Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

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:

 The young person has settled into the home well and speaks positively about living there.  The young person has been enabled to increase attendance in education and has successfully obtained some qualifications through physical education led activities.  Health care support enables the young person to begin to engage with health care professionals to promote physical and emotional health.  The staff team is an established staff team, providing continuity of care and support for the young person.  Staff say they feel well supported, through regular supervision, team meetings and peer support. They undertake regular training through face to face and on-line training, plus they have specific training delivered by the organisation’s clinical team, tailored to support them to meet the needs of the young person in placement.  There are clear strategies in place to follow in the event of a young person

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The children's home provision is good because:

missing from the home. The incidents of this happening have decreased and there have been no incidents of this with the young person currently in placement.  The placing social worker and parent say they feel the young person is effectively safeguarded, supported and is making good progress, which in turn is having a positive impact on overall relationships.  The shortfalls identified at this inspection have not impacted on the welfare of the young person and are currently being addressed.

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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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, in particular with ensuring damage to the home is repaired in a timely manner the registered person must 12.(2)(d) ensure the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health. 20/02/2016

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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

 Staff should continually and actively assess risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. This is in particular in connection with ensuring clear linkage with previous and current risks (The Guide, Page 42, paragraph 9.5)  Staff need to have the knowledge and skills to understand each child's education and training targets and their next steps for learning (The Guide page 28, paragraph 5.11)  When education and care are offered together, the registered person should ensure that there are mutually supportive and re-enforcing approach between the two aspects of provision that is centred around the child (The Guide, Page 29, paragraph 5.20)

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Information about this children's home

This home is run by a private company and provides care and accommodation for one young person with emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

19/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

p.5

good

Young people benefit from receiving care and support from a consistent and dedicated staff team who have a good understanding of the care and support required to meet individual needs. The young person in placement has developed good relationships with staff and says: ‘it is alright here, it is better than my previous placement and I feel that staff listen to me and take an interest in the things I do. I feel safe here.’

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good

The established staff team work together for a substantial period of time and work effectively together to support young people to manage their behaviour. The focus on behaviour management is to encourage and reward positive behaviour rather than implement sanctions. This has resulted in a decrease in the number of sanctions over recent months. Physical intervention is rarely used and only in accordance with detailed behaviour strategies to minimise the risk of harm to individuals.

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good

The home provides education on-site, holding dual registration with the Department of Education and Ofsted. Young people can attend this education facility if required and staff are proactive in encouraging and supporting them to do so. This has resulted in the young person increasing educational attendance from their initial starting point and obtaining qualifications in physical education and outdoor pursuits. However, some staff are unclear about the different educational routes available for young people regarding exams and qualifications. The manager is keen to further develop her own and the staff understanding of this, and to establish stronger links with education tutors. This will further assist residential staff in supporting young people to achieve good educational outcomes. The young person said: ‘I feel better attending education at the home because I get distracted and angry in larger groups which ends up with me not attending. I know what I

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good

want to do in the future and I am going to take exams to help me get the career I want.’

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good

Young people have access to a range of health care services to meet their needs. As well as accessing community health care professionals, including doctors, dentists and opticians, they have access to the organisation’s in-house psychology team to provide additional therapeutic support through direct work. Some young people who have lived at the home since the last inspection, have refused to attend health care appointments. However, staff work with young people to encourage them to do so and this has resulted in overall improvements in health. Healthy eating is encouraged with young people involved in planning, budgeting, shopping and preparing meals. These skills contribute to their future transition into independence.

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good

Staff understand the importance of making sure young people are supported to maintain good links with family and friends in accordance with agreed plans. One parent said: ‘staff are really good at bringing my son on his home visits. When I go to the home, I am welcomed and made to feel comfortable. They contact me on a regular basis to make sure I am aware of the care, and progress he is making. This provides me with reassurance and I can see some of these changes myself.’

p.7

good

An experienced staff team provide consistent and clear boundaries to support young people understand the impact of negative behaviour. At times, the young person tests these boundaries. However, staff remain consistent in the approach agreed in the young person’s placement plan. When sanctions are used, consistent monitoring of these assesses their effectiveness. Incentive reward charts are in place to encourage positive behaviour which appears to work better for the young person. There has been minimal need for physically interventions due to the agreed strategies of managing behaviour. Anger management support, provided by the clinical team to the young person, contributes to the overall placement plan. The clinical team also attend staff meetings to further support staff in managing behaviour.

