Children's Home run by Serenity Specialist Care Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 1 SC471672 Registered provider: Serenity Specialist Care 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

This home provides care for up to 4 children with complex needs. At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living in the home. Both children were seen and spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children have moved out of the home since the last inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since February 2026.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/06/2025 Full Good 24/09/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Good 12/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 3

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Summary of findings

This home is undergoing a period of transition as the registered manager has recently left. There are interim management arrangements in place. However, leaders and managers have not acted soon enough to improve the quality of care provided to children. Children are not supported sufficiently with their education and health, and to maintain positive relationships with each other. They do have some positive relationships with staff. Staff do not have the required skills and knowledge to help children when they become distressed. This has led to some significant incidents for children and one unplanned move from the home.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff have not taken enough action to ensure that the home is welcoming for children. Significant areas of the home are not clean and furnishings are not well maintained. One child’s bedroom had a sign that warned of ‘consequences’ and ‘sanctions’ if the child came downstairs during the night. This does not ensure that children are treated with dignity and respect.

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, glass in the home’s door was broken and had not been repaired despite it being 11 days since the damage occurred. The damaged glass was accessible to children because it had not been appropriately covered. This presented a risk to children’s safety. Leaders and managers took action to address this during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently support children effectively to engage and achieve with their education. One child in the home is not attending their school. Staff are not following the child’s plan to improve their daily routines, and staff did not advocate effectively for the child when they did not have a personal education plan. One child has recently been supported to make some improvements to their attendance. However, staff do not consistently support the child to complete their home learning. Staff have not ensured that the child is always properly prepared and equipped for school. For example, the child does not always have money for school dinners and, on one occasion, the child was late for school as they had no clean uniform. This impacts on the child being able to fully engage in their learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff generally take action to meet children’s immediate physical and mental health needs. However, when one child did not take their prescribed medication, staff did not seek medical advice or discuss this with the child. Some information in health plans is inaccurate and contradictory. As a result, the interim manager did not know if a child is currently undergoing a specific assessment for their identified needs and has not sought any updates about this. This does not ensure that children’s health needs are Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 4 fully met or understood and has the potential to impact on children’s health and wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

Children’s moves into the home are well planned and the manager considers children’s individual needs before they come to live at the home. However, moves from the home are not always well supported. One child left the home suddenly and this was not well planned. Staff did not speak with the child to help them understand why they were moving. When another child left the home at short notice, staff did not support the child to pack their items in a child-friendly way. In addition, leaders and managers have not supported staff to reflect on their practice and consider how unplanned endings could be avoided in the future. This does not ensure that children always have positive endings to their time in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s feedback is inconsistently sought and followed up on. Children contribute to planning meals and activities. One child said they do not like their bedroom wall colour and have asked for this to be painted during the past 6 months. Their wishes have not been acted on. This does not support children to feel listened to and valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff usually support children to safely see important people in their life. Children say that they have good relationships with staff. One child said that they could speak to staff about their worries.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not have the skills to appropriately support children when they are upset or angry. This means that staff sometimes call police to support them when children are unsettled. Leaders and managers have not taken sufficient action to ensure that staff develop their skills and confidence in supporting children to calm down safely. This has led to significant incidents, including where children have moved out of the home at short notice because staff have been unable to meet their needs and keep them and the other children in the home safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers do not consistently support children to have safe or positive relationships with each other. On two occasions, this has led to children hurting each other. Managers and leaders have not sufficiently investigated the circumstances of these incidents. This limits opportunities for staff to learn from and improve their practice. Although there have been no further incidents of physical harm, children in the home are emotionally impacted by their ongoing poor relationships with each other.

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improvement to be good

Guidance for staff is not always updated with children’s emerging risks and needs and some strategies are contradictory. One child presents in a way that could place others at risk. Strategies have been put in place to manage and reduce the risk, but staff do not consistently follow them. The interim manager and staff were unclear if the identified strategies should still be used. This has the potential to impact on staff’s ability to keep children safe from harm. Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 5 Consequences are not always appropriate. Oversight by the manager is inconsistent and children are not always spoken with about these consequences. On one occasion, a child was prevented from seeing an important person in their life without a time frame or clear rationale. This does not ensure that consequences are always restorative.

