Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Middlesbrough

Unique reference number SC465079 Inspection date 13/02/2014 Inspector Nicholas Murphy Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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

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Brief description of the service

The home accommodates one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a private company.

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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

The home was registered in July 2013, and this is its first full inspection. The home provides a good quality of care for young people, being highly responsive to their individual needs. Young people have a high degree of involvement not only in their care planning but also in the daily life of the home. This promotes their independence and self-esteem and helps them to achieve good outcomes.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff and young people enjoy excellent relationships. Young people trust staff to care for them with commitment and skill. One young person said, ‘I feel cared for, it actually feels like I’m loved. That’s all a kid ever wants isn’t it?’ Another young person wrote to staff after he had left the home, saying to his key worker, ‘Thanks for the things you did for me – you saved me from sitting in the police station a few times’. Staff operate well as a team in providing consistency of care. They also work effectively in partnership with placing social workers and other agencies. As a result, young people are clear about boundaries and expectations, which contributes significantly to the home’s ordered and productive atmosphere.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is outstanding at keeping young people safe. Risks that young people may present are thoroughly assessed in conjunction with young people themselves. This guides staff practice in protecting young people and others, while allowing young people to take reasonable risks as part of their development. A social worker said, ‘In general I cannot fault this placement.’

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Overall effectiveness

There are two minor shortfalls which have resulted in one statutory requirement and one recommendation being made. However, these do not significantly affect the welfare or safety of 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

(2001) notify HMCI of any revision to the Statement of Purpose within 28 days, including any appendix listing staff, their qualifications and experience. (Regulation 5(b)) 28/03/2014

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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 home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated, specifically that carpets are kept clean. (NMS 10.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good progress in forming more positive views of themselves. They gain confidence in their abilities and develop resilience in coping with setbacks.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have very good attendance at school or college, and are doing well. College placements are providing young people with vocational skills which they will find of direct benefit in the workplace. Young people are also in good health. They take advantage of healthy activities on offer, such as workouts in the local gym. Some have made significant, visible improvements in their appearance after only a short time here. They also take pride in their own personal space and keep it tidy, and also take some responsibility for general household tasks. A professional who works with a young person said, ‘I have seen a definite improvement in the young person’s presentation and self-esteem. It’s also good to see them so involved in the life of the home.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to maintain contact with their families and others who are significant in their lives. For some young people, contact of all kinds (including on the telephone) needs to be supervised in order to protect them from harm. These arrangements are clearly set out in the young person’s plan and agreed with placing authorities. Nevertheless, the home supports and manages this contact sensitively, ensuring that young people benefit from maintaining these relationships.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have started to form thoughts about their futures as adults. Older young people have plans which set out their pathway to independence. As part of these plans, young people learn self-care skills which will be of use as they make their transition to adulthood.

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Quality of care

Staff have excellent relationships with young people. They respond to young people with warmth and affection, demonstrating a thorough knowledge of their personalities and needs. This means that staff are able to support young people through difficult times and help them come to terms with setbacks. When asked what could be done to improve the home, one young person said, ‘Nothing, it’s perfect in my eyes.’

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Quality of care

Staff understand the importance of listening to young people, and encourage young people to express their wishes, hopes and fears. Staff give young people a significant say over the décor in the home, leisure activities, and the menu. In addition, staff are ready to advocate on behalf of young people. For example, one young person wanted more free time. As a result of staff discussion with the social worker, this has been agreed and incorporated into the care plan.

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Quality of care

Young people’s placement plans are detailed and up to date. There is clear evidence that young people know the content of their plan, by signing their plan every time it is updated. There are also very frequent individual key worker sessions. These ensure that young people are consulted about any changes to their plan and praised when they achieve planned targets. Key workers also use these occasions to discuss behaviour. They do this in a thoughtful way, by encouraging the young person to reflect upon unwanted behaviour rather than merely telling them that it is not acceptable. Placement plans also reflect the ethos of the home in celebrating diversity, and fully address any cultural or identity needs. This is particularly important for those young people whose home is in a different part of the country.

