Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Warwickshire

Unique reference number SC457488 Inspector Dawn Bennett Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Cambian Childcare Limited Registered person address Pinnacle House 2 Oakwood Square, Cheadle Royal Business Park CHEADLE Cheshire SK8 3SB Responsible individual Barry Eannetta Registered manager Angela Louise Dwyer Date of last inspection 23/10/2013 2 of 11 Inspection date 05/08/2014

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Previous inspection inadequate progress Enforcement action since last inspection An interim inspection conducted on 23rd October 2013 resulted in an inadequate judgement. A compliance notice was raised in relation to Regulation 11. This was due to concerns about placement matching and admissions and young people suffering actual harm following child sexual exploitation activity. An unannounced monitoring visit took place on 05 December 2013. At this visit the compliance notice had been met. The admissions procedures had been reviewed. The statement of purpose had also been reviewed to exclude young people at risk of child sexual exploitation.

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Overall effectiveness adequate

Outcomes for children and young people inadequate Quality of care adequate Keeping children and young people safe adequate Leadership and management adequate

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Overall effectiveness

Outcomes for young people are not consistent. Some young people make good progress. They attend school, take exams, engage with health professionals and enjoy living at the home. Other young people make generally poor progress. They initially make good progress, but then revert back to historical high risk behaviours, 3 of 11 going missing from the home. Incidents leading up to these events result in an increase in offending behaviour for some young people, while being missing from the home, which impacts on their educational progress, employment opportunities and engagement with youth offending services.

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Overall effectiveness

Appropriate meetings with, and paperwork from, placing authorities are not always in place and are not robustly chased by the home or organisation. As a result, the staff team do not have all the required information to meet the needs of a young person. It also means the young person is not supported to understand the purpose of their placement and there is limited information to share with partnership agencies such as the local police.

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Overall effectiveness

Where young people's plans are in place the staff team work effectively with some young people to address their needs and meet their aims and objectives. Placing authorities, police and carers are all positive about the professional practice and commitment of the staff team.

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Overall effectiveness

The staff team work at all times to promote the safety and wellbeing of young people. Where young people choose not to engage with their care plans, and go missing from the home, the staff team do all they can to ensure their safe return. They work well with partnership agencies to achieve this.

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Overall effectiveness

Incidents of bullying behaviour are addressed at the time and partner agencies are involved in work to educate and support young people to live alongside others. However, it is not clear what work is undertaken by the staff team to prevent future incidents in the home. This potentially fails to safeguard young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Some young people make good progress in managing their behaviour. Although the staff team manage very challenging behaviours at times, levels of consequences and physical interventions within the home are low. Required records of these events are not made within the required time frame. This does enable the Registered Manager through quality assurance processes to assess the effectiveness of care practice.

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager effectively supports a well qualified staff team. The Registered Manager and quality assurance processes ensure there is an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. However, shortfalls are not always identified and those identified are not always addressed. The Registered Manager and staff team continue to work to drive up standards and effectively address shortfalls. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered for up to five young people who may have emotional or behavioural problems. The service is owned by a private company.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/10/2013 Interim inadequate progress 24/04/2013 Full good

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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

12A (2001) In the case of a child who is looked after by a local authority the registered person must co-operate with the child's placing authority in agreeing and signing the plan for the child's placement prepared in accordance with the provisions in regulation 9 or, as the case may be, regulation 47C(2), of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (Regulation 12A) 31/08/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) The registered person shall prepare and implement as required a procedure to be followed when any child accommodated in a children's home is absent without permission which has regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children (Regulation 16 (4) (b)) 31/08/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

16 The registered person shall prepare and implement 31/08/2014 5 of 11 (2001) as required a written policy for the prevention of bullying in the children's home, which shall in particular set out the procedure for dealing with an allegation of bullying (Regulation 16 (4) (a)) 17B (2001) The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline in a children's home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose of which shall include the points listed under Regulation 17B (3) and (4) 31/08/2014

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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 a review is initiated no more than 72 hours after any emergency admission to consider whether the child should remain at the home, or it is in child's interests to move to a different placement (NMS 11.7) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Outcomes for some young people are generally poor but for other young people are good. Some young people settle quickly into the home, build positive relationships with staff and make good progress. Some young people have had a history of going missing. They make good progress initially but then revert to historical patterns of behaviour and spend a lot of time away from the home missing from care. This affects the amount of influence staff have on their lives and the progress they make. It also places young people at risk.

