Reg 45 Review

1. Document header and opening

Regulation 45 - Review of quality of care

Completed by : Sarah Bennett

Date completed: 09/05/25

Monitoring period from: January 2025 - June 2025

This review must be completed at least once every six months.

This six-month review is formulated from our manager's monthly auditing document, whereby statistics are collated on a monthly basis to effectively monitor the quality of care within their home/s. The statistics from the monthly auditing document are analysed by the manager over a six-month period, whilst reviewing any pressing matters on at least monthly basis. The manager then processes their evaluation within this template to formulate a review under the guidance of Quality Standard - 15.2 and Regulation 45 of the Children's Homes Regulations 2015.

This review will be submitted to Ofsted within 28 days of completion; it will also be made available to the placing authorities of all children placed within the home.

This review is underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in Regulations 5 to 14. There is no expectation that the registered manager will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every 6 months; however, you are to use your professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on.

Regulation 5 - engaging with the wider system to ensure each child's needs are met

Have there been any issues involving the child's placing authority effectively in the child's care/in accordance with the child's relevant plans.

What input and services/resources have you secured to meet the child's needs. How have you developed and maintained such relationships with the professional bodies and organisations.

Have there been any barriers or inadequate responses from the placing authority or professional bodies in relation to their role. How has this effected the child's progress/care plan and have you challenged this where applicable.

How has this regulation helped you to achieve positive outcomes for the children within your home.

Managers comments and summary below:

J and L were placed into our care on an emergency placement on 06/01/25, Although we did have planned meetings with Westfield commissioning team in December 24 to introduce our selves as a new home and new provider. During this initial introduction meeting there was a conversation regarding 2 siblings who could potentially need a residential placement in the new year depending on upcoming court decision and whether we could be a good match for said siblings. It was discussed that we would have availability for siblings once our Ofsted registration came through and we will keep communications open.

Court case was 03/01/25 Court ruled siblings where to remain in mums care however if there was to be another safeguarding incident then this will be reviewed.

06/01/25 after office hours Manager received a call from Mark Sullivan of Westfield with an update on siblings and questioned if we were able to place siblings tonight as an emergency due to recent arrest of mum and the need to keep siblings together.

Manager advised she will discuss this with her RI as we have registration confirmation today from Ofsted via an email.

Manager requested a call with allocated social worker and further information regarding the referral for siblings and current circumstances. There was a conversation with social worker, social worker manager, RI and the homes manager who agreed for the siblings to be placed as an emergency placement to avoid siblings being separated.

Following on with 72-hour placement planning meeting, the homes manager and social worker discussed care plans for siblings, there was an overview of allegations against mum of CCE and CCSE offences towards J and L whilst in her care, these allegations are historic and happened 2 years ago this is continuing to be investigated by police.

During the referral and placement process there was no information given to manager or RI regarding J and L being on a MACE plan and both scoring high risk of exploitation. We feel that this information should have been brought to our attention at the earliest convenience to form a robust care plan for siblings. We had a discussions with the social worker and social worker manager based on the referral information prior to agreeing to placing the children in our home. This information was not shared on the referral document or discussed with professions during the consideration of suitably matching the siblings into the home.

09/04/25 There was a multi-agency child exploitation meeting held for J and L. The outcome of meeting is J and L are settled into Birchwood House with safeguarding measures in place therefore risk of exploitation has been reduced from high risk to medium, this will be reviewed in further meetings.

There have been concerns regarding communication at times with social worker when the Manger and RI have requested up to date documentation. This has been escalated to the social care manager and allocated IRO for the children.

We have been open since January 25 this is our 6th month caring for J and L, Our Regulation 44 visitor has requested feedback each month from J and L social worker with no feedback given or reply to emails. Communication is poor at times. The RI has raised her concerns with allocated professionals failing to respond to the independent visitor seeking monthly feedback.

Advocate

Looking through ZP referral information the Manager reached out to Patricia, advocate for ZP who is known to ZP and supported ZP in the past, the homes Manager and Patricia arranged a visit with ZP. The homes manager and Patricia continue with regular updates on how ZP is and how best Patricia can support ZP.

Patricia reports to me that she has some questions for the social worker that ZP would like answered however social worker fails to respond to emails or any communication. Through regular conversations with ZP the manager has been able to gather ZP questions and have answers for these questions, the manager has always updated Patricia.

Reach 22

Homes manager has requested Reach 22 referral for ZP regarding her past traumas and a safeguarding incident with ZP on her smart phone with inappropriate messages and videos between ZP and unknown older males.

Michelle Barnes from Reach 22 has worked with ZP before and gave the manager an overview of ZP interactions in the past and reports to manager that it is a slow process with ZP and it had taken Linsay over 1 year of meetings before ZP would say a sentence to Michelle in fear of repercussions for herself, brother and mum.

Since being placed with us at Birchwood House ZP engagement with professionals has improve each week, we believe this is due to the levels of support and understanding from the staff team. Michelle reported to the manager after her first visit with ZP was that she cannot believe the changes and levels of engagement from ZP, Michelle was most pleased that ZP showed Michelle around her bedroom and complete 1 full hour of engagement Michelle stating "At one point ZP was so comfortable talking to me in her new surroundings that she was eating some toast whilst chatting" Michelle reports that this demonstrated how settled and secure ZP is in placement.

BRIGHT FUTURES WELLBEING CHILD & YOUNG PERSON SUPPORT

David from Bright Futures Wellbeing was commissioned to work in the home in May 2025 to deliver in house support with our young people and staff, Initially David will have a meeting with the homes manager to discuss the young people and their Adverse Childhood Experience's. David has since attended team meeting on 19th May to introduce himself to the staff team and update all how he can help support our young people directly or indirectly through training with the staff team.

Below is a description of some work David hopes to deliver to the staff team and young people.

Development of Self-Regulation Skills: Facilitate guided nature walks to promote mindfulness and emotional awareness or lead breathing techniques during creative activities.

Emotion Identification Tools: Introduce "feelings-number check-in" exercises to support young people communicate their emotions more clearly.

Advocacy Support: Support residents to identify key areas of their wishes and feelings, facilitating communication of these needs back to the staff.

Creative Expression Activities: Implement art and reflective projects (i.e., 'Tree of Life' or journaling) that allow young people to express their feelings creatively and share them with their care staff.

Peer & Care Staff Interaction Encouragement: Organise team-building games that promote trust and communication, such as "Magic Carpet Ride", "Helium Stick", or "blindfold navigation" tasks.

Mindfulness Implementation: Utilise age-appropriate mindfulness exercises, such as guided imagery, sensory games, or 'progressive muscle relaxation' to support manage anxiety and stress.

