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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 1 SC413078 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 is privately owned. It provides care and accommodation for two children. Children may have experienced a breakdown at home or another placement. They may have suffered abuse and display challenging behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 23 October 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/10/2018 Full Good 06/06/2017 Full Good 27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 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 meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (d)) 11/11/2019

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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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(v)) 11/11/2019

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; 11/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 4 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)) The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 11/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 11/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in Regulation 12 (2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (2)) 11/11/2019

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 5

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improvement to be good

Since the last full inspection, the operation of this home has declined. Management arrangements have not been robust enough to ensure good care practice.

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improvement to be good

Children have developed and progressed in this home. They attend education and have educational plans to support their progress. Health needs are understood and addressed. Arrangements to support family contact are excellent. These factors have provided a basis of stability.

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improvement to be good

However, the experiences of children are not good enough. This is because their therapeutic needs have not been addressed within the placement. Staff do not have the necessary depth of therapeutic training. This means that they lack the knowledge to effectively understand and manage behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Partnership work with multi-disciplinary teams has not always been effective. The provider does not agree with the therapeutic approach recommended by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. While this issue is being resolved, a child has been left with unmet emotional and behavioural needs. This does not promote the emotional or psychological well-being of children.

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improvement to be good

Staff are dedicated and resilient. They understand the underlying causes of challenging behaviours and persevere in their efforts to build strong relationships regardless of the nature of children’s behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding practice has strengths and areas of weakness.

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improvement to be good

Staff use physical interventions to ensure that children do not harm themselves or others. Not all staff had the required level of physical intervention training. Managers have since addressed this training need.

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improvement to be good

Risk management has not been sufficiently robust. A range of risk assessments lack detail and do not provide clarity about the priority risks and strategies to manage risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always understand the range of risks which children present. Inspectors identified that not all staff understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children.

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improvement to be good

The manager has ensured that the home has an up-to-date locality risk assessment. This outlines the risk factors within the wider community and strategies to manage risk. However, this assessment does not include consultation with stakeholders and relevant Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 6 agencies.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, effective safeguarding practice has prevented a child from putting themselves at risk of harm. A child with a significant history of going missing has only been missing on one occasion since moving to the home.

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improvement to be good

Social care professionals confirm that staff are effective at keeping children safe. Importantly, children also confirm that they feel safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last full inspection, the registered manager has temporarily supported another home. This has had an impact on the operation of this home. The registered manager is now back in day-to-day charge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management monitoring systems have not been wholly effective. This is because managers cannot demonstrate how care practice impacts on the behaviours and experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Childrens records are of a poor quality. They consistently lack important details, including dates, authors and signatures. This means it is difficult to know if reports are reviewed regularly and have received effective management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Records of staff training are inconsistent and fragmented. Inspectors identified gaps in staff training and a lack of therapeutic training. This means that some staff lack the training, knowledge and skills to meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff say that they feel supported by the management team and each other. However, supervision does not take place regularly for all staff and some supervision records were not available in the home. This was also the case for staff annual appraisals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is not working in alignment with the statement of purpose. The therapeutic approach described does not match the current operation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The physical environment of the home requires some improvement. The bathroom requires renovation because it appears well worn and outdated. Throughout the home, doors and cupboards have industrial style locks. This provides an institutionalised and unhomely appearance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have undertaken an urgent review of the operation of the home. They have initiated discussions with mental health services. This will enable a collaborative approach with stakeholders to ensure a shared understanding of children’s needs and planned outcomes. Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 7

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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: SC413078 8

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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: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anthony Armstrong

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Inspectors

Amanda Ellis: social care inspector Sarah Orris: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC413078 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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