Children's home run by London Borough of Haringey

Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 1 Registered provider: London Borough of Haringey Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home. The home provides assessment and care for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and children with learning disabilities. Children’s placement assessments are generally between six and 12 months.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager were registered with Ofsted on 29 November 2022. This was the home’s first inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two 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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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: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 2

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improvement to be good

Children receive individual care that generally meets their needs, and they have positive experiences. Children and staff have positive relationships with each other. However, it is difficult to assess the degree to which children are making progress, as key records fail to sufficiently demonstrate the difference that the home is making to children’s lives. The home’s transfer from one recording system to a new one at the time of the inspection compounded staff’s problems in accessing some records. Children did not speak with the inspector during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

One child’s social worker said, ‘Overall, my young person has been offered good support from staff to meet her quite complex needs. The staff have also demonstrated good understanding of her needs and I have seen evidence of genuine efforts to support my young person the best way possible but unfortunately this has not always yielded the desired results.’

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improvement to be good

Children are treated with respect and dignity. They have opportunities to share their wishes and feelings about the home and how it is run. Staff work hard to engage with all children. Some children respond well to staff and fully engage in the activities provided at the home, and other children are less engaged, but this is improving. Children know how to make a complaint, although no complaints have been received from any child.

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improvement to be good

Children’s learning outcomes are variable. Some children attend school regularly, and actively pursue their career ambitions, while others do not engage in the education provision in place for them. Staff work diligently with children and education professionals to encourage all children to reach their full educational potential.

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improvement to be good

Children have access to a wide range of social, educational and recreational opportunities. Staff ensure that children identify for themselves activities that they would like to participate in. Some children actively take part in activities that interest them. For example, one child makes use of a music studio to pursue his interest in music performance and production. Staff are fully supporting this interest. Other children are only recently getting involved in activities provided by staff and others.

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improvement to be good

Children receive praise and their achievements are routinely celebrated. Staff create a positive environment and demonstrate that they care, for example, organising children’s birthday parties.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children who leave the home to do so positively, with the knowledge that the staff are available to offer ongoing emotional support if they want to make use of it. Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 3 Staff help children to develop skills that prepare them for adulthood. They encourage children to do their own laundry, prepare meals, clear up after themselves and keep their bedrooms tidy. On the final day of the inspection, children were proudly preparing the evening meal for themselves.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to live healthy lifestyles. Children have access to primary care and specialist healthcare services as required. This includes, for example, seeing a specialist diabetes nurse and engaging with the looked after children’s nurse. Staff teach children about healthy living. For example, key-work sessions regularly focus on the hazards of children smoking cigarettes, vaping and misusing substances. Staff encourage children to take part in smoking cessation programmes.

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improvement to be good

Children’s emotional well-being is promoted by the staff team. Children have access to, and some engage with, the organisation’s therapy service and external mental health resources. Another child is considering whether they want to take part in equine therapy.

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improvement to be good

Children’s safety and well-being are at the centre of practice at the home. Staff work hard to protect children from neglect, harm and abuse. Staff have a clear understanding of the organisation’s child protection policies and procedures and have recently completed safeguarding training. This helps staff to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Since the home opened, there have been a high number of incidents of children going missing from care. More recently, the number of these incidents has declined. Staff understand the multi-agency protocols that promote children’s safe return home. However, in some cases, records of action taken by staff when children have been missing are not clear and do not confirm that protocols are strictly adhered to.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote positive behaviour and the number of incidents in the home is declining. However, staff fail to consistently follow children’s behaviour management plans. These plans offer guidance to staff about triggers to avoid, as well as the action to take to help de-escalate volatile situations. Staff do not restrain children. Plans are in place to provide staff with training to support them to provide children with trauma-informed care.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments identify the risks posed to children, but records fail to highlight strategies that help to manage and counteract children’s risk-taking behaviour. There is some reliance on the risk assessments completed by social workers and not by staff at the home. Risk assessments are incomplete, are not kept up to date and, in some cases, fail to identify all known and anticipated risks posed to children.

