Children's home run by Casaegis Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 1 Registered provider: Casaegis LTD Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to two children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 November 2022

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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: 2595123 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2022 Full Good 15/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The atmosphere is welcoming and positive in this home. Staff involve children in all aspects of the day-to-day running of the home because they know that children’s views are important. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to their tastes and reflect the things that children like, enjoy and are interested in. Children say that they like their home, and they demonstrate a strong sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have made good progress and they are happy and settled. Children have trusting and positive relationships with the adults caring for them. External professionals provided very positive feedback about the care provided to children. One professional said, ‘Any child who gets a placement at this home is exceptionally lucky.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop good bonds with children in a short space of time. This supports children to talk about their worries or concerns. Children develop confidence and resilience because of the nurturing approach taken by staff to the children’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children start to have positive experiences from when they first arrive at the home. The manager makes certain that children’s care plans and assessments are in place before children arrive. This means that staff have all the required information to start providing good care from the moment a new child moves in. This helps children to settle and feel welcomed to their new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As soon as children move in to the home, the manager ensures that educational progress starts for children. For one child, the manager ensured that they attended an alternative provision for one day per week, while also being supported to engage in education activities in the home and community until an appropriate provision was identified. This helps children to develop routines, make educational progress, and improve their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met well. Children are enrolled with local health professionals and are supported to attend appointments. Staff work hard to keep children meaningfully occupied and support them to participate in activities inside and outside of the home to promote a healthy lifestyle.

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

The home environment is safe for children. Risk assessments in relation to the home’s location are reviewed regularly to make sure that children can remain safe and protected in the local community.

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

Children have trusted adults who they can turn to for help and support should they require this. In addition to the staff team, one child continues to receive the support, guidance and help of a psychotherapist. This support has meant that the child is Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 4 able to regulate their emotions. The input from the psychotherapist has been valuable and allows the child to safely explore their emotions and make sense of their life and experiences.

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

Children do not always receive support following incidents. On one occasion, the manager had prioritised staff’s needs over those of the children and had recorded support offered to staff in the child’s files.

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

The manager prevents children from going missing by ensuring that all external doors are secured. As a result, children are not supported to understand the risks if they go missing from care.

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

The manager recruits new staff in accordance with safer recruitment protocols. New staff undergo a range of checks that are designed to minimise the likelihood of children being harmed by those caring for them.

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good

The registered individual has not provided the manager with formal supervision, and the manager has failed to ensure that all staff members receive regular supervision meetings. This prevents staff from having regular discussions with a manager to address any concerns that they may have and stifles opportunities for staff to reflect on their care practice and derive development from this.

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good

The manager has not used any quality assurance tools to audit practice and there is a lack of oversight by the manager of records. This limits the manager in having a good and robust understanding of all aspects of care practice.

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good

The manager and staff have, on occasion, written in children’s records in a stigmatising manner. This fails to provide a nurturing approach and could have a detrimental impact on children should they wish to read their files.

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good

The manager has not ensured that staff record which children and staff are involved in the fire drills. During the inspection, staff incorrectly documented that a fire drill had taken place. Therefore, children and staff may not know what to do to keep themselves safe if there is a fire.

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good

Staff morale is good, and staff feel well supported by the manager. Staff feel confident in the manager and feel that she is approachable and available to them. Staff are positive about their roles and say that they enjoy coming to work and caring for the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 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 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 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

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 specifically refers to ensuring that robust quality assurance and monitoring systems are used regularly, and the record of them is improved. 23 February 2024

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire,

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire;

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the home provides adequate means of escape, and children have the opportunity to be part of a fire evacuation drill. 8 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 23 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 6 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to individual supervisions taking place for staff and the manager.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that if there is a risk that a child may run away or go missing, staff should do their best to help them to understand the risks and dangers involved and make them aware of how to seek help if they do run away. (Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.27)

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Recommendations

 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. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘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: 2595123 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 84 Wigston Road, Oadby, Leicestershire LE2 5QD

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Inspector

Corline Parker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2595123 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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