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 Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home cares for young people who display challenging behaviour. Young people may be involved in the criminal justice system. The home is privately run and cares for young people aged from eight to 18. The home’s manager was registered with Ofsted in January 2018

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

p.1

inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

inadequate

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

p.1

inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

p.1

inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: the home has been subject to a compliance notice issued in relation to the protection of children standard. A restriction of accommodation notice is in place. Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/05/2018 Full Inadequate 19/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/04/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/11/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose.

p.3

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 31/08/2018

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

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;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(c)(2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 31/08/2018

p.3

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to 31/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 4 develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable.

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

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;

p.4

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

managing relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other.

p.4

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)iv) 31/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 5 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should review systems within the home to ensure that they are safeguarding young people. 31/08/2018

p.5

Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the baby monitor is to be removed from the home. 03/08/2018

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The lack of positive relationships between staff and young people is a significant barrier to young people’s progress. Staff do not recognise the early childhood trauma and emotional distress that contribute to young people’s challenging behaviour. In turn, young people do not trust the adults in this home. They do not feel that staff care for them. A young person said, ‘They need better staff who really care about young people if you ask me. Some staff hold grudges and sometimes after incidents won’t even talk to you.’

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Essential work to help young people learn about healthy and unhealthy relationships has not been carried out. This is exceptionally concerning because children living in the home have previously made disclosures and allegations of sexual exploitation. As a result, children’s vulnerability to exploitation has not reduced. Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 6 No direct or purposeful work has been undertaken with any of the young people to address the impact of bullying that has previously taken place in the home. The failure to support young people who have been bullied means that positive relationships between young people are not promoted.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not provided with activities that enhance their lives or develop their social skills, confidence and self-esteem.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the home has been redecorated, and is now more of a homely and inviting place for young people. Refurbishment and decoration continues.

p.6

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

Young people are not protected from harm. When concerns have been identified about young people’s safety and well-being, the management and staff have failed to take appropriate action.

p.6

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

Young people’s behaviours are poorly managed. Practice is insensitive and punitive. Staff do not see when young people have reached crisis. The inability of staff to communicate sensitively adds to young people’s emotional distress. Some incidents have lasted for several hours without a member of staff or management being able to calm young people down. The emotional impact of this on young people who are already traumatised is severe.

p.6

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

Staff do not demonstrate the level of care and compassion that is necessary to enable young people to build strong and trusting relationships. Because staff do not have the necessary skills to de-escalate challenging behaviour, young people become very distressed. In some cases, the actions of staff inflame situations. For example, a baby monitor was used by staff to listen in to a young person’s private conversation. The young person subsequently caused significant property damage, self-harmed and was arrested by police.

p.6

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

A young person had registered with an adult social networking app. Although the staff ensured that the app was deleted from the young person’s phone, the situation was handled inappropriately. The young person has not received appropriate guidance and support to understand the risks associated with using such an app. Staff have not adequately promoted the safety of this young person.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider has failed to meet the compliance notice issued at the last inspection. This means that safeguarding practice has not improved and that young people’s vulnerability to abuse and exploitation has not reduced.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In addition, four out of the seven requirements that were made at the last inspection are unmet. This demonstrates that the current management arrangements are poor. Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 7 The registered manager was absent from the home from 19 June 2018 until 10 July 2018. During this period, several managers were covering the home. This has had an impact on the consistency of care offered to young people. This also means that the inexperienced staff team has been poorly supported. Staff continue to lack the necessary skills and confidence to meet young people’s complex needs.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership team is ineffective. Management has failed to address poor staff performance. This means that young people continue to experience a poor quality of care.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Written records do not accurately reflect incidents. Recording in relation to physical intervention is poor. Such shortfalls prevent a clear audit trail of what is happening and make the monitoring or investigation of any potential concern extremely difficult.

p.7

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.

p.7

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 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Ltd

p.8

Children’s home details

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

p.8

Inspector

Davinia Lawton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1205501 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9