Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

Unique reference number SC456543 Inspection date 19/11/2013 Inspector Stella Lovie Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 07/08/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is privately run and is registered for up to one young person with emotional and 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 satisfactory progress .

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Progress

The home achieved an overall effectiveness judgement of adequate in the full inspection in August 2013. There were two requirements made and eight recommendations to improve the quality of care, safeguarding and leadership and management. At the point of this interim inspection, both requirements and the large majority of the recommendations have been addressed successfully.

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Progress

Staff continue to work effectively with partner agencies to ensure a consistency of approach and to keep interventions as focussed and relevant as possible between the different agencies involved with the young people. As one external agency commented: ‘Staff are fantastic with him. They are very consistent with him.’ This helps provide young people with stability. Young people remain positively engaged with therapeutic work with a view to understanding their background and how this impacts on their current behaviours. They now have reasonable access to a telephone without always needing to ask staff. This means that they are able to freely contact other adults, including the provider, should they wish to raise a concern about their treatment. Staff maintain links with parents to ensure they are kept informed of young people’s well-being and progress. Contact with relatives is facilitated by staff so that important attachments are maintained.

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Progress

Staff set clear boundaries in relation to acceptable behaviour. They use a variety of positive behaviour strategies including praise and incentives. Young people are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour but not all provide their fullest cooperation. Despite this, the service is responding to individual changing needs and has had some success with some of the strategies it adopts to support behaviour changes. However, young people are not always able to resolve conflict positively, resulting in staff occasionally needing police support. Nevertheless, it is still the unanimous professional view that young people remain appropriately placed, and that they continue overall to do well in this home in comparison to previous placements.

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Progress

Education is provided on-site and is tailored to young people’s needs and learning styles. There is evidence of some initial good participation and attainment by young people at the beginning of the academic year. However, despite staff encouragement, recently young people have shown intermittent commitment to their personal education plans. This means learning and attendance have not been as good as they could be. That said, young people continue to progress with their development of independence skills such as shopping within a defined budget and cooking good quality meals.

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Progress

There have been no occasions when young people have gone missing from the home since the last inspection. There have been a few late returns but these are well- managed within individual detailed and proportionate risk management protocols. There have been no physical interventions and only minimal and appropriate sanctions. There are no episodes of peer bullying within the home, though young people continue to struggle with establishing constructive and mutually respectful relationships with peers in the community. Staff are now more proactive in education and challenge young people around equality and diversity issues. For example, young people have attended Gay Pride festivals and have engaged in individual work around homophobia. Staff are also strong in their immediate challenge of all racist or sexist comments. This helps young people to better understand the diverse society they live within and to learn the value of tolerance and cohesion.

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Progress

The Registered Manager has ensured that the home has been extensively redecorated, and that outside amenity areas are now clean and tidy. New furniture such as garden chairs and a table have been purchased. This improves the homely atmosphere and demonstrates that young people are valued. Staff are up to date with all relevant training, including specialist training to meet young people’s individual needs. Staff receive regular supervision and have their performance appraised at least annually. This process now includes consultation with young people so that all information is taken into account in monitoring staff.

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Progress

To conclude, the home has demonstrated continued capacity to improve given that all the requirements and the large majority of the recommendations from the last inspection have been met. This demonstrates that the leadership team is committed to ensuring that the quality of care is of a consistently good standard. However, young people’s outcomes have recently declined in terms of their participation in education. This is despite considerable staff and external agency efforts to address this with them. The decline is recent and is anticipated by relevant agencies to change once criminal justice proceedings are completed. On balance, the home is making satisfactory progress.

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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

(2001) promote the educational achievement of children accommodated in the children's home by ensuring their regular attendance at school and participation in school activities. (Regulation 18 (1) (b)) 17/01/2014

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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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