Children's Home run by Catch22 Charity Limited in Sutton

Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 1 Registered provider: Catch22 Charity Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to six children aged between 12 and 17 years who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted on 2 February 2022. This is the home’s first inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 2660251 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 3

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences, progress and outcomes are varied. Placements for at least two children have broken down in an unplanned way due to difficulties in managing behaviour or serious incidents occurring in the home. The incidents have also had a negative impact on the experience of the other child living in the home, who witnessed them.

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improvement to be good

Children’s feelings, views and wishes are regularly sought and considered by the registered manager and staff and are documented in children’s records. This includes children’s contributions to decision-making and how children feel about the decisions made about them.

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improvement to be good

Children’s progress and attainment in education are not consistently good. Although all children have school placements and staff are ambitious for children and support and encourage them to attend, not all children attend education. The registered manager and staff are working with social care and education professionals to overcome this. One child is supported by a tutor who provides additional support to help the child back into education.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand that it is important for children to maintain relationships with the people who are special to them. Parents and other family members are warmly welcomed into the home, and staff support and arrange for children to spend quality time with their family when it is safe for them to do so.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to live healthy lifestyles. Children are encouraged and supported to attend health appointments. Staff ensure that children have access to specialist advice and support, including child and adolescent mental health services.

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improvement to be 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 swiftly.

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improvement to be good

Children are provided with opportunities to participate in a range of activities in the home and the community. Staff and managers understand that this helps with building children’s self-esteem and sense of achievement. Staff capture these moments through taking photos that they record for children to keep as part of their life story.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff demonstrate a good understanding of children’s needs and vulnerabilities. Staff work well with external professionals and children to Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 4 explore risks and to help children learn how to keep themselves safe. Children’s risk assessments are reviewed and updated regularly. However, some of the children previously admitted to the home presented with needs beyond staff’s experience and knowledge. Furthermore, a risk assessment for one child was not updated to reflect recent incidents of sexualised language and threats to staff. This compromises staff’s ability to provide a consistent approach to managing this risk.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff respond promptly when children go missing from home. They maintain regular contact with children and work collaboratively with key professionals and families. However, children do not have individualised missing- from-home protocols with clear instructions for staff about what actions they should take. This compromises the staff’s ability to respond consistently to manage and reduce risk.

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improvement to be good

Until recently, staff had not received training on how to safely restrain children. Consequently, staff were not able to manage or prevent incidents of children hurting themselves or others, or damaging property. This resulted in the police being called to intervene and support staff to manage children’s behaviour and risks. The manager has addressed this shortfall by arranging for staff to undertake this training.

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improvement to be good

There has been one incident of physical restraint since the home was registered. A debrief did not take place with the staff member who was involved to establish whether the use of restraint was necessary and effective. Furthermore, the restraint record does not include the views of the child. This was a missed opportunity to identify any learning or shortfalls in practice. Additionally, as the measure was applied by an agency member of staff, it is unclear what training this member of staff had undertaken to ensure that the use of physical intervention was safe. The manager has made a decision not to use this agency member of staff until further notice.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment processes are not consistently safe. For example, the discrepancy between the employment history and references was not explored for two staff members.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff demonstrate a good understanding of the procedures to be followed when an allegation is made. Any allegations made are reported to relevant safeguarding professionals and followed up appropriately. This demonstrates that staff are able to respond to safeguarding concerns relating to other staff and managers.

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improvement to be good

There has been only one room search carried out in the home. The record of the search shows that it was proportionate, and the purpose was to remove a harmful object. However, the record does not include a debrief with the child.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is generally safe for the children, and the manager ensures that all health and safety assessments are regularly reviewed. However, action is required to improve recording of fire drills at the home. Currently, records do not Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 5 include information about the time of the evacuation. This is a missed opportunity to demonstrate that the home’s emergency evacuation procedures are robust.

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good

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager. The leaders, managers and staff demonstrate a genuine commitment to the children in their care and strive to make a positive difference to their lives. There is a stable core staff team in place, providing a consistent level of care and a family-style home environment. The manager has demonstrated her commitment by providing hands- on support of the day-to-day care of children in an effort to reduce the use of agency staff and to provide consistency of care to children. However, this has impacted on the quality of the manager’s oversight of the home.

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good

Staff said that they feel supported by the manager. Staff benefit from an induction and regular supervision, as well as clinical supervision with an in-house therapist. Team meetings are used as learning and development opportunities. Staff have access to suitable training. However, one member of staff reported that the low staffing levels has prevented them from taking full advantage of the training on offer.

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good

Leaders and managers use learning from practice and feedback to improve the experiences and care of children. For example, leaders and managers have reviewed the staff rotas to ensure that there is sufficient staffing in place. Furthermore, leaders and managers have reflected on the previous placement breakdowns. Consequently, they have strengthened the pre-admission checks to prevent accepting children whose needs cannot be met in the home. However, the impact risk assessments are still lacking analysis of known risks.

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good

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for improvement. Recording is one of the areas that leaders and managers want to improve.

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good

Feedback from a child’s family member and key professionals is positive, praising staff for their dedicated work. One social worker said about staff, ‘They have worked brilliantly with the wider network and also advocated strongly for my young person.’ The social worker added, ‘I have been particularly impressed with the commitment and approach of the manager. Her child-centred and nurturing approach is very evident and it is clear that my young person really values the relationship he has with her.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 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

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 22 December 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 7 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))

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that any discrepancies between employment history and references and gaps in staff’s employment history are explained. 22 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them 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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background.

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Requirement Due date

that the care meets the child’s needs. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv) (3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to leaders and managers ensuring that impact assessments are used to make appropriate decisions about placements. 22 December 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 8 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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)(d)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to leaders and managers ensuring that staff are trained appropriately to meet the complex needs of children and there is appropriate staffing to meet the needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

The monitoring and review processes should drive the improvement of the quality of care and recording, including recording of room searches, risk assessments and impact risk assessments.

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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 and how staff should support the child on return to the home. In particular, this refers to ensuring that children have individualised missing-from-care plans to allow staff to respond consistently to manage and reduce risk. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that fire drills are completed at different times of day and evening to ensure that staff and children have a shared understanding of the procedures to be followed in the event of a fire. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.9) Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 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: 2660251 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Catch22 Charity Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Catch22 Charity Limited, 27 Pear Tree Street, London EC1V 3AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang

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Inspector

Aneta Wasilewska, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2660251 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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