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good

The young person living at the home has damaged the property. When this has happened staff provide support and encouragement to enable the young person to calm down and regulate their behaviour. There has been one occasion when police were called but staff work hard to minimise the possibility of the young person being criminalised. A range of risk assessments identify how risk is managed, with staff working in accordance with them. However, some of the risk assessments are duplicated and are not easily identified as current which could lead to risk management strategies not being followed.

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good

Since living at the home, all those involved in providing support say the young person is making good progress and this is having a positive effect on maintaining contact with family.

p.7

good

There are clear missing from care procedures in place and staff demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of them. Since the last full inspection, there has been a significant decrease in young people going missing, with no episodes of going missing within the past six months. This means the young people are supported to remain safe and staff know the whereabouts of the young person.

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good

Young people know how to make a complaint and say any complaints or concerns are followed up and they are informed of the outcome. Investigations into allegations are shared with appropriate agencies and clear action is taken to ensure investigations are carried out in accordance with statutory guidance.

p.8

good

There has been minimal change in staffing since the last inspection. New staff are recruited in accordance with policies and procedures; contributing to the safeguarding of young people by helping to ensure that people who are unsuitable to work with children are not appointed. All visitors to the home are suitable vetted and where required, supervised to provide additional safeguards.

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good

The manager undertakes routine health and safety checks. However, there has been a significant amount of damage to the home by the young person. Despite the manager raising requests for maintenance to be undertaken, some delay in this happening has resulted in areas within the home still requiring repair; in particular a broken electrical socket and damage to doors. These could be a potential risk to the young person or staff within the home.

p.8

good

The previous Registered Manager has recently left the home to manage another home in the organisation. A new manager is in post and has submitted an application to Ofsted to be registered. She has experience of working within residential care and holds a level three qualification in working with children and young people. She is due to commence the level five Diploma in Leadership and Management shortly, to continue her professional development. Her appointment took place prior to the departure of the previous manager, enabling a detailed transition; providing continuity for the young person and staff at the home. The newly appointed manager has a good understanding of the home and of her responsibilities as a Registered Manager.

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good

The majority of the staff are qualified and have worked at the home for significant periods of time. This enables them to have a clear understanding of the aims and objectives of the home and provides the young person with continuity of care. Two new members of staff have joined the team, who have previous experience of working with children and young people. This ensures the young person has a dedicated and knowledgeable staff team. The use of external staff is rarely required. This further contributes to the stability for the young person, who is making good progress in all aspects of their development. Staff are supported well. They receive regular individual supervision, attend monthly team meetings, have comprehensive handover meetings and work cohesively as a team. They have access to a comprehensive training and development programme, which is a mixture of face to face training and on-line training. In addition, the organisation’s clinical team provide bespoke training to

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good

the team in relation to the young person living at the home. This means they are able to provide effective care and support, tailored to meet the needs of the young person.

p.9

good

The Statement of Purpose provides a clear overview of the service to inform placing social workers and other interested parties with information about the home. Young people are provided with a children’s guide which explains what they can expect when living there.

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good

Placing social workers and family members comment positively on the communication between the home and themselves and feel the home has supported the young person to make significant progress.

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good

The manager maintains monitoring systems to review how the service is operating. The external independent monitoring provides clear evaluation; enabling the manager to take actions to address shortfalls and build on the strengths of the home.

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good

Case records are kept securely to maintain confidentiality. Although they contain all information as required, several of the documents are duplicated and this impedes instant access to updated information if required quickly. For example; due to the number of risk assessments, it is difficult to find the updated one without a clear guide of where it is stored. The manager has identified this as a task to minimise the level of duplication. This does not have a negative impact on the quality of care provided to the young person or reflect negatively on their progress.

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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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