Children's Home run by Children of the Mangrove Limited in Merton

Inspection report children's home: 1235653 1 Registered provider: Children Of The Mangrove Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care for up to five children with emotional and so- cial difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

There were five children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The home registered with Ofsted in April 2016 and the manager registered in April 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 13 September 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1235653 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/09/2023 Full Good 02/08/2022 Full Good 22/02/2022 Full Good 06/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1235653 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a welcoming and family feel. Children develop positive relationships with staff and make good progress from their starting points. Children enjoy spending time with staff and with each other. Children say that they are happy at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that children attend health appointments. This has resulted in improved health outcomes for those children who previously refused to attend these appointments. Children are supported to develop their self-care skills which has resulted in increased confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with education professionals to ensure that children attend school. As a result, one child has successfully completed their exams enabling them to attend college. Other children have seen this child’s achievement and now share this aspiration for themselves. Children that arrived at the home without education provision are now either attending school or have home tuition in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Childrens care plans are comprehensive and reflect placing authorities concerns. However, care plans could be more individualised and include children’s views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy many activities. Activities include go-karting, activity centres, roller skating, swimming, bowling, paint balling, table games, model building, movie nights, cinema trips, museum trips and days out to the beach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to spend time together and have developed good peer relationships. Children’s social skills have improved as a result. One social worker reported that there have been ‘notable positive changes’ in the child’s behaviour due to the staff’s encouragement to participate in activities, gaining increased confidence with his social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are listened to. House meetings take place regularly. Children’s complaints and ‘grumbles’ are taken seriously by staff and acted upon promptly by management.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their family and those who are important to them. Staff and managers are flexible to any changes to these arrangements and advocate for children where necessary to ensure that their views are heard. One child has been extremely concerned about their parent’s health and the registered manager has been proactive in escalating this issue with adults’ services to offer reassurance to the child. This has reduced the child’s anxiety and improved the time they spend with their parent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are motivated and committed to providing children with good quality care. One so- cial worker said, ‘The staff's commitment to not giving up on [name of child], even in Inspection report children's home: 1235653 4 challenging situations, is a significant strength. Their dedication ensures that [name of child] feels supported and valued.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The physical environment of the home is of a good overall standard, though some areas of the home could do with some attention such as refreshing paintwork and completing refurbishment of the games room.

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

Children’s risks are appropriately identified and risk assessments are regularly updated, which support staff to understand triggers for certain behaviours and identify strategies to manage incidents and prevent escalation.

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

Leaders and managers assess children’s needs well before they move into the home. Suitability risk assessments are completed and are of a good standard. They demonstrate that the child’s needs are understood and considered against other children’s needs who are already living at the home. There is also explicit consideration of the staff teams’ skills and experience to determine if they can meet the child’s needs.

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

Staff are alert to safeguarding risks and are knowledgeable of safeguarding processes. Leaders and managers take allegations against staff seriously and notify the local authority designated officer and Ofsted appropriately.

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

Incidents are managed well overall. However, some key-work sessions put in place following incidents are not recorded consistently on the electronic system. This may mean that alternative strategies identified to support children and reduce further risk may be missed. Not all key-work sessions recorded are purposeful and do not always cover areas of concern that incidences may uncover. Management oversight is not always recorded on some key-work session recordings.

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

Staff are trained suitably in de-escalation techniques. Physical intervention is used appropriately. However, debriefs with children and staff after incidents are not consistently recorded. Some records also lack management oversight.

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

If children are missing from the home, staff follow the missing-from-home protocol. Children have missing safety plans, and grab packs on file however some of these are missing information such as contact numbers of known family, friends, or associates. This may mean that efforts to locate a missing child may be delayed without this further detail.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is committed to providing the children with good and safe care. She aspires for children to succeed in all areas of their lives. The registered manager knows the children very well and has developed trusting relationships with them. Inspection report children's home: 1235653 5 The registered manager advocates for children effectively and will challenge other professionals appropriately. The registered manager works collaboratively with other professionals which results in children making good progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Currently, the deputy manager role is vacant. This has impacted the registered manager’s capacity to ensure that management oversight is consistent across some of the children’s records. The registered manager and responsible individual recognise this and are actively recruiting to the role to strengthen leadership in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel valued and supported by the registered manager. Staff receive regular supervision and have opportunities to reflect upon their practice at regular team meetings. The in-house therapist offers reflective space at team meetings to aid staff’s resilience and to support staff in understanding children’s behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably qualified and experienced. Safer recruitment is in place. Staff receive good and appropriate training. One staff member has recently completed training in developmental psychotherapy, with a view to sharing this learning with the staff team. This lends to the homes therapeutic approach as stated within their statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager values the scrutiny of the independent person and evaluates the homes’ effectiveness through considered and detailed quality of care reviews. Inspection report children's home: 1235653 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, 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

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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

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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that records are uploaded promptly onto the electronic system and review children’s records and key documents. 30 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 30 August 2024 Inspection report children's home: 1235653 7 within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vi)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that when behaviour management measures are used such as physical intervention that these are evaluated to review their effectiveness . The registered person must also ensure that children are spoken to about the measure, and that their views are included.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the quality of the recordings of keyworker sessions are purposeful, and evaluative, so that they are helpful to a child. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards' page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are able to experience living in a home that is homely. This is in relation to refreshing paint work in some areas of the home, such as the bannisters and refurbishment of the games room. (‘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 children's home: 1235653 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Children Of The Mangrove Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Chester House, Fulham Green, 81-83 Fulham High Street, London, SW6 3JA

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Knowlton Crichlow

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Inspector

Amanda Burrows, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1235653 9 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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