Chance Residential and Assessment Centre

Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 1 Chance Residential and Assessment Centre Chance Further Support CIC 45 Marischal Road, London SE13 5LE Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential family centre

This residential family centre provides parental assessments for up to four families and is staffed on a 24-hour basis.

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Information about this residential family centre

The centre and manager registered with Ofsted in August 2022. Since the last inspection, a new responsible individual has been appointed.

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Information about this residential family centre

At the time of this inspection, there was one family living in the centre. The inspector spoke with the parents.

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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

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: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Children and their parents benefit from staff’s completion of comprehensive, balanced and effective parenting assessments. Families understand from the start of their placement the nature and scope of their assessment and they fully engage with the process. Staff address local authorities’ concerns for children and families’ in the parenting assessments, as well as exploring any other issues that may emerge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families share a trusting relationship with the staff team, whom they find supportive and sensitive. A parent said, ‘My key worker is lovely, compassionate and explains things easily, she takes her time. Staff make good suggestions. They are polite even when I’m testing their patience.’ Parents settle in quickly on arrival at the centre. They receive clear information about the expectations of them and what they should expect from the service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents are supported to consider long-term training and educational opportunities for when they leave the centre. Currently, staff are supporting a parent’s interest in horticulture by exploring how they could use the centre’s garden to develop skills in this area, alongside exploring relevant training courses.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families benefit from staff’s close working relationships with healthcare professionals. Families promptly register with GP and health visiting services when they first arrive and staff encourage parents to attend medical appointments for themselves and their children. Families attend regular healthy eating sessions, and some parents are developing a keen interest in cooking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Staff place the wellbeing of children and parents at the centre of their practice, and families are treated with respect. Staff adhere to families’ agreed support plans. Staff cater well for children and parents’ identity needs. For example, staff tailor assessment activities to ensure that parents with learning difficulties or mental health support needs can fully participate with sessions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Qualified staff undertake assessments that meet the specific needs of families. These assessments include a range of assessment methods and programmes that evaluate parents’ capacity to safely care for their children. Direct work sessions with families address the local authority’s concerns for children’s safety. Families receive good feedback about how their assessment is progressing. Discussions highlight parents’ areas of strength and areas identified for further development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Assessment reports are good. Final reports are evidence based, analytical and evaluative. These reports outline parents’ strengths and weaknesses, highlighting their capacity for change. Reports also indicate children and their parents’ future support needs. Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 3

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Families are protected from abuse, harm and neglect. Staff’s close supervision and monitoring of families means that very few critical incidents occur. When incidents do happen, staff manage these well.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Staff have access to adult and child protection policies. They demonstrate a good understanding of the action they must take in the event of safeguarding concerns being raised. Staff’s communication with safeguarding professionals is frequent and effective.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Parents are aware of how to make complaints and staff encourage them to share any issues or dissatisfaction that they have about the centre with them. Parents generally choose not to make a formal complaint, but to instead speak with staff and managers. Records of complaints are well documented, indicate how matters have been resolved and the complainant’s response to this. In all cases, parents were satisfied with how their complaint had been managed. This is a marked improvement since the last inspection.

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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 their parents’ ability to care for them safely. Risk assessments address the specific needs of each family member. These assessments highlight known and potential risks to children and others. Risk assessments are frequently updated in accordance with children and parents’ changing needs.

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How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

The centre is safe, homely, well equipped and well decorated. Families are comfortable in their surroundings. Staff’s use of CCTV is appropriate and provides an additional level of scrutiny in the evaluation of parents’ ability to keep their children safe. Families are aware from the outset of the centre’s use of CCTV and audio monitoring devices.

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good

The effectiveness of the leadership of the home shows some improvement since the last inspection. However, the management of the centre is not yet strong. Monitoring systems are not vigorous or well embedded at the centre. For example, while managers have devised a clear development plan, no quality of care review report has been shared with Ofsted as is required. Managers have failed to consistently forward monthly independent monitoring reports to Ofsted. At times, several of these reports have been received at the same time and not each month as expected.

