Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Torbay

Good

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

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The children’s homes provision is good because:

 The manager and staff provide good care that helps young people to succeed and make the most of their time living at the home.  Young people make good progress in many areas of their lives.  Staff engage young people well in the running of their home.  Staff have a good relationship with the young person who currently lives in the home. They use good behaviour management skills without the need for restraints and only minimal use of sanctions.  The manager completes good care planning documents and works collaboratively with placing authorities. She represents young people’s views well and appropriately challenges decisions on their behalf.  The manager implements a comprehensive development plan to improve the quality of care.  The manager leads the staff team enthusiastically. She promotes the staff morale, as she recognises the positive value that this has on young people’s experiences.  The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. It provides a

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The children’s homes provision is good because:

homely and comfortable environment for young people.  Policies relating to safeguarding allegation management and child abuse by exploitation require updating. The home’s location risk assessment does not include all safeguarding risks of the local area. The children’s guide requires further information, for young people to understand what they should do if they feel that someone has harmed them.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children (1) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which — (a) is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and (b) sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

46: Review of premises (1) The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year, taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). 31/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  The children’s home must produce a children’s guide. The children’s guide must be made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed (or on arrival at the home if the placement is made in an emergency) and must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. This is with particular reference to ensuring that the procedure for children to raise a concern about potential abuse is clear. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, 2015, page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a national private provider. It provides care and accommodation for one child or young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

01/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

05/01/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Staff deliver very good levels of support to young people. One young person has successfully completed a planned moved out of the home to live by herself. Staff supported her well during the move. They stayed nearby, so they were close enough to provide support in the first weeks. They helped to arrange for local services to be in place at her new home. As a result, she was provided with a community support worker, found part-time work, obtained a place at college, contributed towards her education and health care plan and arrangements were made for her to stay in touch with her family. Staff provided the young person with a personalised ‘Rough guide to leaving care’, to help her through the next step in her life. During her time living at the home, the young person made excellent progress in many areas, including keeping herself safe and becoming responsible for her own medication. She also completed a vocational award in independent

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Good

living skills and had driving lessons. The current young person is very happy and rates the home ‘10 out of 10’ on a scale of excellence. She feels supported by staff and stated that she can talk to them about her feelings. A team manager from the placing authority commented that the young person ‘is really happy’ and has ‘come on well’. The young person has a good relationship with staff. Interactions between them are relaxed, jovial and nurturing. The current young person has excellent attendance at school. She is integrating into a mainstream comprehensive school, while also being given additional support in a small specialist education unit joined to the school. The young person is now walking home from school by herself. She attends a youth club and has taken part in cookery and gymnastic groups there. Staff are good at discussing important issues with the young person and understand her feelings. They sensitively talk about bereavement and loss as well

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Good

as how to keep herself safe. Since moving into the home, the young person has been able to use her mobile phone again, have a social media account, take time by herself and be responsible for her pocket money. Consequently, she has similar opportunities to other young people of a similar age, and is learning to be responsible for her own welfare. Staff facilitate good family contact arrangements. As a result, the young person sees her family regularly, and is enjoying positive experiences when they are together. Staff help her to make friends locally. The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. It provides a homely, cosy and warm environment for the young person. She influences the decoration of the home and has personalised many areas. The young person is involved in developing the home. She wants to choose new colours for the lounge and, together with staff, is sourcing fitness equipment to turn the garage into a gym.

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Good

The manager’s care planning arrangements are good. Impact risk assessments are completed prior to young people’s admission, to assess whether the staff’s skillset can meet their needs. The manager challenges placing authorities if their initial information is not up to date and accurate, as this has led to a negative experience for one young person previously. Care plans are informative and provide staff with clear guidelines to follow. The young people are included in their care planning, they have their own streamlined version of the care plan and they contribute their own ideas to daily targets.

