Children's Home run by Cherry Care Children’s Home Limited in Essex

Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 1 Registered provider: Cherry Care Children’s Home Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned by a small independent provider. The home cares for up to four children aged between 10 and 18 years who may experience emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted when the home opened in November 2021.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 3

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improvement to be good

The home opened in November 2021. Six children have moved into the home since then. Of these, three children have moved on in ways contrary to their care plans. Two of these children moved out of the home within weeks of moving in. The manager completes impact assessments to help inform decisions about children moving into the home. However, these matching decisions have been over optimistic and, at times, have not been good enough. As a result, staff and children have experienced unsettled periods at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have responded appropriately to incidents as they occur. However, children have felt unsafe on occasions, due to some children’s behaviour towards others or volatile behaviour resulting in serious damage to the home. Staff are currently managing serious concerns of exploitation and substance misuse for one child. Despite this, another child recently moved into the home in emergency circumstances. Consequently, staff work long hours to provide consistency of care to children and to manage incidents. The manager has also covered sleep-in shifts at the home to support staffing when needed.

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improvement to be good

Staff are caring and they are committed to their roles. They ensure that children receive a warm welcome when they move into the home. Staff are sensitive to the individual needs of each child and adapt the care that they provide to the developmental age of the children. This includes developing a settling routine for one child who requires higher levels of nurture and support at bedtimes. Children’s social workers are positive about the care that staff provide and staff’s abilities to meet their children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff lead predictable daily routines, including children and staff regularly eating meals together. This has helped staff get to know children well and to build positive relationships with them. Staff enjoy spending time with children, taking part in a range of activities at the home and in the community. However, activities are rarely planned and the activity timetables displayed for children are not always completed, even though staff recognise that one child benefits from more certainty about their daily routine.

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improvement to be good

Care plans for children are basic and do not contain up-to-date information for staff to follow. Some children’s plans lack information about their education and goals for independence. None of the children attend an education provision. One child, who enjoys learning, was out of education due to repeated delays in the placing authority supporting applications to local schools. The manager attended planning meetings and requested updates from the local authority. However, lack of education was not resolved before this child moved on from the home, resulting in the child missing a term of school. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 4 One child is accessing online tutoring at the home. This child’s engagement is variable. However, staff have supported the child to make good progress from their starting point after long periods of not accessing any learning. As a result, this child will now have the opportunity to gain recognised qualifications. The manager

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improvement to be good

ensures that children have educational resources that match their academic levels. These include books and access to online training, such as in fire safety for children, the dangers of exploitation and anti-bullying.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to maintain relationships with their families in line with their care plans. This includes supporting complex family dynamics and legal arrangements.

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improvement to be good

The house is spacious, well decorated and homely. Any damage to the home is repaired quickly. Children are encouraged to keep their rooms clean, with staff taking less responsibility for this when children are working towards being more independent. As a result, one child’s room contained dirty crockery, even though they had been away from the home for five days. The manager has recently installed door alarms on the children’s bedrooms. This measure has not been assessed as necessary or proportionate for each child.

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improvement to be good

Managers contribute effectively to safeguarding meetings and escalate concerns about children’s safety to relevant professionals. Staff are managing the risks of exploitation and concerns of substance misuse. They have been successful at reducing these risks for some children. One child who regularly went missing from their previous home no longer has any such incidents and enjoys free time with friends. Staff help children access the support that they need, including substance misuse services.

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improvement to be good

Staff are working in line with agreed multi-agency safety plans while alternative arrangements are made for one child who the manager and staff feel unable to keep safe. Staffing levels during the night do not allow for staff to leave the home to undertake visual welfare checks on the child or to collect them if they give an address or location. This is undertaken by the police and, on one occasion, a taxi was arranged to take the child home. This limits the effectiveness of the safety plan.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that children are welcomed back into the home and welfare checks are completed following incidents of children going missing. However, return home interviews are not routinely taking place. This potentially misses important information that children may share with an independent person.