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improvement to be good

When children raise concerns about staff practice, these are taken seriously and shared with the appropriate agencies. Managers take appropriate immediate action to keep children safe and concerns are appropriately investigated. However, identified learning and actions from investigations are not consistently acted on. Children are usually informed of the outcome. However, on one occasion, a child did not get feedback about a concern that was upheld. This means that children do not know always know what has happened as a result of their concern, and staff are not supported to learn from these incidents.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff are alert to the risks of exploitation for children. They have worked effectively with other agencies to reduce one child’s risk of exploitation. When children go missing, staff take action to keep children safe. Children are always spoken with when they return home. As a result, children’s risks of going missing are reducing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers acknowledge the concerns identified at this inspection. At the time of the inspection, leaders had recently commissioned an external auditor to support them to develop an action plan to address shortfalls in the home. However, a number of the shortfalls identified are longstanding. Leaders and managers have not taken action to address these soon enough, resulting in repeat incidents of a similar nature, which have significantly impacted on children’s experiences and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The previous registered manager left the home in February 2026. There has been an interim manager in place since this time. There are plans for a new permanent manager to start working in the home imminently. The responsible individual has provided oversight of the home during this time. This means that the home is in a period of transition and that oversight of the home has, at times, been inconsistent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and leaders do not have sufficient oversight of significant incidents. As a result, action has not been taken to address several areas of concern. The quality of recording in the home is inconsistent. This means that managers do not always have a good understanding of children’s day-to-day lives. This has impacted on the strength of management oversight and on the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have not consistently sought feedback from children and others to make improvements. The independent visitor rarely seeks the views of children, family and professionals and this has not been challenged by managers. This limits leaders and managers’ capacity to drive continuous improvement and to ensure that care consistently meets the individual needs of children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 6 Team meetings are held regularly. However, there are missed opportunities to reflect on serious incidents and unplanned endings for children. This limits their effectiveness in addressing and improving staff practice. When the previous registered manager was in post, staff had regular supervision. Staff do not currently have regular or consistently reflective supervision. This means that staff who are new to the home, or who have identified areas for development, are not being supported as they should be. This

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

impacts on the care that staff provide to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff receive some appropriate training required to meet children’s needs. However, this is not always evident in practice. Managers and leaders do not take swift enough action to address ongoing identified gaps in staff knowledge and skills. For example, managers identified that staff needed training to support with managing children’s behaviour. There was a delay to this training being provided and, when it did take place, a small number of staff attended. During this time, staff have continued to struggle to safely manage children’s behaviour, resulting in further police involvement and an unplanned move from the home for one child as staff were not able to meet their needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is sufficiently staffed to meet the needs of children as new staff have been safely recruited. There has been a significant use of agency staff, but this has reduced in recent months, which provides children with some increased consistency. Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 7

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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 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

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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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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 and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 24 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 8 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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that management oversight, monitoring and review systems are robust and effective.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers should implement any learning following incidents to improve staff practice and the quality of care for children.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers should ensure that the wishes and feelings of children acted on.

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; 24 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 9 that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff use identified measures in children’s plans to reduce and mitigate risk to children

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and manager must ensure that staff understand their roles and responsibilities and have the skills to protect children.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and manager must ensure that the home is maintained to avoid hazards to children’s health.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; 24 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 10 help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff have the skills, knowledge and guidance to help children develop positive relationships with each other. They must intervene to keep children safe when required.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must also ensure that staff have regular supervision. Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 11 The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children personal items that are appropriate for their age and understanding; and

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— 24 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 12 meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(c)(i)(ii)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and manager should ensure that the home is clean and well maintained.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to using child-friendly language across all communication with children and in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; 24 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 13 raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should advocate for children when they do not have a suitable personal education plan. Managers and staff should support children to overcome any barriers that prevent them making progress in education.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should not use consequences that prevent children from seeing important people in their life without a clear rationale. Children should also be spoken with about any consequences to gain their views. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: SC471672 14

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Serenity Specialist Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor, Dominion Court, 43 Station Road, Solihull B91 3RT

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Inspector

Jenny Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC471672 15 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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