Children's Home run by Charis Services for Children Ltd in Surrey

Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 1 Registered provider: Charis Services for Children 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 home is privately run and provides residential care for up to 4 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 4 children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2026.

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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: 2633107 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/07/2025 Full Good 30/04/2024 Full Good 11/07/2023 Full Good 08/06/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 3

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Summary of findings

Managers and staff help children make good progress from their individual starting points. They support and promote children’s education and help them achieve their best. Staff help children develop independence and support them through successful transitions.

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Summary of findings

Managers and staff care deeply about the children and are skilled in building relationships with them. This helps children build meaningful relationships and enjoy new experiences. This also helps children in understanding risks, boundaries and make safer decisions.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers have created a supportive workplace where staff feel heard and motivated to improve practice for children. Managers are reflective and alive to areas that can be improved for children.

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Summary of findings

Managers need to ensure that children have access to advocacy services and provide better support for children who vape. Managers also need to improve effective communication with parents, challenge local authority practice when children go missing, create more opportunities for children to personalise their living spaces, and consistently ensure sufficient staffing levels and staff supervision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff help children have positive experiences and make good progress. Staff are mindful of children’s experiences, understand them and support them in achieving better outcomes. Children feel settled and content at their home. Staff help children talk about how they feel, manage their feelings and build their resilience. According to one social worker, children show increased stability and great improvements in understanding their own emotions and behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff promote children’s education. Staff support children to attend school regularly and achieve their best. As a result, children’s engagement with their education and attendance has significantly improved. One school safeguarding officer noted that staff put children at the centre of every decision. If a child struggles to attend school, staff find alternative options and also support children with finding work experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with building their independence and preparing them for their future. Staff help children learn skills that they need in living independently and in building their own support network. Due to this, children feel ready to transition into the next stage of their journeys. One child shared that staff helped her grow by encouraging her to try new things. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 4 When children are ready to leave the home, staff advocate for them and make sure they experience planned and effective transitions. Staff help children build new connections. Staff remain available to children if they wish to maintain those connections after they leave. Staff ensure that children have a positive experience when leaving, even if the move is unplanned. For example, instead of letting a child stay in a temporary unfamiliar place before moving into their new home, managers took them on a holiday to ensure a

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have meaningful and safe times with their family. A family member said that staff helped them see their child regularly by encouraging them, setting boundaries and helping when there were challenges. While managers and staff communicate well with professionals, communication with parents, who may not always agree with certain decisions, is not as effective as it could be. This results in missed opportunities for strengthening family relationships and for children to get age- appropriate, realistic and honest context to their circumstances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff share concerns and children’s views effectively with relevant professionals. They advocate for children. However, managers and staff missed opportunities to encourage children to access and involve experienced independent advocates. This would ensure that children’s views are championed when decisions are made about their future plans.

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

Managers and staff understand the risks of child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation. They work well with the local authority and other agencies to assess risks and vulnerabilities and help keep children safe in their communities and online. One social worker noted that the staff team has a strong understanding of safeguarding responsibilities.

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

Staff build positive, trusting relationships with children. As a result, children have trusted adults who they feel able to talk to. Managers take concerns about staff practice seriously, make referrals to relevant agencies and investigate concerns thoroughly. They identify areas for learning and improvements to practice where needed.

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

Managers and staff seek the support of external specialist services when children need this. They encourage children’s engagement with these services. This ensures that children get the help they need from skilled professionals. Managers understand that some children need time to build relationships before interventions can be effective. Managers are introducing specialist training to help staff better support children who find it difficult to engage with external services.

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

Managers and staff ensure that children who go missing receive the support they need. Managers ensure that staff have clear plans that reflect different children’s needs. They collaborate with social workers and other professionals to change plans when needed and help keep children safe. As a result, episodes of going missing have reduced. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 5 However, managers do not consistently challenge local authorities when children are not provided with, or offered, return home interviews. This results in missed opportunities for managers to take account of information from these interviews when assessing and managing risks.

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

Some children struggle with vaping. Managers and staff have clear rules prohibiting vaping in the home. However, staff have not consistently helped children to fully understand the risks and potential health implications of vaping, or offered children opportunities to access specialist services to support them stop.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads the home effectively, with support from the responsible individual, to help staff and children achieve the best possible outcomes. Stable leadership and recent improvements to the staffing structure have helped staff feel well supported. Staff feel heard. This results in staff playing an active role in improving practice and developing services for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers reflect on areas that need improvement and find ways to address this. For example, when managers identified communication within the staff team as an area for improvement, they changed the handover process. As a result, staff feel like they have the information they need to look after children and improve communication effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers maintain the home environment to a high standard and ensure it meets children’s needs. There are processes in place to support children to ensure their rooms are clean and maintained. However, managers missed opportunities to personalise children’s rooms and communal living spaces to reflect their individual likes and interests. Managers are keen to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On most occasions, leaders and managers ensure that there is sufficient staff in meeting children’s needs. Managers seek support from specialist staff when needed. When they use agency staff, managers ensure that these workers are familiar, appropriately vetted and have the information they need to support children well. However, on one occasion, despite recognising the complex and competing needs of different children, managers did not arrange sufficient staffing to respond to unexpected situations. As a result, the police collected a child from hospital and returned them home. Managers and staff missed an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with the child and support them to make safer decisions in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers support staff with effective supervisions and appraisals. Staff find supervisions helpful and an opportunity to reflect on children’s needs and their own practice. However, managers do not consistently conduct staff supervision and appraisals. Leaders and managers are aware of this and have amended the staffing structure to address this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii);

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about— 23 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 7 what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision. (Regulation 7(1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(vii)(b)(iii)(d)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff support children to understand the role of advocates, encourage them to engage with them and ensure that they have access to skilled, experienced independent advocates.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are provided with advice, guidance and offered support services to understand risks posed by vaping, its impact on their health and have sufficient information in making an informed decision to stop vaping. 23 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. The registered person should challenge the local authority if the local authority does not offer or arrange an independent return home interview and escalate concerns if needed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that they have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationship with parents. In particular, in working with parents to help them understand children’s perspectives and engage in regular,

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Recommendations

transparent, respectful and challenging communication when needed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraphs 10.3)  The registered person should ensure that children are given a choice about how their personal space is decorated. Children should be supported to express themselves as individuals and should be given an appropriate degree of freedom and choice in relation to how their living space is decorated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraphs 3.19)  The registered person should ensure that they plan staffing levels so that they meet the needs of children and can respond flexibly to unexpected events or opportunities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15)  The registered person should ensure that there are systems in place so that all staff

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Recommendations

receive regular supervision and appraisal of their practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: 2633107 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Charis Services for Children Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Richard Place Dobson, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley RH10 1HT

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Inspector

Rose Joseph, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2633107 10 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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