Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Unique reference number SC412175 Inspection date 14/03/2013 Inspector Jo Stephenson Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 21/11/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is owned and managed by a private organisation. The service operates on behalf of the Local Authority and provides remand and assessment services for young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties who require high levels of support.

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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

The home was judged as outstanding at the last full inspection in November 2012. No statutory requirements or recommendations were made at the last inspection. The home has made good progress at this inspection and continues to demonstrate improvements to the quality of care for young people and promote positive outcomes. For example, the Registered Manager continually reviews the ‘house rules’ to ensure these are appropriate in-line with court-imposed conditions, but do not needlessly chastise young people.

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Progress

Young people live in a nurturing environment. The home provides an effective balance between firm boundaries, safety, and enabling young people to reflect on their behaviour and explore their backgrounds and the influence these have had on their lives.

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Progress

Young people make progress as a result of joint working between staff, young people and other professionals. Inter-agency liaison is at the centre of the framework for care and safeguarding young people. This means young people benefit from an integrated approach to meeting their welfare needs.

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Progress

The home has established effective partnership arrangements with education services and provides practical support to encourage young people to attend their school placements on a regular basis. Young people make sustainable progress in education. They benefit from personalised learning packages that reflect their skills and support their development.

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Progress

Staff work with families to promote positive contact and help young people to build and maintain relationships with their families and others who are important to them. The home continues to meet young people’s physical and emotional health needs. Staff source and access a range of statutory and voluntary specialist health services to promote young people’s welfare of young people.

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Progress

Positive relationships between young people and staff continues to be a significant strength of the home. Young people say they feel involved in their care, understand the reasons for their placement, and benefit from the support given by staff. They participate in regular young people’s meetings, covering a varied range of topics chosen by young people for group discussion. For example, over recent weeks, young people have discussed changes to activity plans and suggested additional activities they would like to participate in. These suggestions have been addressed by the Registered Manager. Young people are involved in regular one-to-one sessions with allocated keyworkers. These sessions encourage young people to reflect on their behaviour, appreciate the progress they have made and assess changes in attitude. Case file recordings provide young people with an accurate account of their placement and contribute to an understanding of their life.

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Progress

Behaviour is managed well. Monitoring the patterns and trends in behaviour is particularly useful in developing behaviour strategies and improving young people’s behaviour. ‘Consequences’ and physical interventions are rarely used, and only as a last resort.

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Progress

The manager has ensured that health and safety and fire risk assessments for the home have been reviewed and amended. All young people have been inducted into the home’s fire procedures and records show that fire drills and test are regularly completed.

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Progress

The home is well maintained and comfortably furnished and young people say they are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms with pictures, posters and soft furnishings.

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Progress

Managers and staff continue to improve the standard of care provided and therefore outcomes for young people, by consistently monitoring progress. Young people receive excellent care because staff receive good quality supervision and development. For example, the Registered Manager arranged training for staff in relation to working with young people with autism. There is a strong emphasis on staff improvement, and supervision is used to motivate strengths, seek personal development and tackle poor performance. As a result, young people are looked after by trained staff that understand procedures and implement a well-managed framework of care.

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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.

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