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Some young people engage well with youth offending services and this is having a positive effect on their behaviour and future life prospects. Some young people’s offending behaviour has not reduced but has increased due to damage within the home and aggression towards staff. This has impacted on young people’s engagement within the home and their positivity for the future, particularly when looking for employment.

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Young people’s physical health is generally good. Young people are well supported to attend health care appointments and are encouraged to take on increasing ownership of this as they get older. This supports their independence. Some young people engage well and make positive progress with their emotional health. For example, they attend regular sessions with the organisation's clinical psychologist. However, other young people although they have access to these services, do not engage.

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Some young people continue with their education and successfully sit exams. Staff support them to revise, continue their learning within the home and take them on educational trips and activities. Some young people start college courses and employment but do not sustain them. They also do not attend youth offending services educational sessions because they go missing from home.

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Young people develop skills that support them to move on into adulthood. One young person stated: 'I use to be lazy but now I am always tidying up. I help with the cooking and I do my own laundry. I help do chores around the house which will help me when I live on my own.'

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Outcomes for children and young people inadequate

Some young people contribute to the operation of the home and are involved in planning their weekly activities and meals. Young people have been involved in planning activities during the summer holiday. They have been to the zoo and quad biking and are looking forward to go karting.

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Quality of care adequate

7 of 11 Positive relationships exist between staff and some young people. One young person said: 'The staff have been extremely supportive. They are always available. They are understandable and not judgemental. They have made me feel better. I like that there are different people with different approaches. They have always been very positive. Not blindly positive but realistically positive.'

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Quality of care adequate

Staff work hard to build relationships with all young people and encourage them to engage in appropriate activities. They understand the link between positive relationships and improved outcomes. They work regularly with one of the organisation's clinical psychologists. She attends staff meetings and runs training sessions to develop their understanding of individual young people and their skills for supporting them. However, some young people do not form as strong relationships with staff and do not engage with their care plans.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people are sensitively supported to move into the home. Staff support them in accordance with their placing authority's plan for the placement. However, one young person, admitted to the home in an emergency, did not have a review or signed and agreed care plan within the appropriate timescales subsequent to placement. The home's and organisation's systems for addressing these shortfalls with the placing authority are not robust enough. As a result, information is not available to the staff team to help them provide appropriate care and support to the young person. As a consequence, the young person is not helped to understand what to expect from living in the home.

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Quality of care adequate

Staff proactively support young people to attend and achieve in education. One young person stated: 'The staff are amazing I didn't miss any of my twenty-one exams I took in May and June. They are dedicated and drove me to school and back at the crack of dawn. They are pretty awesome to be honest and I am thankful.'

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Quality of care adequate

Where young people have left school staff support them to access college courses and employment. However, young people’s attendance and commitment remains generally poor. When young people do not continue to engage with further learning or work, the staff team continue to encourage them to look for alternatives. This is, however, hampered by young people's episodes of missing from care.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people are supported to maintain relationships with their families and other important people in their lives. A carer stated: 'It has been a very positive experience for us. The staff team have been excellent across the board. It has been a privilege to work with them. We had heard of so many negative experiences. Thank God we have had an excellent experience. The team are excellent communicators. They are very warm and welcoming.' This practice ensures relationships are maintained and young people are helped to have a better understanding of their backgrounds.

