Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Manchester

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people report that they feel safe and supported by staff. Staff work hard to help young people to settle in and are good at establishing strong and nurturing relationships with them. Staff are diligent in their efforts to help young people address the challenges they face in life. This is beneficial for those who choose take advantage of the care and support which is on offer and has contributed to some making good progress in many aspects of their lives.  Staff demonstrate a commitment and resilience towards helping young people address their risk taking and offending behaviour. Every effort is made to help young people make positive choices about keeping themselves safe.  Care practice is underpinned by good safeguarding systems which are consistently implemented by staff. Young people are encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and consider how their actions impacts on themselves and others. The effectiveness of this approach is evident in the significant

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The children's home provision is good because:

reduction in the use of physical restraint to manage challenging behaviour.  The home is effectively managed and staffed by a competent team of experienced and child-focused individuals. Staff respect the qualities, knowledge and skills that the manager brings and benefit from good supervision, support and training.  The Registered Manager has a good understanding of the homes strengths and takes action to address any shortfalls which are identified through a range of monitoring activities.  A number of improvements are recommended. These relate to the environment, young people’s safety when using social media sites, independent return home interviews and escalating concerns when other agencies do not fulfil their duties.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The registered person must ensure that they can evidence what they have done to achieve engagement with the wider systems and what actions they have taken to escalate their concerns when the placing authority does not fulfil their duties in relation to completing missing from home return interviews and not providing the relevant and up-to-date care planning documentation. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 11, paragraph 2.3)

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Recommendations

 Ensure the home provides a comfortable, homely and secure environment that is well maintained and decorated, in particular that repairs are completed to driveway, the garden wall and that the front gate is replaced. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 Children must feel safe and be safe. The manager and staff should evidence how they support children to understand the potential dangers they may be exposed to when accessing and using social media sites. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 43, paragraph 9.9)   The registered manager must ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the young person to have an independent return home interview. The home should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (The Guide to Quality Standards, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Information about this children's home

This home is one of a number of children’s homes operated by a private company. This children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for two young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home enlist the support of a clinical psychologist in their development and implementation for care planning.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

05/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

A number of young people have joined and left the home since the last inspection. Some young people have made good progress relative to their starting points, particularly in relation to their emotional well-being and education. A small number of young people have been difficult to engage and have not taken full advantage of the good support on offer to them. Staff have demonstrate a strong resilience when supporting these young people and have made every effort to help them to settle into the home and reduce their risk taking and offending behaviour. Unfortunately these efforts have been unsuccessful and resulted in placements ending prematurely. Young people are encouraged to maintain a healthy lifestyle which promotes emotional well-being and physical health. Staff work closely with the organisations’ therapeutic team and routinely monitor young people’s physical health. They provide the necessary support and encouragement to ensure young people attend

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Good

their therapy sessions and routine health checks and appointments when required. Young people are provided with a healthy diet and engage in a number of recreational activities that promote physical exercise. Staff encourage young people to consider their life choices and make good health decisions such stopping smoking for example. Young people achieve mixed outcomes with regard their education. Staff recognise and promote the value of education and work hard to get young people to engage and realise their potential. One head teacher stated, ‘Staff supported (Name) to visit the school and try hard to get him to attend. Unfortunately (Name) chose not to attend but this was not because staff did not try.’ For those young people who did engage school attendance and academic progress has been good. Young people enjoy positive relationships with staff. Staff thoroughly understand the needs of each young person and provide them with good quality care and

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Good

support. The young people spoken to say they feel safe, well cared for, and like living in the home. One young person said, ‘The staff are good. I like living here. It is better than the last home that I lived in.’ Young people are supported and encouraged to share their views about all aspects of their lives. They attend weekly resident meetings, key working sessions and have regular informal discussions with staff where they can discuss things they need or want and wish to change. Young people confirmed their understanding of how to raise concerns and reported that they are confident and able to do this should the need arise. Young people are supported to maintain links with people who are important to them. Staff support and facilitate family contact to ensure positive relationships and family support networks are maintained. This helps young people to maintain emotional bonds and assists them in their development and understanding of their

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Good

cultural identity. Staff actively support young people in developing basic life skills. Young people are involved in keeping the home clean, tidying their rooms and planning and cooking their own meals. This support enables young people to confidently develop basis skills which will benefit them in later life. Young people live in a large, comfortable home which is situated in an area convenient for public transport and local amenities. There is sufficient space for young people to spend time alone or be with other young people, families and friends. A number of improvements to the environment have been made including new furniture for the main living area. Further improvements are identified in the maintenance plan but not all of these have been completed within timescale. For example, necessary repairs to the driveway which were identified in January 2015. Further work is also outstanding including the need to repair the garden wall and

