Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Cambridgeshire

Unique reference number SC456846 Inspection date 08/10/2013 Inspector Clive Lucas Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 25/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Brief description of the service

This home provides care and accommodation for three young people. A private organisation owns and operates this setting.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Overall, the home provides a good standard of care for young people. The young people living at the home make good progress in areas such as education and health. The staff are particularly effective at encouraging and supporting young people in education and further education. Young people also make good progress in developing appropriate behaviour and reducing their risk taking. Consequently, they are less likely to become involved in the criminal justice system and put themselves at risk.

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Overall effectiveness

There are positive relationships between staff and young people. Young people say they feel safe at the home and can talk to staff about problems. Staff also maintain good working relationships with outside agencies such as placing social workers and the police. This helps to build effective systems to look after the young people well.

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Overall effectiveness

Most records are well kept, but a recent restraint record does not provide clear information on what occurred. The children's guide lacks information on contacting the Children's Rights Director and independent reviewing officers. There are mostly robust safety procedures in the home, including regular fire drills and equipment checks, but some fire doors require attention. While there is mostly effective monitoring to improve the quality of care, these shortfalls have not been identified. Staff receive good supervision and training to help them in their work with young people.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline in a children’s home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose of which shall include a description of the measure used (Regulation 17B(3)(c) 07/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 are complied with, this is in respect of ensuring that fire doors operate effectively (Regulation 32(1A)(b)) 07/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the matters set out in Schedule 6 are monitored at appropriate intervals. (Regulation 34(1)(a)) 14/11/2013

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure that the children's guide provides information on how a child can contact their independent reviewing officer and the Children’s Rights Director. (NMS 13.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people in this home make significant progress as a result of being there. This includes progress in areas of health (including emotional health), education, forming relationships and developing independence skills. Young people are able to identify and attend further education courses they are interested in and which will provide them with skills for work in their adult lives. They are also supported to get part-time jobs that provide them with experience of work and aid their self-esteem. Social workers describe young people as making good progress. One said of the young person they have placed at the home that they are 'a completely different child, having a childhood they had not had before'. Young people also describe positive changes in their behaviour since being at the home and say that they feel better about themselves.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people who come to the home with patterns of risk taking behaviour show a reduction in this behaviour and are safer as a result of this. Social workers say that the young people are getting positive experiences at the home which reduces their need to seek inappropriate experiences through risk taking behaviour. Young people have good relationships with staff and describe the home as a good place to be. They say that they can speak to staff if they have anything that is worrying them. Forming and maintaining these relationships helps young people to understand what appropriate relationships are like and how to function within them. By contrast, it also allows them to understand when relationships are inappropriate and may put them at risk.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to develop independence skills according to their age and ability. This includes skills in looking after themselves such as cooking, washing and looking after their bedrooms. It also includes financial skills. This helps them to develop and prepare for future independence.

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Quality of care

Staff at the home help young people to develop skills in managing their behaviour and forming relationships with adults and peers. They provide consistency and structure for young people. This leads to improved behaviour and reduces the likelihood of young people's involvement with the criminal justice system. Social workers describe staff as being very straight with young people and engaging them to consider their behaviour. Young people are spoken with after incidents of restraint or sanctions, so that they can have their views listened to and recorded. This also helps to engage them in the work to develop positive behaviour.

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Quality of care

Staff are very good at encouraging education and dealing with any problems that arise, so that any disruptions to young people's education are minimised. If a young person is not in school, there are very clear expectations and structures for them while staff work with them at the home. This helps to prepare young people for a return to school. A social worker said that staff had been 'absolutely brilliant at getting (the young person) into school'. They got the young person into a routine, which was something that had not happened previously and they had not been interested in going to school before. This resulted in the young person getting up ready for education and keen to do school work. Young people are proud of their educational attainment.

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Quality of care

There are effective processes in place to assess young people's needs, and clear recording to inform staff about how they should work with individuals. This includes meeting their needs relating to equality and diversity. A social worker described the staff as being very attuned to identity needs, defining some areas of need that the placing authority had been unaware of. Young people are able to access support and information related to their cultures and backgrounds. Young people are also supported to consider their health and staff work with them to successfully encourage attendance at required health appointments, even when this takes a considerable time. There are good relationships with outside agencies which allow staff to work together to meet the young people's needs. The police and social workers describe communication with the home as very good.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people say that they feel safe at the home. There are clear plans that identify the risks that young people are subject to and how staff need to work in order to reduce these risks. Staff have a good awareness of the young people's needs and vulnerabilities; this helps to reduce the risks to young people. The plans identify risks relating to young people going missing from the home and provide staff with information such as how long they should wait before reporting young people missing to the police. There is direct work with young people which effectively reduces the frequency of them going missing. Young people at the home go missing significantly less often that they did before moving in. When they do go missing, staff actively attempt to follow or look for them and encourage them to return. The police say that they have a good relationship with the staff which helps them to deal with incidents of young people missing from care. These relationships are also

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Safeguarding children and young people

beneficial to young people as they see the local police officer regularly and this helps to overcome inappropriate and negative relationships they may have previously had with the police.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are trained in managing behaviour including de-escalating incidents and using restraint when necessary. Young people say that staff deal with restraint properly. Records are kept of restraint and these include details of young people being spoken to about the restraint and being able to give their views as well as consider how things may have been different. This helps young people to consider how they can find alternative ways of channelling their anger and frustrations. Mostly, the records are clear and are monitored by the manager. However, one recent incident of restraint had not been recorded sufficiently clearly and this limits effective monitoring.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are regular fire drills and young people know what to do if there is a fire. There is also regular checking of the fire system and fire equipment to ensure that it provides effective safety for young people. Some fire doors require attention. This had been reported to the maintenance team, but there had been short delay in the work being completed. The fire officer confirms this posed minimal risk to young people because of the rigor of the rest of the fire safety arrangements.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home manage safeguarding issues well and liaise effectively with local safeguarding teams and young people's social workers. They take prompt action in response to any suggestions made by these outside agencies; this helps to ensure that young people are protected by effective systems and good joint working.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good . The home has a Registered Manager. They are currently undertaking an additional role which involves them being out of the home for two to three days a week. This should come to an end in around three weeks. In the interim, the deputy manager is providing additional management cover for the home. Staff say that they receive regular supervision that is of a good quality to support them in looking after the young people. They also say that senior staff are readily available to them when needed and that they help them to do their jobs. The manager has a good awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and what they need to do in order to provide good care for young people.

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Leadership and management

Staff receive training in a range of relevant areas. They say that it is of good quality and provides them with the information and skills they need to look after the young people well. There is regular monitoring of the home by the Registered Manager and also by another manager from outside the home. Areas of improvement identified in this monitoring are acted upon to raise the standard of care. Mostly the monitoring is effective, but there are some areas that have not been picked up, although they are relatively recent.

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Leadership and management

There is a Statement of Purpose and a Children's Guide that provide information for placing authorities and young people in the home. They are used to help inform social workers of how the home operates and to help them prepare young people for a move into the home. They provide most of the required information, but the Children's Guide does not include details of how young people can contact the Children's Rights Director and their independent reviewing officers.

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Leadership and management

Social workers and outside agencies say that there is good communication from staff and the manager and that any agreed actions are promptly dealt with by the home. This adds to the good quality of care that young people receive and the positive outcomes that they experience.

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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 main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection and the evaluation schedule for the inspection of children's homes.

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