Children's Home run by Family First Care Services Ltd in Haringey

Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 1 Registered provider: Family First Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted on 8 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children settle well into the home and make good progress from their starting points. They make and sustain meaningful relationships with a consistent staff team. These relationships are warm and nurturing. As a result, children feel safe and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views and wishes are listened to. They are actively encouraged to be part of their own care planning. This supports children to develop a sense of ownership of their lives and helps them to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met well. Children attend all their routine health appointments. Specialists’ help and support are sought when necessary, including support from the in-house psychologist. Staff work closely with health professionals to ensure that children receive the appropriate support to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities in the home and community. These include weekly gymnastic, bowling, shopping and going to the cinema. Children enjoyed a summer holiday at a holiday resort. These activities help children to strengthen relationships with staff and other children living in the home. Staff encourage children to pursue their interests and hobbies. For example, one child won their gymnastic competition and staff celebrated their achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence skills. Staff help children to learn how to budget and cook their own meals. However, children are not always supported to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. This was evident at the time of this inspection, as the condition of two children’s bedrooms was a cause for concern. The manager and staff do not consistently take action to address the poor and potentially unsafe condition of children’s bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers have installed CCTV outside of the home to increase security for children. However, this does not have the required signed consent of the children’s placing authorities.

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

Children said that they feel safe. They can identify a trusted person to talk to if they have concerns. The stable and consistent home environment, together with the warmth and confidence of the staff, helps children to feel safe and secure.

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

Staff are proactive in responding to and managing incidents of children going missing from the home. As a result, the number of missing-from-home incidents has reduced. Staff maintain contact with the relevant professionals and look for children in the local area when they are missing. Incidents are thoroughly reviewed with Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 4 appropriate debriefs, and risk assessments are updated. This ensures that staff understand what is happening for children and helps to reduce risk.

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

Children’s individual positive behaviour support plans are effective. Staff set consistent boundaries and routines for children. There is a clear reward system that promotes and encourages positive behaviour. Incidents in the home are managed well, and staff use a range of techniques to help de-escalate difficult situations. As a result, no children have been restrained. This creates a sense of calm and consistency in the home, resulting in a reduced number of incidents. One child no longer requires their liberty to be restricted.

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

Staff understand and manage children’s risks well. However, following one incident, a child’s risk assessment was not updated to reflect the identified risk. However, the appropriate action was taken in response to the incident. In addition, staffing levels at night do not always align with children’s assessed supervision level; however, this has not impacted on children’s safety.

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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. However, recruitment practice could be further strengthened by leaders and managers ensuring that all references from previous employers are genuine by them being on headed paper or including a company stamp.

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good

The culture of the home is characterised by high expectations. Leaders and managers work proactively with other professionals and build positive relationships with parents. Professionals and parents receive regular updates on the progress and experiences of children. This results in a shared approach to providing children with good-quality care and support. Feedback from parents and stakeholders is positive.

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good

Leaders and managers have failed to satisfactorily address all of the requirements raised at the previous inspection. This does not demonstrate that they have effective systems in place to monitor children’s outcomes and ensure that continuous improvements are made.

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good

Staff say that they feel well supported by leaders and managers. Staff are suitably qualified and receive regular training and development opportunities. However, there have been occasions when children have been cared for by staff who were not suitably trained in restraint practice. This practice potentially places children and staff at risk.

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good

Staff understand their roles and responsibilities. Team meetings demonstrate that staff are able to reflect on practice and the needs of children. The external and in- house clinical psychologists attend the meetings to support staff to understand the children’s complex needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 5 Staff benefit from regular supervision, covering a broad agenda. Supervision sessions are reflective, offer staff support and guidance and consider the needs and progress of children. However, the manager does not have a record of their supervision discussions to demonstrate the support given to lead the home effectively. In addition, staff annual appraisals do not include any feedback from children or other professionals, which is a missed opportunity for the manager to fully assess practice.

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good

On the whole, the home’s physical environment is safe for children. However, leaders and managers have failed to ensure that repair work in the children’s bedrooms is carried out promptly. In addition, leaders and managers have not promptly removed old furniture and rubbish left at the back of garden shed. This does not provide a warm and comfortable environment for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 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.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s risk assessments include information about all known risks; that staffing levels reflect assessed risks; and that the home environment is maintained to a high and safe standard. 30 April 2023

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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 30 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 7 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) (2)(c)(d)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff are suitably trained and that there are effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care provided to children and take action to address any shortfalls identified.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that they have written consent in place for the devices used for surveillance. 30 April 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in order for the children’s home to be a nurturing and supportive environment, they continue to repair and decorate all areas of the homes’ interior and remove rubbish from the back garden. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice as set out in regulations 31-33. In particular, this relates to ensuring that all references from previous employers are on headed paper or include a company stamp. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 8  The registered person should ensure that staff performance appraisals consider the views of children and professionals who have worked with the staff member. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 60, paragraph 13.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff supervision records provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). Specifically, this relates to the manager’s supervision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.3 and 13.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspector has 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: 2636743 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Family First Care Services Ltd

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Inspector

Dorothy Thompstone, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2636743 10 inspects 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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