Children's home run by Castle Homes Care Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 1 Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home cares for young people who display extremely challenging behaviour. This can be in the form of verbal and physical abuse, self-harming behaviour, young people who are withdrawn and victims of abuse or vulnerability to, or involvement in, sexual exploitation. Young people may be involved in the criminal justice system and be subject to a Youth Order. The home is privately run and cares for young people aged eight to 18. The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in January 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/04/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/11/2016 Full Requires improvement 08/09/2016 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 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

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home should be clean and appropriately decorated. Food should not be stored on the floor and broken glass should be removed from the outdoor area. 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose. 29/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 4 (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, young people’s views should be sought and considered on a regular basis. Feedback should be given to young people regarding any requests that they make and the reasons why such requests can or cannot be actioned. 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the therapeutic needs of young people are met. Young people’s medication is reviewed on a regular basis. 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— 29/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 5 positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship.

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Requirement Due date

*The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. 29/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 6 (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should review systems within the home to ensure that they are safeguarding young people. 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are making limited progress. Not all young people feel that they have trusted relationships with staff or that staff support them. Staff do not always understand young people’s complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Professionals have raised concerns about the presentation of two of the young people. Young people are not receiving basic care and support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Consultation with young people and information sharing are poor. Simple requests made by young people are not responded to. For example, one young person asked to join the gym, but this request was not responded to for several months.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Failure by managers and staff to advocate on behalf of young people has resulted in their health needs being unmet. For one young person, this has resulted in a deterioration of their behaviours and their mental health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is in need of refurbishment and redecoration. In places, the home presents as institutionalised. Staff do not provide young people with keys to the front door or their Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 7 bedrooms.

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

Young people are not always safeguarded by managers or staff in the home. There has been an increase in harmful incidents occurring.

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

There are a number of serious safeguarding concerns that have resulted in young people being placed at immediate risk of harm. Managers and staff have not always identified these concerns, resulting in risks not being effectively managed.

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

When concerns have been identified about young people’s safety and well-being, the manager and staff have failed to act promptly or effectively. This failure to recognise and quickly respond to identified risks has left young people at risk of significant harm.

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

For some young people, their behaviours have deteriorated. Incidents of going missing have increased and one young person has started to self-harm.

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

Following a significant concern about self-harm, a strategy was put in place to minimise any future risk. However, managers failed to ensure that all staff knew about this strategy. This lack of essential information sharing left young people at risk.

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

Failure by staff to promote positive relationships between young people has resulted in them assaulting each other. There are a number of incidents of bullying in the home.

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

The ineffective management of young people’s behaviours has resulted in staff frequently calling the police to manage behaviour. Young people have become criminalised as a result.

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

Not all young people feel safe. A young person said, ‘When they [other young people] were going to kick off, staff told us to stay out of the way and go to our rooms. They would kick off every night. I definitely did not feel safe then.’

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

Risk assessments are unclear. They are lengthy documents that do not always reflect the identified risk for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager was absent from the home from the end of February 2018 until the beginning of April 2018. The deputy manager was also off work at the same time. During this period, there were numerous managers covering the home. This has contributed to a period of instability for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

An inconsistent staff group has made it difficult for young people to form trusting, supportive relationships. Agency staff have regularly been used. This has impacted on young people’s sense of security and stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Placements for two young people have recently ended due to managers and staff not Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 8 being able to meet their needs. Poor placement matching has put young people at risk of significant harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of management review and oversight of the home’s functioning. Poor quality assurance means that it is difficult for managers to monitor the strengths and weaknesses in the home. The lack of proactive management has left young people vulnerable and at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Multi-agency working is not always effective. A support coach for a young person said, ‘Communication has not always been good. It has been hard to know what has been happening in this young person’s life because you cannot always get hold of someone.’

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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: 1205501 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector(s)

Davinia Lawton: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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