Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Halton

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:

 Staff have helped young people to make measurable progress from their starting points of placement. The young person currently in placement has settled well despite only living in the home for a few weeks.  Staff place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges that they present. They are motivated to help young people to achieve positive outcomes.  Young people who are new to the home are welcomed sensitively. Staff promote positive endings when young people are leaving the home.  Staff encourage young people to attend school. However, engagement has been limited for one young person who no longer lives at the home.  Young people benefit from a stable staff team that enables them to develop trusting relationships with carers.  Excellent multi-agency working is a key strength of the home.  Staff are proactive in helping young people to build and improve

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The children's home provision is good because:

relationships with their families and those of significant importance to them.  Clear plans are in place to help reduce identified risks to young people. However, risk assessments in relation to substance misuse do not provide staff with clear guidance about how to monitor a young person’s welfare when they are suspected to be under the influence of substances.  Staff receive regular supervision to ensure that they provide good-quality care and support. However, training records do not demonstrate that senior staff undertaking supervision are suitably qualified and experienced.  In addition, it is not clear that all staff have had their performance and fitness formally appraised.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps that the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis, with specific regard to clear management strategies in relation to monitoring young people believed to have taken harmful substances (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5).  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. In particular, ensure that training records demonstrate that staff

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Recommendations

undertaking supervision are suitably qualified and experienced (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards, page 61, paragraph 13.2).  Ensure all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5).

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a large, national private provider.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

28 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

5 February 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

When a young person comes to live at the home they often have high levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties, non-attendance in education and a lack of consistent boundaries. Staff provide good-quality care and have high aspirations for young people. They place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges that they present. Consequently, young people make some progress relative to their starting points. However, sustained progress for one young person could not be maintained because he resisted all attempts by staff to engage him in education and specialist services. This resulted in the manager serving notice on the placement. A professional commented, ‘(name) is a very troubled child due to his childhood experiences and numerous rejections… staff were very supportive of him but he broke down any positives.’ Prior to his leaving, the staff and young person went for a meal and they bought

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Good

him several leaving presents. They also moved him and his belongings to the new placement, thus ensuring a positive ending for him. A young person has very recently moved to the home from another home within the organisation. The manager visited the young person at her previous home and she was given information about her new home. This enabled her to settle in very quickly. Overall, young people benefit from good health. They have access to services to meet both their physical and emotional health needs. The young person who previously lived at the home had prior to this placement refused to attend his routine health appointments. The staff were successful in getting him to attend some of his health appointments, including visiting the general practitioner when he was feeling low. Towards the end of his placement, his misuse of substances increased. Staff sourced specialist support, which he engaged in initially, but

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Good

unfortunately he was not able to sustain this. Staff work closely with education professionals to improve educational outcomes for young people. The young person currently living in the home is attending school full time, which is a significant improvement on her last placement. Staff provide support for her during the school day, which helps to provide consistency of care for her. She showed the inspector her new dress that she had bought for the school prom. Staff were relentless in their attempts to get the other young person to engage in some education. However, he used this as a means of exercising control over his life. Young people are supported to engage in a range of activities and social occasions. For example, ice-skating, playing pool, attending the local youth club and boxing club. This enables them to develop their social skills and mix with their peers. Staff proactively seek the views of young people on all aspects of their care through

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Good

regular key work sessions and house meetings. This means that young people are confident that their opinions will be heard and valued. A young person’s cultural and religious needs are well met. They are supported to follow their religion by taking part in religious festivals and attend prayer. Staff downloaded an application onto a young person’s iPad so that she had the exact times for prayer. This helps her to retain her sense of identity. Staff provide young people with good support to maintain contact with their families and those significant to them. Staff were proactive in encouraging the other young person to build relationships that had previously broken down. In addition, they are supportive of the current plans for the young person to move to foster care. The social worker said, ‘They are supportive of contact, they have transported and organised venues locally.’ This further increases young people’s

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Good

sense of identity and belonging. Staff provide young people with the opportunity to develop practical skills in readiness for their eventual move to more independent living. This includes contributing to household tasks such as shopping, cooking and budgeting. Although there are plans underway for the young person to move, she has been encouraged to personalise her bedroom to reflect her own personality.

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Good

The current young person says that she feels safe and secure here and enjoys excellent relationships with all the staff. She feels listened to and confident to raise any concerns she may have. Staff have a strong understanding of their duty to safeguard and protect the welfare of all young people. They have established effective partnerships with the police and other safeguarding agencies to promote the safety of young people. Young people benefit from a staff team that is knowledgeable of their needs, risks and vulnerabilities. Despite his complex history, there was progress for the previous young person in relation to incidents of going missing and his challenging behaviour. However, towards the end of his placement the incidents of going missing from the home increased and it became apparent he was placing himself at risk in the local community. Serious concerns were appropriately escalated to multi-disciplinary strategy meetings to ensure that all safeguarding professionals

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Good

were working together to manage the young person’s safety concerns. Return home interviews are routinely completed by an independent person following each episode of going missing. Staff apply the rules and boundaries fairly and are consistent in their approach. The use of negative consequences are kept to an absolute minimum. Physical interventions are only ever used as a last resort in order to protect young people from harm, accident or injury. There is positive use of incentives and rewards to encourage young people’s positive behaviour. The current young person confirmed that staff treat her fairly and with respect. Regular key work sessions enable all young people to reflect on and improve their behaviour. A key professional commented, ‘She is much more settled, less disruptive and not going missing from home. This home is working well and meeting her current needs.’ Overall, risk assessments are detailed and provide a clear picture of the young

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Good

person’s risks and how these should be managed. However, risk assessments in relation to substance misuse do not provide staff with clear guidance about how to monitor a young person’s welfare and safety when they are suspected to be under the influence of substances. The home provides young people with a safe and comfortable environment. The arrangements for health and safety are managed effectively and provide a safe environment for young people. Regular fire drills ensure that staff and young people know how to follow the home’s fire evacuation procedures in the event of an emergency. Furthermore, robust recruitment and selection procedures prevent where possible unsuitable people from having access to young people.

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Good

The manager has been registered since 2012. She provides strong and effective leadership to a small but highly committed staff team. She is suitably qualified and brings a wealth of experience to the role. She is also the manager for another home within the organisation. However, she divides her time effectively between the two homes and there are first line managers who deputise in her absence. This provides clear lines of accountability within the home. The manager has good insight into the progress and development of individual young people. She ensures that care plans are specific to their needs and focused on improving outcomes and reducing risks. Strong partnership working is a key strength of the home and ensures that all relevant professionals contribute to decision making. A social worker said, ‘Communication is good and I get weekly reports. I was getting daily incident reports from the other home, but I haven’t had

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Good

any of these.’ Staff persevere with young people to help them to overcome the difficulties that they face. They are not daunted by setbacks or failures and ensure that young people have every opportunity to make and sustain progress. This gives young people a sense of consistency in their often chaotic lives. The statement of purpose is kept under review and reflects the aims and objectives of the home. The previous requirement and recommendation have been addressed. The arrangements for the independent monitoring of the home have been strengthened. Furthermore, records clearly demonstrate that staff worked hard to change young people’s negative behaviours in keys areas, albeit with limited success. The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Both internal and external monitoring provides oversight into the operation of the home and quality of care. The manager uses both of these to ensure that

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Good

the home continues to improve. Staff benefit from regular support and supervision. However, training records do not demonstrate that senior staff undertaking supervision are suitably qualified and experienced. In addition, it is not clear that all staff have their performance and fitness formally appraised on a regular basis. They do have access to frequent training that ensures that they have the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of young people living at the home.

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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 that 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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