Children's Home run by Care 2 Share 2 Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report children’s home: SC052946 1 SC052946 Registered provider: Care 2 Share 2 Ltd 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 five children who have experienced abuse, trauma and/or neglect, and present with a range of complex needs and behaviours. This home 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 provisions, outreach support, family support in the community and community-based parenting assessments. The home registered with Ofsted in 2003. The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2018 and is suitably qualified for the role. 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.

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good

Date of last inspection: 10 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/02/2020 Full Good 17/07/2018 Full Good 24/10/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a lovely atmosphere. All children spoken to talked very positively about their experience of living in this home. They said that it was a good home and described it as a calm place, where they wished to stay until they leave care. Staff are highly skilled at engaging children and forming positive relationships with them. This includes children who, due to their complex needs and adverse childhood experiences, find it difficult to trust anyone and have refused to engage with any professionals previously. One child said, ‘It took me a while to open up, but now I am showing my true self. Now I trust.’ A sensitive and carefully planned admission procedure helps children to settle quickly when they come to live at this home. Staff help children to complete a comprehensive induction programme and are clear about the expectations from both sides. The considerable time spent with children when they move into the home

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

provides a good basis for the development of positive relationships between children and staff. The voice of the child is strong in this home and underpins their engagement with staff. All children said that they felt listened to. Being heard and not judged gives children confidence to talk about their experiences and helps them to develop their social skills. Staff have created a respectful environment in which differences are celebrated. One child said that the best thing about the home is how people from different cultures and views get on well together. The staff members and the children come from culturally, racially and religiously diverse backgrounds. Staff promote children’s learning and educational attainments. They work closely with the virtual headteachers and schools to remove any barriers to children’s attendance and progress. For example, staff helped one child, who had been out of education for eight months, to start attending school regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff nurture children’s talents and creativity. Children engage in many activities in the home and in the community. For example, children write lyrics, compose music and play pool in the garden. It was so nice to see children together in the kitchen, watching one child’s baking creation in the oven and encouraging him to consider a baking career. They said that this child’s cinnamon buns were the ‘best one can get’. Children have learned from staff the importance of being kind and celebrating each other’s achievements.

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

Clear boundaries, routines and nurturing relationships in the home lead to children’s increased sense of safety. All children spoken to said that they felt safe at the home. One child said that this home is the safest place that he has ever been to. Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 4 Staff understand contextual safeguarding and protect children from the risks outside the home. Staff use every opportunity to make children aware of the risks to their safety and to help them understand how they can keep themselves safe. As a result of children’s better understanding of the risks and their positive experiences in the home, they go missing from home less frequently than they previously did. Some children with a history of going missing from home have never gone missing from this home. Staff encourage children to develop positive peer relationships. Staff robustly challenge any signs of bullying, intimidation, negative influence and abuse among

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

children. One child talked about how staff helped children to resolve a conflict and how, after initial difficulties, he and the other child are now ‘best mates’. Knowing that they can work on a relationship and improve it despite their differences was an important insight for this child, and has made him more optimistic about his future. Staff create a safe space for children to explore their feelings and develop a better awareness of what is fuelling their negative behaviours. Staff help children to learn how to better manage their negative emotions, conflict and anxiety. Children’s behaviours improve over time as they become more resilient. An effective reward system motivates children to cement more constructive behaviours. The home has an electronic surveillance system that alerts staff when a bedroom door has been opened. The system is used when required to safeguard children. The system was switched on at the time of the inspection. However, not all required

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

information for the use of surveillance, such as written consent from each child’s social worker, was available on children’s files. Additionally, the home does not log the use of the surveillance. This makes it difficult to monitor the appropriateness of its use. Children understand that the bedroom-door surveillance system is there for their protection. They are fine about it, but one child asked why staff needed to know if he left his room to go to the bathroom. The manager informed the inspector that she will review the use of this surveillance as a matter of priority to ensure that it is not used for longer than necessary. The provider has a comprehensive procedure for vetting staff members to ensure that they are suitable for their roles. However, on one staff member’s file, there was no record that the provider sought confirmation from the staff member’s previous care-sector employer, as to why that employment ended. All other required

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

information, including professional references from this staff member’s two most recent employers, were on the file. Any diversion from the safer recruitment procedure creates unnecessary risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The stability of the leadership, management and staffing continued throughout the pandemic. The home is appropriately resourced and there is no need to use agency staff. Children benefit from the consistency of the relationships in the home and the individualised support that they receive. Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 5 Leaders and managers provide a supportive working environment for staff. Team meetings and monthly supervisions focus on developing reflective practice. Children benefit from being supported by staff who themselves are supported well in their roles. There is a sufficient number of experienced and appropriately qualified staff working at the home. Annual appraisals and comprehensive training opportunities promote staff’s professional development. Children benefit from being looked after by professional, qualified and knowledgeable staff. A parent reported that staff really

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

cared for her son. Leaders and managers work in partnership with the professional network to provide an effective residential service to children. The home makes a positive contribution to children’s care planning and the stability in their lives. Unplanned endings are rare. All four social workers spoken to talked highly about the service. Leaders and managers consider the needs of the children who already live in the home when they are considering new admissions to the home. However, on one occasion, the home’s impact risk assessment failed to demonstrate that leaders and managers had considered the potential risk to all children. This resulted in one child with homophobic attitudes coming to live together with a child who had experienced homophobic abuse. However, individual risk assessments and safety plans ensured that there was no negative impact on children. Social workers spoke very positively about communication and sharing of

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

information with the home on an ongoing basis, as well as when incidents have occurred. Ofsted receives notifications of significant events from the home. However, on one occasion when a child was a victim of peer violence outside the home, Ofsted was not notified of this. The home worked closely with the police, hospital staff and local authority to ensure that the child received suitable support for his physical injuries and emotional trauma. The failure to notify Ofsted of this safeguarding incident resulted in the regulator not having oversight of the incident. Leaders and managers closely monitor the impact of the service on the children’s experiences, progress and outcomes. However, the six-monthly reviews of the quality of care do not capture this in sufficient detail. Additionally, the external scrutiny of the home by an independent professional is not robust. The independent professional’s monthly reports are not always evaluative and sometimes contain

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

incorrect information. During the significant challenges caused by the pandemic, leaders and managers focused first and foremost on children and their welfare. Although this inspection identified five regulatory breaches, none of the requirements have had a negative impact on children’s safety, experiences and progress, which have remained good overall. Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 6

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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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to making sure that, when new children move into the home, admission records demonstrate that leaders and managers have considered all issues that could affect the children already living in the home. 1 June 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

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(d)) 1 May 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 the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— 1 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 7 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 making sure that, if a person has previously worked in a position involving work with children or vulnerable adults, verification of the reason why the employment or position ended is obtained, so far as is reasonably practicable.

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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;

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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)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to notifying Ofsted of all safeguarding incidents that are notifiable in line with regulation. 1 May 2022

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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 June 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they develop further the quality of their six-monthly reviews of the quality of care so that the reports analyse more specifically what has happened in the home during the review period. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2) Inspection report for children’s home: SC052946 8

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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: SC052946 9

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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: SC052946 10 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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