Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Unique reference number SC424851 Inspector Hannah Bates 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 Victor Takadiwa Registered manager Nina Nayyar Date of last inspection 30/01/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 05/11/2014

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Previous inspection good progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness adequate

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

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager is committed to delivering a robust child focused service. However, care planning is not always individualised which means that clear targets and goals for young people are not always established and so progress cannot be monitored. Young people are not in full time educational placements and staff are educating young people within the setting as best they can. Young people go missing and absent from the home. Staff attempt to maintain contact with young people who go missing but more proactive measures are needed to ensure robust care planning and risk management plans inform practice. This would enable staff practice to be proactive rather than reactive.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are safe and feel safe within the home. Staff are committed to delivering a child focused service to young people and work tenaciously to ensure young people’s voices are heard. Staff receive appropriate training and the Registered Manager has clear vision as to the future improvements of the home. Young people have access to leisure activities and local resources. A rewards system is in place which focuses on reinforcing positive behaviours.

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Overall effectiveness

The home has developed strong community links with local police and staff have positive relationships with social workers. Communication is strong between the home and placing authorities. This means that information is shared appropriately 3 of 11 and young people are kept safe. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

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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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2014 Interim good progress 11/07/2013 Full good 23/01/2013 Interim good progress 09/05/2012 Full adequate

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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 the routine of the home is organised so as to further children’s participation in education, including regular attendance at school and participation in school activities of children of compulsory school age, regular attendance at college where applicable (Regulation 18.1(b)) 02/01/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s): 5 of 11  ensure young people pursue individual interests and hobbies. This includes taking part in a range of activities, including leisure activities and trips (NMS 7.2)  ensure when a child goes missing and there is concern for their welfare, or at the request of a child who has been missing, staff arrange a meeting between the child and the responsible authority in private to consider the reasons for the child going missing. The home considers with the responsible authority what action should be taken to prevent the child going missing in future. Any concerns arising about the placement are addressed, as far as possible, in conjunction with the responsible authority (NMS 5.9)  ensure each child’s placement plan is monitored by a key worker within the home who ensures that the requirements of the plan are implemented in

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Recommendations

the day-to-day care of that child (NMS 25.2)  ensure young people have access to independent advice and support from adults who they can contact directly and in private about problems or concerns, which is appropriate to their age and understanding (NMS 1.5) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people are not in regular full time education. Staff educate young people within the home using internet resources. Nevertheless, staff say; ‘These kids are our kids and you wouldn’t want your own kid to not have an education and lazing around the house but we are not teachers’. A lack of adequate educational provision means young people are not reaching their full potential and are not achieving. Future educational plans lack clarity for some young people which mean further drift in their educational development. Whilst staff have taken proactive measures to attempt to rectify this, the situation remains unchanged with staff continuing to try to fill the educational void. This is not meeting the needs of the young people. Staff attempt to source educational activities for young people but this is not always consistent for each young person.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people choose their own leisure activities. This means that not all young people get to experience a wide range of activities in the community. Young people identify their interests within key working sessions but there is a delay in acting upon these for some young people. This results in young people feeling unmotivated.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Overall young people have positive experiences within the home. Young people say they like the staff and feel the staff listen to them. There is regular consultation with young people about the home and the care they receive. Young people are encouraged to have a voice which promotes their self-esteem. Young people are encouraged to try new foods and learn new skills such as cooking. This promotes young people’s independence. Young people’s participation with the community is encouraged. Young people recently did a ‘cake bake’ raising money for the local children’s hospital. This enables young people to feel a positive sense of belonging within their communities.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Staff actively promote and support young people’s family contact either through financial support or practical support. Staff ensure young people see them working with their families. This in turn reassures young people that adults around them are working together.

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Quality of care good

Staff are tenacious at building positive relationships with young people and it is these relationships that stabilise and ground young people within the home. Staff say; ‘We create a good positive environment for young people. We are able to build good relationships which enable them to keep in touch with us; they have a good time when they are here. Some kids think it is negative to be in care and it is for us to 7 of 11 turn it around and build positive relationships, focus on positives in their lives’. Staff are diligent at ensuring that young people know they care. Overall young people feel supported. One former resident states; ‘…have had good and bad days but this is a good home with good staff’. This is testament to the hard work of staff.

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Quality of care good

young people are in good health and their basic health needs are met. Staff attend health appointments with young people, at young people’s request. Staff support them and work with young people to ease any anxieties they have relating to their health. This means that young people attend health appointments and engage with the process of looking after their health. Young people’s emotional health is a priority for staff. Staff work towards promoting the good health of young people through healthy meals choices and workshops regarding illegal and legal drugs. This provides the necessary skills and knowledge to young people for them to make informed choices regarding their health. When young people go missing from the home staff are consistent at calling young people and checking on their welfare. Missing from care procedures are individualised and there is a focus on trying to understand the reasons for young people’s

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Quality of care good

behaviours rather than criminalising them. One staff member described searching the local area on their days off in an attempt to find young people if they go missing, ‘I would follow them when they leave the home, try to talk to them or just walk with them to make sure they are safe’.

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Quality of care good

Though young people’s care planning is individualised this does not easily transfer into clear and concise behaviour management plans. Behaviour modification targets and goals for young people to achieve are not always clear within the files. Staff know the young people and observations of staff practice clearly evidence implementation of individualised behaviour management practices. Nevertheless, these practices and knowledge are not consistently transferred into care plans, which mean that young people’s progress is hard to monitor. Instead monitoring of progress relies on staff knowledge and observations. Young people are not extensively involved in their care planning and there is a lack of clear expectations for young people.

