Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Herefordshire

Unique reference number SC457068 Inspection date 27/02/2014 Inspector Julian Mason Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 03/08/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is registered to accommodate up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The service is owned 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 outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

This was the home’s first full inspection since reregistration in August last year. Previously, the service had been registered and fully operational with another company.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides an exceptional standard of care overall. There is effective leadership and management which contributes significantly to a well-organised team of staff who have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The home has an excellent focus on meeting young people's individual needs because care and support is planned, coordinated and delivered to a consistently high standard. The staff team are very attentive and can adapt quickly in response to changing needs and risks which makes the service very responsive to each young person’s circumstances.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people experience a residential environment that provides a consistent and beneficial level of individualised care and support. They feel safe and are safe in the home. Outstanding management and consistent staffing arrangements enable young people to make significant and positive progress in their lives. Young people’s needs and views are central to all aspects of how the home operates and organises its daily routines. These circumstances make a significant contribution to achieving continuity and placement stability resulting in young people being able to confidently plan for their futures.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding . Young people are provided with a very safe and nurturing environment where they make exceptional progress in relation to their circumstances on arrival. Young people experience sensitivity and understanding when they talk about their life experiences and family relationships. They are very well supported to become more confident and resilient, especially when they want to take difficult decisions and make positive changes. Young people who have experienced significant difficulties in their lives prosper because of the commitment to provide stability and continuity of care. There is a strong emphasis on providing personal, social and health education that impacts directly on the progress young people make. Since being at the home, young people have stopped offending, family relationships have improved significantly, engagement and progress in education is very positive and overall risk taking

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Outcomes for children and young people

behaviours have reduced considerably. One professional commented: ‘it’s a really good service that has a real impact on young people’s lives.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people live in a healthy environment where their physical, emotional and psychological needs are well known and consistently met. They benefit from an informed, coordinated and planned approach to meeting their needs which includes effective partnerships with health professionals and services. Young people’s awareness and knowledge about how to lead healthy lifestyles and the potential risks to their health are promoted well through active engagement and discussions with staff. For example, young people who smoke are successfully helped to stop. Where young people have difficulties around diet and exercise, they are actively involved and helped to eat more health food and to improve their overall fitness.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making significant progress in their educational attainment and attendance. They have been helped to overcome significant difficulties that had previously affected their potential to achieve and engage at school. Young people, with previous histories of none attendance, now attend full time and are studying for GCSE examinations. One young person stated: ‘I’ve been helped a lot, I want to finish my exams before I go back home.’ In addition, young people’s success at school has expanded their opportunities to pursue and gain college placements that provide them with vital chances to experience vocational training in areas of interest and potential career choices. This has happened because the Registered Manager and staff team are determined in their approach and attitudes for young people to be given every opportunity to reach their full potential despite previous difficulties or barriers.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from formal and informal opportunities to develop age appropriate life skills and knowledge. This supports and encourages greater independence and responsibility. Such skills include self-care and preparing meals. Continuous education and practical mentoring tailored to individual needs has helped build young people's confidence and effectively support their personal development. For example, young people have successfully learnt to use public transport safely when travelling considerable distances to visit family members on home leave.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from the staff team having very effective partnerships and relationships with families to ensure important and close relationships are maintained and supported. Staff pay particular attention to planning and organising positive family contact and they listen to young people and family members in order to achieve arrangements that are appropriate and safe. Professionals praise the work the home does with families and the significant support that is provided to help young people re-establish important family ties. One professional stated: ‘staff are particularly helpful in relation to the young person's family contact.’ Young people have made exceptional progress in rebuilding their relationships which has resulted in care plans being changed to facilitate a permanent and planned return to family homes.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people are able to make and sustain progress in many important areas of their lives because the quality of care is exceptional. Young people experience care and support that consistently promotes positive social interactions and respectful behaviours. They have significant histories of difficult and challenging behaviour but staff work positively and patiently following agreed plans that help change anti-social and risky behaviours. This is because young people are able to form attachments with their carers that become influential and enabling. Staff spend lots of individual time with young people to help them resolve their difficulties and find ways to do things differently. One professional commented that, ‘the Registered Manager and staff team have a great rapport with young people.’

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Quality of care

Young people are consulted about their arrangements and routines on a daily basis and know how to raise a concern if they are not happy about something. No formal complaints have been made recently; young people have not felt the need to do this, as any informal grumbles are quickly resolved. Because young people’s views, wishes and feelings are actively and regularly sought the home’s routines and activities are safely organised around individual needs and preferences. Young people are able to pursue their hobbies and interests, choose foods they like, spend time with staff or have private time on their own.

