Children's Home run by Care 2 Share Ltd in Waltham Forest

Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 1 Registered provider: Care 2 Share Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides short-term/emergency placements for up to six children. The home’s statement of purpose states that it provides care for children who are in crisis and may present with a range of complex social and emotional needs. The registered provider supports placing authorities in assessing future placement or transitional needs of children. The maximum period of placement is 42 days. In exceptional circumstances, this could be extended. The home is privately owned and is one of three children’s homes run by the same company. The company also provides a range of other services for children and adults, such as residential family centres, supported living provision, outreach support, family support in the community and community-based parenting assessments. The home and registered manager registered with Ofsted on 7 September 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good. Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 2 Date of last inspection: 24 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/02/2020 Full Outstanding 29/11/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home has a strong positive impact on children’s experiences, progress and outcomes. Staff’s emotional warmth, empathy and creativity secure children’s engagement and trust. Children’s positive engagement leads to their progress across many areas of their lives. In many instances, staff help children to, in a short period of time, transform their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All five children living at the home talked highly about their experiences of living at this home. Their comments included: ‘I love it here,’ ‘They care and try to help you to be your best’ and ‘Other young people here are like my brothers.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two mothers spoken to were very happy about the service. They reported that their children were thriving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A comprehensive key-working system underpins the development of close relationships between children and staff. Children develop a sense of safety, emotional well-being and courage to explore different ways of responding to situations. This leads to better self-regulation and safer behaviours from children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop healthier lifestyles and have access to any extra help that they need. Specialist workers in substance misuse and sexual health have close links with the home and are available for extra support. The home has a comprehensive procedure for dealing with medication. However, staff do not always follow the procedure. This weakness creates unnecessary risks to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff instil children with the importance of learning and inspire them to engage with education. Children’s school attendance increases, and they continue to prepare for exams, despite experiencing personal crisis and the challenges brought by the pandemic.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with families to help children and their parents to develop better relationships. Some children have returned to the care of their families. This is a great outcome for everyone involved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop their life skills and independence. Some children have moved to the organisation’s supported accommodation and have stayed in touch with the staff from this home. The organisation’s wider resources contribute to the stability and continuity of relationships in children’s lives, including when they are care leavers.

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

Good safeguarding practices in this home result in the increased safety of children. All children said that they felt safe. They are clear that staff are always there to help Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 5 and protect children. Children said that they would turn to staff for guidance and support if anything worried them.

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

Staff enable children to understand their own vulnerabilities better and to keep themselves safe. Children complete training on a number of safeguarding topics, such as gangs and county lines, child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation, knife crime prevention, first aid, including how to manage stab wounds and health and safety. Staff support children to keep themselves safe and help to improve their outcomes. This includes giving presentations about being missing from care, making the most of education, what to expect from a court appearance and understanding COVID-19, its variants and the vaccines.

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

Staff provide a safe space for children to explore their views, feelings and wishes. This results in children’s increased emotional resilience and a sense of security. Many children no longer go missing from home despite having a history of this. This is a great outcome for them as it means that they are safer.

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

During the inspection, the inspector identified that the main door to the home was kept locked with the key. Children are free to leave at any time but have to ask staff to unlock the door. This extraordinary measure was put in place to ensure that staff can alert the police straight away if a highly vulnerable child, who came to the home a week earlier, leaves the premises. However, the records required for this highly controlling measure are not in place. This prevents the monitoring of this restrictive practice to ensure that it is not in place longer than required. The children did not mind having to ask staff to unlock the door for them and did not see this as an issue.

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

Staff are able to assess situations quickly and make the right decisions to enhance children’s safety. An example of this is how carefully staff consider one child’s mood and the risk of self-harm when deciding when to report this child as missing to the police. However, the records do not always capture the dynamic nature of the home’s risk assessment practices.

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

An effective rewarding system motivates children to develop more constructive behaviours. Sanctions are used rarely and when implemented, they always have a positive effect. However, the records of sanctions are not always clear and sufficiently detailed.

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

The procedure for recruiting staff aims to ensure that the staff are suitable to work with children. However, one staff’s recruitment file does not include a record of explanations of all gaps in their employment history.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that decisions are always made in the best interest of children. Leaders and managers carefully nurture the voice of the child and advocate for children in their care. Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 6 The home is managed efficiently, effectively and flexibly to fulfil its aims and objectives as outlined in the statement of purpose. Due to the pandemic, some children stayed longer than six weeks. This is in line with the home’s statement of purpose and the organisation’s values.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and staff benefit from the stability in the leadership and management of the home. There are continued learning for staff and development of the service. One of the improvements achieved since the last inspection is the home’s increased contribution to the life-story work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide a comprehensive induction, regular supervision and a highly supportive working environment for staff. Training opportunities and reflective practices ensure that staff have the skills necessary for their roles and continue to develop their knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team spirit and staff retention are high. The home have not used any agency staff during the pandemic. Staff work flexibly across the organisation’s different services to ensure that there are suitable staffing levels and consistency in the approach to care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s admission procedure has been strengthened, following some serious events. Leaders and managers now scrutinise the referral information more carefully to ensure that placing authorities share all significant information that they have. Leaders and managers have increased their knowledge about the local gangs, and this knowledge informs their decision to agree for a child to come to live at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work closely with other professionals to promote children’s positive experiences, progress and outcomes. During the pandemic, leaders and managers have taken extra care to contribute to the professional network around the child. Examples of this include them providing more detailed reports to the professionals whose only contact with children was online and working closely with schools to support children’s continued learning during lockdowns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers closely monitor the impact of the care provided on children’s lives. However, the six-monthly reviews of the quality of care are repetitive. They include comments from children, parents and professionals that were gathered outside the review period. In addition, the independent person’s monthly monitoring reports do not make clear their opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and if the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 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 registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 1 April 2022

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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 child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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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)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to keeping the main door locked with only staff having access to the key, reviewing this practice frequently and finding less restrictive ways to ensure children’s safety. 1 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which 1 May 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 8 the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3)

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to having recorded explanations of all gaps in employment on staff files.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (1) (4)(a)(b)) 1 May 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that written risk assessments with regards to children going missing specify the risk factors that influence the decisions made to report them missing, such as the mood of a child who is at risk of self-harm. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that the record of sanctions is dated, is clear about the sanction and its effectiveness, or states the reasons for withdrawing the sanction. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that the quality of the six-monthly reviews of care are improved and that each report focuses on the review period. This in particular relates to the feedback received from children, parents and professionals. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality

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Recommendations

standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 9

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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 for children's home: 1264016 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 46 The Ridgeway, North Harrow, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 7QN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Mehnaaz Chaudhary

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1264016 11 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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