Children's Home run by Canterbury Care and Support Limited in Croydon

Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 1 Registered provider: Canterbury Care and Support Limited 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

The home registered with Ofsted on 13 April 2022. The home has had no registered manager since 17 February 2023.

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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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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 2

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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 experiences are fun and enjoyable. Children enjoy going to the cinema, museums, walks in the park, playing games and other activities at the home. Children enjoy each other’s company and are very settled. There are pictures and photographs throughout the home of past and recent events, including family photographs in children’s bedrooms. These help children to settle and retain a sense of their family identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff take effective action when children are not in school. They talk with education professionals and provide children with educational activities at home. One child has returned to formal education and is enjoying learning, and staff have supported them to develop appropriate routines.

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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 is sought when necessary. Staff work closely with health professionals to ensure that children receive the appropriate support. They help the children to recognise their own feelings and emotions, and to use techniques to manage their emotions. As a result, incidents of self-harm have reduced and one child is no longer on medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the value of children maintaining family relationships. Children are sensitively supported to spend time with their family and others who are important to them. Staff support children and families to overcome any difficulties in relationships. As a result, children spend more quality time with their families.

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

Children say that they feel safe. They can identify a trusted person to talk to if they have any 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

Children receive a well-coordinated response when they are missing from home. Staff understand the risks when children are missing and have a good understanding of the missing-from-home protocol. The manager and staff work effectively with other professionals when children are missing from home. However, independent return home interviews are not always carried out. This is a missed opportunity to gather important information to manage and reduce risks. Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 3 Staff’s response to managing risk is variable. Although risks are well understood and risk assessments include clear plans, staff do not consistently follow and implement these. For example, bedroom searches are not regularly undertaken when there is a concern that a child may be at risk of harm. Additionally, children’s risk assessments are not regularly updated following incidents and some incident records lack

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

Children receive appropriate help and support to manage their behaviour and feelings. Positive behaviour is encouraged with positive reinforcement and praise, which children respond to appropriately. Key-work sessions focus on children’s individual needs and are in line with their plans. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of incidents and provides children with positive experiences.

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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 being on headed paper, or including a company stamp.

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good

The leadership and management of the home is not stable. The registered manager left in February 2023 and the responsible individual is currently managing the home. The newly recruited deputy manager has no experience of working in children’s homes, but has worked in semi-independent services. The instability in the leadership and management of the home impacts on the management oversight and consistency of staff practice, including the recording of information.

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good

Despite the unstable management arrangements, leaders and managers continue to work proactively with other agencies and families. They review the quality of care, take on board feedback from stakeholders and respond quickly when required. Feedback from placing social workers and parents is positive.

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good

Staff say that they feel well supported by leaders and managers. They receive regular training and development opportunities. However, there have been occasions when children have been cared for by staff who are not suitably trained in restraint practice. This 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. Staff benefit from supervision, covering a broad agenda. Supervision sessions are reflective, offer staff support and guidance, and consider the needs and progress of children. However, some supervision records do not demonstrate this well and some staff have not had supervision for over three months.

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good

Leaders and managers do not have effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care provided to children and identify key themes. In addition, the Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 4 reports from the independent person have not been completed regularly. Therefore, management oversight is compromised. Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 5

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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 provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to the appointment and Ofsted registration of a manager. 31 May 2023

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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; 30 April 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 6 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the homes 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)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to ensuring that children’s known risks are recorded, and that risk assessments for children are updated when new risks are identified with clear management oversight.

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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 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’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact and the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(e)(f)(h)) 30 April 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 7 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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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive supervision of their practice from a suitable professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. In particular, the registered person should ensure that all staff supervision records provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing or away from home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. The registered person should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. This specifically relates to visits to the home being monthly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  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. Key-work session records should consistently reflect the creative attempts staff have taken to engage children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment

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Recommendations

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: 2652402 8

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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: 2652402 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Canterbury Care and Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Muhammed Choudhary

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Inspector

Dorothy Thompstone, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2652402 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 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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