Informal Mentoring: Create a safe space for informal mentoring/modelling sessions to explore personal interests, aspirations, and barriers to future therapy.

Complex Safeguarding Team

Emma Ross an Early year's case worker from Complex safeguarding team will be visiting the home from 20th May to visit RP following a request from manager for a referral for RP due to his Adverse Childhood Experience's and his concerning terminology of late using "rape" and "pedo" very often when he is frustrated or angry towards staff and peer in the home. Janetanie has since had 2 visits with RP in the home and continues to be an on going support for RP moving forward.

STRIDES FOR HEALING.

Strides for Healing is an equestrian centre for young people to help in their engagement with professionals through care of horses and getting support from trained professionals who specialise in the fields below, whilst delivering a therapeutic approach.

Equine Facilitated Learning can be accessed by most people and is beneficial to many including people who may suffer from:

Mental Illness- Anxiety, low mood, Depression, Stress

Neurodivergence, children/youths and adults

Visually Impairment/Deafness

Isolation

Social, Emotional and Behavioural difficulties

Observed Improved Outcomes :

self-confidence and self-esteem

mental health and well-being

calmness and ability to regulate self

social skills and relationships

self-awareness and empathy

Increased ability to focus, engage with tasks

Ability to take part in work experience, improving employment/career choices

Improved overall wellness, physical and mental

There have been times where multiple emails and telephone calls have been made to social worker for ZP support regarding ZP education. We believe if communication was acted upon in a timely manner, then ZP would have been better prepared to complete her GCSE, s and gain confidence to enable ZP to seek college. RI Claire supported the manager through escalating emails and expressing her concerns and shortfalls in the level of communication from professionals around ZP education plan, particularly raising concerns around the he time frames of GCSE's and ZP willing to complete her GCSE's. With back-and-forth emails the RI included ZP's IRO to the email thread who supported the manager and RI in gaining more support for ZP around her education plan and support around sitting her exams.

As stated above there have been times when the manager has had to requested updated documentation for J and L from social worker Sarah several times. Sarah tends to respond when other agencies are cc'd into emails.

There have been barriers in place from CDB school about his timetable authorising CDB to attend school for 45 mins each day at the end of the school day. The reasons for this short time in school was initially for CDB to settle into placement and have some stability as CDB has had a lot of foster care placements and inconsistency in his care from foster carers and social workers.

There was an incident in school when his timetable was adjusted for CDB to attend school at 9am and return to placement at 10am this was his second day of CDB being placed into residential care. CDB demonstrated verbal aggression and physical aggression with news of leaving his school peers early resulting in 3 unsuccessful restraints from schoolteachers. The manager was called to support who managed to de-escalate the incident and helped CDB to regulate his emotions and returned CDB to placement.

Despite this initial incident in school CDB has settled extremely well into placement and follows rules and boundaries set by manager and the staff team in Birchwood House. Manager has had multiple meetings with school to offer support from the staff team either remain in the school area when CDB is in school or staff members to accompany CDB into his lessons to further support schoolteachers. School took us up on the option for staff to remain in the local area should the school need further support.

CDB has been given tasks by school to complete school worksheets in placement prior to attending school to show willingness to engage in education and CDB to complete work in school. CDB has met all targets by school however school remain inconsistent with increasing his timetable.

There was a meeting with school, manager, social worker and virtual head who all agreed to a timetable of increasing hours for a 4-week period to transition CDB back into full time hours by end of May before the next half term. Despite all agreeing to this timetable School have changed the timetable with 15-minute increases only.

There is a meeting booked for 15th May with school, manager, social worker and virtual head to explore CDB attending full time education this continues to be reviewed to extend CDB time in school.

Manager and school have catch up phone calls every Wednesday to discuss CDB levels of engagement and terms of the timetable increases.

21/07/25 a school Oakfield Academy has a place available for CDB to begin in September

22/07/25 Transition meeting was held with the manager, virtual head, St Anne's Church School and Oakfield Academy proposed new school to discuss a sensitive transition for JC to visit the school during summer holidays with his keyworker.

This regulation has helped us to achieve effective communication and working in partnership with Multi agencies to focus on the needs of children and young people in our care. This has proven instrumental in creating environments where children experience stability, growth, and positive outcomes.

Through effective partnership working, children in our care benefit from access to mental health services, counselling, and therapeutic interventions. This ensures that we collaborate with health professionals to address trauma, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.

By working closely with schools, tutors and virtual head, we have been able to tailor educational support to meet the specific needs of each child.

Whilst Regulation 5 ensures significant improvements, challenges remain. Building effective partnerships takes time and resources, and variations in local authority practices can pose hurdles. However, ongoing training, investment, and a commitment to reflective practice ensure that these challenges can be addressed.

21/03/25 There was a LAC review meeting CDB IRO stated during this meeting that she felt CDB was best suited with foster carers due to his young age and residential home would not benefit CDB.

Following this meeting IRO was invited into Birchwood House to visit CDB. IRO gave positive feedback stating " I am so happy to see CDB settling so well and seeing for myself the amount of nurture and care that has been shown towards CDB, this has changed my mind regarding residential placement for CDB as the staff team here are fantastic"

We have supported ZP with court proceedings with proposed closed adoption of her son O, the staff team helped ZP to write a letter to the judge of how she feels she is in the right environment with a lot of support to enable her to continue to see O and prevent a closed adoption. The homes manger attended court with ZP to support her as this was an anxious time. The home have sourced a solicitor who is acting on ZP behalf and appealing the closed adoption judgement as ZP has grown and matured a lot and now in a stable environment to see O.

Any actions that the registered person considers necessary

Where we have faced barriers in receiving a response from professionals within acceptable time scales, we have escalated these to senior professionals included in the children's care plans. Where this could continue to be a barrier, we plan to hold a professionals meeting to discuss communication and information sharing and agree a plan moving forward to ensure all professionals keep open lines of communication and remain with the boundaries set within this meeting for acceptable times scales to respond. Should this remain an issue we will explore the complaints procedure in line with the services policies and procedures.

2. Quality and purpose of care

Managers comments and summary below:

All staff have read the statement of purpose during their induction period, when there are updates to the statement of purpose, the manager will inform all staff to read updates and sign to evidence their understanding of this, we as management ensure our staff team are meeting our ethos of the care we provide to children and young people. This is evident throughout our reporting and recording on a day-to-day basis ensuring regulations are met.

As the manager in the home, the statement of purpose is reviewed and updated monthly to ensure as the manager I have full oversight of this and keep this documents fully up to date and reflects the delivery of care that is being provided to the children. Once example of this can be where I have recently reviewed and updated the statement of purpose to reflect the home now commissioning Bright Futures Wellbeing, including information around what this service will provide to support our children.

