Children's Home run by Charis Services for Children Ltd in Surrey

Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 1 Registered provider: Charis Services for Children Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to four children. It is owned and run by a private organisation. The provider states in their statement of purpose that this is a therapeutic children’s home providing care for children with emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties, and associated mild to moderate learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in July 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 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

Date of last inspection: 8 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are cared for by a skilled and committed staff team. Children experience warmth and sensitive care that promotes their security and resilience. As a result, the children feel that they matter and that their progress is important to the adults who care for and about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s starting points well and use this as the basis for planning their care. There are positive working relationships with external professionals such as school staff and mental health staff. There is also a specialist psychologist commissioned by the home to support both staff and children. This allows for thorough initial assessments to be undertaken when children move in, and focused guidance for staff on how best to meet the individual needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good educational progress. Staff are creative in how they support children who have struggled with classroom-based education to still achieve and learn. They use a mix of home resources and virtual learning alongside traditional classroom lessons. When children struggle to engage in this, staff are quick to communicate with school leaders and create opportunities for children to re-engage with learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are gathered in one-to-one sessions with staff and planned weekly community meetings. However, there is an inconsistency in both the frequency and the recording of these sessions. Also, the community meetings have had varied degrees of success due to children’s different communication needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a wide range of activities available to the children and relevant risks to the children are considered when planning activities. Children talk fondly about the fact that their friends can come and spend time with them in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have moved into the home since the last inspection. Children’s individual needs are carefully considered and there are detailed risk assessments to support this. The registered manager demonstrates great tenacity when working with professionals to ensure that all the relevant information about children is available as part of admissions processes. This has meant that the children have experienced positive moves into the home.

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

There are detailed and proactive responses to safeguarding concerns. Leaders have ensured good communication with relevant professionals regarding children’s risks, and this has helped create a strong team around the child. Leaders have ensured that decisions regarding children’s risks, made at safety plan meetings, are communicated to the staff team and provide them with clear guidance. For example, there has been an excellent response from the registered manager and staff for one Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 4 child who has demonstrated some significant self-harming behaviour. Their response has ensured that the risks are understood and shared. This has meant that this child’s levels of self-harm have reduced and that staff remain vigilant to any signs of change in the child’s emotional presentation.

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

Staff responded appropriately and followed guidance on the one occasion a child went missing from the home.

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

There has been one incident of physical restraint since the last inspection. The restraint was proportionate and suitable in terms of why it was used. However, there was a significant delay in its recording and this then meant that there was a lack of follow-up by the registered manager. While this was an isolated incident, it was serious in nature and a lack of response from the manager meant that they were unable to be sure that the incident was managed effectively.

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

Safeguarding incidents have been referred appropriately and promptly to relevant external agencies. The registered manager has responded robustly to agreed actions and followed up in a timely way when required. There is good evidence of how safeguarding practice concerns are shared with staff.

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good

Leaders and managers have a clear vision for the home. The manager believes this is a second start for the home, since the new children were admitted following the last inspection. The manager has used this opportunity to learn from previous placements and the previous inspection to ensure some historical mistakes are not repeated.

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good

There have been changes in the staffing structure and personnel. This has resulted in the registered manager being responsible for all monitoring tasks in addition to carrying out many daily tasks. The revised monitoring system has not picked up significant shortfalls where work is yet to be completed. There is a disparity between the number of one-to-one sessions the children receive and an inconsistency in how incidents are responded to. Consequently, children receive inconsistent support when it comes to being able to talk to a trusted member of staff.

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good

Safer recruitment systems are not consistently followed. Gaps in employment have not been routinely checked and for one member of staff there was conflicting identification information. There was no follow-up to this by the manager and interview notes were not produced.

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good

Staff receive effective supervision on a regular basis. They have a good balance of emotional support, which provides them with an opportunity to explore how the work they do can affect them, and clear task setting, to ensure practical parts of their role are achieved. This support is supplemented with regular team meetings and clinical meetings which are facilitated by a psychologist. This structure ensures Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 5 that staff are regularly given space to think about the children and to create effective plans of how they are working with them.

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good

The registered manager advocates well for the children in professional meetings and is clear in maintaining the voice of the child. This has helped share responsibility and information between professionals, especially when working with children who self- harm.

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good

The children in the home have a range of differing needs relating to diversity. They have had limited opportunity to develop their understanding of the world around them. There is a designated staff member who is the home’s champion for equality and diversity. However, no work has been done with children to support and develop their understanding in this area. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 August 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

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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. 31 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 7 (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 31 August 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 31 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 8 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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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

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

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Recommendation

 The registered person should seek to establish a diverse staff team with a range of interests, skills and experiences. They should lead staff to share those interests, skills and experiences with children to enrich the children’s lives. In particular, ensure that children are supported to develop their understanding of different cultures around the world. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.6)

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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: 2633107 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Charis Services for Children Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Richard Place Dobson, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley RH10 1HT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rodrigo Ferreira

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Inspector

Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 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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