Children's Home run by Solace Care Partners Limited in Enfield

Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 1 Registered provider: Solace Care Partners Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to four children. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home cares for children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection. Inspectors spoke to two children.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/04/2021 Full Good 13/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported to build trusting relationships with the manager and staff. One child told the inspector that they feel ‘comfortable’ in the home and that they were not used to feeling like this when they first came to live at the home. The child said, ‘It feels like home now.’ The children reported that they can identify a trusted adult whom they can talk to if they have any worries or concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work proactively and positively with families and professionals to secure good outcomes for children. One social worker said, ‘Overall, the home is a great placement and can support children with a wide range of social and emotional needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff support the children to make good progress, achieve their goals and prepare for independent living. All children are currently in education. One child attended a job interview on the day of the inspection and successfully secured employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work hard to overcome any relationship difficulties between children. If any concerns are raised around bullying or inappropriate behaviour between the children, staff act promptly and appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to live healthy lifestyles. Staff support children in arranging and attending medical appointments. Staff ensure that children have access to specialist advice and support, including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) or substance misuse support. Furthermore, children benefit from access to an in-house therapist. However, on one occasion, staff did not order a child’s prescribed medication on time. This resulted in the child missing their medication for a day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are regularly sought and valued by the manager and staff. Children are able to share their views at children’s meetings and by completing feedback forms. Children are also involved in interviews for new staff. Children feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and comfortable and is decorated to a good standard. The manager acts to ensure that the home is suitably maintained and any damage is repaired.

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

Children say that they feel safe at the home. Children’s risk assessments include all known risks and triggers and set out specific actions of how staff should respond to and manage these risks. However, staff do not always follow the strategies identified in the risk assessments, such as talking to children regularly to help them Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 4 understand risk and their vulnerabilities. On one occasion, when a child was intoxicated, welfare checks were not carried out to ensure that the child was safe.

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

In the main, the manager and staff respond promptly when children go missing from home. They do their best to maintain regular contact with children and encourage their prompt and safe return home. However, one child’s missing-from- care protocol was not followed and there were delays in reporting the child as missing from home.

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

There has been one incident of restraint since the previous inspection. A debrief did not take place with the manager who was involved in the restraint incident to establish whether the use of restraint was necessary and effective. This was a missed opportunity to identify any shortfalls in practice and learning. Additionally, it compromises the independent oversight of the use of physical intervention.

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

The registered manager and staff understand the procedures to follow if an allegation is made against staff. However, some staff members do not demonstrate sufficient knowledge of whistle-blowing procedures. This compromises staff’s ability to respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns in the organisation.

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

Safer recruitment and employment practices ensure that staff are suitably vetted. This prevents unsuitable people from working at the home and helps to promote the children’s safety.

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

Staff carry out room searches when necessary. The searches are recorded appropriately, and the child’s consent is sought. This helps to remove harmful objects and prevents children from further self-harming.

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

The home environment is generally safe for the children, and the manager ensures that all health and safety assessments are regularly reviewed. However, the last two fire drills that were carried out when new staff started working in the home did not involve the children. This is a missed opportunity to help children to understand and practise the home’s emergency evacuation procedures.

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good

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager. Although there have been recent changes to the staff team, the manager works hard to provide consistency for the children. The use of agency staff is limited. Staff report that they feel well supported by the registered manager.

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good

Children’s records show evidence of management oversight. Consequently, the manager has a good understanding of children’s needs and progress. This enables her to make child-centred decisions.

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good

The frequency of staff supervision is in line with the home’s statement of purpose. However, staff supervision records lack a focus on children’s experiences, needs and Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 5 progress. The manager’s supervision has not been recorded since the previous inspection. This compromises the oversight of staff members’ practice and development.

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good

Not all staff have undertaken training specific to the needs of the children in their care. At the time of this inspection, there were only two members of staff who had completed first-aid training. Furthermore, the training records for staff are not up to date. It is therefore unclear whether all staff have completed relevant training to support them in their role.

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good

The manager and staff do not obtain all relevant documents to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the children’s needs. For example, they did not have on file the local authorities’ care plans to inform the care that they provide to the children.

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good

The management review of the suitability and location of the premises demonstrates an understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities posed to children in the local area. However, the provider has not gathered sufficient information through consultation with relevant professionals in relation to managing these risks as required.

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good

The statement of purpose is kept under review and clearly sets out the ethos and objectives of the home. However, it does not contain details of the experience and qualifications of staff as required. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to understand how to keep safe. that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1) (2)(a)(ii)(b)) 29 September

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)) 29 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 30 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 7 The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that any medication required for children is restocked before it runs out. 15 September

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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

This specifically refers to care plans prepared by the child’s local authority being present on file. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 15 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 15 October 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission. In particular, this refers to ensuring that staff report children missing in line with the child’s individual plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that staff are made familiar with the home’s internal whistle-blowing procedures through the induction process. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.9) Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 8  The registered person should ensure that they have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect

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Recommendations

on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that the experience and qualifications of staff are included in the home’s statement of purpose in accordance with Schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53 paragraph 10.10)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure that they understand it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should ensure that fire drills are completed when children are present in the home to ensure that staff and children have a shared understanding of the procedures to be followed in the event of a fire. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.9)

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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: 2503142 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solace Care Partners Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Solace Care Partners Limited, Unit 2A, 420 Eastern Avenue, Ilford IG2 6NQ

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Inspectors

Lisa Mulcahy, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2503142 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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