The premises of the home including design and furnishings are of a high-quality standard, there is ample room with spacious communal areas of the home for staff and young people to complete activities, watch movies and or have some relaxing space alone in the chill out/ colour room.

We have a reading corner with modern comfortable seating, our young people requested this are to be a reading are when they first visited the home this is used accordingly by all young people.

Each young person has had the opportunity to have their bedrooms personalised this has been actioned. We have had 1 young person in the home who has vandalised their bedroom when struggling with self regulation. This has been reported immediately and the bedroom has been redecorated and furnished to replace any broken furniture within a timely manner, this reiterates to the child that they are safe, valued and feel comfortable within their personal space. I am pleased to report that with this nurturing approach this has now significantly reduced.

There are 2 full sized goal posts and a basketball hoop in the garden of the home which is used almost every day by 2 of our young people, one young person in particular uses this outside space to engage with his social worker whilst playing basketball.

The gardens in the home are regularly maintained to ensure the children can safely access this space.

We held a welcome poster design competition with our 3 young people to welcome any young people into the home; the winning poster is now displayed on the landing.

There has been new flooring in ZP bedroom to support with ZP wanting to personalise her bedroom but also prevent any further damages to carpets with paints and make up.

We have pictures of the young people with staff in frames around the home to showcase fun memories did not like pictures of himself on show therefor he has these pictures in his bedroom.

RP moved bedrooms during a heat wave to supported with his sensory needs, RP does not like to feel hot and prefers colder rooms. We took this into consideration and supported RP to change rooms on his request.

We have had 3 independent regulation 44 visitors all from the same company since our registration and admissions of young people, Our first regulation 44 reviewer informed us that he would hand our workload over to a more experienced visitor as our home is delivering high standards of care and record reporting that he feels he is not experienced enough to provide feedback each month.

Our second visitor, the manager requested some amendments and a recall of his report to Ofsted after spotting some inaccuracies in his report writing of Incorrect initials of young people and staff, there was inaccuracies regarding our rota system also therefore another independent visitor was instructed to complete reports.

We have all our reports up to date and on file, all reports have been submitted to relevant placing authorities.

We have also had quality assurance visit from Hartwood council with a positive report and feedback.

Weekly summaries are provided each week to social workers to give an overview of YP's engagement.

YP's have monthly young persons meetings to discuss a variety of subjects and get any feedback from young people with their wishes and feelings. YPs also complete a young person feedback form once every 3-month period

Regularly when visitors or professionals visit Birchwood House for the first time they comment on how beautiful the home is and the quality of the home

We have had family members visit the home mum of L and J who stated "the house is mint, I'm glad they are both here its so big"

Nan of J and L has stated how beautiful the house is, and she felt at home by the staff team when she came for tea and the home has a family feel to it despite it being so big.

We strongly believe the needs of each young person is being met through regular PEP, Health, care planning meetings and looked after review meetings. These meetings help us to establish individual care plans to meet the needs of each young person.

The staff team have monthly team meetings were the first topic on the agender is updates of all the young people with vital feedback from the staff team of what's working well and what we can develop and learn from.

The staff team have development sessions with the homes manager to ensure the quality of care provided to our young people is at a high standard, this is evidenced in the team's work force development plan investing time into the staff team will enable the staff team to feel more confident with their ability to provide the best quality care for our young people.

We encourage children to be included in any redecoration or purchasing new furniture to continue to give them a sense of belonging in their own home and feel involved in how the home is decorated and furnished throughout.

All young people in our care are registered with GP, opticians and dentist with health checks up to date.

If there are instances when our young people do not attend health appointments relevant professionals are informed for advice such as LAC nurse.

The staff team will deliver key work sessions to our young people of the importance of health appointments and healthy lifestyle choices.

Annual health assessment is completed and reports received to ensure their needs are fully met.

All our staff team go through a robust safer recruitment process, most of our staff team have experience working with children in residential setting, for staff members who are new to their role they are placed on shift with the most experienced staff team to deliver high quality care to our young people.

There are regular development sessions with manager and team leaders to filter this down to support workers. Staff who have not gained their level 3/4 qualification in residential care have been enrolled onto their level 3/4 with Skills Direct education provider

There are monthly supervisions complete with all staff members by management and team leaders; supervisions enable us to have catch up conversations regarding young people and individual staffs working practices.

All recruited staff will have an induction process which is delivered by team leaders and or management then shadow shifts to support new staff with an overview of day to day running of the home and to get to know the young people.

We have sourced ASD and ADHD face to face training for the staff team which was completed on 14th July, due to RP being diagnosed with ASD and ADHD and CDB being on the pathway for ADHD we believed specialised face to face training which be beneficial to the home.

3. Quality and purpose of care: actions

• •We plan to purchase some new garden furniture for the children to sit and spend time in the garden during the summer months.

4. Children's views, wishes and feelings

Does the child understand the homes complaints procedure and has a complaint been made.

Does the child have an advocate, have they utilised this service, and what for.

Has each child who has been admitted to the home been give a copy of the children's guide and complaints procedure.

Managers comments and summary below:

The staff team strengths in the home are their engagement with our young people and adapting their approach with the young people to support their individual needs and levels of engagement. The staff team have built positive and trusting relationships through their understanding, tailored approach and development work.

All staff have a good clear insight in to the care that our young people require, from reading and updating care plans to completing journals with our young people to ensure the voices and views of the young people are heard, these journals document milestones in the young person's time here at Birchwood House with photographs to give a visual story to their milestones in the hopes that when the young people leave our care their individual journal will document good memories and life story work to give them a sense of belongings and acceptance.

Where children have struggled with their self-regulation and perhaps this has led to an incident taken place, de-briefs with the children reflecting on the incident occur to build on those relationships and work with the child to reduce such incidents form reoccurring with the child's full engagement.

Each young person in the home has an allocated key worker chosen by them to support and advocate for them when expressing their views wishes and feelings.

The young people in our care have monthly young person's meetings to voice their wishes and views in a group setting, this also gives the young people the opportunity to discuss concerns they may have with each other in a diplomatic way supported by staff.

Each young person has an individual internal care plan which is reviewed every 3 months with feedback from the young people for the manager to review which will enable manager and staff to act upon views, wishes and feelings of the young people. These plans are individual to each young person's understanding of the care they receive here in Birchwood House, a copy of these plans are also given to each young person to keep in their bedroom. This encourages children to feel a more sense of control around the care planning in place for them and encourages them to feel included in targets being set which enables the children to better engage.

Staff have regular keywork sessions with the young people and a variety of subjects of conversation. Topics around key sessions tend to be around opportunities for discussion and learning to encourage children to make positive choices and educate them on life skills and more importantly keeping themselves safe.

Young people are invited to care planning meetings and if they refuse to attend or are in school at this time then manager asks the young people if there had any questions they would like to put forward to professionals.

