Children's home run by Better Families Social Work Services Ltd

Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 1 Registered provider: Better Families Social Work Services 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 owned home cares for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in April 2025. The manager was registered with Ofsted at the same time. This was the home’s first inspection since registration.

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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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home was registered with Ofsted, six children have lived at the home. Children’s progress and experiences have varied. Some children previously living at the home were subject to deprivation of liberty orders. This means that, at times, their movement and access to the community was restricted and their progress was limited.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living at the home is making steady progress. They have developed trusted relationships with the staff team. They engage well with staff and enjoy spending time with them, particularly when taking part in leisure activities. The child is a keen chess player and enjoys challenging staff to play. The child communicates in a variety of ways, not always using speech. Staff are very skilled at interpreting what they are conveying when they are not using speech.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s healthcare needs are well met. Care plans identify their healthcare needs and how these are to be met. Staff promptly registered the child with a GP, and they support the child to attend primary healthcare appointments. The child accesses specialist services that support their development. This includes speech and language therapists, who provide staff with guidance to help the child to develop and improve their communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s learning outcomes are good; they enjoy going to school and their attendance is 100%. School staff commented on the significant improvement in their presentation, self-esteem and educational progress since moving to the home. Staff engage well with education professionals to ensure that the child receives appropriate resources to support their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child benefits from taking part in a wide range of social, educational and leisure activities, both at the home and in the community. One of their favourite pastimes is attending a local play facility for trampolining. Staff are arranging to buy and set up a trampoline in the garden at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child benefits from learning practical independent life skills. These include keeping their room tidy, helping to do their laundry and working towards keeping their school clothes and equipment together in their backpack when they return home at the end of the school day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers appropriately handled the one complaint made by a child against a member of staff.

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

Staff work diligently to protect children who are deemed by the court to be at high risk of, or who have been exposed to, significant harm and abuse. Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 3 Staff understand and adhere to the home’s policies and local protocols when children are missing from home. They work effectively with other safeguarding professionals to promote children’s safe return home. They ensure that records are clear about the actions taken if children’s whereabouts are unknown. Staff ensure that children’s parents are kept informed of developments and staff support them to encourage the children to return to the home. Staff hold regular conversations with children about the risks when they are missing, and how to keep themselves safe when they are away from the home.

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

Staff promote children’s positive behaviour. They ensure that there are clear structures and consistent boundaries in place, and they regularly use praise and incentives to encourage children to safely regulate and reflect on their emotions and feelings. Staff use a visual ‘feelings board’ with the child at the home, to enable them to communicate in ways other than through speech.

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

Since the home was registered, there have been three instances of the restraint of a child by staff. Restraint is used as a last resort to protect the child and others from significant harm. Records of restraint incidents are clear and appropriately detailed. However, managers do not ensure that staff consistently complete and record debrief conversations with children following incidents of the use of restraint.

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

There are clear child protection policies and procedures in place, which staff adhere to. Staff receive regular safeguarding training that includes issues such as child criminal and sexual exploitation and self-harm. However, some staff are not sufficiently clear about what action to take if an allegation is made against a senior member of staff.

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

Risk assessments highlight risks posed to children and include clear strategies to help to reduce risks. However, some risk assessments are not regularly updated, and some do not include details of historical risks to children.

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

Communication between staff and safeguarding professionals is frequent. Staff and managers share any emerging concerns with the child’s professional network. Staff contribute to professional and strategy meetings to explore and to help reduce risks to the children and others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The leadership and management of the home are not strong. Monitoring and review systems are not effective and do not drive improvement. This is particularly the case for the review of some children’s key records, such as risk assessments and records of debrief conversations with children following the use of restraint by staff, despite managers completing quality audits of children’s files. Leaders and managers are yet to share the completed quality of care report with Ofsted as required. This is a missed opportunity for managers to complete a comprehensive review of the quality of the service and to drive improvements. Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 4 Some repairs in the home are not completed promptly. For example, the landing window has been boarded up since the summer, when the window pane was broken. The glass has not been replaced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

At times, there is a lack of effective communication between the leaders of the organisation in making decisions about children coming to live at the home. Some emergency placements have been authorised and have happened without the knowledge of the registered manager. This means the dynamics between children already living in the home and the skills and abilities of the staff team have not been fully taken into account. The admissions process does not ensure that key senior staff participate in the decision-making process when considering new placements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff consistently say that they feel very well supported by the management team, who are visible and available. Some staff members describe the registered manager as ‘inspirational’. Inductions prepare staff for their roles, and training opportunities are wide ranging and relevant.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

However, central records of staff training are not regularly updated. This makes it difficult to accurately determine what training has been completed by which members of staff. The registered manager has failed to complete key training to enhance his own skills and to ensure that he has insight into the quality of training that the staff are receiving. All staff receive supervision, which they say is meaningful and meets their development needs to provide good-quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document that outlines well the home’s ethos, aims and objectives. Leaders and the staff team place the well-being of children at the centre of their practice, and they are keen for children to do well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers understand the child’s needs and use this understanding to support their progress. Managers and staff share very effective working relationships with external professionals. They provide the child’s professional network with regular updates of placement issues. This ensures that all partner agencies are aware of the child’s progress and experiences and any concerns for their safety. Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 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, 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 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

In particular, managers must ensure that risk assessments and the staff training matrix are reviewed so that records are clear, available and updated. Leaders must effectively communicate with each other to ensure there is shared decision-making around children moving into the home. 1 December 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered manager completes key training and that all staff complete training in managing allegations. 1 December 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review"), at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 1 December 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 6 supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (4)(a))

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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

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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular that the glass in the landing window is replaced. 1 December 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident. A record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than five days after the incident of restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)

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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: 2808196 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Better Families Social Work Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 10 Stone Street, Gravesend DA11 0NH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Tarisai Kadungure

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2808196 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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