Children's home run by Canary House Care Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 1 Registered provider: Canary House 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 run by a private company and provides care for up to six children with autism conditions and learning difficulties, complex health needs and physical disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered in March 2023.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 3

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inadequate

This is the home’s first inspection since being registered in March 2023. One child moved into the home on 3 April 2023.

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inadequate

The child living at the home has made some progress from their starting point. The judgement of inadequate reflects the shortfalls in how the child has been helped and protected and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

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inadequate

The manager has not ensured that the storage and administration of medication are safe. Inspectors found that the child had a medication bottle in their bedroom. There was no management oversight or risk assessment of this, despite the child having taken a recent overdose prior to coming to the home.

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inadequate

The child is currently not attending school. Staff are supporting the child by walking them to school and progressing to walking into the reception area. The staff compile weekly planners for the child. However, the planners are sparse, repetitive and without structure. Staff have failed to provide purposeful educational activities for the child.

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inadequate

The child has begun to build relationships with the staff. The child now sits at the table and eats with the staff and enjoys going on activities with them.

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inadequate

Staff support visits with parents and other family members. A Coronation barbeque was arranged at the home with the child’s family. The child’s parent said, ‘[Name of child] is really settled and learning to regulate himself. We are able to rebuild our relationship.’

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

Leaders and managers lack knowledge and understanding of safeguarding procedures and regulatory requirements. This affects their ability to have effective safeguarding oversight of the home and to ensure that staff’s practice safeguards children.

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

Risk management is inadequate and leaves children at risk of significant harm. Risk assessments are not updated after an incident and do not give clear guidance to staff to support them in keeping the child safe or understanding how to mitigate risks.

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

The manager and staff have not demonstrated professional curiosity in conversations with the child about the child’s online activity. This is despite the child referring to adults they have met online. The child’s parent has parental control of Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 4 the devices, but staff are unaware of what these are, and staff do not check the devices themselves.

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

The manager and staff have shown a lack of professional curiosity about what the child does in their free time. The manager and staff have failed to identify or take action to reduce potentially significant risks to the child.

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

The manager has failed to notify Ofsted of safeguarding incidents. Consequently, Ofsted has not been aware of concerns relating to incident management.

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

The staff have not had restraint training as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose. Although staff have not used restraint, they would not be equipped to do so if it was needed. The manager has not provided guidance for staff on the use of any physical intervention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The managers’ monitoring of the home is poor. Senior managers have failed to identify the significant and widespread shortfalls found during this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The responsible individual has not visited the home since before the child moved in. This is despite the home being newly registered with an inexperienced, registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and leaders have not ensured effective internal or external monitoring of the quality of care. As a result, they lack awareness of the serious shortfalls in the quality of care. This means that areas for improvement are not identified or addressed. As a result, the child is receiving inadequate care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff recruitment records do not demonstrate that safe recruitment processes are consistently followed. Records of identity checks are not always kept on file, and a member of staff began working at the home before the manager saw their original Disclosure and Barring Service certificate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the time of this inspection, the home had not had a visit from an independent person. The lack of external scrutiny and monitoring of the home has further limited the manager’s scope to identify and rectify shortfalls quickly and failed to offer the child being cared for at the home an independent person to talk to. Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 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, The 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

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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

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)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)

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Requirement Due date

the staff and manager have a good understanding of the risks related to the use of internet and social media, and take 27 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 6 action to address signs of abuse or exploitation and reduce the associated risks;

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Requirement Due date

children’s risk management documents contain up-to-date, and accurate information about the presenting risks and contain clear guidance for staff to follow;

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Requirement Due date

Ofsted is notified of any serious event as outlined in Regulation 40 of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulation 2015.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

understand the impact that 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)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

managers monitor the quality of care and the staff practice effectively. This includes ensuring that medication is stored and administered safely;

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Requirement Due date

staff’s training needs are clearly identified and staff attend training as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose. Staff should be booked on relevant training courses by 27 June 2023 to complete the training by 18 August 2023; 27 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 7 the responsible individual takes an active and effective role in overseeing the quality of care provided at the home. This includes monitoring the management of risk and the quality of record-keeping at the home;

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Requirement Due date

an independent person visits the home once a month and produces a report that sets out the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded, and whether the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; and

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)) 27 June 2023

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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

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; and

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e)) 27 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 8

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Recommendation

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice. They should ensure that recruitment records are kept on staff files and original Disclosure and Barring Service checks are seen prior to staff working at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2718127 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Canary House Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 36 Glebe Road, London N3 2AX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Theresa Armstrong

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Inspectors

Trish Palmer, Social Care Inspector Hannah Phillips, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2718127 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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