Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Unique reference number SC424851 Inspection date 30/01/2014 Inspector Rachel Ruth Britten Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 11/07/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The service is operated and managed by a private organisation.

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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 good progress .

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Progress

Since the last full inspection in July 2013, there has been continued improvement in the outcomes for children and young people. During this six month period a total of nine young people have lived in the home, five of whom are living there at present. Some young people have either returned successfully home or moved to appropriate long term accommodation within the organisation. All young people have enjoyed significant improvements to their daily routines, their educational attendance and outcomes, and their ability to engage positively in group living. For example, one young person went back to education five days a week, cooked and budgeted well, had agreed contact at weekends with her boyfriend, tried dance classes and integrated well into the life of the home. Another young person told the inspector, 'I love it here I do', while another long term resident commented on a questionnaire, 'what's not to like?'

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Progress

The home continues to provide continually improving and high quality care. This is because the staff team are experienced in the home and are well led by their manager. They organise shifts well to ensure that quality time is spent with young people. As a result, young people respond to them and engage well in workshops, activities, cooking and all aspects of daily life in the home. Staff give and receive regular handovers and are highly organised. For example, they adopt rigorous medication administration procedures and thoughtfully balance the risks and responsibilities for young people keeping and administering their own medication. As a result, young people are working well towards independence and their self-esteem is promoted very well.

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Progress

Staff successfully ensure that young people's rights are prioritised and their voices heard. For example, there are regular workshops and discussions about peer pressures, bullying, religious and cultural needs and respect for others. Young people know how to complain, but have not done so because they feel valued and well treated. For example, one young person said in their leavers’ questionnaire, 'the food, money, staff, home, the care I received were the best things. I will miss the staff - there is nothing I would change.' Another young person wrote a note for staff when he left saying, 'thanks a lot for helping me and supporting me when I looked down - I appreciate everything staff have done, special thanks to W, X Y and Z,' (four staff named).

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Progress

Young people benefit from regular and effective involvement of relatives where appropriate, social workers, health professionals, teachers and therapist associates. As a result, effective team work and transparency are assured and young people's well-being and future plans are secured. However, less priority is being given to identifying young people's allocated independent reviewing officers (IROs) for them as soon as they are admitted to the home or ensuring that IRO's views about young people's care are regularly sought. This shortfall has not had any identifiable negative impact for those young people currently in placement.

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Progress

Young people are safe in the home and the number of significant incidents is minimised by safe and high quality care practice. For example, staffing levels are good and there are high levels of individualised practice based on adherence to regularly reviewed risk assessments. On occasions when there are significant incidents, careful review of these afterwards ensures that practice lessons are learnt and new strategies are applied. All staff and young people have regular, timely opportunities to think about things afterwards and be supported when behaviour has gone wrong and disruption has occurred. As a result, young people are engaged with the life of the home and are increasingly able to manage their own behaviours, even if another young person is struggling to manage theirs. However, the home's bedroom door alarms facility is variously used and is not set up in a manner that is conducive to its effective use. It is not available in all the young people's bedrooms

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Progress

currently in use, and it does not sound anywhere apart from the sleep-in room. This means that any waking night staff on duty cannot hear it. In addition, the written procedure about the use of the alarms does not cover all the requirements of the minimum standard and the alarms are not mentioned in the homes’ statement of purpose. Despite these issues, staffing practices are safe and the shortfalls are not compromising young people's safety.

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Progress

The home's manager has been in post since the home opened. She is an effective leader of her team and staff work with her well. Since the last inspection the manager has continued to train staff in-house and supervise senior staff members. She is accessible to staff and young people alike and prioritises being present in the home as much as possible. She has worked hard to ensure that the two recommendations from the last inspection are met. This involved securing significant funds and builders' time to replace the cladding on the outside of the building. She and staff have also continued to prioritise young people's participation in community based activities which are personally suited to them, as recommended at the last inspection. Young people have increasingly made use of local swimming, dance, climbing wall and gym facilities, as well as visiting friends and participating at the local dogs’ home and children's rights activity days. Staff are also well informed

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Progress

about local youth club facilities, including some clubs for particular minority ethnic or religious groups. They encourage young people to attend these if they wish.

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Progress

The manager identifies other 'massive changes' in the home as significant to the home's present running and current high standards. The function of the home changed in November 2013. It now only takes young people who live in the local authority where the home is situated. This includes referrals of young people on remand, who might be placed on an emergency basis. In order to maintain good placement matching, the manager has successfully maintained full control of all admissions, applying detailed and insightful impact risk assessments which focus on the safety and well-being of those young people in long term placement here. These impact risk assessments dictate that no placements are accepted without sufficient current information on which to base the assessment. The manager's skill in this area and the commitment of her staff mean that the home is full to capacity and meeting all young people's needs well.

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Progress

The manager is confident that lessons from a dip in quality standards in 2012 have been learnt. For example, education is prioritised from the outset for all young people, as is the establishment of positive and active relationships between staff and young people. The manager is confident now that 'as a team we are gelled and structured - we are consistent and committed and know all the reporting and recording systems.' However, the monthly monitoring reports prepared by the visitor under Regulation 33 do not clearly state a view on the quality of care in the home. The manager states that such a view, and the reasons for it, would assist her in benchmarking the quality of the home month by month.

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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) ensure that visitors to the home under Regulation 33 form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the home and 02/03/2014 communicate this in their written report on the conduct of the home (Regulation 33 (4))

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the statement of purpose includes a description of any electronic or mechanical means of surveillance of children which may be used in the home (Regulation 4 (1) schedule 1.19) 02/03/2014

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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 views of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) are sought regualrly on the child's care (NMS 1.4)  ensure that the children's guide includes how a child can contact their IRO (NMS 13.5)  ensure that where specific measures are used to monitor children, the written policy sets out how they should be used, how they promote the welfare of children, how children will be informed of their use, how their legitimate privacy will be protected and how they will be protected from potential misuse of such measures. (NMS 10.5)

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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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