Children's Home run by Evoke Care Group Limited in Croydon

Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 1 Registered provider: Evoke Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three young people. The home’s statement of purpose states that it is a home for young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and challenging behaviour.

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Information about this children’s home

This is a newly registered home that was registered with Ofsted in June 2018. The registered manager was registered with Ofsted at the same time.

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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 failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: n/a

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Recent inspection history

This was the home’s first inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 2

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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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home must keep a copy of application forms, record reasons for employment, check the Disclosure and Barring Update Service and where necessary complete risk assessments on staff prior to their starting work. 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ─ maintain in the home ─ the records in Schedule 4;a record of any persons who reside or work at any time at the home. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to a register of children and the hours worked by the responsible individual. 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ─ ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, documentary proof must be available to evidence that this has occurred. 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that at all times at least one person on duty has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 30/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 3 31 (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuous development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and where appropriate revise it. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)) 30/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain case records for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)) 30/12/2018

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Recommendations

 The home must ensure that all children’s case records are stored securely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In particular, information relating to each child must be correctly stored on their individual files and not the files of other children.  The home must ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, records must accurately confirm whether a restraint has taken place and reflect the child’s journey and outcomes while living at the home.  Effective care planning and strong working relationships between the staff of the home and the placing authority are essential to the success of placements. ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56,

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Recommendations

paragraph 11.2) In particular, the home should ensure that care plans are more detailed and take into account the placing authority plan. Placing authorities should also receive regular written reports regarding their young person’s progress.  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) In particular, risk assessments must be in place for all children, kept up to date and include all identified risks. Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Failures in the recruitment of staff place children at risk of harm. Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff are provided with adequate training to meet the needs of children. Furthermore, record-keeping is weak, and key documents are missing and others lack accuracy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Although staff endeavour to deter children from misusing drugs, there are currently a number of children living in the home who are engaging in cannabis misuse.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care planning is poor and fails to fully address children’s needs and interests, as identified in their local authority care plan. Children’s files do not clearly reflect their progress and outcomes. Personal information for one child was incorrectly stored on another child’s file. Social workers also highlighted that they do not receive regular reports regarding their child’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children do have opportunities to pursue their hobbies and interests. Staff arrange fun activities, for example, going to the cinema and go-karting. Children, however, generally prefer going out with their friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children benefit from trusting relationships with staff, based on mutual respect. Children are growing in maturity and they are learning valued independent living skills. Key work sessions enable them to discuss their feelings, and mentoring also helps with their personal development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The majority of children are in some form of education. Staff actively help older children to look for employment and prepare them for the world of work. A headteacher described staff as being ‘very supportive’, praising the ‘communication and partnership work’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are learning to develop a positive identity and to value diversity. If children display homophobic or racist attitudes, they are appropriately challenged by staff. Cultural occasions are celebrated, an example being the forthcoming Black history month event.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children receive encouragement to lead healthy lifestyles through exercise and eating a nutritious diet. Leaders and managers can also arrange for children to receive on-site therapy.

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

Staff recruitment practices are poor. Serious failures leave children at risk of their welfare not being safeguarded. In particular, leaders and managers did not follow safer Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 5 recruitment procedures, which resulted in one potentially unsuitable member of staff being recruited.

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

Staff recruitment records fail to clarify the reasons for their employment. Leaders and managers do not complete new Disclosure and Barring Service checks or check the update service regarding a person’s suitability. Leaders and managers fail to complete risk assessments on new staff for whom there are known issues regarding their previous employment and criminal histories, to ensure that they are suitable to work in the home.

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

The home has ineffective arrangements in place to manage health-related emergencies. In particular, members of staff with a first aid qualification are not available on every shift. Fortunately, there have not been any incidents needing first aid assistance.

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

Incident records are contradictory; an example is an incident being recorded as a restraint. Leaders and managers confirmed that a restraint had not taken place, which is contrary to the recording on a child’s file.

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

The management of children’s risk is weak. Not all children have an individual risk assessment. Furthermore, risk assessments that are completed, do not include all relevant issues, an example being a child’s prejudices and discriminatory attitude.

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

Children’s unacceptable behaviour is challenged by staff and children receive an appropriate consequence. However, the recording of consequences given to children have insufficient detail, making them open to misinterpretation. An example is the withholding of snacks, takeaways and desserts.

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

Leaders and managers appropriately manage safeguarding allegations. Children have responded well to the nurturing care provided by staff; an example of this is a child feeling able to disclose a past incident of abuse. The times when children go missing from the home since they moved in are decreasing, and the police have provided training to staff on their missing protocol.

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

Children are learning to take responsibility for their actions; an example is that they are more likely to apologise after wrongdoings.

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

Staff try to deter children from gang involvement and criminal activity. Staff understand the issues regarding ‘county lines’ and the potential exploitation of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have demonstrated poor judgements in the running of the home. The registered manager is an experienced social worker and foster carer. Both the registered manager and registered provider acknowledged that errors have been made since the home opened and stated that they understand the areas that require further development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The statement of purpose requires updating to include the staffing structure and the Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 6 experience and qualifications of the current staff team. The home has sufficient staff. However, at times the responsible individual also works as a member of staff. Despite this, the hours worked by the responsible individual are not recorded on the staff rota as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Record-keeping does not meet regulatory requirements. The home does not maintain a register of children. Furthermore, children’s files do not contain all the required information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff training is insufficient. Staff have not had the opportunity to engage in the wide range of online training, which would further enhance their skills. Staff are enrolled to start their vocational training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children benefit from an enthusiastic, culturally diverse and gender-balanced staff team. Staff receive guidance from leaders and managers during their regular supervision and team meetings. However, records do not evidence that staff have received all the necessary inductions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s quality assurance process includes monthly visits from an independent visitor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers receive supervision and guidance from experienced consultants.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite the shortfalls, feedback received by the inspector regarding the home is generally positive. A social worker highlighted, ‘This provider is doing a wonderful work with the young people with complex needs.’ A police officer also praised the quality of partnership working.

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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: 1273719 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 82 Manor Road, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 1JB

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Inspector

Sharon Payne, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1273719 8 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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