Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 1 SC444352 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home has a block contract with a local authority.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 1 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff have been unable to keep some young people consistently safe due to their complex behaviours. Some young people’s safety has been compromised by other young people’s behaviours and needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Poor planning and pre-admission risk assessments have affected young people’s progress, experiences and feelings of safety.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Partnership working with other agencies has not always been robust. This is in relation to the matching of young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Poor matching of young people has led to some young people having to leave the home in an emergency or in an unplanned way. This potentially compromises their emotional well-being.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are not consistently involved in the plans that affect them.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leaders and managers have not resolved shortfalls highlighted in previous inspections. This specifically relates to assessments and admissions of new young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are committed to the young people in their care. Staff have worked tenaciously to try to keep young people safe, despite being presented with crisis situations and highly complex behaviours.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There is a new manager in post who has taken some action to identify shortfalls. She has appropriately escalated her concerns with placing authorities.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 10/05/2016 Full Requires improvement 03/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 12/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children and uses this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1) and (2) (b) (iv)) 19/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; and

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2) (a) (iv) and (b)) 19/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps young people to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that they understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 19/06/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 4 (Regulation 13 (1) and (2) (a) (f)) The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1) and (2) (b) (i)) 19/06/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes must take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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improvement to be good

Some young people make some progress living in this home. However, poor matching of young people has led to a period of significant instability. This has had an impact on young people’s progress and experiences due to an increase in physical aggression and assaults on staff. For some young people, this negatively affected their emotional well- being and resulted in them feeling unsafe in their home.

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improvement to be good

Poor planning of young people’s placements has led to staff being unable to provide high-quality, planned and personalised care consistently. On occasion, young people’s plans lack their involvement or input. This hinders the effectiveness of behaviour management strategies as they lack personalisation. Due to the complexity of some young people’s needs, this has meant that these strategies have not always been effective.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage young people in good-quality key work sessions. Staff talk openly with young people about their feelings, emotions and behaviours. While staff have been victims of serious physical assaults, they have continued to remain committed to the young people and provide them with nurturing care and support. Mediation work is a strength of the home. Young people see that they are cared for and that staff stand by them. This has encouraged young people to start to take responsibility for their previous Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 5 behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not always experience well-planned transitions from the home. Since the interim inspection, two young people have experienced unplanned placement moves due to significant incidents. This does not support young people’s emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

Some young people make progress in their education. A dedicated education worker encourages and supports young people. She liaises closely with education providers and helps to implement individualised strategies and plans. This supports young people’s learning and achievement. One young person has done exceptionally well with their reading, resulting in their reading age significantly increasing. Although there has been a period of instability within the home due to poor matching, one young person has started to stabilise and settle again. In recent weeks, she has attended school and engaged with learning. Staff have worked hard to encourage the young person to re- engage and re-invest in her relationships with staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff try to engage young people in activities. They encourage young people to become involved in the running of the home. For example, one young person has completed an ‘equality and diversity board’ in the home and staff have recently bought her a trampoline at her request.

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improvement to be good

Poor pre-admission assessments have led to poor matching of young people and consequently an increase in significant incidents in the home. Some young people’s complex needs, and levels of physical aggression and violence, have had an impact on other young people’s feelings of safety in the home. Young people have been involved in, and witness to, physical assaults on one another and staff. On occasion, despite significant efforts, staff have been unable to manage the levels of violence and safeguard everyone involved. This has resulted in increased reliance on the police for managing challenging and complex situations.

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improvement to be good

Young people have not always felt safe because of other young people’s behaviours. On one occasion, this resulted in some young people running away from the home. On other occasions, this has led to some young people joining in with aggressive behaviours due to feeling scared. When young people run away, staff follow them and try to return them safely to the home. Young people do not always have the opportunity to speak to someone independent of the home after they have run away. When young people do have ‘return interviews’, the manager does not always seek feedback regarding whether any concerns or other important information has been raised. This reduces her ability to safeguard young people in the future.

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improvement to be good

After incidents, staff ensure that they complete debriefs with young people regarding the young person’s behaviours. Risk management plans are regularly updated and incorporate input from the clinical team. The manager and staff have taken steps to learn from recent admissions. The manager is committed to making sure that they Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 6 complete pre-admission assessments more rigorously and plan admissions much more thoroughly in future.

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improvement to be good

Partnership working is a strength of this home. Staff work closely with the therapy team to try to understand young people’s behaviours and implement appropriate behaviour management strategies. However, some young people were placed in the home during a period of emotional crisis. This has meant that staff have not been able to safely manage some young people’s behaviours. Although there has been a very unsettled period in the home, staff say that they feel well supported. Team meetings focus on providing staff with appropriate training in young people’s needs, emotions and behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a new manager in post. She was appointed as manager in February 2017. Prior to this, she was the deputy manager in the home. She is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted. She is a qualified social worker and is enrolled on the level 5 diploma in leadership and management. Out of the 11 members of staff, four are appropriately qualified, the others are working towards this. All staff are trained in first aid. There are currently four staff vacancies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management oversight in respect of admissions and matching has been poor. This has been an area of concern in previous inspections. Leaders and managers have not learned from previous experiences regarding poor pre-admission assessments and a lack of rigour regarding matching. This has detrimentally affected young people’s safety, experiences and progress. Since being in post, the new manager has been proactive in escalating her concerns to senior managers within the placing authority. The manager has taken action to address concerns regarding admission planning. However, since the interim inspection, two young people have had unplanned and emergency transitions from the home. This does not support their emotional well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The new manager provides good support to her staff team. Despite the staff experiencing a very difficult time due to the complex behaviours of some young people, they say that they feel supported. One staff member said, ‘The manager has been great and has helped me deal with situations differently.’ Supervisions are frequent. The manager is committed to developing the staff team and providing them with good- quality support and training. The clinical team has been actively involved in supporting and training the staff team, which staff have found useful. Staff are starting to embed the therapeutic approaches into everyday practice. They are delivering the objectives outlined in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is aware of the strengths and areas for development of the home. She has appropriately escalated concerns with other professionals when young people have not had access to the services that they need. The manager is reflective and wants to integrate the learning from recent admissions and young people’s placements into the development of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison Blyth-Bishop

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Inspectors

Hannah Bates: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC444352 9 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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