Children's Home run by Heartwood RSW Ltd in Redbridge

Assurance visit report: SC461865 1 SC461865

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to five children. The home provides person-centred care for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It aims to help children achieve their goals, while offering holistic support.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Requires improvement to be good

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership. This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Findings from the visit

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit. Some requirements and Assurance visit report: SC461865 2 recommendations raised at the last inspection were not reviewed during the visit and so are repeated here.

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The care of children

Children have trusted and secure relationships with staff. They enjoy spending time with staff, participating in activities and having important discussions through key- work sessions. Children share their views and wishes, sometimes in creative ways that they prefer, rather than speaking. This is to ensure that their opinions help shape the home’s development.

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The care of children

Children live healthy lives. Their social, physical, emotional and mental health needs are understood and well met. Managers and staff promoted children’s good health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, medication records are not always maintained accurately. This does not ensure the safe administration of children’s medication.

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The care of children

Children have good and creative opportunities to learn. These opportunities are tailored to meet specific learning needs. Staff support children’s contact with their families, when it is safe to do so. Staff gauge the impact family contact has on children. This is to ensure that these meetings are in children’s best interests.

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The care of children

Children’s holistic needs are very well met. A local authority social worker said, ‘The staff have really worked hard with my young person. I feel this placement is absolutely right for her. Staff have really outdone themselves in providing support.’

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The safety of children

Children are generally safe from harm and abuse. However, some staff do not demonstrate sound knowledge of what to do if a child makes an allegation against another member of staff. In a recent incident, managers failed to fully explore an allegation by a child that they had been injured. Safeguarding protocols were not followed and there was a delay in alerting key professionals and Ofsted. This practice does not support the safe care of children.

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The safety of children

Staff supervision and vigilance helps to reduce children’s risk-taking behaviours. Risk assessments help staff to identify and anticipate risks. However, some risk assessments need improvement as they contain extensive historical information and do not highlight all the known risks.

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The safety of children

Staff manage children’s challenging behaviour well. They receive good guidance and there are clear boundaries in place to support staff to provide safe care. This is also the case for children subject to Deprivation of Liberty court orders. There are effective strategies in place that reduce the risk of harm if children are missing. Staff are very familiar with children’s vulnerabilities; this helps them to anticipate and address children’s challenging behaviour. Assurance visit report: SC461865 3

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Leaders and managers

The home has had no registered manager since February 2020. During this time, a number of individuals have held the post of manager or interim manager. The lack of a strong, consistent manager has had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the leadership of the home.

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Leaders and managers

Management oversight of the service has been poor. For example, some records, such as risk assessments, key-work sessions and records of meetings are not sufficiently detailed or are missing. Leaders have also failed to effectively monitor the performance of staff.

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Leaders and managers

The support of staff requires improvement. Staff do not receive regular individual supervision, and annual appraisals do not happen. This means that managers do not have good insight into the training and development needs of the staff team. Inconsistent management arrangements have also played a part, at times, to staff feeling unsupported.

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Leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are committed to children’s well-being and place their welfare at the forefront of all they do. Achieving placement goals and offering children a safe, stable environment is a priority for leaders. Managers and staff work hard to offer positive experiences to children, who often have complex histories and present with extremely challenging behaviour.

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Leaders and managers

Managers’ working relationships with other professionals are effective. This is particularly the case for managers’ communication with local authority staff. A social worker said, ‘The placement is in constant communication with me. When they are struggling with my young person, staff are open and honest about what they need to offer her good support. They’ve really worked hard with my young person.’

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Leaders and managers

The lack of a permanent manager has had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the home’s leadership. However, this has not significantly impacted on the experiences and progress of children, which is positive.

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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

Assurance visit report: SC461865 4 The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The provider must ensure a manager submits an application to be registered with Ofsted. 01/02/2021

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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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)) 01/01/2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and 01/01/2021 Assurance visit report: SC461865 5 have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to,

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 01/12/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child.

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Requirement Due date

Paragraph (2) does not apply to medicine which— is stored by the child for whom it is provided in such a way that other persons are prevented from using it; and 01/12/2020 Assurance visit report: SC461865 6 may be safely self-administered by that child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the closed-circuit television should be for the protection of children only and not staff, and must be subject to regular review. 01/12/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5)) 01/12/2020

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises. The review should include the identification of any risks Assurance visit report: SC461865 7 and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2) In particular, focus in more detail on the specific risks in the neighbourhood, including gangs and other youth-related concerns.

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Recommendations

 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, this refers to risk assessments, key-work sessions, incident records and records of meetings.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG3 9JX

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC461865 8 to 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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