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Quality of care adequate

The house and it's gardens are well maintained. Young people feel the home is 'homely ' and 'welcoming'. They are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms by buying new bedding and curtains, hanging pictures, photos and posters and 8 of 11 arranging their furniture within their room as they choose. The Registered Manager and staff team work hard to ensure there is a home-from-home feeling and atmosphere that reflects the interests of the young people living there.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Some young people regularly go missing from the home sometimes for extended periods. This impacts on every area of young people’s lives and exposes them to serious risk of harm. Staff understand the impact of this and work hard to reduce these incidents. Staff actively look for and stay in contact with young people who are missing and work effectively with other agencies to return them safely. They remain in contact with family members and friends throughout missing episodes, go out looking for the young person sometimes travelling significant distances and when young people are found or agree to return to the home the staff team always go out and collect them.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The staff team notify partner agencies when new young people move into the home. However, agreed appropriate information was not shared with the local police when a young person was admitted to the home in an emergency. When an extended missing from home episode then took place the police had minimal information with regard to risks the young person might present or be vulnerable too.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Some young people make good progress in managing their high risk behaviours. Staff promote appropriate behaviour and discuss inappropriate behaviour and strategies for reducing it on a day-to-day basis and in key worker sessions. Consequences and restraint are rarely used in the home. However, when these strategies are used they are not been appropriately recorded in the line with Regulations. As a result, the home's Registered Manager and quality assurance processes do not provide rigorous monitoring of staff practice, children's views, patterns of behaviour or the effectiveness of strategies.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people are adequately protected from bullying at the time of the event. Complaints raised as a result are appropriately investigated. Outcomes are fed back to young people who state they are reassured by the actions taken. The staff team actively involve community police officers who know the young people to discuss consequences of more serious incidents. However, it is not clear what actions are taken by the staff team to stop the likelihood of incidents re-ocurring in the future. This reduces the effectiveness of the work and leaves young people at greater risk.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The staff provide young people with a safe environment. The home is very well maintained and meets young people’s needs. Health and safety checks are regularly carried out; for example, fire safety is regularly reviewed through fire drills and checks on equipment. 9 of 11

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Leadership and management adequate

At the last interim inspection on 23 October 2013 the home received a judgement of inadequate progress. Concerns were raised about the effectiveness of the admissions process and ability of the staff team to keep young people safe from child sexual exploitation. Requirements were made and a compliance notice was issued with a timescale of 29 November 2013 to be met.

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Leadership and management adequate

An unannounced monitoring visit took place on 19 November 2013. All young people previously placed had moved out of the home except for one young person. Effective additional safeguards and strategies had been put in place to keep the remaining young person safe. The compliance notice and requirements made at the interim inspection were not monitored at the monitoring visit of 19 November as the date for compliance had not been reached.

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Leadership and management adequate

An unannounced monitoring visit on 05 December 2013, found that the compliance notice had been met and there had been satisfactory progress in relation to meeting requirements set at the interim inspection. One additional shortfall was identified in relation to the regularity of supervision for new and existing members of staff and regularity of appraisals. This has now been met.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager has been registered as manager of this home since November 2012. She is in the process of completing appropriate training for this role. Partnership agencies, staff, young people and their families and carers speak positively about her skills. One young person stated of the manager: 'She is an exceptional manager. She is captain of a very strong staff team. She will pull staff up about bits and pieces, nothing escapes her. She is caring but also very strict. She is very honest and frank. She is honest to your face and I like that.'

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Leadership and management adequate

The home has a skilled staff team which is fully recruited to. They receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisals and any shortfalls in these systems are addressed quickly by the Registered Manager. Staff speak positively about the training and support offered and feel it helps them in their role.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home’s Statement of Purpose is up to date and contains all required information. As a result, young people, parents, carers and placing authorities are clear about the home’s aims and objectives. The home’s development plan sets out the plans for the year. Staff are clear of the home’s strategy and how targets will be achieved.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager and quality assurance processes review the effectiveness of the service and identify patterns and trends. Young people, parents and social workers are consulted as part of this process and an action plan is produced. This promotes improvements within the home but has not always been successful at identifying all shortfalls or quickly addressing those identified. For example, physical interventions not being recorded appropriately or in a timely manner and a young person's review and care plan not being in place. 10 of 11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management adequate

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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