Manager and staff are open and honest about the care planning details with the young people and always include their wishes and feelings ensuring the children are fully consulted about decisions being made within their lives.

J and L both have regular visits by their court guardian, IRO and Advocate who they can also express their feelings to.

Young people have monthly young person's meetings which gives the young people an opportunity to express their views. This includes how they feel living amongst each other, the décor or the home, shopping/meal choices, and planning activities. Within these monthly meetings we also have a topic of the month to discuss around opportunities of discussion and learning.

Young people are asked to complete young person's feedback forms every 3 months, initially this was monthly however L expressed this is to many times and not a lot of changes in one month for the feedback to be accurate therefore this is now every 3 months.

Young people have also taken part in Buddy or Bully questionnaires to educate each young person on the effect they can have on each other's feelings when being negative towards each other. I believe this form of questionnaire helped the young people with a resolution and engagement has become more positive.

We held a competition for the young people to do a welcome poster to use as part of the admission process to make a new young person feel welcomed by current young people

No issues have been raised by any young person this reporting period nor have we received any complaints or allegations.

Yes, all young people know how to make a compliant, this is evident in the young persons guide which is in each young person's bedrooms and on the news board in the communal kitchen area. Staff have also completed keyworker session on arrival into the home with this process.

There have been no complaints made by the children in the home since the home has been registered by Ofsted.

J has an advocate who she has engaged with in her home life whilst in mums care, J continues to have this support from her Advocate whilst in Birchwood House, Advocate Patricia and manager have regular updates and advice with best ways to support J due to her ACE's and risk of exploitation.

RP a referral for an advocate has been made however there is a wait at the moment due to RP being in into the care of the local authority and being placed on an interim care order.

RP now has Patricia who will be his allocated advocate, Patricia has visited RP in the home, and he has engaged well with her.

RP has a complex safeguarding worker Sarah Cox.

5. Children's views, wishes and feelings: actions

• •We would like to place a session with the children to go through the young persons guide in particular and get some feedback from the children about this and explore if there is anything they would like to add or change about this document.
• •We are mindful that some staff in the home would benefit from some further training around their report writing to ensure this comes across with a therapeutic and nurturing approach.

6. Education

Does the child have access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support their learning, what are these, or if not why and what do they require.

What positive achievements have been made within the child's educational provision.

Managers comments and summary below:

ZP has 10 hours per week online tuition with revision work to complete in the home with staff support. ZP has not attended any form of education since she was 12 years old in year 7 of high school.

There are allegations that ZP has been subject to child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation from mum, there was a sexualised video of ZP circulated around the school when ZP was 12 this is the reason ZP has not attended school. Mum has not supported ZP into exploring education and would not engage with any professionals.

Since ZP has been placed with us in January 25 there has been huge improvements in engagement from ZP towards her attitude of education, manager and staff have had multiple conversations with ZP of turning her life around for the better and how important education is for her. ZP has taken onboard staff advice and completed worksheets with the home. Manager escalated this and requested tuition for ZP as we are not qualified to deliver education as a long-term plan.

It was planned for ZP to attend school after school hours to complete her GCSE exams, ZP initially agreed to do this but when it came to her first exam ZP felt she could not overcome her anxieties to face attending school in person. We explored how we could support ZP with this given she was willing to complete these however struggled with the school environment. As a home we explored that if we fund an independent adjudicator to come to the home and support ZP to complete her exams would this be acceptable. It was agreed that this could be privately funded by ourselves to enable ZP to complete her exams and avoid missed opportunities for her entering into post 16 education.

14/05/25 It was agreed with school, social worker and Elmwood Residential Care that Birchwood House would fund for ZP to complete her GCSEs in placement where she is comfortable and feels supported.

15.05.25 ZP completed her first GCSE in placement with an independent invigilator who confirmed examination requirements where met. Birchwood House will continue to fund the remaining GCSEs and support ZP through this time.

RP attends his old school Greenway Academy on a full-time basis Mon to Fri, initially when RP was placed with us RP attendance was poor, however now RP attends everyday with his attendance levels up to 77% a vast improvement from previous academic years.

CDB remains in his childhood school setting however on a timetable with weekly increases to his timetable, Due to CDB behaviours previously in school.

Manager has challenged to school regarding their negativity aimed at CDB and not understanding of his pathway for an ADHD assessment, there is a meeting booked for 15/06/25 to discuss how we can support CDB to return to school on a full-time basis.

ZP had a meeting in the home with careers connect who helped ZP to complete an application for college to start in September.

Yes, all young people are achieving education gaols and achievements in different ways tailored to their individual needs.

There have been barriers in place from CDB school about his timetable authorising CDB to attend school for 45 mins each day at the end of the school day. The reasons for this short time in school was initially for CDB to settle into placement and have some stability as CDB has had a lot of foster care placements and inconsistency in his care from foster carers and social workers.

There was an incident in school when timetable was adjusted for CDB to attend school at 9am and return to placement at 10am this was second day of CDB being laced into residential care. CDB demonstrated anger and physical aggression with news of leaving his school peers early resulting in 3 unsuccessful restraints from schoolteachers. Manager was called to support who managed to de-escalate the incident and helped CDB to regulate his emotions and returned CDB to placement.

Despite this initial incident in school CDB has settled extremely well into placement and follows rules and boundaries set by manager and the staff team in Birchwood House. Manager has had multiple meetings with school to offer support from the staff team either remain in the school area when CDB is in school or staff members to accompany CDB into his lessons to further support schoolteachers. School took up the option for staff to remain in the local area should the school need further support.

CDB has been given tasks by school to complete school worksheets in placement prior to attending school to show willingness to engage in education and CDB to complete work in school. CDB has met all targets by school however school remain inconsistent with increasing his timetable.

There was a meeting with school, manager, social worker and virtual head who all agreed to a timetable of increasing hours for a 4-week period to transition CDB back into full time hours by end of May before the next half term. Despite all agreeing to this timetable School have changed the timetable with 15-minute increases only.

There is a meeting booked for 15th May with school, manager, social worker and virtual head to explore CDB attending full time education.

Manager and school have catch up phone calls every wednesday to discuss CDB levels of engagement and terms of the timetable increases.

Manager and RI have had to challenge LA with support from ZP IRO regarding tuition for ZP seeking face to face learning to prepare ZP for her upcoming GCSE's, again with poor communication/support from social worker.

14/05/25 It was agreed with school, social worker and Elmwood Residential Care that Birchwood House would fund for ZP to complete her GCSEs in placement where she is comfortable and feels supported.

15.05.25 ZP completed her first GCSE in placement with an independent invigilator who confirmed examination requirements where met. Birchwood House will continue to fund the remaining GCSEs and support ZP through this time.

