Children's home run by Carlar Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 1 Registered provider: Carlar Care 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 and provides specialist therapeutic care for up to four children.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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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: 2592030 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care from skilled and experienced members of staff. Staff speak confidently about the children and what their needs are. They clearly identify the progress that children make and how they need support. The home is run as a therapeutic home and staff have a good understanding of the model of care. The staff have good clinical support from the home’s therapy lead and an external therapeutic organisation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress socially, emotionally and educationally. They have access to weekly therapy. Staff keep children’s progress under review, with the support of the therapy lead, through regular staff meetings. These discussions form the basis of future work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are well understood most of the time. Regular children’s meetings ensure that there is opportunity to think about how living together affects them. Regular one-to-one sessions enable children to think about key areas that are important to them. However, one child who recently moved into the home has not had the chance to explore how they feel about moving in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are afforded a wide range of activities. They talk with great pride about some of the things they have done, such as trips to watch a favourite football team and going to the cinema. Children have the opportunity to join community clubs, such as scouts. Frequent therapeutic activities are also carried out to support children’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence skills to help prepare them for the future. For example, they learn how tidy their bedrooms or help with cooking and other tasks in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into and on from the home are carefully planned. Comprehensive assessments recognise the children’s needs and how the home can meet these effectively. When children move on, staff seize the opportunity to celebrate the successes of the child’s time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The records that staff make about children are sometimes unclear. Terms such as ‘heightened’, ‘regulated’ and ‘dysregulated’ are used. These do not describe the incident clearly, which makes it difficult to review behaviour effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Specific areas of the home do not provide a high-quality living environment for the children. Some areas are worn and have damaged paintwork. Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 4

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

Staff understand children’s risks. Comprehensive and regularly updated risk assessments clearly identify how staff should be supporting children. Staff have a good knowledge of the children’s behaviours and are confident to manage difficult incidents.

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

Staff take effective action when children go missing from home. Staff are quick to respond and search the areas and ensure that relevant professionals are informed of any concerns. Children are well supported to return to the home and staff demonstrate skilled responses to help calm children down.

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

Children respond well to the clear and consistent boundaries set by staff. Physical restraint is only used as agreed in individual behaviour support plans, which are updated following any changes in behaviour. The records held by the home do not always clearly record why police have been called to the home.

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

Staff recruitment processes are effective and minimise the risk of unsuitable people working in the home. This also extends to agency staff, who are supported with a detailed induction as part of starting to work with children.

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

Staff act appropriately when allegations are made. The manager generally ensures effective communication with external safeguarding professionals. However, on one occasion, records do not demonstrate that safeguarding professionals and Ofsted have been notified, which has potentially undermined their ability to provide appropriate guidance and support.

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good

There have been several management changes since the last inspection, which has undermined leadership stability in the home. The previous registered manager left during the summer of 2022, and the replacement manager left shortly before this inspection. The responsible individual has assumed day-to-day oversight until a new manager takes up post. Despite the changes, staff talk positively about the availability of the responsible individual and the support they receive.

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good

An innovative progress system has allowed leaders and staff to see the positive influence of their work on children’s progress. Significant incidents have reduced as a result of children’s engagement with education and therapy.

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good

Staff have group clinical supervision sessions. However, not all staff have received consistent individual reflective supervision.

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good

Managers have maintained adequate monitoring and oversight of the home. However, independent person visits have not taken place for a significant length of time, which means that there is a lack of independent oversight and information for Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 5 the management. This has recently been resolved and a new independent visitor has been identified. Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 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 registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 30 April 2023

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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. (Regulation 44 (1)) 30 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 30 April 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. Children’s homes will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should agree procedures and guidance with their local police force to reduce unnecessary police involvement in managing children’s behaviour and criminalisation of behaviours. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party

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Recommendations

information. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 7

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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: 2592030 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Carlar Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 21, 10 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, Maidstone, Kent ME19 4UY

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Inspector

Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2592030 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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