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

Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 1 SC471672 Registered provider: Serenity Specialist Care Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a small private organisation. It provides care for up to 4 children with complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since February 2026. A new manager started in May 2026, and they have applied to register.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered provider has recently appointed a new responsible individual, and Ofsted is checking this person has the relevant capacity, experience and skills to carry out the role.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were no children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

On 2 June 2026, Ofsted was made aware of concerns that indicated the poor oversight by leaders and managers had continued since the previous inspection. As a result, the care and safety of children had been impacted significantly, and one child had come to avoidable harm. Ofsted was of the view that if further children were admitted to the home, it would exacerbate the concerns identified and would likely place children at increased risk of harm. For this reason, Ofsted issued a notice to restrict accommodation. Ofsted also issued a requirement for the provider to meet regulation 10.

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Information about this children’s home

On 8 June 2026, Ofsted made the decision to suspend the home’s registration, given the ongoing significant risks to the safety and wellbeing of the children living in the home at the time.

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Information about this children’s home

On 21 July 2026, Ofsted carried out a monitoring visit. There were no children living in the home at this time. At this visit, Ofsted identified that leaders and managers had failed to take appropriate action to meet the steps set out in the restriction notice. Specifically, this related to regulation 10, the health and wellbeing standard. Furthermore, Ofsted was not assured that the previously identified shortfalls in staffing ratios, staff training and managerial oversight of the quality of care for children had been addressed. Following this visit, a compliance notice was issued under regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 2

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this monitoring visit was to review the provider’s adherence to the suspension notice and whether they had taken action to meet the steps set out in the compliance notice issued under regulation 13, the leadership and management standard.

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This monitoring visit

Leaders and managers have not ensured that there is a suitable and sufficient staff team in place. Several staff have left the organisation and other staff are no longer working in the home. Consequently, leaders and managers have not taken action to ensure that children will be cared for by a consistent staff team.

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This monitoring visit

Leaders and managers have not supported existing staff to develop their skills and knowledge. For example, despite previous shortfalls in staff practice, staff have still not completed mandatory training, including in safeguarding and how to respond to children appropriately. In addition, despite previous shortfalls in staff responses to children’s concerns and allegations, staff have yet to complete allegations training. Managers and staff have limited experience of working with children living in a children’s home. As a result, managers and staff do not have the knowledge and skills to provide safe and effective care to children.

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This monitoring visit

Management oversight and monitoring systems remain ineffective. Leaders and managers have not taken action to address previous shortfalls or ensured that learning is taken to improve staff practice. For example, 4 of the requirements raised at previous inspections have not been met. Leaders and managers have not demonstrated that they have effective or reliable systems and processes in place to ensure effective oversight of children’s care. These shortfalls have the potential to compromise children’s safety and wellbeing.

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This monitoring visit

Senior leaders have completed a retrospective review of a medication error. New recording processes and systems to improve managerial oversight of the administration of medication have been introduced. However, staff have still not completed medication training to mitigate against errors happening again in the future.

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This monitoring visit

The home has undergone refurbishment and children’s bedrooms are newly decorated and furnished. The home is now a more welcoming place for children to live. However, there remain some areas of maintenance still to be addressed.

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This monitoring visit

The system in place to manage the safe storage of children’s records is not robust enough to assure their safekeeping.

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This monitoring visit

At this visit, it was identified that leaders and managers had failed to take appropriate action to meet any of the steps set out in the compliance notice issued Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 3 under regulation 13. In addition, 4 requirements previously raised have not been met and are restated. The provider has adhered to the suspension notice and the inspector found no evidence that children had been living in the home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/04/2026 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/06/2025 Full Good 24/09/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 4

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

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; 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)) 24 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 5 In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff use identified measures in children’s plans to reduce and mitigate risk to children. Leaders and managers must ensure that staff understand their roles and responsibilities and have the knowledge and skills to keep children safe. This includes ensuring that staff receive specialist training in relation to these issues.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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 24 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 6 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that there are adequate numbers of staff employed in the home to safely care for children. Leaders and managers must also ensure that management oversight, monitoring and review systems are robust and effective and training plans put in place for staff are kept under review.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

and 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 must ensure that they 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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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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; 24 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 8 encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

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; and

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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. Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 9 This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff do not use consequences that prevent children from seeing people who are important in their life without a clear rationale. Children should also be spoken with about any consequences, to obtain their views. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure the safe storage of children’s records and that business continuity planning is in place to prevent loss of or damage to records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Serenity Specialist Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Dominion Court, 39 Station Road, Solihull, B91 3RT

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Inspector

Helen Dickens, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: SC471672 11 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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