All PEP's for each young person have been completed and are up to date with all young people.

RP has had additional diagnosis of ADHD this will be documented in EHCP for Ryan once this ECHP has been reviewed and agreed. We have agreed with school that RP attends school after school peers and leaves school before school peers to eliminate RP anxiety of the hustle and bustle of school opening and closing times this has helped RP to feel confident attending school each day.

CDB is currently having assessments for ADHD and ASD this will be documented when a EHCP plan is in place. which is currently being explored with professionals, CDB requires 1 to 1 supervision in school however school are funding this due to CDB pupil premium no meeting the needs of CDB this is being reviewed regularly with Manager, school, social worker and virtual lead.

We have supported school by having a staff member remaining in the school area should CDB become unregulated to support schoolteachers to manage CDB behaviours this appears to be working as CDB is engaging in school much better.

All YP's have access to education materials in school or provided in house. YP's have a laptop they can access to support with online learning.

There is a reading corner of the home and apple space to complete school worker/ homework. There is a book shelf with reading materials and educational books for the children to access.

YP's are supported by staff with education

Education settings have communications with manager and the homes email address to forward any revision work onto any young person.

ZP has not engaged in any form of education for over 4 years when she was 12years old in year 7 due to an incident in school. ZP has not had support from her mum to engage in education. ZP has gone on to complete her GCSE's in May, and has made an application to attend a college in September.

Since being placed into our care 06/01/25 ZP has an education file with worksheets ZP has completed in house, ZP has had the option to have an online tutor to support in education, Initially ZP engaged with online tutor but found the webcam too much of a trigger which brough on her anxieties of past trauma. ZP continued to complete worksheets in the home. ZP was given revision work sheets each week from her school setting to complete and prepare for upcoming GCSE's ZP has completed this work with staff support. Manager had a chat with ZP about importance of her future and GCSE, s. Manager also gave ZP an incentive to complete GCSE, s with a celebratory meal and clothing vouchers. After some time considering this ZP agree to complete her GCSE's.

14/05/25 It was agreed with school, social worker and Elmwood Residential Care that Birchwood House would fund for ZP to complete her GCSEs in placement where she is comfortable and feels supported.

15.05.25 ZP completed her first GCSE in placement with an independent invigilator who confirmed examination requirements where met. Birchwood House will continue to fund the remaining GCSEs and support ZP through this time.

RP school have reported RP appears happier and healthier coming into school. RP is now gravitating towards positive friendship groups and engaging at break time and lunch time. This is a great achievement for RP as he would frequent the Bridge a smaller setting within the school for pupils who are finding school difficult to give them a time to adjust and reflect in a calmer setting.

CDB is engaging more with schoolwork and completing worksheets within the home, CDB timetable is increasing slowly, CDB can now regulate is emotions and school have not had any incidents of anger from CDB for a long time.

CDB wakes up each morning full of energy and ready for the school day with a bright smile on his face.

7. Education: actions

• •We plan to meet with the safeguarding lead for the college that ZP is potentially attending to ensure she will be provided with support in the college environment given this will be a big change for ZP to adjust to.
• •We are continuing to work with CDB virtual school to identify an SEN school for CDB to better support him and allow him to feel more settled in his education environment. Currently there are many barriers and frustrations we feel in regard to CDB current education provider given they are struggling tailer his support in school with consideration of his difficulty with engaging and being more creative in terms of how they engage with him in school taking into consideration the barriers he faces around meeting the expectations of him within a mainstream environment. We have raised concerns that we feel CDB is being issued with suspensions and exclusions due to him not coping in this environment resulting in him feeling he is being punished.

8. Enjoyment and achievement

Managers comments and summary below:

All young people have weekly activities planners with all YPs giving staff feedback on what activities they would like to take part in. Weekly activities planner is recorded on the wall in staff office YPs can see this board and engage with their wishes for activities.

CDB has expressed he wishes to be in a football team; this has been actioned CDB attends training every Saturday morning and is awaiting to be nominated to be in the team for the next football season to staff in the summer.

RP and ZP both enjoy nature walks both have explored areas in the northwest including visiting waterfalls and caves.

RP has climbed a mountain in Wales with staff and thoroughly enjoyed this day.

All YPs attended Crocky trail an outdoor adventure land in Chester during the easter holidays as a group activity.

RP enjoys cooking and baking this has been a regular occurrence.

16/05/25 ZP and RP nan is coming to visit for tea ZP and RP are preparing and cooking this meal for nan.

We also promote age appropriate YP independence skills.

Due to RP struggling with the fact that he is in care RP does not like to partake in activities at times stating he does not want fun memories here he wishes to have fun memories with is mum only. Staff have had conversations with RP and asked him if he would like to refer to staff whilst out on activities by different terms. RP requested to refer to staff as his family members as he is embarrassed if staff state they are carers. This has been actioned staff also when out with RP do not take out money wallets as RP states this brings on too much attention when staff pay for Items, RP wishes to feel like a "normal boy" when out with staff. This has been talked about in team meetings, Staff are mindful of how RP feels when out in the community.

Manager has relayed this information to RP social worker who relays this onto mum, when mum has contact or phone contact Mum encourages RP to have fun memories and attend activities.

The manager and social worker are in talks regarding mum visiting the home for tea one evening in an attempt to support RP and work in partnership with his mum.

J has been seeking with cat sanctuaries to offer her time with charities and caring for cats in rescue centres this is an ongoing process as some sanctuaries will not accept volunteers who are under 18.

As we are on a working farm there are horses kept at Birchwood House all young people feed the horses and help the owners with daily care needs of the horses

CDB has enrolled onto local MMA group who also have workshops to raise money for the local cancer charity.

Add CDB building friendships with the neighbouring children.

Staff fully support and encourage activities daily. Staff will take YPs to local parks, beaches and nature walks.

Staff encourage YPs to explore different activities and record this in photographs to be added to their journal.

Staff have sort various youth clubs and projects for young people to consider these have been documented in key work sessions.

9. Enjoyment and achievement: actions

• •Now that the children are settling into their home and building positive relationships with the staff team, we hope in the future 6 months we will be able to identify and book a holiday for the children to go on to enjoy these childhood experiences.
• •We are currently exploring activity groups for the children to become a part of over the 6 weeks summer holidays to support the children to enjoy and mix with other children their age.

10. Health and well-being

Does the child receive advice, support and have access to services to enable their health needs to be met.

Is the child supported to achieve healthy lifestyles.

Have there been any issues with the child's health plans and if so, what action has been taken.

Managers comments and summary below:

Yes, all registered with check-ups completed.

All YPs have had their annual health assessment whilst in placement with regular emails to their LAC nurse if any health concerns arise.