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Quality of care

The home provides an environment which ensures that young people stay healthy. Specialist workers within the organisation address young people’s emotional needs through regular counselling. They also provide support to staff, enabling them to understand why young people might behave in certain ways and how to respond effectively.

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Quality of care

Staff place great importance on education, maintaining close liaison with schools and colleges. This is helpful in quickly resolving any difficulties and ensuring that any disruptions to education (for example, exclusions) are kept to a minimum. The home provides a programme of structured learning activities for young people who are admitted without an education placement. Young people engage with this and as a result obtain certificated evidence of completed work.

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Quality of care

Staff are always willing to spend time with young people in leisure pursuits. These include home based games and activities as well as a wide range of recreational opportunities within the community. There are numerous photos on display of young people enjoying outings with staff. Such photos are also kept in each young person’s ‘memory box’. These boxes will provide young people in later life with a record of the good times they had here.

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Quality of care

The home is comfortable, spacious and well decorated. Young people are able to have a choice over the décor in their room, which enhances their feeling of belonging. However, some of the carpets require cleaning, and this detracts from the otherwise excellent physical standard.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Because of their individual circumstances, some young people are at significant potential risk from people outside the home, and themselves may present risks to staff. This makes for considerable challenges in ensuring the safety of young people and others. However, staff work closely with placing social workers to ensure that daily living arrangements are consistent with the plans to keep young people and staff safe. For example, details such as keeping the front door locked at all times are second nature for staff. The impact of the thoroughness of the home’s approach to risk management is that young people regard the home as a very safe haven.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is no bullying in the home. Nevertheless, staff work with young people to help them understand what bullying is and so be able to deal with it in other arenas such as school. Keeping young people free from harm is an outstanding element of the home’s practice. Young people, even those whose contact outside the home is supervised, are totally confident that they can report any concerns they may have.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people do not often go missing from the home, and then mainly for only short periods. There are excellent risk assessments for each young person which describe what might lead them to run away and how to keep them safe while they are absent. These assessments and plans are highly individualised and take account of each young person’s needs, history and current circumstances.

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Safeguarding children and young people

In general, young people behave very well. Sanctions are used extremely sparingly, staff preferring to employ positive rewards for good behaviour. Although all staff are trained in safe physical restraint techniques, the use of restraint is similarly rare.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Records kept in the home show that recruitment practice is extremely thorough, and robustly ensures that unsuitable people are not employed. The home is physically safe. There are frequent fire drills and individual key worker sessions on fire safety. This means that in the event of fire young people would be able to follow the correct procedure instinctively.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

The home is well managed. There are good arrangements in place to maintain consistency of senior oversight when the Registered Manager is absent. The support available to staff at all times from senior managers within the organisation is particularly robust and gives confidence to staff.

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Leadership and management

In the short time since its registration, the home’s track record demonstrates that it has potential to improve further. In general, outcomes for the young people placed have improved. The home makes good use of feedback received from young people, placing social workers and parents. This feedback contributes to the Registered Manager’s monitoring of the home’s performance, and evaluation of how the home helps young people to progress.

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Leadership and management

The home provides a tailored service to young people, and is flexible in being able to meet a range of needs. For example, additional staffing can be deployed if a young person with particular challenges, or need for protection, is accommodated. The bespoke nature of what the home provides is set out in the Statement of Purpose. This helps parents and social workers to understand how the home will meet a young person’s needs and ensure that the placement is appropriate. However, although the home provides a copy of the Statement of Purpose to Ofsted whenever it is revised, the appendix containing staff details is not included. This means that the regulator cannot be assured that the staffing of the home is sufficient in number, skills and experience.

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Leadership and management

All staff are either qualified or progressing towards this. In addition, staff undertake a wide range of training which is regularly refreshed. This ensures that staff have the right skills to provide a high standard of care. Staff also receive regular supervision from seniors, meaning that they are better able to support young people with complex or challenging needs.

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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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