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improvement to be good

Children develop trusted relationships with the staff team. Children are helped to keep themselves safe from harm. Key-work sessions regularly focus on children Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 4 keeping themselves safe and they highlight the dangers of, for example, going missing from care, smoking cigarettes and substance misuse.

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that the vetting of staff is in line with safe recruitment procedures. New staff benefit from a comprehensive induction programme. This ensures that those working with children are suitable to do so.

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improvement to be good

There has been one allegation made by a child about a member of staff. Managers take prompt and appropriate action when children make allegations. Managers’ communication with safeguarding professionals is effective and they adhere to the guidance of the local authority designated officer. Children’s welfare remains central to all internal investigations. However, records of investigations are not sufficiently detailed and do not, for example, include key information provided by witnesses of incidents.

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improvement to be good

The home’s physical environment is safe and secure. Fire risk assessments are carried out to a good standard and there are no health and safety concerns. However, managers are yet to complete children’s personal emergency evacuation plans, as stated in the home’s fire evacuation procedures.

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improvement to be good

There is regular and effective contact and planning with children’s social workers and, as appropriate, children’s parents. A social worker said, ‘Staff have been effective in supporting my young person to keep her safe. There have been worries around her safety and well-being in the community, however, not in this home. When this has been the case, the staff have appropriately followed the child protection procedures.’

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good

The home is led by a permanent, suitably qualified and experienced registered manager. The home’s continued development has been hampered by the inability, until recently, to secure a core permanent staff team. Very recently, managers have appointed permanent staff to key posts. The home has a new IT and recording system in place to support improved case recording. The new software was being launched with staff at the time of the inspection.

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good

Case records are not consistently of a high quality, and this is an area identified for significant improvement. In particular, key records such as risk assessments, behaviour management plans, and records of complaints and allegations are insufficiently detailed or incomplete. Managers’ auditing of staff’s recording is ineffective.

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good

Managers and staff do not complete support plans for all children living at the home. This hampers managers’ ability to effectively monitor, assess and demonstrate well the overall progress that children are making. Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 5 Three complaints have been received from a neighbour about noise levels at the home on occasions. Managers took appropriate action to resolve the complaints. However, records were insufficiently detailed. In particular, records failed to fully outline the action taken and did not include the outcome of the complaint.

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good

Staff work collaboratively to provide children with consistency and stability. They say they are well led and supported by their line managers. Staff training opportunities are very good, and staff appreciate the open and encouraging way the managers work with them. Staff receive regular formal supervision, which ensures that their care practices are safe and meet children’s needs. One staff member said, ‘My supervision is very reflective. I can speak openly, there’s good signposting to training. I get to discuss any worries I might have, and we talk about children’s placements.’

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good

The home’s statement of purpose and locality assessment have not been updated. This is not compliant with regulation. The children’s guide is a child-friendly informative document that staff share with children when they arrive at the home.

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good

The home’s premises are very well maintained and furnished. Improvements have been made to the decor of the home since it opened. However, the building is large and the interior is plain. Managers are yet to decorate communal areas and hallways so that the environment is warm and homely in appearance and feel.

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good

Managers and staff have effective working relationships with other professionals. Communication between staff and external professionals is regular and effective. Local authority social workers and independent reviewing officers receive updated information, and staff contribute to professional and strategy meetings and looked after children’s reviews. One child’s social worker said, ‘The communication has been very effective with staff and with the manager. They have been very proactive in maintaining almost daily communication and updates with myself and others in the network.’ Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 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, 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the monitoring of key case records, including support plans, risk assessments, behaviour management plans, records of complaints and allegations, and records of when children are missing from care. 1 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 1 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 1 December 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. 1 December 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 7 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))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the development of children’s personal emergency evacuation plans and further work towards smoking cessation.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of its children and is a homely, domestic environment. Homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than institutional impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2687918 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: London Borough of Haringey

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, High Road, Wood Green, London N22 8LE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Beverley Hendricks

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2687918 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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