RP had a bump to the head in school whilst doing PE, due to RP complaining of a headache and feeling dizzy staff took RP to a walk-in centre who stated RP was ok and information of bumps to the head.

RP has attended alder hey hospital for an accident in the home resulting in RP having butterfly stitches, RP attend Northgate Hospital the following day to see the plastics team who checked to wound and stated no further action required. RP attended 1 week later to be discharged.

RP has attended an ADHD assessment the result is RP now has a diagnosis of ADHD this will support for a EHCP in school.

CDB has attended an ADHD assessment we are awaiting results of this.

CDB is currently being assessed for a EHCP plan in school.

Yes, all health care plans are actioned and updated monthly.

Yes, all young people have information regarding their health care needs with conversations with manager and or key work sessions with staff.

Young people also have individual internal care plans to discuss care, education and health with a copy in their bedrooms to reference these are updated every 3 months.

Bright Futures Wellbeing emotional health support visits the home on a weekly basis to support young people and the staff team.

Yes, young people are encouraged to have homemade healthy food options. This is evident in weekly food planners and menu choices. All young people are active whether this be nature walks, going to the part or attending flip out.

RP completes 5k runs on a weekly basis with staff member DO and enjoys eating healthy foods and being mindful of his health and fitness.

All young people will have the opportunity to access local gym or swimming centre. If YP's cannot swim we can source swimming lessons in the local sports centre.

Have there been any issues with the child's health plans and if so, what action has been taken.

A fitness pull up bar has been fitted for RP who likes to do weight training, RP has also been purchased a bike to keep active.

A boxing bag has been installed in CDB to help him with his aggression and overall health and mental health, CDB is also getting a bike to keep him active.

Staff have recently engaged in specialised training in ADHD and autism to ensure the staff are fully equipped with the skills to understand and meet RP needs.

The manager has completed sexual health training and is now a sexual health champion with resources to support young people.

11. Health and well-being: actions

• •We aim to continue to compete direct work with the children to understand their health care needs and for ZP to become more independent with booking and accessing appointments as she approaches an age for independence.
• •CDB remains on a waiting list to be assessed for ADHD and Autism we will continue to monitor this referral and support him to attend appointments where required.

12. Positive relationships

Detail specific behavioural issues, patterns or trends of behaviours, what is being done to address this.

Highlight positive aspects of behaviours, analysis to outline how behaviours have improved, and action taken to do so.

Are there any barriers to the child forming positive relationships both in, and out of the home. If so what and advise as to what action has been taken to address this.

Do staff have the skills, experience and knowledge to manage the child's behaviours, if not why, and what action has been taken.

Managers comments and summary below:

Behaviour support plans and care plans are actioned and updated each month by allocated team leaders which is then overseen by manager. We support the young people emotionally through keyworker sessions and regular meetings with professionals. The young people have individual internal care plans which gains the voices of the young people to gain their understanding and wishes and feelings, This document is then put in files and one copy is left with the young person in their bedroom enabling them to have an idea of how their care planning is being actioned and see where their voices are heard. There is a section in the document that consults with the children to explain how they feel staff should respond to their behaviour when they are struggling to self regulate. This allows the children to feel consulted about how they feel staff could best support them and respond to them.

ZP when first arrived in our care was extremely quiet and would prefer to spend her time in her bedroom isolating from staff. This is understandable given ZP had not been in care before, and this was an unplanned process.

ZP was given a smart phone from her social worker with expectations of phone checks from staff as ZP has history of inappropriate images and videos of herself which she would send to older unknown males on social media.

When checks were completed on phone there were concerning messages and images on ZP phone, some messages shown conversations where ZP had asked unknown male peer to bring items to the property during the night this posed a safeguarding risk where a room search was conducted. ZP had taken exception to this and becomes aggressive assaulting staff and causing a great deal of damages to her bedroom. Due to the levels of damages to ZP bedroom ZP was placed in another bedroom until damages were rectified (light fittings, broken wardrobes and smashed mirrors).

During this time ZP would become heightened damaging items then would appear as settled and spend time in her bedroom however ZP would continue to cause property damages without making a noise and when staff were not around, this happened on multiple occasions therefore when ZP is heightened items were to be removed from ZP bedroom and staff would remain outside ZP bedroom to monitor ZP until absolutely sure ZP is at baseline. This was updated in ZP behaviour support plan.

ZP had restorative talks with manager and staff to understand these incidents of crisis and educate ZP how to regulate her emotions and give ZP an understanding of why we would remove items from bedroom when in this state, ZP understood this and began to engage with the manager and staff team and had a long period of engagement and settled without incidents of damages and assaults on staff.

Most recently ZP has had a lot of life changes to deal with, her son being placed for adoption, meeting her biological father and being placed on full care order to remain in residential care. ZP has had incidents of damages in her bedroom, returning from free time under the influence of alcohol and another incident of explicit images on her phone to unknown males believed to be in prison. This incident has been reported to the police and a strategy meeting held with multiagency who have all agreed ZP to be referred to MACE plan again as ZP is at risk of being groomed and not evidencing, she can keep herself safe.

ZP has grown and built trusting relationships with staff and manager. ZP although in crisis manages her emotions and behaviours with no incidents of damaging her bedroom or property damages. We have identified that when ZP is unsettled ZP will begin to draw on her hands and arms this gives staff an indication to complete regular welfare checks and engage ZP with going for a walk or drive this usually results in ZP talking about her feelings and opening up to staff ZP also expresses her emotions and feelings by drawing on her bedroom walls then discussing with staff what these images mean. We have identified that ZP would possibly benefit from art therapy manager has requested a referral through social worker.

We have agreed with ZP to paint her bedroom in colour scheme she wishes as ZP would like black paint, we have agreed to paint 1 wall in black board paint with a supply of chalk for ZP to be able to freely express her feelings through her art and graffiti on walls.

We have begun our weekly sessions with Bright Futures Wellbeing coach David who is working directly with ZP with slow meet and greet and advising staff how best to support ZP and understand her behaviours and emotions.

RP is high functioning ASD we have adapted our approaches with RP as he does not like to meet new people and prefers staff members to engage with him gradually at a slow pace, staff have learned RP will come to them when he feels comfortable rather than staff frequently asking RP if he needed anything or if he wishes to take part in an activity.

RP when frustrated will call staff members in appropriate names "p**do's and f***k's" and makes threats to get staff sacked. RP found it extremely hard to process he is in care not wanted to attend health appointments, go on activities or spend any pocket money which is allocated to him

RP likes to set his routines in everyday life, we recognise it is important that staff support him to understand boundaries and respect his patterns and routines with in reason to ensure he remains safeguarded. For example RP likes to attend school at 8.44 every day if staff don't demonstrate that this is important to him this can upset RP and make him feel he is not being listened to, our staff understand and respect RP sensory needs to routines to enable him to have a comfortable day without disruption to his routine.