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good

Young people’s strengths, needs and vulnerabilities are identified within their individual care plans and risk assessments. These plans are understood and consistently implemented by staff. They are reviewed and updated by leaders and managers following any significant events. Staff work with young people and try to get them to understand their behaviour. For example, following incidents they will talk to them and encourage them to reflect, express their views and consider better ways of managing their emotions. Young people are respected as emerging adults and staff encourage behaviours that are socially acceptable and safe for them and others. Staff work with the police and placing authorities and consistently implement agreed responses to behaviour management. Staff initiate open discussions about safe and appropriate behaviour and deliver good messages and guidance to help young people make the right decisions about keeping themselves safe. However, despite the best

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good

efforts of staff this has had little impact on one young person in particular who continued to engage in offending behaviour. This culminated in the placement ending due to the young person being placed in a secure setting. All staff are trained in the use of restraint but only use it when all else fails and for the protection of the individual or others. There has been a positive reduction in the use of physical restraint as staff develop increased insight into young people’s behaviour and use de-escalation techniques effectively. This has been helped by the reduction in occupancy and the departure of a number of challenging individuals. A social worker said how pleased he was with how staff had recently managed and de-escalated what he believed could have been a very serious incident. Staff are fully aware of their responsibility to protect and keep young people safe. All staff are trained in safeguarding and demonstrate a good understanding of the

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good

homes safeguarding procedures and protocols. Staff are acutely aware of the potential for bullying and effectively support young people to manage their relationships with each other. Staff are proficient at recognising potential bullying situations and proactive in addressing these promptly. This includes direct work sessions with both the bully and the victim as well as discussing the importance of relationships during young people’s meetings. This approach has enabled young people to live together harmoniously and ensured no complaints regarding bullying behaviours have been made within this inspection period. Staff make every effort to ascertain the whereabouts of young people when they choose to go missing from home. They will search the local area and when appropriate they will inform the police. They maintain good links with the relevant people including parents, social workers and the police. When young people return

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good

they are welcomed back, reinforcing that staff care. However, there are no arrangements in place to ensure that that young people are given the opportunity to have a return home interview undertaken by a person independent to the young person’s care. This is the responsibility of the placing authority to discharge this duty, a fact that the manager has failed to challenge. This is a missed opportunity to understand the young person’s reason for going missing, information which could be used to inform future risk assessments and care planning. Staff are aware of and understand the potential risks for young people that are associated with the use of the internet. Staff provide young people with information about safe use of the internet and make clear the rules and expectations. Young people sign to acknowledge that they understand and will follow the e-safety policy and a number of checks are in place to promote good

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good

monitoring. Staff indicate that when young people fail to use social media appropriately direct work is undertaken with the individual. However, staff were unable to provide evidence of this work in relation to a concern raised by a parent regarding the content of postings on her child’s social media page. Managers and staff ensure young people are kept safe within the home. Recruitment of staff is robust and visitors are routinely checked and appropriately supervised. This ensures that young people are not exposed to any person who may pose a risk of harm to them.

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good

Young people live in a home that is effectively managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager who has been registered with Ofsted since June 2012. The manager is also registered to manage two other homes and is supported in his management duties for all three by a competent and able deputy manager. The responsibility for the day to day management of the home is shared with two experienced and knowledgeable team leaders who highly motivated and share a common aspiration to deliver a good standard of care. The managers’ knowledge, skills and experience in providing effective child-centred leadership is recognised by a number of stakeholders and partner agencies. Young people are cared for by a stable and experienced staff team who demonstrate a commitment to their work. Staff facilitate an individualised approach to caring for young people and ensure their individual needs are met on a day to

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good

day basis. During the inspection young people were seen to be happy in the home and were positively engaging in conversation and interaction with staff. Staff spoke positively about working at the home and said they feel well supported by the management team. All staff benefit from regular supervision and having their performance annually appraised. Mandatory training is regularly updated, supplemented by needs specific training when required. This ensures that young people are cared for by staff who fully understand the aims and objectives of the home and how to meet their known and emerging needs. Young people have a good understanding of what services and support they can expect to receive. They are provided with good information about the home in the form of the recently updated children’s guide, which they are given at the start of their placement. The manager uses a range of internal and external quality assurance processes to

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good

monitor the homes operation and young people’s progress. This includes monthly visits by an independent person who provides a good level of external scrutiny. Information from these visits is formulated into a report and the manager uses this for the purpose of addressing identified shortfalls and improving the quality of care. The manager is transparent in his reporting of serious incidents. He ensures that relevant agencies and individuals are kept fully informed and that the right action is taken to meet the needs of young and keep them safe. Detailed records are maintained of any such events. Young people’s records reflect their everyday lives and the work that is undertaken by the staff team. Information is stored securely and only shared with authorised persons. This ensures young people's right to privacy is maintained. However one young person’s records do not include the placing authority’s care planning

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good

documentation. Attempts to address this shortfall have been made but this has not been escalated when the managers’ requests for information have not been responded to by the social worker.

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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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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