Children's home run by Care2Care Children’s Home Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 1 Registered provider: Care2Care Children’s Home 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 run and provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in April 2021. The post for a registered manager has been vacant since November 2021. A plan is in place for a new manager to apply to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living at 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 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: 2624784 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/06/2022 Full Good 02/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with consistent and individualised care. Staff know children well, and children develop positive relationships with staff. Consequently, overall, children make good progress from their starting points in all areas of their development. One child is recorded as saying that he wanted to thank staff for turning his life around and making him the person he is today.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek the views of children to ensure that their wishes and feelings are understood and, wherever possible, acted on. Staff consult children on the choices of activities, menus and improvements in the home, such as decoration of bedrooms and refurbishment of the designated games room.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint if they are unhappy about aspects of their care. One child said, ‘When you go to staff about something you are not happy with, they respond to make things alright.’ However, the current children’s guide does not contain information about the complaints process or the contact details of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A strength of the home is the diversity of the staff team. This means that children from different cultural backgrounds and religions have staff who they can identify with. This helps to ensure that staff understand the specific needs of children from different backgrounds and helps staff to meet children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence skills. One child expressed with pride that staff had appointed them to act as the health and safety advocate for the home. The child was able to assist the repair person with small tasks to resolve minor issues in the home. This will help the child when they move to live in semi- independent living accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have varied experiences in terms of their progress in education. Staff work well with responsible authorities and virtual schools to offer children reduced school timetables online or face-to-face tuition. Staff help children to develop their confidence in attending school or college and overcome any barriers to their learning.

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

Children feel safe in the home and say that they have trusted staff who they can talk to if they have any concerns.

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

It is rare that children go missing from the home. Serious incidents are few. However, when they occur, staff talk to children to gather their views about the incident and what the child or staff could have done differently. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 4 The reward and incentive system for children helps them to manage their emotions and express to staff when they are unhappy or upset. Children contribute to their behaviour and safety plans. However, not all safety plans provide staff with clear strategies for minimising the risks to children.

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

Staff understand the whistle-blowing procedure, and managers respond effectively to investigate issues that are brought to their attention. This ensures that unsafe practices which undermine children’s safety do not continue in the home.

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

The local authority designated officer (LADO) wrote:

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

‘What is good about managers is that despite knowing that a matter may not meet LADO threshold, they have been transparent with LADO by sharing incidents that have taken place. They’ve been open and receptive to advice & guidance provided by LADO.’

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

The home is safe, and appropriate monitoring mechanisms are in place to ensure that children remain safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new leadership and management team demonstrates effective oversight of the day-to-day activity of the home. Leaders and managers provide staff with clear procedures and protocols to ensure that staff always promote children’s safety and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers recognise the strengths of the home and the areas where they need to focus further development. Leaders and managers have clear action plans in place regarding the development of the home and care offered to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel supported, valued and recognised for the work they do. Staff say that managers have an open-door policy and are accessible when needed. New staff are inducted effectively into the home and receive appropriate training. However, not all staff supervision files contain a record of training undertaken by staff, which is not in line with the procedure agreed by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are effective monitoring processes in place to address shortfalls in practice and the care of children. Managers support staff through time-limited development plans to achieve the standards expected. However, in one case, there is no clear record of the actions taken to address performance issues. This compromises leaders’ and managers’ ability to evidence that they manage staff performance issues fairly and in line with procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work well with external agencies and professionals. One independent reviewing officer wrote, ‘There is a willingness to communicate proactively about young people’s needs and have open discussions regarding action to take.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 5 Leaders and managers are strong advocates for children and challenge responsible authorities effectively. In one example, leaders and managers communicated concerns effectively regarding social work support and educational provision for one child to the responsible authority. This resulted in the responsible authority taking action to provide the appropriate support to the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide helps children to understand how to raise complaints, the expectations and routines of the home and contains information on how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)  The registered person should ensure that all risk assessments for children provide staff with clear strategies for minimising harm to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that information regarding staff’s training is accurately recorded on their files in line with the home’s procedures. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that clear and accurate records are kept on

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Recommendations

staff files where performance or conduct issues have been addressed by managers and show what action has been taken by the registered person. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: 2624784 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care2Care Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Room 147, 981 Great West Road, Brentford, London TW8 9DN

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Inspector

Colin Bent, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2624784 8 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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