RP since being informed he is on a full care order and will remain at Birchwood House until he is 18 RP has engaged with the staff team more positively, RP now attends activities and health appointments and accepts care for the staff team which was difficult for RP initially as he felt he should be doing these things with mum and felt guilty for letting others care for him.

ZP has come from a background of alleged sexual exploitation there have been incidents in the home where ZP has had explicit images of herself and unknown males on her phone, this appears to be a form of acceptance and self confidence however we have educated ZP on self-esteem, confidence and sexual exploitation through Reach 22 and our staff team nurturing and caring for ZP. ZP no longer has incidents of this kind and is able to keep herself safe online and understand the risks involved and how vulnerable this made her.

CDB has had multiple placements moves in his 9 years due to his escalating behaviours. Historically CDB would be moved on with placement breakdowns however being placed with us at Birchwood House we are dealing with these behaviours and helping CDB to recognise when he is becoming unregulated. This approach has enabled CDB to self-regulate and reset to engage with staff and peers again in a more positive way, we understand that this will take time and CDB will have better days than others but showing consistency with CDB day to day care has enabled CDB to have positive behaviours and move on from the challenging behaviours in a short space of time which is a bug achievement for CDB.

There have been frustrations with some staff picking up a lot of extra shifts during annual leave and illness this has impacted some YPs when they see the same staff members on shift a lot and tolerances can decrease amongst staff and YP's this has been highlighted, and recruitment has begun to support staff and YP.s with some bank staff to support cover for annual leave or sickness.

CDB has had multiple placement breakdowns and at the age of 9, we at Birchwood House are CDB's 10th placement at such a young age. We are committed to support CDB through his crisis periods to enable him to be reassured his is safe and will not be rejected by ourselves as he has experienced with previous foster placements.

We have a mix of experienced and in experienced staff members who all have behaviour management training.

Each young person has an individual behaviour support plan which is updated monthly with new strategies to manage behaviours all staff refer to behaviour support plans and have guidance from their team leaders and management.

All team leaders are experienced with managing behaviours and mentoring new staff.

We have 2 young people who are on ADHD, ASD pathways therefor all staff have recently had face to face ASD,ADHD training to upskill them to support our young people and their individualised needs.

The homes manager and responsible individual have recently completed level 5 train the trainer in safeguarding children and now skilled to deliver this training to the wider workforce.

13. Positive relationships: actions

• •We aim to allocate a deputy manager to the home moving forward into July to support the manager with her leadership and management tasks in the home to give the manager support within her role.
• •The responsible individual has designed a monthly auditing document to support the homes manager and deputy to complete these with feedback from the RI to support their continuous development.
• •Staff probationary reviews are planned to take place with staff who have been employed within the past 6 months.

14. Protection of children

Does the home have any health and safety risks, if so what are these, and what action has been taken.

Is the child effectively safeguarded by the location of the home.

Have there been any LADO investigations, if so what has happened, and what action has been taken.

Have any complaints been made against the home, if so what and how has this been managed.

Managers comments and summary below:

There have been incidents with ZP of explicit sexual images on her phone with unknown males, Manager has reported this to police and requested strategy meetings to discuss further and form an action plan. There have been 3 MACE plan meetings for multi agencies to work collaboratively to ensure safeguarding of ZP initially due to ZP background the scoring for this was 1-2 however most recent meeting ZP is now scoring 7-8 as ZP is safeguarded accordingly and has had education how to understand vulnerabilities and exploitation.

CDB has had a period of crisis we have pulled together a chronology of PI's to highlight time frames and possible triggers this has given us indication of potential abuse and keeping this under review with regular communication with social worker who has also completed a chronology of significant events in CDB life which also indicates potential abuse historically. We continue to have regular reviews with agencies to best support CDB in this time of crisis.

There have been incidents where we have raised concerns for ZP safety these have been reported in line with safeguarding protocols in place and we have engaged in strategy meetings with multi agencies to ensure the correct safeguards are in place for ZP and she is in receipt of the right support. ZP has stated she feels safe here at Birchwood House and wishes to remain here.

RP and CDB could become frustrated and confrontational to each other when CDB first moved into the home. This was addressed in the first instance with a young person meeting and direct work "buddy or bully" worksheet this has addressed the issue and YPs are more mindful of how others may feel. Staff work on positive relationships and encourage YPs to engage in activities together and praise positive behaviours. There have been no further concerns.

Yes, the is reviewed by management regularly and effective

There is a pond on the premises this has been filled with stones and gated. There are lights of a nighttime to have clear visuals. There is a throw line on the fence next to the pond with another throw line in staff office. YPs are monitored on a 1 to 1 staff basis with daily checks completed to monitor.

Daily, weekly and monthly health and safety checks are completed by staff and monitored by the manager to ensure the home remains a safe environment for children to live in.

Yes, location risk assessments have been completed and reviewed accordingly, Westfield Council have also completed a CQC visit with positive feedback. Thes location risk assessment is reviewed and updated regularly and we remain in regular contact with the homes SPOC Sharon Mills.

Have there been any LADO investigations, if so what has happened, and what action has been taken.

Have any complaints been made against the home, if so what and how has this been managed.

15. Protection of children: actions

• •We will continue to consult the children and obtain their views and input within the behaviour management support plan to ensure they feel listened to in how staff can best support them during periods of crisis.
• •We continue to work with CDB local authority to create a picture of life events and indications of abuse CDB is displaying through his behaviour. The manager and RI have compiled a report to review how effective behaviour management strategies have been, what new strategies we can try and monitor how he is responding to this. We will keep this under review.

16. Leadership and management

Does the home have sufficient staffing levels based on the needs of the child.

Is the Homes development plan up to date and effective.

Have the monthly audits been completed and have these been effective in identifying improvements of the quality of care within the home.

Have all external bodies been consulted and has their feedback impacted on the home.

Have there been any barriers in helping the children to achieve, if so what are these and what action has been taken to address the issue.

Managers comments and summary below:

ZP has completed her GCSEs with the support of the home this was a big obstacle for ZP as she would not attend a school setting due to anxieties around a historical incident at school. Management and directors have funded for ZP to have an independent adjudicator at Birchwood House so ZP can achieve these exams for her future.

ZP has met her biological father and building relationships with him with support from staff and the homes manager regularly has updates from ZP and Dad.

CDB had not seen his siblings for over 1 year due to inconsistencies with his care and social workers since CDB has been at Birchwood House CDB sees his siblings 2 times per month and this has remained consistent.