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Quality of care

Staff ensure that young people develop a strong sense of personal identity by helping them to reflect on their previous and current experiences. Staff actively challenge discriminatory language or behaviour and seek to educate young people about issues relating to diversity such as race, culture and gender. This helps young people learn about the wider world and their responsibilities to consider and respect the differences of others.

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Quality of care

Staff have access to a full range of information that informs them about each young person’s needs. Young people’s placement plans are clear and reflect individual needs according to a comprehensive range of information made available from placing authorities. Staff are able to draw on this information to build their knowledge regarding young people’s backgrounds, identities and needs. They use this information to supplement information that the young people and their families share so the care and support they receive matches their needs. Young people say that, ‘we are looked after properly’ and ‘staff are always around to help.’

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Quality of care

Young people live in a clean, comfortable environment that reflects a welcoming family setting. The atmosphere is homely with young people freely accessing communal areas when they choose. Young people are able to personalise their bedrooms and their belongings are safe. They are involved and consulted about new furnishings and décor and can have their bedrooms redecorated to reflect changing preferences. The home has an on-going plan of maintenance and upgrades with the removal of an old shed and repairs to the driveway due to be undertaken imminently.

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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 feel safe and they are protected from harm. This is because staff who work with them are knowledgeable and clear about their roles and responsibilities. Staff work in partnership with each other, as well as other professionals, to consistently share information to promote young people’s welfare and safety. Successful communication and practices exist because effective leadership reflects the home's values and priorities of keeping everyone safe. Young people are actively encouraged to improve their awareness and understanding about how to keep themselves safe. Young people know that staff care about them and that their safety and well-being is important.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff create an atmosphere where bullying behaviour is not accepted. Effective staffing and levels of supervision help to ensure bullying does not occur. Because of this, young people know what is expected in terms of their behaviour towards each other. Young people do not go missing from the home or have unauthorised absences, despite having previous histories of this kind of risky behaviour. Staff have successfully helped young people to behave in ways that are safer.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff view young people positively and behavioural boundaries are clearly communicated within a friendly and structured environment. A young person stated that, ‘I like the fact that boundaries are made clear from the start’ and another stated that ‘staff are fair and I can get rewards for being good.’ Young people are encouraged and supported to manage all their relationships and interactions positively. Staff are trained in the use of behaviour management strategies and physical interventions. Staff practice is guided by comprehensive assessments and behaviour management plans which clearly reflect essential information about how to help each young person with their behaviour. Physical restraint is sometimes necessary but the use of this is monitored closely by the Registered Manager. Care and attention is taken by staff to develop supportive, individual programmes that help young people stay in control of their own behaviour. This approach is supported

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Safeguarding children and young people

by a rewards and privileges programme that young people were involved in developing.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff also promote young people’s safety by undertaking regular practice drills and tests of fire safety equipment. Regular monitoring of all matters relating to health and safety are carried out regularly including the appropriate assessment of leisure activities. Health and safety risk assessments are regularly reviewed and internal checks are consistently undertaken in order to maintain the overall safety of young people and the staff team.

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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

Young people benefit from a service that is effectively and efficiently managed. This is because there is robust, visible leadership that is child-focused that achieves good levels of safety and high quality care. The Registered Manager is respected and trusted by colleagues, young people and staff. One professional reflecting, ‘I believe the young person's placement is incredibly child focused, they (staff) work hard to support the young person's development.’

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Leadership and management

Staff are managed in a way that encourages regular reflection of their work which in turn helps identify ways of improving their practice and ultimately the service. This approach is part of the Registered Manager’s wider practice that also involves consultation with others including in-house therapeutic and education professionals. These partnerships exist solely to support staff in channelling their efforts and effectively shaping their practice for the benefit of each young person. Because of this young people make considerable progress during their stay in the home.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager and residential team are clear about their roles and responsibilities. The level of delegation and lines of accountability are clearly defined and understood. Trained and well supported staff are deployed in the home in sufficient numbers and with the right experience to consistently meet the needs of young people. The stable team are very familiar to young people who experience little disruption to their relationships or attachments. Any shortfalls in permanent staffing levels are covered by existing team members or occasionally, staff from other homes. The team are either appropriately qualified or studying to gain the necessary qualification consistent with their role and responsibilities. Staff feel very well supported in their work and can access practical advice and guidance on a daily basis from a range of sources.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager can readily demonstrate the home’s capacity for continuing improvement based on a record of improving outcomes for each individual. Young people’s placement stability and progress is regularly tracked and evaluated. The Registered Manager has a robust range of systems in place to ensure on-going monitoring occurs and that these systems inform improvement and development. Strengths and potential shortfalls of the service are clearly understood. This information is used to plan the home’s future development and to help maintain the high standards already achieved.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s case files are kept up to date and provide a comprehensive record of their daily life events and progress. The files are safely and securely stored to support young people’s privacy and confidentiality.

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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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