Chariteens Residential Family Centre

Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 1 Chariteens Residential Family Centre Chariteens Residential Family Centre CIC 10 Khartoum Road, London E13 8RF Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

The centre is registered to provide parenting assessments for up to six families. Alongside parenting assessments, the centre provides psychological assessments, drug and alcohol testing and counselling.

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Information about this residential family centre

At the time of the inspection, there were three families undergoing parental assessment. The inspector interviewed three parents. The centre registered with Ofsted in June 2014, and the newly appointed manager has applied to be registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and parents, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and parents are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The residential family centre provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of previous inspection: 25 January 2023

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Children and parents benefit from parenting assessments that are comprehensive and tailored to meet the individual assessment needs of each family member. Staff use various assessment tools and programmes to consider and address professionals’ concerns about the safe care of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families have trusted and secure relationships with the staff team, whose members, they say, are supportive, helpful and provide sensitive guidance. Staff promote the welfare of families, while ensuring that children receive safe care. Parents feel that the work they complete with staff makes a positive difference to the quality of care that they provide to their children. One mother told the inspector, ‘I look back now, and I should have done a lot more. My routine with the baby is better. I have time to think; I’m more organised. Staff are nice, helpful. I feel listened to. I’m glad they’ve given me this chance.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Staff warmly welcome new families to the centre. Staff give parents useful information and explain how the centre is run, and the expectations they have of parents. Parents, centre staff and local authority social workers attend placement planning meetings to ensure that everyone is clear about the purpose of the assessment and areas to be explored. This is progress from the last inspection. Parents say that this helps to reassure them and address any initial anxieties they have about being at the centre.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families feel listened to, have good opportunities to share their views, and give feedback about the assessment process. For example, key-work sessions, weekly feedback sessions and house meetings are regularly held. These are good opportunities for families to share their views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Since the last inspection, the centre has received a high number of complaints from families. Managers respond to complaints promptly and appropriately. They ensure that parents are aware of any action taken, and of the outcome of their complaint. Records of the management of complaints are clear and consistent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Children and their parents are supported to live healthy lives. For example, families are promptly registered with primary health care services soon after they arrive. Staff support parents to monitor their children’s health and to attend key health care appointments, such as for children’s immunisations. Staff’s communication with health professionals is frequent, and this promotes children’s healthy development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Children and parents have access to specialist health care services as needed. For example, parents participate in community-based drug and alcohol programmes, and staff conduct drug testing on site if this required. Staff encourage parents to attend weekly on-site counselling sessions, which are conducted by the Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 3 organisation’s counsellor. Staff receive training in first aid, and their medication practices are safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Children benefit from attending on-site and community-based sessions that support their general development and learning. Staff encourage parents to attend local children’s centres to take part in activities that promote children’s play and stimulation and improve the attachment between parent and child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Final parenting assessment reports are clear, well-written and evidence based. They identify parents’ capacity for change, they identify next steps, and they make clear recommendations for children’s futures. As parents move on from the centre, staff offer post assessment support, they maintain links with families and continue to offer emotional and practical support as deemed appropriate.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Children and parents are protected from harm, neglect, abuse and bullying. Families benefit from staff’s training in child protection policies and procedures, which feature in the centre’s newly implemented staff induction programme.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Staff and managers understand and act in accordance with safeguarding policies and procedures. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding protocols. Where there are concerns, staff and managers effectively liaise with local authority social workers. There have been no allegations made against staff, or any episodes of families going missing from the centre since the last inspection.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Managers have devised a new impact assessment form to ensure that staff are able to meet the needs of families currently at the centre and those being considered to move in for assessment.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Assessment information is consistently focused on the welfare and protection of children, and on their parents’ ability to care for them safely. Risk assessments are relevant to individual family members. These assessments highlight known and potential risks to children and others. Any identified risks are shared with parents and professionals. Staff devise detailed risk management strategies, which helps to reduce risks. Staff update risk assessments, particularly when new risks emerge.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

