Children's Home run by Caring Feathers Ltd in Brent

Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 1 Registered provider: Caring Feathers Ltd

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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 four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in January 2022. The registered manager left in September 2024. A new manager has been in post since 6 January 2024 and has submitted their application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living in the home at the time of this inspection. All the children were spoken to.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2024 Full Good 06/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is comfortable, clean, and well maintained. They have bedrooms that are highly personalised and reflect their tastes and interests. Everyone eats their evening meals together in the kitchen diner, which contributes to a family atmosphere in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively promote children’s education. All the children have school placements, and the majority of these are in the local community, which brings positive benefits for the children. When school attendance is a challenge, staff work with children to address the barriers, encouraging healthy sleep routines and setting targets in key-work sessions. When children have not yet started at their school, staff make arrangements for tuition in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s health needs. They support children to attend their routine appointments and are proactive in meeting all their wider health needs. For example, staff make referrals to specialist support services for children when they have identified needs. Healthy eating is encouraged in the home and the children’s meals are cooked using fresh ingredients. One child said that having good food is one of the reasons they like living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have positive relationships with their families. If they have difficult feelings about family relationships, staff give them the opportunity to explore this, and they provide emotional support. One child had a birthday party in the home which their family members attended. Their social worker said it was nice that family time had been arranged in this way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to attend the weekly house meetings and to share their views. However, the meetings are mainly limited to menu planning. Children know how to make a complaint and leaders take effective action. For example, one child said a consequence they were given was not a logical consequence of their behaviour. The responsible individual reviewed the decision and overturned it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy lots of different activities, based on their ages and interests. Activities include trips to the cinema, meals out, going to the gym and trampolining. They have also been on holidays when they have visited different theme parks. These experiences have given the children opportunities to be active and have fun.

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

Children are safeguarded in the home. They have good relationships with staff and said that there are people in the home they can share their worries with. Children live harmoniously together, and there have been no bullying incidents. One child said that Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 4 living in the home ‘grows your mentality.’ As a result, children achieve a sense of stability and make progress living there.

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

Children’s risks and their triggers for behaviour are understood well. There are clear risk management strategies in place to keep children safe, which are kept under regular review. Staff follow missing protocols if children go missing from the home. Children are welcomed home when they return, and a return home interview is requested from the placing authority.

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

Children are engaged in meaningful discussions about their risks in key-work sessions. For example, discussions take place around healthy relationships and substance misuse. Staff use educational videos on these subjects which they watch together with children and set targets and incentives for reducing risk-taking behaviours.

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

Physical interventions are rarely used in the home. On the one occasion intervention was used, it was proportionate and necessary to protect the child. Following the incident, full debriefs for the child and staff took place and there was manager oversight.

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

Safe recruitment practice is followed. Gaps in employment are fully explored, and all references are verified. If there are any concerns about staff, a risk assessment is completed and increased monitoring and supervision put in place. One child said the responsible individual is ‘very thorough and wouldn’t bring just anyone in.’

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

Staff complete daily checks of all the children’s bedrooms for cleanliness and health and safety reasons. This is a mandatory policy which is not kept under review, in line with children’s individual needs and stages of development. This practice is inconsistent with the general family atmosphere of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recently there have been changes in the leadership and management team. The impact of these changes has been minimised by the close involvement and oversight of the responsible individual, who was previously the registered manager. They are currently providing support and there is a handover period to the new manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably qualified and have previous experience of working with children. They know the children well and talk with warmth about the progress they are making. There is a shared understanding across the staff team of the children’s needs, and detailed discussions take place in the monthly team meeting about their well-being. All the staff are permanently employed, and agency staff are not used. This means that children receive consistent care from staff who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team has effective working relationships with external professionals and parents. Social workers noted that during the time of management changes, staff were a little less responsive to communications. However, they were receptive to feedback about this, and improvements were made. Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 5 Staff feel well supported by their current managers and enjoy working in the home. They complete a comprehensive induction programme and receive regular supervision, which is held more frequently when they are in their probation period. This ensures that there is robust oversight in place as staff develop in their new roles. Supervision focuses on the children’s experiences and includes their feedback, which provides opportunities to improve practice in the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that bedroom checks are proportionate to children’s needs and are kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20)

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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: 2653894 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Caring Feathers Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 4b, The Park Estate, Bury Park Road, Luton LU1 1EN

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Inspector

Jo Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2653894 8 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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