Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

Requires improvement

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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because:

 Young people have been admitted on an emergency basis with inadequate information or consideration about the likely impact on the stable resident group of children.

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because:

 Two abrupt endings of placements have resulted in children not having a positive experience of moving on from the home.

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because:

 Children and young people are unclear about what their plans are and they do not get clear or consistent responses to the views and wishes they express.

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because:

 Relationships with placing authorities have weakened: placing social workers are less confident about how the home is contributing to the longer term care planning for children living in the home. The home is equally unclear about what placing authorities’ long term plans are. Home managers are not able to clearly articulate how, and if, the home continues to meet the assessed needs of each child placed with them.   Staff turnover, and use of agency staff, is compromising the quality of staff practice. This includes staff’s relationships with children and staff’s understanding of their individual needs and plans.

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because:

 Managers do not place sufficient emphasis on developing staff care practice so that it identifies and builds on those approaches, strategies and care styles that work well in order to secure the most positive, effective relationships with children and young people.

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because:

 Managers do not have complete control about which newly recruited staff work in the home. They have not been able to compile a staff group that works well as a team, or that is well supervised and supported to develop best care practice.

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The children's home strengths

 The new manager has a warm, nurturing, well organised, and child-centred care style. She relates well to children and staff alike and demonstrates good insight to children’s developmental stage, implementing some care practice ideas that suit children well.

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The children's home strengths

 The manager and deputy are confident to lead and develop the potential of the new team, which is now almost complete.

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The children's home strengths

 There are solid procedures for all safeguarding activity and good levels of transparency with the home’s local authority and police.

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The children's home strengths

 Most children and young people enjoy good levels of engagement in appropriate community and peer group activities. They are in good daily routines that include education attendance and participation in therapy and/or life story work.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure- (2)(a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home provides, as set out in its statement of purpose. (b) that arrangements are in place to- (i) ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; and (ii) plan for and help each child to prepare to leave the home in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. 13/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must – (2)(a) lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the outcomes set out in the home's statement of purpose and (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 13/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development and receive practice-related supervision by a person with relevant experience. (Regulation 33 (4) (a)(b)) 13/08/2015 6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that staff - (2)(iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. 13/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff- (a) seek to involve each child's placing authority effectively in the child's care, in accordance with the child's relevant plans. 13/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

7: The children's views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, the registered person must ensure that staff – (2) (vi) help each child prepare for any review of the child's relevant plans and to make the child's views, wishes and feelings known for the purpose of that review. 13/08/2015

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Information about this children's home

This private children's home is part of a national organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural problems arising from severe trauma. Therapy is provided and a special school is available.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

06/03/2014 CH – Re-registration Not judged

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requires improvement

Children and young people have experienced less stability since the last inspection. The manager, deputy and a number of staff have left in the space of a few months. Temporary management cover, new faces, and use of agency staff have caused anxiety to children and young people. Some goodbyes to staff have been hasty and badly managed. Children and young people have been upset by this and have not always been able to cope. In addition, poorly planned admissions have upset the dynamic amongst the group of children. Their progress has stalled and for some, their behaviour and progress have deteriorated. While the atmosphere in the home is now more upbeat, this has only occurred in the last few days.

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requires improvement

Some children and young people have experienced crisis beginnings and endings to their placements since the last inspection. Young people have moved into and out of the home in crisis, without any opportunity to find out about it or to say goodbye, or collect belongings. This repeats previous patterns of poor beginnings and endings. The staff have provided some consistency to one, while local authorities find an alternative placement. Accounts of the staff and placing authorities differ on the way the home deals with endings, with one social worker saying the young person, ‘feels that the home let her down. Uncertainty about their own plans has resulted for those children and young people who remain here.