There have been several incidents when staff have faced difficult situations. Staff manage incidents where parents present with challenging behaviour well. They receive training in conflict management and working effectively with adults who present with challenging behaviour. Staff work well together in providing consistent messages and setting boundaries to support parents’ learning and the safe care of children.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Staff use key-work sessions, weekly feedback meetings and professionals meetings to help reinforce safe parenting. Where there is serious cause for concern, staff convene disruption meetings to explore placement issues. Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 4 Staff recruitment practices are identified as an area for improvement as some staff vetting information is not obtained as required. This includes written references from the most recent employers of candidates, verification of written references and exploration of gaps in staff work histories.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

The centre’s physical environment is safe and secure. Staff’s use of CCTV is appropriate and supports their observation of parents’ skills. The premises is adequately maintained and is well furnished. Key equipment is provided by the centre for parents to use, such as baby sterilizers, Moses baskets, cots, and highchairs.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been significant change to the staff team. The previous registered manager has left the service and a new manager has been appointed. The manager has applied to be registered with Ofsted. Most of the staff team are also newly appointed. The exception to this is the deputy manager, who has been in post for several years.

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good

Final assessment reports are completed by the deputy manager, who is a qualified social worker. The new manager is also a qualified social worker. The centre is properly staffed to meet the needs of families undergoing parenting assessments.

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good

The leadership and management of the centre shows some improvement since the last inspection. Managers have devised monitoring tools to support their oversight of the quality of the service. Currently, managers and leaders are developing a new electronic recording system to help improve the efficiency of staff’s recording.

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good

Leaders’ monitoring systems currently do not effectively highlight the centre’s strengths and areas for improvement. For example, the centre’s development plan covers a three-year period. The plan identifies long-term targets and are not specific in highlighting how and what action is required to drive improvement in the short term. Plans do not identify who is responsible for action that needs to be taken and for dates to be put in place to review progress in achieving targets.

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good

Leaders and managers’ monitoring of key records is also an area for improvement as some records are incomplete and missing from children’s files. For example, a series of key-work sessions were not on a child’s file and could not be located. Parents’ feedback is also not consistently recorded.

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good

Staff say that they receive good support and guidance from managers. However, there are significant gaps in the frequency of some staff supervision sessions and supervision records. Staff annual appraisals do not take place every year as required.

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good

Staff training and development opportunities are good. Staff regularly complete key and relevant training. This includes, for example, health and social care diploma Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 5 courses, child development, and safeguarding training. However, managers’ records of staff training do not accurately reflect training completed by staff. This makes it difficult to know which training individual staff members have completed.

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good

The centre’s statement of purpose has been recently revised. However, managers are yet to forward the document to Ofsted.

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good

Children and their parents benefit from the close partnership working between staff and other professionals. Communication is consistent and effective. This supports the coordination of families’ care and their parenting assessment. Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 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, Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work at a residential family centre unless—

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Requirement Due date

he has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary for the work he is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

he is physically and mentally fit for the work he is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to him in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 2. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 1 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

keep under review and where appropriate revise the statement of purpose and resident’s guide; and

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Requirement Due date

notify the Commission within 28 days of any such revision. (Regulation 4 (4)(a)(b)) 1 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall ensure that all persons employed by him—

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Requirement Due date

receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal. (Regulation 17 (5)(a)) 1 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the nature of records, that there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record- keeping, and that they take action when needed. This relates to the quality of key-work sessions, records of parents’ feedback and the accurate recording of staff training information. (Residential family centres: NMS 20.2) Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 7  The registered person should ensure that there is effective leadership of the centre’s staff and operation, so that the centre is organised and managed in a manner that delivers the best possible outcomes for parents and children. This relates to leaders devising an effective development plan that has clear, measurable improvement objectives. (Residential family centres: NMS 12.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and parents 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 Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 8

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: Chariteens Residential Family Centre CIC

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: 10 Khartoum Road, London E13 8RF

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: Chariteens Residential Family Centre 9 regulates and inspects 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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