Children's home run by Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 1 Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, there were two children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2023.

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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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2022 Full Good 10/02/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 09/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 3

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improvement to be good

Children have variable experiences and levels of progress. The leadership and management and behaviour management in the home need to be strengthened for children to make good progress. Incidents of self-harm and missing-from-care have continued. Consequently, notice has been given on children’s placements because of escalating concerns and staff being unable to meet children’s needs effectively.

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improvement to be good

The frequency of missing-from-home episodes has impacted on one child’s lack of engagement in education. Although the registered manager is taking appropriate action to address this, it is a long-standing issue and no progress has been made. A number of serious incidents have occurred at the home, including one child assaulting staff and visitors, causing serious injuries and damaging property, and altercations between children, when staff have been hit by objects thrown by children. Consequently, one child’s placement has been terminated. This impacts on children’s stability and sense of security.

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improvement to be good

Records of key-work sessions show that conversations take place with children about incidents and concerns, however, this has not reduced concerning behaviours and incidents for all children.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are known and staff strive to ensure that these are met well. Medication is administered in line with children’s prescriptions. Children are referred to specialist health professionals, such as sexual health and child adolescent mental health services when required. Children are supported and encouraged to attend health appointments, however, one child does not attend all health appointments.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment practice needs to be strengthened to ensure that staff are suitable to care for children. For one member of staff, suitable proof of address was not obtained and for another, gaps in employment history were not explored.

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improvement to be good

The security and monitoring of the home are not strong and this potentially places children at risk. When one child returned to the home after being missing from care, staff were not aware for a short period of time that the child was back. The registered manager and staff were unsure of how the child had got into the home. This potentially places children at risk as unknown people could enter the home undetected. Following this incident, the registered manager did not demonstrate that appropriate action will be taken to monitor the security of the home.

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improvement to be good

Although risk assessments are in place for children, they do not identify risk levels correctly. Children’s risks around self-harmful behaviour and going missing from care Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 4 are considered low, when in fact these are high. Furthermore, the strategies in place to manage these risks are not always effective.

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improvement to be good

When a child is missing, staff follow the missing-from-care protocol and take appropriate action, such as contacting the child regularly and alerting relevant services. The registered manager works closely with children’s professional networks to reduce missing-from-care episodes; however, one child continues to go missing.

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good

Leadership and management of the home need to be strengthened. The registered manager and responsible individual do not always agree on children’s plans or make collaborative decisions. A decision was made by the responsible individual and director to reduce one child’s staffing ratio prior to discussing this with the registered manager, child and the child’s professional network. This had a negative impact on the child’s emotional well-being.

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good

The staff team is not stable as staff are not working well together. There has been unprofessional conduct when staff have had disagreements while children were present in the home, some staff have raised concern about not all staff sharing the workload and their conduct towards each other. The registered manager understands the areas for improvement and is making efforts to strengthen team dynamics to improve experiences for children.

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good

Not all staff receive regular or effective supervision that focuses on children’s needs and progress. Staff performance and practice are not appraised in a timely manner. Training and induction activities are not effective. Induction is not robust and staff are unclear about roles and responsibilities. Mandatory training is out of timescales. All this has impacted on staff’s professional development and practice, such as staff not being clear on whistle-blowing and safeguarding procedures.

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good

The quality of records, including children’s risk assessments and plans, needs to be strengthened. The lack of clarity in children’s case records does not enable readers to easily understand children’s current needs, experiences and risks.

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good

Despite these shortfalls, feedback from professionals is positive and they say that the staff and registered manager make efforts to support children’s development and progress. Staff also say that they feel supported and can seek support from leaders and managers. Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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) (2)(a) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that any gaps in employment history are scrutinised and proof of address is provided for all new staff. 30 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation; and

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Requirement Due date

provide each employee with a job description outlining the employee’s responsibilities.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; 7 July 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 6 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)(b)(c) (4)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff receive a robust induction, regular and effective supervision that informs child-related practice, and appraisal.

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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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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

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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff have a clear understanding of whistle-blowing and safeguarding procedures and complete mandatory training to support children in the home. 7 July 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

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)(b)) 30 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 7 The registered person must ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the security of the home and prevent unknown people entering the home without staff’s knowledge.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2505172 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE

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Inspector

Amena Begum, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2505172 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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