Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

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 had limited engagement with the placement.  Missing or absent episodes have increased since the last inspection.  Young people do not attend education on a consistent basis. This means they are not receiving 25 hours per week education from qualified education staff.  Strategies implemented to support young people understand about acceptable behaviour have not been effective, and as a result, behaviour has not significantly improved. This has resulted in police involvement and relationships with residents in the community tested due to verbal abuse and damage to vehicles.

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The children's home strengths

 Young people are actively encouraged to contribute their wishes and views to their care plans.  Staff encourage and support young people to take part in a number of activities in the home and in the community.  When young people are missing, staff actively try to locate them by looking for them and reporting them missing.  The Registered Manager responds promptly to complaints raised and is committed to his role.

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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

To meet the education standard the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) ensure that staff support each child to achieve the child's education and training targets as recorded in the child's relevant plans. 11 March 2016

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Requirement Due date

To meet the health and well-being standard the registered person must: (2)(c)Ensure that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing and other services as required – this is in particular relation to ensuring prescribed medication is arranged in a timely manner. 11 March 2016

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Requirement Due date

To meet the care planning standard the registered person must ensure: 2 (e)(ii)The child's placing authority is contacted, and a review of the child's relevant plans is requested when the child is or has been persistently absent from the home without permission. 11 March 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):  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of the information provided by such interviews (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Information about this children's home

This is a privately run children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation to 1 child with emotional and/or behaviour difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

18/11/2013 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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requires improvement

Young people are provided with care and support from a staff team who have a range of skills, experience, and qualifications. There has been some changes within the team but this has not impacted negatively on young people.

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requires improvement

Staff encourage young people to engage with their education. This has had some positive impact with the previous young people accessing further education through an apprenticeship. However, this was not maintained. Current arrangements in place for education are via tutors coming to the home. However, a young person recently admitted to the home has consistently refused to engage with education by either refusing to get out of bed or leaving the home. This has resulted in attendance at 16% being the highest attendance in a week. This lack of engagement and educational attainment impacts on future opportunities.

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requires improvement

Young people are developing positive relationships with staff and are engaging better with planning menus and eating meals. This has enabled a young person who had a very restricted diet increasing their diet to incorporate healthier foods. However, staff are having limited success in encouraging attendance at health care appointments. This has resulted in controlled medication previously prescribed not being currently available. Staff have made attempts to find out how this can be obtained and the manager is following this up on a regular basis. The home has access to a psychologist, who although is not working with the young person directly, is providing advice and guidance to staff to help them manage the young person’s complex needs. However, engagement by the young person with staff fluctuates.

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requires improvement

A range of activities are available and the young person has taken part in a number of trips out. Staff discuss and provide information about the local community and resources, as well as those further away to enable young people to make choices.

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requires improvement

Young people are encouraged to develop skills in preparation for adulthood. For example; taking responsibility for their personal care; tidying their rooms and doing their laundry. Some progress has been made and staff ensure positive praise and rewards are implemented to help motivate and encourage continued involvement.

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requires improvement

Staff are aware of the importance for young people of contact and communication with family members. They enable young people to maintain contact in accordance with any restrictions in place. This presents some challenges but staff provide clear guidance and reassurance; explaining the restrictions in accordance with placing authority plans. Positive friendships are encouraged and young people are supported to have friends visit

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requires improvement

Young people live in a home that is well-maintained and provides a safe living environment. From their initial placement, they begin to develop good relationships with staff who understand individual needs, and how past experiences impact on young people and their behaviour.

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requires improvement

Risk management plans identify individual risks and strategies to manage them. This includes support to manage behaviour to enable young people to begin to develop socially acceptable behaviour within the home and in the local community. There are also detailed plans to help young people stay safe in the community and minimise missing from home episodes. However, despite the plans and strategies implemented, there has been a period of instability, with negative behaviour in the home since the last inspection. Young people previously achieving well began to reduce their engagement with the home and their overall placement. There was an increase in absences and incidents of missing from home, and behaviour within the local community resulted in neighbours raising complaints with the home and the local councillor following damage to cars. This resulted in the young person moving from the home due to concerns about their safety and well-being. Staff identify

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requires improvement

this had been an exceptionally challenging time for them in dealing with this behaviour.

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requires improvement

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of a young person leaving the home and when to report a young person missing, based on their individual risk assessments. However, there has been an increase in reported missing from home incidents within the last year. Staff actively try to maintain contact and search the local area to try to locate the young people as well as contacting police and placing authority social workers. When young people return they are welcomed back and individual discussions held with them to try to understand the reasons why; to promote their safety and well-being. Staff request placing authorities to arrange independent return interviews. However, these have not taken place despite repeated formal requests. Social workers confirm staff provide them with detailed reports and state that although young people continue to go missing, the length of time they are away from the home has reduced.

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good

The Registered Manager has been in post for the past year. He holds a level 3 qualification in the care of children and young people and is currently working towards the level 5 in leadership and management. He has worked within children’s homes for a number of years, initially as a residential care worker, progressing to first line manager prior to becoming Registered Manager. He also manages a further two homes within a five mile radius, one of which is a solo occupancy and the other provides care for two young people. He is highly committed to his role and places children and young people at the centre of practice. A first line manager and a staff team consisting of two team leaders and two residential care staff support him within his role. Four staff hold recognised qualifications.

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good

Overall monitoring of the home is good, with the manager undertaking regular checks and he implements actions to address any shortfalls. External monitoring provides an overview of the home and provides additional oversight to support on- going improvement.

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good

Discussions with social workers confirm the home provides copies of care plans, and weekly updates which reflect trends in behaviour and that staff at the home communicate effectively if they have concerns.

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good

The manager requests information from other professionals and where this is not provided, continues to request and source this as he fully understands the need for cohesive and responsive service to meet young people’s needs.

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good

Staff say they receive regular supervision as well as attending staff meetings. This enables them to reflect on their practice, share views, and discuss strategies to address behaviours. However, some staff feel that they did not enough discussion about the events, damage, and actions of the previous young person prior to a new young person arriving. The manager has followed this up further.

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good

All staff have access to the organisation’s training and development plan. Training is completed within agreed timescales.

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good

The recent behaviour within the community of a previous resident has resulted in a number of complaints to the home from local residents; especially in relation to damage to some cars. The manager has responded to all of these by face to face meetings, followed up by letters and he has secured appropriate financial recompense for damage from the wider organisation. This means robust action addresses concerns or complaints. The manager is aware, despite the ongoing support by staff that all identified needs of the young person are not being met in full. However, a meeting with the placing authority has not been arranged to discuss this further.

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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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