Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Tameside

Unique reference number SC430239 Inspection date 23/10/2013 Inspector Louise Redfern Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 23/01/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for five young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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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

Young people feel safe in the home and value the well-planned and individualised care that they receive. This care enables them to develop in emotional maturity and promotes positive behaviours. One young person commented ‘I’d definitely give this home 10 out of 10, they have given me a chance to get my life back on track, I was going really downhill before I came here.’

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from highly individualised and consistent support from a committed Registered Manager and staff team. Relationships between young people and the staff are very good. Their needs and views are central to all aspects of how the home operates. Young people enjoy varied opportunities to engage in activities, both in the home and in the local community. As a result, they improve their social skills and increase in confidence.

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Overall effectiveness

Effective and robust monitoring of the home's performance enables the Registered Manager to identify the service's strengths and areas for development. This ensures young people continue to enjoy good quality care and make good progress, given their individual starting points.

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Overall effectiveness

There were no requirements or recommendations made as a result of the last inspection of this home. Two minor shortfalls have been identified during this inspection. These relate to the effectiveness of consequences being consistently reviewed and to ensure that all activities are risk assessed.

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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 any measure of control or discipline a written record is made in a volume kept for the purposes of which shall include the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure (Regulation 17B (3)(f)) 28/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that any activities in which children participate are so far as reasonably practicable free from avoidable risks. (Regulation 23 (b)) 07/11/2013

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make considerable progress from their point of admission to the home. They develop emotional resilience and gain confidence in their skills as a result of the support and stability the home provides.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people receive support from health professionals and staff to understand the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. Young people generally enjoy a healthy lifestyle and take responsibility for some of their own medical health needs. They benefit from attending all routine health appointments. Support agencies such as the looked after children’s nurse, are readily available for the young people.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy good opportunities to have contact with family, friends and other people who are important to them. Contact is promoted within the context of an appropriate balance between individual safeguards and risk assessments. Young people are practically and emotionally supported with contact, in order to develop and sustain appropriate relationships. One young person commented, ‘they really keep my mum involved which is helping our relationship to get stronger.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are settled in the home and are supported to move towards adulthood at a pace with which they are comfortable, through the completion of an internal independence package. This enables them to develop necessary skills with committed support and direction, from the whole staff team, before moving on. One young person commented, ‘I have learnt lots of things on my independence learning programme, things I would have had no idea about, like what bills I need to pay when I get my own flat.’ Given their individual starting points, young people make significant progress in their educational attendance and attainment. For example, one young person with a history of poor attendance and lack of commitment to education successfully achieved a college placement whilst living at the home. Since moving on from the home they have remained committed to the college course.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Staff have high aspirations for all young people in the home. Their well-being is considered paramount and is consistently placed at the forefront of their practice. Young people benefit from excellent relationships with the staff and this promotes a sense of trust and security. A caring and nurturing environment with clear rules and boundaries, leads to constructive relationships between staff and young people. Young people recognise that staff care about them and say, ‘they treat me like an adult and not a kid, I appreciate that. They listen without judging me, it’s made it easier to be here.’

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Quality of care

The whole staff team are particularly effective at celebrating the individual achievements of young people. As a result young people’s self-esteem and self-worth is consistently being encouraged and raised. This means that young people feel valued and confident to explore their own identities in a safe and supportive environment.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from highly individualised support that helps them to build self- esteem, grow in confidence and address challenging behaviours. Young people are systematically encouraged to contribute to their care planning. They are involved in discussions about their internal placement plans and risk management plans. This leads to young people developing a sense of personal responsibility for their behaviour and enables them to review their progress and gain a sense of achievement in meeting their targets and goals.

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Quality of care

Partnership arrangements are extremely effective. Social workers describe staff as ‘committed to offering young people a quality service and meeting their individual needs, the staff have worked quickly to set up educational placements in the week that X has been admitted.’ Regular and thorough multi-agency meetings are held which ensure that all professionals have the same information and can continue to offer high quality and consistent care and effective risk management.

