, and to children, including the names of visitors and the reasons for the visit. 22 June 2026

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 13 July 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children; it will, in most cases, be a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate resources to support their training and development needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, staff should have access to regular team meetings. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 7

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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: SC390293 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First 4 Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 St Wilfrids Road, Doncaster DN4 6AA

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Inspector

Mel Turner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC390293 9 to 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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