RP has changed his friendship group to positive friends who encourage positive behaviours, RP would only associate with negative peers who have been alleged to be involved drug misuse with intent to supply to other young people prior to living in the home. RP now spends time with his peer group in school who school have reported are positive friendships.

RP has learned that this is not the lifestyle he wishes to be part of and has made new friends which can be difficult for a young person with ASD, RP now has free time in Westfield area with no issues and attends a local youth club.

We have a mix of experienced and new staff members who have transferable skills, all staff have behaviour management training.

Each young person has an individual behaviour support plan which is updated monthly with new strategies to manage behaviours all staff refer to behaviour support plans and have guidance from their team leaders and management.

We have staff with level 4 qualifications in residential care and remainder of the staff team working towards this.

There are planned specialised training courses ADHD, ASD, Children who experience domestic violence, radicalisation.

The manager has developed a form for work force development sessions and staff questionnaire, topic of the month discussed in team meetings.

Does the home have sufficient staffing levels based on the needs of the child.

Yes, we have a strong staff team with ongoing recruitment in place prior to seeking a 4th young person

Is the Homes development plan up to date and effective.

Yes, regularly updated and effective, this is reviewed monthly.

All audits have been completed by Reg 44 visitor and internal audits to develop manager and deputy manager.

All agencies have been consulted in the young persons care plans and feedback has been obtained from professionals to family members

There have been barriers with CDB and his school with reluctance to let CDB attend full days due to his behaviours, we have addressed to school and informed them CDB is currently at crisis and having trauma related issues and we need to consider this impact on his mental health of not attending school full time with his peers and making friendships, this is an ongoing process and we will continue to advocate for CDB.

17. Leadership and management: actions

• •The responsible individual has created a monthly audit form and is supporting the manager and deputy manager with reviewing and monitoring the homes recording systems to ensure a high level of care remains to be delivered to the children and the manager continues to have a full oversight of the home.

18. Care planning

Does the home meet the child's needs as set out in the homes statement of purpose. If not why, and what action has been taken.

Have all children been inducted into the home, have there been any issues with this process.

Are each child's care plans being followed, if not why, and what action has been taken.

Are the child's contact plans being adhered to, if not why, and what action has been taken to address this.

What positive outcomes have been achieved for the child in line with their care plans.

Has a review of the child's relevant plans taken place, if so was this requested due to risk of harm or the home unable to meet the child's needs. If so detail as to why and what action has been taken.

Managers comments and summary below:

Yes, all children's needs are met with accordance to statement of purpose, we continuously review care plans and make adaptions when necessary. We have recently adapted this to include the support delivered from Bright Futures Wellbeing emotional wellbeing support.

J and L were emergency placements however there were meetings and discussions of care plans prior to the children being placed in care. It was agreed they would remain with their mother initially however an urgent placement was required the following week after considering the children being placed in the home.

CDB was inducted into the home on a transition plan. CDB visited the home then came for tea with his foster carers then spent a full day on the weekend before being placed into our care on the Monday this was a smooth well-planned transition between management, local authority and foster carers.

All children in the home have their individual journal that demonstrates their experiences and support received during their transition into the home, and their journey of events and achievements whilst living in the home.

Are each child's care plans being followed, if not why, and what action has been taken.

Yes, and reviewed, updated monthly with regular care planning meetings with multiagency professionals. Minutes from meetings are recorded and evident in each young person's internal placement plan which demonstrates a chronology of care planning and safeguarding for the children in the home.

All young people have up to date contact plans which are adhered to each time no young person has missed any contact plans during the time of being placed in the home.

J and L family members have been invited to the home for tea.

CDB has visited his old foster family home for contact with siblings.

CDB dad wanting contact but the safeguards in place by the social worker.

Safeguarding ZP and RP is a huge positive outcome for both considering their upbringing and vulnerable times they where exposed to within their mother's care and other adult associates of mum. J and L have both expressed how they feel safe here and understand the dangers they faced at home.

Managing CDB behaviours and understanding CDB levels of trauma and inconsistencies he has experienced with multiple foster care moves due to his behaviours we have shown nurture, resilience and consistency to support CDB which historically would have broke down his placements. Due to this approach we believe CDB crisis is beginning to slowly diminish with the right support.

There has been no review of care plans regarding risks, current care plans are sufficient and evident of safeguarding and care for all young people. We have had positive feedback regarding care planning of our young people

L and J have been supported through the court process from being placed on an interim care order to now bing placed on a full care order. Both L and J will b allocated a new social worker on the permanent team and leaving care team. We are waiting to be updated on their new social workers being identified.

19. Care planning: actions

• •L and J have now been placed on a full care order. As a home we will support both children in the coming weeks with the introduction and transition of their new allocated social worker and promote positive relationships.

20. Feedback from professionals and family

• •Feedback we have received from professionals and family members:
• •"Whenever I speak to you about the young people, you have such a positive outlook and it's been lovely to hear how much progress the two young people I've supported,  are making at Birchwood House.  You never give up on them, even when they are finding times hard.
• •You always do what you say that you are going to do, and this has built trust with the young people, who have experienced so many difficult lived experiences in their young lives."
• •Since Callum has been placed in February it seems he has made small steps of progress in a number of areas, however most significantly in his resistance to rules and boundaries.  Sarah and the staff are able to balance showing L they care about him and want the best for him, but also implement structure to his days which is not determined by L.
• •The placement have promoted contact with L's siblings, and this is extremely important for his sense of identity. Whilst L is on a reduced timetable Tracy and the staff have supported Callum in school, looking to work with him on any particular behaviours and have also promoted engagement in education at home too.
• •The placement are represented at each meeting and provide relevant and important updates on L.  They are flexible and supportive of any plans and I have enjoyed working with them over the last few weeks.
• •PEP Coordinator and Primary Lead
• •Education Improvement and Inclusion
• •I have had a very positive experience in working with Sarah and Birchwood House. Sarah is always available for meetings and visits. Sarah makes it clear during professional meetings that she is there to advocate for the young person who is in her care. She will push for progress to be made in the child's best interest. The young person I am working with has settled really well in Birchwood House and has fed back that he really likes all the staff. He has been given the freedom to help choose how he would like his own room to be decorated. This young person has experienced a high amount of trauma and this can sometimes be reflected in his behaviour. However, it is noted that there has been a big improvement in his ability to regulate himself since moving to Birchwood House. I believe that he is receiving a high quality of care from Sarah and the rest of the staff.
• •Hope this is enough, let me know if you need any more.
• •Children in Need and Child Protection
• •Feedback we have received by the children:
• •"I love it here and want this to be my forever home" CDB
• •"I feel safe here, listened to by Sarah and have more opportunities for my future here than if I was at home with mum" ZP

21. Sign off

Signed:Sarah BennettDate: 23/07/25