Children's Home run by Heartwood RSW Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 1 SC461865 Registered provider: Heartwood RSW Ltd

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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 run home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 8 November 2013. The registered manager post has been vacant since 10 November 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child 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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected, and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 20 September 2023

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/09/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/09/2022 Full Good 07/09/2021 Full Good 06/08/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

When children move into the home, leaders and managers do not ensure that staff have the appropriate skills to meet children’s needs. Leaders and managers do not consider how new children moving into the home could affect the children already living there. Some children came to the home on an emergency basis. Leaders and managers do not demonstrate that they have the skills to make good decisions about children moving into the home in these circumstances. The lack of planning does not ensure that the home is the right environment for children to live in. Some children had support needs that were beyond staff experience and knowledge, and as a result those children had to leave the home. This creates further instability for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not have updated care plans for all the children. The current child’s care plan does not have essential information about their cultural and religious needs or their interests. Furthermore, staff are also not carrying out directions in this child’s plan. For example, staff are not completing room searches, despite there being concerns about this child regularly smoking in their room, clear signs of drug use, and a risk of criminal exploitation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Key-work sessions do not help the child to understand how to keep safe. Staff are unable to challenge the child’s behaviour effectively and put necessary boundaries in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

When the previous children were in the home, children’s meetings took place regularly. This gave the children an opportunity to share their thoughts, wishes and feelings. However, staff did not consistently follow up on actions that were set in these meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The current child in the home engages with tutoring while professionals are looking for a school for them to attend. Staff also support the child to attend medical appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This child is supported to maintain safe relationships with their family. This enables them to stay in touch with people who are important to them.

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

Leaders and managers fail to learn from past experiences. They continue to accept children into the home who they cannot keep safe. The safety of the child currently living in the home has deteriorated since they moved in. Records show that staff do not have effective oversight over the child and their needs. Staff do not exercise enough curiosity when there are indicators that the child may be increasingly vulnerable. As a result, the child engages in activities that put them at risk of harm.

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

Children’s risk assessments are not specific to the vulnerabilities that they have. Strategies to reduce the risks children face are not clear and the strategies that are in place are not followed by staff consistently. For example, the home manager confirmed Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 4 that despite regular room and phone searches being strategies to reduce risks to the child living in the home, staff do not complete these.

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

When incidents happen, the use of physical intervention is not always proportionate. This indicates that staff’s ability to effectively de-escalate situations has been poor. However, there has been a reduction in physical interventions in the home more recently. Incident records are not clear and so the accuracy of records cannot be assured. In addition, a serious incident took place, but the manager did not notify Ofsted about this. This limits the regulator’s oversight of how leaders and managers managed the incident.

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

Staff did not supervise effectively a child who needed high levels of supervision to keep them safe. As a result, the child was able to go missing for several hours with peers not known to staff. In addition, when children return from being missing from the care of staff, return home interviews do not take place. The lack of curious debrief means that children are not helped to understand the concerns about them going missing. Staff also do not benefit from a better understanding of the factors that lead to children going missing, which does not support them to keep children safe.

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

Managers investigate children’s complaints and ensure that children are consulted about the outcome of these complaints.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the effectiveness of leaders and managers has deteriorated. There has not been a registered manager in the home since November 2023. The widespread failures in leadership have had an impact on the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home manager does not have a comprehensive overview of the home, the child, or the contextual safeguarding issues within the local area. Leaders and managers’ oversight of staff training and knowledge is poor. Not all staff have completed relevant training to meet the children’s needs. Managers have not noticed this deficit, so no action has been taken to ensure that staff improve their knowledge. In addition, staff do not have a consistent understanding of children’s vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor recording of information and poor practice amongst the staff team is not addressed effectively. Children’s files are not stored properly, and all relevant information was not available to inspectors during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers complete a review of the quality of care children receive. However, this does not include sufficient analysis and feedback to ensure development of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers complete annual appraisals with staff. However, these do not include feedback to support staff with their development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 5 As a result of the concerns identified at this inspection, four requirements are restated for the second time and Ofsted has issued compliance notices under regulation 12 and regulation 13 of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 16 September 2024

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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— 16 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 7 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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b)(c)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 16 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 8 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that full consideration of children’s needs is made in the context of staff experience and skills, and the potential impact of this on children already living in the home, and how these needs will be met, prior to children moving into the home.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s bedrooms are safe and furnished to mitigate all known risks to children.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s records are accurate, include the necessary information and are completed in a timely manner. Leaders and managers must ensure that these records include children’s cultural needs and interests.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers must ensure that they have a copy of all relevant documents, including children’s local authority care plans. 16 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and 16 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 9 any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

or is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the appointed manager must apply to register with Ofsted.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 16 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. The registered person and staff should work closely with placing authorities to understand push and pull factors for children who go missing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that details of regulation 40 notifications include details of the action taken by staff to respond to the event. The notification should also provide clear details of the incident to avoid any confusion. (‘Guide to the Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 10 Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)  The registered person should ensure that staff appraisals take into account the views

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Recommendations

of other professionals that they have worked with over the year and views of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that when a child makes a choice that would place them or another person at significant risk of harm, staff should assist them to understand the risks and manage their behaviour to keep themselves and others safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7)  The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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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: SC461865 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG3 9JX

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Inspectors

Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Rachel McIntyre, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 12 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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Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspectors

http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted Inspection report for children’s home: SC461865 13

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