Children's Home run by Castle Homes Care Limited in Barnsley

Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 1 SC363630 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 operated by a private company. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children whose life experiences mean that they may have social and/or emotional problems.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2021. She is suitably experienced and qualified for the role.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection : none Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/08/2019 Full Outstanding 20/02/2019 Full Outstanding 23/05/2017 Full Outstanding 02/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting and secure relationships with the adults who care for them. These stable and supportive relationships help children to make good progress. Children describe this setting as their home. One child said to the inspector, ‘It’s like a family, only with more people.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in supporting children’s educational needs. Some children have achieved GCSE and BTEC National Diploma qualifications before transitioning to further education. The working relationships that staff have with education provisions and the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) are helping one child to work towards attending college. Good partnership working ensures that children have the support they need as they explore which career path they wish to take.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have established working relationships with the CAMHS service and the police. Identified professionals from these agencies are readily available to offer support to children in a planned and responsive way. This means that children receive the help and support they require, according to their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive constant positive praise from staff. Children have a reward scheme in place which recognises their positive behaviour, such as helping another person, being kind or achieving a personal goal. This helps to build their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated and is clean throughout. The grounds provide extensive space in which children can relax and play games. Children personalise their bedrooms and photos of the children’s loved ones are displayed around the home, to help make it feel cosy. The children’s talent for art is recognised by displaying their decorative work throughout the home. This helps to create a relaxing and homely atmosphere for children to live in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with opportunities to have positive experiences inside and outside of the home. Playing games, having parties and using the home’s garden give children lots of opportunities to have fun. The large outbuilding in the grounds of the property was used to have a birthday party for one child, which helped to make the celebration feel extra special.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child who was recently admitted was supported to quickly settle into life at the home. Staff were sensitive to the child’s needs and put in place a daily routine that provided the child with a sense of safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are helping one child to learn day-to-day practical skills, such as cooking her own meals and budgeting. However, further work is needed to help all children to develop emotional strategies to cope with life events, such as being emotionally ready to move on from the home and dealing with setbacks. Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 4

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

The staff understand each child’s individual vulnerabilities and follow the safety plans that are in place. Staff can identify when there is an increased risk of harm to a child. This helps to protect the children more effectively.

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

Incidents of children displaying self-injurious behaviours fluctuate in number from month to month. Staff can recognise and respond to the signs of emotional distress in children. In addition, the secure relationships that children have with staff enable the children to ask for help. This has contributed to a reduction in the number of these types of incidents.

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

Staff have requested assistance from emergency services, but only when there are concerns for a child’s safety and welfare. Good multi-agency partnerships have helped reduce the risk of harm to children when they are in their most vulnerable state of mind.

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

The staff’s responses to missing-from-home episodes are well coordinated. On the occasions when children have gone missing, staff have worked with the police to return the children to the home.

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

The manager has failed to escalate a complaint with the local authority after a child’s return home interview did not occur for a considerable time after the event. If a child is not interviewed after a missing incident, the independent person is unable to explore with the child the reason for them staying away from the home. As a result, a child could be at increased risk of harm.

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

Not all risk assessments contain relevant information about the safety and welfare needs of children. This limits the manager’s ability to evaluate the risk and put in place the direction and strategies for staff to follow. This increases the risk of harm to children.

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

The manager’s matching risk assessment considers children’s individual needs. Before admitting a child, the manager consulted with the social workers of the children who are already living at the home. However, the manager did not evaluate the impact that each child’s known behaviours could have on the other children. This does not enable strategies to be identified and does not support the prospect of placement stability for all children.

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

The use of physical intervention is rare. Staff have the skills needed to provide emotional support for children, to help prevent the need for restraint. However, on the one occasion when physical intervention was used, the written account of the event was not recorded properly. This limits the manager’s ability to evaluate the staff member’s practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 5

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good

The manager is new to the post and is progressively putting her stamp on the home. She is suitably qualified and experienced for the role.

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good

During the pandemic, several staff members have moved on. This means that at times, the children have been overwhelmed by the emotional challenge of losing people who are significant to them. Throughout this period of time the manager and her team continued to work hard to ensure that children still feel safe and secure with the adults who care for them.

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good

The manager’s commitment and enthusiasm are shared by the staff. As a result, children’s day-to-day care is consistently delivered by the team. Staff arrive at work in a positive frame of mind, and they enjoy their work. This has a positive impact on the children’s well-being.

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good

Staff say they feel well supported and highly value the leadership of the new manager. However, staff do not have regular supervision. This limits development opportunities and time for reflection.

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good

The independent visitor regularly talks to children about their experiences of living at the home. The reports provide a detailed account of the care that the children receive. However, parents and social workers are rarely consulted as part of this monitoring process. This limits the independent visitor’s ability to further scrutinise the care provided for children.

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good

The manager has not included the contribution of children as part of the quality of care review. In addition, parents, social workers and other relevant people are not being consulted about the quality of care the staff provide for the children. This may impact on the progress children make and their experiences while living at the home.

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good

The provider has a policy in place which prevents staff from acting as an appropriate adult should a child be in custody. The provider has identified this as a training need for staff. However, without this training, staff are not fully able to fulfil this role. This could result in a delay in a child having access to an appropriate adult.

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good

The manager does not have up-to-date documents in place for all children from the local authority. This means that the home’s care plan is not in line with the local authority care plan. This could limit the progress the children make.

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good

The in-house care plan for children is not child friendly, and does not inform children about the care and support they will receive from staff. Also, risk assessments contain duplicated information which may lead to discrepancies in staff practice when managing risk, as not all the information is clear. Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 6 The manager has not notified Ofsted as required when a serious event has occurred. This does not enable the regulator to review the incident, and could result in a child being at risk of increased harm.

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good

Recent events at the home have resulted in some disruptive behaviours occurring in the surrounding area of the home, and a few complaints have been made. The provider and manager are working with the children and the local community to improve relations.

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good

The manager and staff team are valued by their fellow professionals. Feedback given to the inspector recognised the effort the manager and staff make to support the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 7

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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 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that children’s risk assessments evaluate the known risks for the children, and have in place the strategies needed to reduce the risk of harm to the children.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered manager must ensure that the matching risk assessment evaluates the known risks for all children. 25 July 2021

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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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 25 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 8 child, and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that staff are supervised regularly, in line with the provider’s supervision policy.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must also ensure that their policies and the training available to staff support the protection and welfare of children. This particularly refers to supporting staff to fulfil the role of appropriate adult.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that they have in place an up-to-date local authority care plan, and the latest independent officer review minutes for the children. 25 July 2021

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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

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)) 25 July 2021

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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 six 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.

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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. 25 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 9 (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b) (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. The registered manager must ensure that a complaint is escalated with the placing local authority should a return interview not occur. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept, and that these enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice, to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. In particular, the registered manager must ensure that children’s placement plans help a child understand how they will be cared for by the staff. The registered manager must also ensure that children’s risk assessments provide consistent information for staff, so that the agreed strategies to reduce the risk of harm are easy to understand. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  The registered person should ensure that the individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. In particular, the registered provider

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Recommendations

must ensure that the independent visitor regularly consults with parents and social workers to help assess the quality of care provided for children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 10

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC363630 11

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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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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC363630 12 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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Inspector

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