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good

Families’ records show improvement. Risk assessments and placement plans are appropriately detailed and relevant to individual family members. However, not all important records are promptly available for staff to access on the centre’s recording Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 4 system, which hinders staff’s full oversight in all areas. This was the case for records of some feedback sessions with parents.

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good

Managers’ oversight of recruitment is not comprehensive. Staff personnel files do not consistently evidence full vetting information as required. Managers failed to obtain any written references for one staff member prior to them working with families at the centre. As such, leaders and the manager could not be assured that the staff member was suitable to work with children and parents before they were working alongside vulnerable families and children. Shortfalls in recruitment were highlighted as an area for improvement at the previous inspection.

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good

The registered manager is also the director of the residential family centre. She is appropriately qualified and experienced to manage the service. Since the last inspection, a new responsible individual has been appointed. The centre’s development plan outlines strategies designed to help drive improvements at the centre.

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good

For several months since the last inspection, the centre had no families in placement. Managers have used this time to restructure the staff team, provide revised inductions for newly appointed staff and develop an improved training programme for staff.

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good

Staff induction, training and support have been effective in preparing staff for their roles and responsibilities. Staff training opportunities are wide ranging and relevant to the work of a residential family centre. As required, staff complete bespoke training to better understand the specific needs of families with whom they are working.

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good

The staff feel well supported by their line managers. Staff now receive regular supervision, which is an improvement since the last inspection. Staff appraisals are completed each year. A member of staff said the management team is ‘supportive, understanding and welcoming in receiving staff views and opinions. I feel listened to.’

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good

Managers and staff share effective working relationships with other professionals. This ensures that all parties are aware of concerns for children and their parents. Professionals have good insight into how parenting assessments are progressing. A local authority team manager said, ‘Communication with managers and staff is good, and they provide weekly summaries. Staff are managing the family’s many complexities well. The baby is in a place of safety and staff intervene appropriately. I am not worried about the staff’s safeguarding of the baby.’ Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 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 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

employ a person to work at the residential family centre unless that person is fit to work at a residential family centre; or

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Requirement Due date

allow a person to whom paragraph (2) applies, to work at the residential family centre unless that person is fit to work at a residential family centre.

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Requirement Due date

This paragraph applies to any person who is employed by a person other than the registered person in a position in which he may in the course of his duties have regular contact with residents.

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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

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to him in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 2. (Regulation 16 (1)(a)(b) (2 )(3)(d)) 1 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall establish and maintain a system for—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided at the residential family centre.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person shall supply to the Chief Inspector a report in respect of any review conducted by him for the purposes of paragraph (1), and make a copy of the report available to residents. 1 April 2026 Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 6 The system referred to in paragraph (1) shall provide for consultation with residents. (Regulation 23 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3))

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Requirement Due date

Where the registered provider is an organisation or a partnership, the residential family centre shall be visited in accordance with this regulation by—

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual or one of the partners, as the case may be;

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Requirement Due date

another of the directors or other persons responsible for the management of the organisation or partnership; or

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Requirement Due date

an employee of the organisation or partnership who is not directly concerned with the conduct of the residential family centre.

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Requirement Due date

Visits under paragraph (1) or (2) shall take place at least once a month and may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The person carrying out the visit shall—

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Requirement Due date

interview, with their consent and in private, such of the residents and persons working at the residential family centre as appears necessary in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the residential family centre;

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Requirement Due date

inspect the premises of the residential family centre, its daily log of events and records of any complaints; and

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Requirement Due date

prepare a written report on the conduct of the residential family centre.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider shall supply a copy of the report required to be made under paragraph (4)(c) to—

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Requirement Due date

the Chief Inspector. (Regulation 25 (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b)(c) (5)(a)) 1 April 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that feedback from and to parents is readily available in their records, in particular records of parents’ feedback meetings. (Residential family centre National Minimum Standards, 20.2) Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 7

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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: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 8

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider: Chance Further Support CIC

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Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: 27 Pelham Road, Beckenham BR3 4SQ

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Residential family centre details

Responsible individual: Amaka Richard-Tella

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Residential family centre details

Email address: michelle.riley@chancefs.org

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: Chance Residential and Assessment Centre 9 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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