Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Plymouth

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

p.2

The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 Leaders and managers have not recognised some of the challenging behaviours displayed by the young person as serious safeguarding concerns. As a result, these concerns have not been escalated as required to the local authority.  Staff do not always take effective action when a young person has gone missing from the home. Staff do not always search for the young person. The manager has not ensured that statutory return home interviews always take place. This has, at times, prevented the young person from being able to talk to someone outside of the home about why they go missing.  The approach to managing complex behaviour is inconsistent. This approach does not provide the young person with clear boundaries and expectations, or staff with effective strategies to prevent serious incidents from occurring.  Leaders and managers are not actively recruiting to ensure there is sufficient capacity within the workforce to care for the young person

p.3

The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

effectively. The ongoing use of lone working has not been reviewed following all significant incidents. Typically staff work one-to-one with the young person which compounds their ability to manage incidents effectively.  Serious incidents have occurred including significant damage made to the home and intimidating and challenging behaviours displayed towards staff. Staff do not have strategies to support them to manage these behaviours and prevent incidents from escalating. They are advised to call the police. They use the police to calm down incidents and distract the young person.

p.3

The children’s home’s strengths

 The staff team has good experience of working with young people. Staff are able to recognise where things have deteriorated and would like clearer rules in the home. They have shared their concerns about not having sufficient strategies to manage serious incidents with the manager.  The staff report that when they have ‘good days’ they can be effective and support the young person to make positive choices. Staff were observed achieving this during the inspection. In conversations, they tried to offer information to educate and support the young person to make good decisions.  The young person is motivated to engage in education and extra-curricular activities. Good transitional plans are in place for him, both educationally and in terms of where he will be living next. The young person’s views are central to these decisions.

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationships standard the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a) (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how these relationships can be supportive or harmful. 19 July 2016

p.5

Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person is required to ensure that staff:

p.5

Requirement Due date

(2)(a) (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 19 July 2016

p.5

Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard * 19 July 2016 In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person should: (1) enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that: (b) promotes their welfare. (2) in particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to: (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide for each child (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child (h) use monitoring and review systems to male continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the missing child policy’) setting out: (a) the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (5) before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to, the missing child policy, the registered person must: (a) consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person (b) have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. In particular, missing procedures must clearly describe actions staff must adhere to in the event of a child going missing and staff fully understand the action they need to take. Staff should actively search for children who go missing and children should be afforded a return from missing interview on each occasion. (Regulation 34 (4)(5))

p.6

Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

p.6

Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to care for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural issues. The home is part of a large national organisation.

p.7

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.7

Recent inspection history

5 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.7

Recent inspection history

29 December 2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.7

Inadequate

Some areas of the home are in a poor state of repair. The hall, stairs, landing and dining room carpets are stained and worn in parts. The manager has requested that these items are replaced. The current young person’s bedroom was untidy and did not smell fresh. A dirty mattress was being stored in his room. Staff supported the young person to clean his room during the first day of inspection.

p.8

Inadequate

There are no clear house rules in place. The young person told the inspector that he does not feel that there are any consequences as a result of his challenging behaviours. Staff report that across the workforce their current approach to managing challenging behaviour is inconsistent. The lack of effective strategies to prevent challenging, intimidating and, at times, dangerous behaviours from occurring means that staff cannot always effectively manage some incidents. The current care planning documentation directs staff to call the police to assist them with behaviour management at these times. This approach negates management responsibility in effectively supporting staff to respond more appropriately to complex needs.

p.8

Inadequate

The young person says he likes the current staff team members. He is able to highlight some of their strengths. During the inspection, the young person was calm and engaging. This allowed the inspector to observe some evidence of staff supporting the young person to understand the impact of his behaviours on others. This educational approach to problem solving was applied well during the inspection. The staff who care for the young person know him well.

p.8

Inadequate

Good planning is underway to help the young person to prepare for adulthood. The young person is involved in decisions about his future and is provided with good information to support him to make positive choices about this. This reassures the young person and alleviates anxieties about moving on.