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improvement to be good

Staff take opportunities to discuss important issues with children. These focused conversations include talking to children about healthy relationships, sexual health, calming techniques and road safety.

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improvement to be good

Staff have formed positive relationships with children and, overall, are able to use de-escalation strategies to manage incidents. However, behaviour management Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 5 plans are basic and do not reflect what managers have identified as effective ways of helping children to keep calm before incidents occur. Staff use rewards and incentives to promote positive behaviour. While sanctions are rarely used, there is an inconsistency among staff in the approach to giving children sanctions. There has been one incident of restraint. This was proportionate and carried out to keep children safe. The manager discussed the incident with the child but did not carry out a debrief conversation with staff.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are detailed and individual to each child. However, these are not routinely updated following identification of a new risk, including actions to mitigate children sharing tobacco and children self-medicating. Staff have not followed guidance in the fire risk assessment, limiting access to one of the fire exits and the fire extinguishers. This limits the effectiveness of these risk-reduction measures.

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improvement to be good

Current systems do not ensure that children move to the home with the medication that they need. Despite staff’s efforts, the lack of planning when one child moved in contributed to the child being without their medication for two weeks.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment checks are in place for employed staff. However, the manager does not ensure that all relevant checks are carried out for agency staff.

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good

Managers have established a welcoming and comfortable home. They have established good relationships with children’s social workers, who appreciate the open and transparent communication that they receive. Staff are positive about the support that they receive from managers and each other and feel that they have come together well as a team.

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good

The staff bring transferable skills of working with children. However, many are new to working in residential care and only one staff member holds a relevant level 3 qualification. Staff have not all completed the training identified as mandatory by the organisation, including behaviour management training.

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good

Children are supported to understand the home’s complaints procedure and their right to independent advocacy when they move to the home. Managers respond to children’s complaints formally.

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good

Managers maintain effective oversight of serious incidents. Due to prioritising direct support to staff, management oversight of plans and assessments is less effective. Consequently, these plans are not always up to date and do not provide sufficient guidance for staff.

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good

Managers have learned lessons from earlier matching decisions and children moving on in unplanned ways. As a result, all matching will now be subject to greater scrutiny from a newly appointed quality assurance manager. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 6 Managers are quick to address poor practice and to adapt the service to meet the children’s needs. Managers are working with the quality assurance manager to prioritise areas of development for the home. The manager welcomes this additional support, having identified the need for more senior management presence to guide the running of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that impact risk assessments accurately inform matching decisions. Ensure that risk assessments are updated as risks are identified or change, including children keeping tobacco and self-administering medication. 8 May 2022

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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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff experience and skill is taken into account at the point of matching and when deploying staff on shift and ensure effective management oversight of plans and assessments. 8 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 8 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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when children move to the home in an emergency, ensure that they have access to the medication that they need. 8 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that fire exits and fire extinguishers are accessible as outlined in the home’s fire risk assessment. 25 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 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 relates to ensuring that all checks outlined in Schedule 2 are undertaken for agency members of staff. 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")— 8 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 9 has spoken to the user about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the manager conducting debrief conversations with staff following use of restraint.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s homes are nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. In particular, ensure that children are helped to keep their rooms clean. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that any restrictions on privacy are only put in place to safeguard each child in the home. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that child’s individual needs, be properly recorded and kept under regular review. In particular, regularly review the use of door alarms to ensure that they are required and their use is proportionate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that staff act as effective advocates for or on

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Recommendations

behalf of a child who may be experiencing difficulties with education, as a good parent would. In particular, staff should challenge long delays in identifying appropriate education provision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that expectations for standards of behaviour are high for all staff and children in the home. Poor behaviour should be challenged and discussed. In particular, staff should implement clear and consistent boundaries that have been identified to work for each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  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 local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return

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Recommendations

home interview. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30) Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 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 for children’s home: 2634954 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cherry Care Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 49 Osbaldeston Road, London N16 7DL

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Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 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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