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Quality of care

The home has a comprehensive complaints procedure in place, which is child focused. Young people express a confidence that complaints are thoroughly investigated and outcomes are shared with them. Young people can access children’s rights officers, who are able to offer independent advice and advocacy. Young people have a strong voice in the home and know that their views and opinions are valued by the Registered Manager and staff team. There is excellent attendance at young people’s meetings. Young people discuss and agree their menu and activity choices for the week ahead. They are fully involved in decisions about décor and furnishings within the home. This involvement enables young people to value their own contributions to the home and builds confidence in their social skills.

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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 living in this home. One young person commented ‘I feel really safe here, the staff always talk about me keeping safe.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

Individualised behaviour management plans are implemented for each young person. Comprehensive risk management plans and individual planned placement sessions enable young people to take managed risks, develop their life skills and reflect on the progress they have made in their placement.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Effective monitoring clearly demonstrates the reduction in the frequency young people go missing during their placement. Agreed internal working practices and agreements with external agencies are in place. This ensures that staff respond immediately, should a young person go missing and follow specific, individualised plans for young people. Staff are proactive in attempting to retrieve young people quickly on the occasions they go missing, which helps to reduce the number of incidents and helps to keep young people safe. Young people are cared for appropriately on their return, allowing staff and other relevant professionals to explore reasons why young people absent themselves from the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are trained in behaviour management and physical restraint techniques and consistently apply these in practice. Young people benefit from positive and firm boundaries in the home. As a result, there are very few incidents of young people being physically restrained. When inappropriate behaviours do occur young people reflect on their behaviour and share their views on the resulting consequence. However, the Registered Manager does not routinely comment on the effectiveness of the consequences sanctions, in order to evaluate if the consequence remains appropriate. Currently this is not impacting on young people and their outcomes.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected from robust recruitment procedures and by the arrangements that are in place to meet health and safety requirements. Regular checking of equipment enables maintenance issues to be addressed. Young people are familiar with evacuation procedures and know the action to take to keep themselves safe in the event of a fire. However, a shortfall was identified in that risk assessments for individual activities are not routinely applied for all activities, specifically for when young people go swimming in the local community. The Registered Manager addressed this at inspection and implemented a risk assessment.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding .

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Leadership and management

The home benefits from an effective management team comprising of an experienced Registered Manager and deputy. Leadership focuses on ensuring the staff team provide extremely nurturing and individualised care to young people in the home. Individual staff members value the support and direction provided by the Registered Manager and consider her to be open and approachable. One staff member commented ‘I am well supported and really like my job. I am doing the job I always wanted to do. I feel like we are really making a difference to young people’s lives.’

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Leadership and management

The provision has a strong record of compliance, no requirements or recommendations were raised at the last inspection. However, the Registered Manager has continued to develop and improve the service, inspiring the staff team to also consider how they can make improvements.

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Leadership and management

Staff are effectively supported through a robust induction process and regular supervision, which is of a good quality. This enables them to reflect on and develop their practice and is underpinned by an annual appraisal, to which young people contribute. A comprehensive training programme continues to develop working practice and ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to provide good quality care. Relationships with partners, such as social workers and health professionals are extremely positive and result in effective care and support.

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Leadership and management

There is a range of very effective and robust monitoring measures which not only look at the operation of the home but also the progress young people make. Young people, parents, family members and social workers are regularly asked for their views and the Registered Manager develops the service in response to this. The home's development plan is a working document which is constantly reviewed in response to the changing needs of the young people and the development of the service.

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Leadership and management

There is a Statement of Purpose which informs young people, their families and placing authorities of the services provided by the home. There is a guide for young people which contains all the contact numbers which they may need.

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Leadership and management

Records are well maintained in the home and stored appropriately. Records contribute to an understanding of young people's lives and show the progress made by the young people. The Registered Manager notifies all significant events relating to the protection of young people to the relevant authorities.

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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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