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Quality of care good

Key working sessions can lack depth and there is an over reliance on informal discussions between staff and young people. Young people say they would like more formal key working sessions with their key worker. However, young people do participate in workshops regarding topics such as equality and diversity and substance misuse. Feedback from these workshops is positive. Staff have supported young people to research into Black History month. This promotes young people’s knowledge, education and resilience.

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Quality of care good

Social workers speak positively about the home and the care provided to young people; ‘They’ve got a good support network in the community. They know resources in the community’. Staff liaise closely with placing authorities and ensure that the welfare of young people is paramount in decision making. This ensures smooth sharing of information between professionals. Staff form positive relationships with 8 of 11 other professionals.

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Quality of care good

Although the majority of young people do not attend an educational placement on a regular basis, staff work hard to support these whilst also advocating for their needs to be met too. This demonstrates to young people the importance of education and promotes young people’s feelings of self-worth.

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Quality of care good

Staff organise trips out for young people. Young people say they would like more activities which would in turn promote their confidence and integration within the community.

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Quality of care good

Young people are cared for in a homely and warm environment. Bedrooms are personalised and young people have their own bedroom keys. This encourages ownership and responsibility.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people go missing from home and some young people do so for considerable lengths of time due to not returning from contact with family. A lack of proactive measures between the home and placing authority means the behaviours are unaddressed and young people continue to remain absent from the home. This encourages drift and young people’s needs are not being met.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people are placed in emergencies and so risk assessments and matching processes are hampered. The lack of provision of relevant paperwork hinders effective risk assessments. This detrimentally impacts on young people as it means that the home is ill equipped to deal with any arising risks and behaviours. Provision of care then becomes reactive rather than proactive. Young people say they feel unsafe due to other young people’s behaviours. The poor matching process and poor placement planning on the part of the placing authority is impacting on other young people’s welfare.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

There are safeguarding policies and procedures in place. This promotes the safeguarding of young people. Staff have completed training in safeguarding, physical interventions, missing from care and first aid. These underpin safe practice within the home. Staff are aware of whistle blowing procedures and of the role of other safeguarding agencies. Staff demonstrate a commitment to ensuring young people are safe although due to the complex needs of some young people this is not always possible to ensure. Relationships between some young people and staff are good and young people know that staff want what is best for them. The local Police Community Safety Officer is a regular visitor to the home and has established strong links with the staff and young people. The focus of this partnership working is around not criminalising the young people. Building relationships with the young people is key in order to change behaviours and lessen risk.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

9 of 11 Few and low level physical interventions within the home reflect the positive relationships staff have with young people. A rewards system is in place and there is a focus on positive behaviours. This encourages young people to demonstrate positive behaviours and take responsibility for their behaviours. However, behaviour management plans are not updated regularly and do not act as a guide for staff practice. Young people are therefore reliant on staffs knowledge of them rather than a tried and tested strategy.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people are provided with a clear guide on their arrival at the home. There are clear expectations of young people and staff which encourage young people to take ownership for their actions from the beginning. Any concerning behaviours such as internet safety are dealt with quickly and robustly ensuring that young people access appropriate safeguarding information. Staff support young people to make complaints and complaints are dealt with quickly and robustly. In some cases, mediation is carried out between young people to resolve any areas of difficulty between them. This appears to be effective and ensures that young people’s voices are heard.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

There are weekly reviews of fire risks within the home and there is a recently updated fire risk assessment. There is regular review of Health and safety arrangements within the home. Staff and management are tenacious at ensuring that young people reside in a safe environment.

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Leadership and management good

The leadership and management of the home are good because the Registered Manager has relevant experience and qualifications to enable her to do the job well. Previous requirements and recommendations have been met. The staff team are experienced and the three seniors within the team support the rest of the staff team through effective supervision meetings and annual appraisals.

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Leadership and management good

A development plan is in place which demonstrates good awareness of the future vision of the home. This includes increasing the number of staff to respond to full occupancy and to ensure all mandatory training is completed. A new online learning portal for training provides up to date training for staff to complete either in work or at home. Staff say they like this style of learning.

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Leadership and management good

Staff meetings are regular and keep abreast of topics such as safeguarding, risk management plans and care planning. The home location risk assessment demonstrates a clear understanding of the risks associated with the area. Staff are aware of local areas of risk associated with substance misuse and sexual exploitation. This means there is extra vigilance when young people go missing. Strong partnership working with the local police strengthens the home’s location risk assessment. 10 of 11 Effective monitoring systems are in place including examination of documentation from both the senior management team and external parties. This ensures that paperwork is looked at on a regular basis. The Registered Manager has good oversight of placement plans and the day to day care of young people. Young people’s progress is monitored and the Registered Manager is motivated at ensuring that young people receive the right care package for their individual needs. As a

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Leadership and management good

result of this, the Registered Manager communicates frequently placing authorities. This means that young people’s needs are strongly advocated for.

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Leadership and management good

Staff are safely recruited and the Registered Manager has effective oversight of the care the staff team provide to young people. Staff are committed to advocating for young people. The Registered Manager is diligent at ensuring that placing authorities hear young people’s voices. The home is committed to ensuring that young people receive the right moving on plan for them. This demonstrates a strong child focused ethos. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management good

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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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