p.8

Inadequate

The young person regularly attends and engages to a satisfactory level at school. Staff support him to attend clubs and to undertake activities that are of interest to him. The young person really appreciates this. Judgement grade

p.8

Inadequate

The manager has failed to identify some of the young person’s challenging behaviour as a safeguarding matter. Concerns about this behaviour were not escalated to the local authority specifically as safeguarding concerns. As a result, the young person did not receive an external assessment to consider the risks he poses to himself and others, or to decide on how best to address and reduce these high risk behaviours.

p.9

Inadequate

The manager has tried to encourage an approach to behaviour management that embraces ‘natural consequences’; for example, the television set was broken by the young person and was not repaired for a number of weeks. This approach is supported by the placing authority. It is recognised that the young person does not respond well to sanctions and negative consequences. There are times when the natural consequence approach has resulted in the young person taking control of the home. Aggressive and dangerous incidents have taken place. Staff are, at times, reluctant to actively challenge or intervene for fear of incidents escalating.

p.9

Inadequate

When the young person goes missing from the home, staff fail to actively search for him every time. In part, this is due to the impact of lone working as staff are required to wait at the home for the young person to return. There is no effective contingency plan in place to offer additional support at these times. Staff told the inspector that they would be able to locate the young person if they were able to search for him and work towards encouraging him to come back safely to the home.

p.9

Inadequate

When the young person returns from going missing, he is not always given an opportunity for a return home interview with an independent person. On two occasions, the return home interviews were completed after a number of incidents of going missing and not in response to each episode. On these two occasions, the manager cancelled return home interviews and said he did not feel they were necessary. In addition, the findings from return home interviews were not evident in the home and available to staff. As a result, staff are not helped to understand the reasons why the young person is going missing to enable them to take effective action to reduce the risks. This failure means that leaders and managers of the home are not contributing information to the wider safeguarding partnership to ensure a fuller picture is gained about the number of children missing in the area, the reasons why they go missing and known addresses and hot spots they

p.9

Inadequate

The current young person said that he does not feel safe living at this home at the moment due to an ongoing conflict in the local area. This conflict has not been satisfactorily resolved. The situation has escalated, with the young person reporting threats of physical harm being made towards him. Judgement grade

p.9

Inadequate

The manager has failed to ensure that one previous requirement has been met in full. This relates in particular to children who go missing from home. While the missing from home plan has been reviewed staff are still not applying effective strategies to ensure the young person is searched for when he goes missing.

p.11

Inadequate

The manager and staff team did not provide another agency that was working with the current young person sufficient information about the risks and behaviours that can trigger incidents. As a result, one dangerous incident took place in the home that could have been avoided, resulting in emotional distress for the young person.

p.11

Inadequate

The manager has failed to review staffing arrangements following recent significant incidents. Between January and March 2016, the staff ratio was increased and a member of staff at particular risk was moved from the home. The current lone working arrangements limits staff’s ability to effectively manage incidents, including searching for the young person if he goes missing from the home. Gaps in the sufficiency of staffing are being covered by staff regularly working overtime and staff from other homes covering the rota. One member of staff reported that they felt tired due to these arrangements. This places both the young person and staff at risk.

p.11

Inadequate

The manager has failed to review the incidents of challenging behaviour effectively in order to reduce the risk of these behaviours happening again. Strategies for staff to ensure clear boundaries and expectations for positive behaviour are poor. The behaviour support plan advises staff to withdraw to a safe place and to call the police. Staff told the inspector that the office is their safe space. The young person told the inspector that some staff do go to the office and that he feels lonely and sad when staff lock themselves away.

p.11

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’.

p.12

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 children looked after 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

p.12

What the inspection judgements mean

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

p.12

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

p.13

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 .

p.13

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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,

p.14

Information about this inspection

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

p.14

Information about this inspection

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

p.14

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

p.14