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requires improvement

The new staff group come across as very caring people with some commitment. However, they have not had time to build meaningful relationships with children and young people. They do not have a firm understanding of each child’s difficulties and needs. They do not know what objectives they are supporting, or what progress must be achieved, in order for each child and young person to achieve their long term plan. Staff do not use meetings and records to discuss their care practice and individual care styles. They are not yet, therefore, developing deep, effective, positive relationships with children and young people. They are not effectively addressing children’s deep-seated needs or answering some of their daily wishes and feelings. Children and young people complete questionnaires that are quite negative about the home and what it means to them. Records of children and young people’s meetings show that they keep asking about the same things,

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requires improvement

week after week. Overall, children and young people’s progress is patchy; they are uncertain about their plans; and their attachments to staff are not yet secure.

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requires improvement

Most children and young people enjoy good levels of engagement in appropriate community and peer group activities, such as horse riding, cadets and scouts. Staff are well organised and promote children’s self-esteem in relation to appearance and personal hygiene. Staff have recently supported young people to attend dental and medical checks and undertake treatment where before this was refused. Children and young people are in good daily routines that include education attendance and participation in therapy and/or life story work. They have enjoyable mealtimes and are allowed their personal space.

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requires improvement

Impact risk assessments are used to consider the viability of new referrals to the existing group of children and young people. However, these are sometimes completed hurriedly and in the absence of full information, because emergency referrals take place. As a result, the registered person makes poor matches with existing young people. For example, the registered person did not sufficiently consider the impact of new young people, who frequently go missing, on the existing group. Managers did not take account of the likely behaviours that would result from an unwanted move far from home. They gave insufficient consideration to the preparedness and skills of the very new staff team to manage such placements well. The whole household was quickly disrupted by missing and serious incidents which most children and young people got swept along with. Increased staff numbers managed situations quite well, and utilised safeguarding

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requires improvement

agencies and police appropriately. However, all children’s experience and progress were seriously jeopardised.

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requires improvement

A new manager has been in post in the home for a few months. She is experienced and suitably qualified to manage a children’s home and is enthusiastic about the role. A new deputy manager who is able, insightful, and keen to progress, assists her. They have a vision for a full, settled home where all children and young people have a good experience and make good progress. They have reviewed the home’s statement of purpose but have still not considered the viability of taking emergency placements in the light of recent difficulties in the home. They have updated the children’s guide and are using it to help children and young people understand what they should get from living here. They have consulted with children and social workers using set format questionnaires. However, they have not yet analysed the messages from these, or responded clearly to children to discuss their views and deal with the issues arising from their feedback. Undue

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requires improvement

delay in this, and in responding to children’s requests, poses a risk that young people disengage from the home and do not make meaningful attachments to the new management and staff team.

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requires improvement

The new manager has not had full control over staff brought into the home’s staff team. Neither have her plans to ensure that all staff get regular, good quality support and supervision been a reality over the past few months. Supervision has been delegated to staff who have no experience of doing this and who are frequently too busy with crises and staff cover. This means that new staff have yet to receive clear direction and good support. Staff team meetings and ‘team around the child’ meetings have not addressed practice matters in sufficient detail for the new staff team to understand clearly how they will practice in the home and what works well. Nevertheless, staff have received essential induction training and are actively included in the record keeping and running of the home’s office.

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requires improvement

Social workers and managers alike are not explicit enough about placement aims and whether placements here meet individual children’s needs or not. One placing authority was pleased when a psychological assessment report clearly stated that the home was suitable and could continue to meet a child’s needs. However, the home’s review report said very little about what the home provides for him, how relationships here work for him or meet his needs. Another social worker was very confused about why her young person had to leave, when a recent mental health assessment has concluded that she needs a home just like this one. Some social workers say the home is ‘brilliant’, others are concerned about all the changes of staff and the impact of that upon children’s attachments. It is therefore unsurprising that children and young people are unsure about their own plans. Staff and placing authorities are not sharing information effectively enough or

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requires improvement

organising their insights and considerations so that they can discuss these with children and young people in ways that they can understand.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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