Children's Home run by Curam Domi Solutions Ltd in Barnet

Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 1 Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered by Ofsted in August 2017. The manager registered in January 2025. The manager is responsible for managing 2 homes in the organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The home can provide care for up to 2 children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties. One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2025 Full Good 11/06/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/03/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/12/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 3

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Summary of findings

Since the last inspection, 3 children have lived at the home. At the time of this inspection, one child was living there. Children’s experiences have been mixed. The 2 children who moved on experienced unplanned endings to their placements. In contrast, the child living at the home has developed positive relationships with staff, participates in a range of activities and is being supported to develop independence and essential life skills.

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Summary of findings

Practice is not always consistently child focused. Consultation with children, parents and professionals is variable, and opportunities to gather and act on children’s views, including their feelings about their living environment, are sometimes missed.

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Summary of findings

Records sometimes lack sufficient detail, which has limited staff’s understanding of children’s vulnerabilities. Staff have not always recognised or fully assessed the risks associated with children’s relationships and peer influences.

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Summary of findings

There are shortfalls in safer recruitment processes and management oversight has not been consistent, to ensure that the quality of care provided to children is sufficiently monitored and improved.

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improvement to be good

The home has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The lounge also serves as the primary staff office space. The child living at the home spends the majority of their time in their bedroom. Staff routinely seek and consider the child’s views on aspects of their care through regular key-work sessions. However, it is not clear that managers and staff have consulted children on their feelings regarding the lounge being used as a multifunctional space. The manager has not assessed whether the child’s preference to remain in their bedroom is influenced by staff working in the lounge.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child to develop independence and essential life skills, including cooking, budgeting and personal care. This helps to prepare the child for adulthood.

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improvement to be good

The child is supported to take part in a range of activities, including visits to the park, cinema and theatre.

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improvement to be good

The experiences of the 2 children who previously lived at the home were less positive. Both children struggled to settle, and there were occasions when staff found it difficult to maintain appropriate boundaries. Staff did not effectively manage the negative influence the children had on each other, resulting in an increase in missing-from-home incidents and involvement in substance misuse. Consequently, both children’s placements ended prematurely. Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 4

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improvement to be good

Assessments for the child living in the home group emerging risks together and apply overlapping control measures. This approach does not provide a comprehensive picture of the child’s individual vulnerabilities or the specific strategies required to manage identified risks. Consequently, staff do not always have a clear understanding of the child’s needs, the level of risk presented or the actions required to reduce those risks. In particular, the child’s history of self-harm is not sufficiently reflected in the risk assessment documentation and, given the child’s history, there are no clear measures in place for staff to follow. For example, it was only after a reported overdose that staff took action and checked the child’s bedroom and found a number of tablets that posed a risk to the child’s health.

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improvement to be good

The risk assessments relating to the 2 children who have since moved on did not provide sufficiently specific guidance for staff on how to safeguard and support them. Records were often generic and lacked child-specific strategies to help staff understand and respond to each child’s individual needs and risks. This meant that newly appointed staff did not have access to the written guidance necessary to consistently promote children’s safety and wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

Staff did not effectively recognise or manage the risks associated with substance misuse and alcohol use. As a result, opportunities to reduce known risks and safeguard the children were missed.

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improvement to be good

Other records also lack important information, including clear descriptions of behaviours that may indicate a child is becoming distressed, and the strategies staff should use to de-escalate incidents. This limits staff’s ability to respond consistently and effectively.

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improvement to be good

On one occasion, an incident involving a child making an allegation against a member of staff was not fully recorded. Important information was not captured, reducing oversight and leaving children and staff vulnerable.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment practices are not fully embedded. Managers do not consistently complete all required checks. For example, the registered manager does not routinely seek references or make attempts to contact previous employers where applicants have previously worked with children or vulnerable adults. This weakens the effectiveness of recruitment processes designed to ensure that only suitable individuals are employed to work with children.

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

The registered manager is responsible for overseeing two homes. Since the last inspection, the manager has had a period of absence, and also worked remotely for a period. This has reduced the direct oversight of the day-to-day management of the home. Although the wider management team provided support to staff during this time, Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 5 there has been a decline in management monitoring and oversight. This has included a reduction in the frequency of staff supervision sessions.

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

Staff report that they feel listened to and are confident in raising concerns. They describe managers as approachable and supportive.

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

The home’s quality of care reviews do not routinely incorporate feedback from children, staff, parents or other professionals. This represents a missed opportunity to gather and analyse the views of key stakeholders to evaluate the quality of care provided and to drive improvements in the quality of care.

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

Feedback from placing authority social workers and family members regarding the care provided to children is generally positive. However, some social workers have raised concerns about inconsistency in communication from managers and staff, particularly following significant incidents. This has the potential to undermine effective partnership working.

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

Staff do not routinely attend important multi-agency meetings relating to children’s care, including planning meetings. Consequently, they may not receive important information about children’s needs, risks and plans. This limits staff’s ability to contribute to decision- making and may affect their capacity to provide informed and consistent care to children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that if a person has previously worked in a position involving work with children or vulnerable adults, verification so far as reasonably practicable of the reason why the employment or position ended is obtained. 30 September 2026

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

any actions which the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. 30 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 7 The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that feedback from children, parents and professionals is obtained and used to inform the quality of care review.

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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; and

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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 effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond effectively to risks to children. 30 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 8 The registered person must also ensure that records are sufficiently detailed to enable staff to understand the extent of children’s vulnerabilities and the specific actions they need to take to safeguard children and promote their welfare.

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children receive the necessary support to enable them to settle into the home. 30 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must engage with social workers about children’s care. 30 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feeling standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feeling into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must consult the children on their feelings regarding having to share their living space with staff who use it as their workspace. 30 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 9

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Recommendations

 The registered person should take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on the individual child’s needs and developmental stage about when to allow a child to take a particular risk or follow a particular course of action. If 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 risk-taking 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 listen to the children and enable them to report any allegations at the earliest opportunity. Staff should report any allegation of abuse immediately to a senior manager in the home. Any allegation of harm or abuse must be addressed in line with the home’s child protection policy. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.17)  The registered person should ensure that staff are able to provide appropriate boundaries in relation to children’s behaviour. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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Information about this inspection

Inspector 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: 1257182 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Curam Domi Solutions Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE

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Inspector

Rubina Gani, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1257182 11 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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