Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Manchester

Unique reference number SC043972 Inspection date 14/02/2012 Inspector Denise Jolly Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 22/11/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home accommodates up to five young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress.

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Progress

At the last full inspection the home was judged as outstanding. There were no requirements or recommendations to improve practice. The children's home has demonstrated continued improvement in the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people. Young people benefit from qualified and experienced staff, and consistent practice from an established team that allows them to grow and develop skills, emotional resilience and improved self care.

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Progress

Young people continue to choose to work with staff and their hard work is enabling them to develop their skills and improve their life opportunities. Placements are very stable and young people's needs continue to be met very well. Young people talk positively about their experiences of living at the home. Relationships are excellent with individual differences being explored, accepted and valued by all living and working at the home. Excellent consultation with stakeholders is apparent in written compliments from parents and social workers. They confirm that commitment and enthusiasm shown by staff provides young people with alternative positive choices that allow their lives to improve within structure and routine.

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Progress

Managers have developed a comprehensive system for cross referencing all information gathered about individual behaviours, risks, and programmes of support. Consistent staff response to unwanted behaviour, and focus on positive outcomes encourages young people to embrace change. The effectiveness of this approach is evident as young people make good progress in many aspects of their lives including significantly reduced missing from care, and increased contact with their families, attending education, and enjoying extremely positive leisure and recreational opportunities.

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Progress

Young people's views are consistently gathered and used to influence the home's future direction and daily operation. There are good examples of how staff have listened to young people and made every effort to ensure any reasonable requests are met. As a result, young people feel valued and respected. Young people confirm they feel happy, safe and comfortable in the home. Staff deliver a strong, child- focused service that is conducive to young people developing their potential. Staff remain up to date with professional and legal developments through access to good training programmes.

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Progress

There is good support from specialist services including substance misuse counsellors, and positive relationships with local police. This helps to reduce risk for young people in the community. Staff are energetic in responding to issues as they arise, and young people are supported to explore negative behaviour in planned one- to-one sessions. Contact is managed very well and there is continuous dialogue with family members to ensure young people remain safe. Young people are fully aware that they need to make the right decisions when they are out in the wider community.

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Progress

The home's aims and objectives are being fulfilled. There are very good quality assurance systems being used to monitor the operation and management of the home, including the views of young people's welfare and progress and the home's records. For example, the manager regularly reviews the quality of care to ensure shortfalls are identified and suitable action is taken to address them. However, action to secure up to date records for educational plans for young people has not been successful, and a recommendation is made to acquire these in order that the home can support all educational targets for young people.

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Progress

The recently reviewed home's development plan creatively identifies areas of weakness and builds on areas of strength that this service has consistently demonstrated. It is commendable that the manager has developed a robust tool for monitoring the progress of the development plan through identified actions tracked through Regulation 34 monitoring.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  ensure care plans have up to date education plans in order that children can be helped by staff to achieve all their educational goals. (NMS 8.4)

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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