Children's Home run by Curam Domi Solutions Ltd in Barnet

Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 1 Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care and accommodation for up to two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 February 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are safe and their well-being is promoted by staff and managers who are committed to meeting their needs.  Young people make good progress in their education from their challenging starting points.  Young people benefit from good partnership working between the staff and families and professionals.  Young people learn to address their challenging behaviour and make good progress.  Young people experience positive contact with their families.  Staff and managers provide a homely environment for the young people.  Young people’s cultural heritage is celebrated.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

N/a Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 3

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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, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the matters related to the quality standards, (3) the registered person must– (a) keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and (b) notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)) 06/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

(1) The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. (Regulation 44(1)) In particular, the independent person should make a rigorous assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and provide a copy of the report to the regulator. 06/04/2018

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person must ensure that, when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that sanctions and the young people’s views about the sanctions are clearly recorded.

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 4  Ensure that a review of quality of care, under Regulations 45, clearly identifies any actions required for the next six months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people who live in the home receive good care from the staff and managers, who have developed positive relationships with them. Young people’s strengths and needs are well understood by the staff and manager, who are committed to supporting them achieve positive outcomes. A social worker stated that the home is ‘providing a good level of quality care’ to her young person who feels ‘confident and comfortable’ with the staff ‘who are supporting him in all areas of his life’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people develop positive relationships with the adults in the home. Young people’s feedback is included in their care planning. For example, young people have a say in the range of activities that are offered to them. This helps young people to feel heard and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are in good physical health, and staff ensure that health concerns are addressed in a timely manner. Young people achieve targets set out in their individualised care plans. For example, one young person improved her personal hygiene and self-care habits. Key-working sessions are utilised to help young person make progress in the identified areas of improvement. An independent reviewing officer praised the way in which the key worker supported her young person. Young people also receive appropriate levels of support in relation to their emotional well-being. Young people have access to specialist services, such as the child and adolescent mental health services, if necessary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress in their education. One young person has improved her school attendance to 98% since her placement in the home. Another young person’s school attendance increased to 100%. A school professional stated that despite the young person’s challenges, the home has ‘enabled him to concentrate more on his general certificate of secondary education studies’. Another young person, who was recently admitted to the home, is engaged in tuition until a suitable provision is identified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager ensures that good admission planning processes are in place. This includes impact analysis and meeting with the young people and partner agencies before any young person is admitted. Managers discuss placement referrals with the staff to ensure that they can meet the young person’s level of needs as a team. As a result, young people whose needs cannot be met by the staff team are not admitted to the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 5 Young people know how to complain. A complaint filed by a young person was recorded clearly and managed in a timely, child-centred manner. The children’s guide includes information on young people’s rights and the details of how they can contact professionals, such as the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to experience positive contact with their families. A parent stated that there is ‘good communication’ from the staff and manager, and that they maintain a ‘homely home’. The parent stated that she was ‘happy with the care’ they provide to her child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers maintain good working relationships with those people who matter to the young people. Staff and managers respect young people’s ethnic heritage and deliver culturally sensitive practice. Consequently, young people feel comfortable and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A young person said that he likes the home, and that it is ‘calm here’ and that there was nothing he wanted to see changed.

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

Young people receive good help and protection from the staff and managers, who are attuned to their vulnerabilities. Young people stated that they feel ‘safe’ in the home and are able to identify trusted adults they can talk to about any concerns.

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

Risk factors associated with child sexual exploitation, self-harming, offending, misusing drugs or alcohol, e-safety and going missing are assessed by the staff and manager. Each young person has a risk assessment in place with specific actions to mitigate the identified risks. However, some risk assessments are more detailed than others. For example, one young person’s impact risk assessment did not include substance misuse as a risk factor even though it was mentioned in his background information. However, a risk assessment carried out on a newly admitted young person identifies the risk of substance misuse and its potential impact on the accommodated young person, mentioning his vulnerability to substance misuse.

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

When a young person is found to be using cannabis, room checks and key-working sessions are carried out. This allows staff to manage the risks and educate the young person about the consequences of substance misuse.

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

Individualised behaviour management plans are effective. They include de-escalation techniques and other strategies to help the young person contain their maladaptive behaviour. Young people experience a reduction in aggressive behaviour during their placement in the home.

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

Young people do not routinely go missing from the home. Young people who have a history of going missing from their previous placements have had either no missing episodes or a few incidents since admission to this home. Consequently, a young person, who was particularly at risk of child sexual exploitation, experienced a reduction in the Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 6 level of risk. When young people do go missing, staff follow the home’s procedures and carry out debriefings with the young people. However, there are no clear arrangements in place with the placing authority for independent return home interviews to be offered to the young person.

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

There has not been a restraint incident since the home opened. The systems in place for recording sanctions and restraints are, on the whole, appropriate. However, there were gaps in recordings of the young people’s views in relation to sanctions. In addition, there were gaps in the recordings of the sanctions actually applied to the young people. Most of the recordings are of good quality, while others lack clarity and detail. There is evidence of the registered manager’s review of the incidents.

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

Investigations into serious incidents or allegations of harm are shared with the appropriate agencies and are handled robustly in line with the statutory guidance. The designated officer said that she has no safeguarding concerns in relation to the home. The borough’s dedicated ward police officer stated that the neighbourhood police team has met some of the young people at the home and has had no concerns.

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

The safeguarding policy is comprehensive. Staff understand child protection procedures. The location risk assessment is fit for purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified manager. The registered manager has ample experience of working with vulnerable young people in residential care. The registered manager ensures that safe recruitment practices are in place and that the home is adequately resourced to meet the young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that the staff team works in partnership with families and professionals to promote positive outcomes for young people. A school professional stated that the partnership with the home is ‘working well’ and that he has been ‘impressed’ with the staff and the manager in their efforts to support the young person through a difficult time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision that is focused on meeting the young people’s needs and receiving feedback on the quality of their practice. The registered manager utilises supervision to challenge gaps in practice. Supervision records are clear and evidence the steps that are taken to help staff to make improvements. A staff member stated that she finds supervision helpful, in that she receives appropriate support and guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s workforce development plan is comprehensive, and the training plan covers the required and supplementary areas for staff’s learning. Staff find the training they have received helpful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s assessment of the home’s strengths and areas of improvement is thoughtful and considered, although there is room for improvement in the written report under regulation 45. The manager is able to underpin his evaluation by the quality standards. However, the review lacks a detailed action plan for the next six months to Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 7 address areas of improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager runs the home in line with the ethos of the statement of purpose. The statement of purpose details the outcomes the home seeks to achieve and its approach to achieving them. However, it has not been updated with either the details of the registered manager’s or the staff’s relevant information since the home commenced service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s reports are comprehensive. However, they sometimes lack a rigorous assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding the young people and promoting their welfare. Also, despite the efforts made by the registered provider to appoint an independent person to visit the home in the first month of its operation, no such visit took place. The registered provider recognises the importance of the independent visitor’s role and their function of informing the quality review of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have experienced a delay in having their wages paid by the registered provider. This has not had a negative impact on the home’s ability to achieve the aims and objectives set out in the statement of purpose. The registered provider has taken steps to ensure the continued financial viability of the home.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 86-90, Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE

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Inspector

Linda Kim-Newby, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1257182 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for 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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