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Requires improvement

The safeguarding policy and the procedure for its implementation require improvement. The paper copy is out of date and contains incorrect information that would forewarn an alleged perpetrator, before consulting with the designated officer. The newer online safeguarding policy does not include details of the allegation process. A flow chart contained in the policy confuses the different concerns relating to abuse. There is no separate policy on managing allegations against staff, and the necessary timescales of responding to an allegation are not detailed. Staff have reference to two different safeguarding policies. The new version is accessible on line and an older version is printed as a paper copy. The manager and staff do not keep up to date with the new version. The manager is not aware of certain aspects of the policy and does not have a designated deputy safeguarding individual appointed. There is the potential for the incorrect actions to

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Requires improvement

be taken when managing allegations in the manager’s absence, because the policies are unclear and misleading. The policy for protecting children against sexual exploitation is not up to date. It contains definitions from 2013, and the sexual offences act crimes are not included. The manager’s annual review of the location of the home does not include its proximity to other children’s homes and services for vulnerable adults. Therefore, it does not take into account the potential safeguarding risks posed by its location or detail the preventative measures that are required. Since the last inspection, one young person has gone missing from staff’s care on two occasions. On one of these occasions, the young person was absent for 13 days, which led to the end of his placement at the home. Staff responded appropriately to the situation and regularly went looking for him. The manager robustly challenged the placing authority’s action during the time he was missing

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Requires improvement

and arranged risk management meetings. She informed them that she could only continue to look after him if the necessary measures were taken against the individual(s) he was meeting. Otherwise, staff could not keep him safe. This was not done and the decision was taken to move the young person to a secure children’s home, which was more equipped to keep him safe in the short term. Staff use excellent positive behaviour management strategies. They build good, trusting relationships with young people and encourage them through rewards and incentives. There have been no recorded incidents of restraint since the previous inspection, and negative consequences are used sparingly. The current young person regularly has her nails manicured as a reward for attending school and is on track for a visit to Alton Towers in recognition of her achievements. The manager ensures that new staff are recruited safely before they commence

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Requires improvement

work alongside young people. An allegation against a staff member has been handled appropriately and the necessary follow-up action taken. The home’s physical and environmental checks take place within appropriate timescales. Systems in place for storing medication are robust.

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Good

The home is effectively managed by an efficient and tenacious manager. She has been registered with Ofsted since July 2015. The manager has the skills and experience for the role and is currently working towards the necessary professional qualification. Both recommendations from the previous inspections have been addressed. The manager continually strives to improve the services provided to young people. She arranges the necessary support services and agencies that are required. The manager strongly advocates for the best interests of young people. She helps them to participate in their reviews and includes them in the running of their home. She can clearly demonstrate the progress that young people make living at the home. The manager leads the staff team effectively. She is resourceful and researches strategies to share with them. The manager prioritises the development of staff and their happiness at work, to ensure continuity in the team and to reduce staff

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Good

absences. The home is properly staffed to meet the needs of the young person. Agency staff are not used, and staff are suitably trained to deliver good-quality care. Staff feel supported and valued. They receive regular supervision to guide them in their roles and discuss opportunities to further their careers. Supervisions are focused on young people’s experiences and staff’s response to their needs. The manager recognises the emotional impact on staff of working by themselves and manages this well. Communication throughout the team is excellent. The manager effectively responds to complaints and learns from them to inform the care provided at the home. The young people’s wishes and feelings are taken into account and they are made aware of the outcome. The manager ensures that all significant events relating to the welfare and protection of young people are notified to the appropriate authorities. She builds

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Good

effective working relationships with young people’s families and placing authorities to work together for positive outcomes for them. The home’s children’s guide does not provide information to children about what they should do if they are concerned about someone’s actions towards them. It states the bullying and complaints procedure, but would benefit from a section that does not come under either of these headings, in case children do not recognise abuse as bullying. The parents’ guide is not individualised to the home or young person. Consequently, young people and family members are not provided with all the necessary information.

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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 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

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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 that 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 whom 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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