Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home specialises in caring for young people who are at risk of, or who have experienced, child sexual exploitation.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2016

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are safe and become increasingly safer. Their risk-taking behaviours reduce.  Education is a strength of this home. Young people make good progress from their starting points.  Staff are ambitious for their young people and, in turn, young people become ambitious about their futures.  Staff care for their young people and build positive and trusting relationships with them. Young people invest in their placements.  Admissions and transitions are well planned.  Staff are well supported by a committed registered manager and deputy manager.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager does not receive enough good-quality supervisions.  Some young people do not have enough input in relation to their health needs.  The registered manager does not always ensure that he escalates any concerns regarding the placing authority quickly enough.  While young people’s plans are good, they do not always provide specific details regarding young people’s individual needs or contact arrangements. The impact of this is minimal because staff know the young people.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff, seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs, with particular reference to young people’s health needs. (Regulation 5(b)) 28/08/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must ensure that if they consider, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 28/08/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that the registered person must ensure that staff are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. This is with particular reference to the registered manager having access to good-quality supervision and support from the responsible individual. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(x)) 28/08/2017

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that staff help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  Ensure that care meets each child’s needs and promotes their welfare, taking into account the child’s gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, any disability, their assessed needs, previous experiences and any relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)

p.3

Recommendations

 Staff should make available in the home, information in an appropriate form Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 4 which enables children to contact their placing authority to call for a review of their care plan if they have concerns about their safety or welfare. Homes should encourage children to understand that they can speak to an independent advocate, independent reviewing officers (IROs), Ofsted inspectors or other relevant persons if they have concerns about their safety. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.1)  Ensure that the arrangements for contact and any contact details (telephone numbers, for example) are included in the placement plan and agreed between the registered person and the child’s placing authority and that they are updated regularly. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.15)

p.3

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role that they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good-quality, individualised care supports young people’s progress. While young people’s behaviour management plans lack some individualisation, staff know the young people who they care for. Because of these relationships, they are able to support young people to make good progress across all areas of their development. Staff encourage young people to start to make sense of past experiences. Key-working sessions focus on issues such as sex and relationships, keeping safe and managing emotions. Staff encourage young people to find ways of expressing their feelings, such as writing things down. A clinical team is based at the home during the week and the team members take time to get to know the young people. Staff encourage and sensitively support young people’s engagement with therapy. For example, on one occasion a key worker went with their key child to the therapy session. Because of this, the young person was more able to

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

engage. In contrast to this, some young people have not had their ‘looked after’ medicals. The registered manager has not escalated this with the placing authority. This means that some young people are missing out on important health input. Education is a strength of this home. Staff are tenacious at ensuring that young people make good progress in their education. One young person has gone from getting U grades to C+ grades in subjects at school. Staff are proud of her. Staff communicate with young people’s schools on a daily basis through diaries. Staff ensure that they seek regular feedback regarding young people’s progress. They encourage young people to engage in learning and staff are good at supporting young people to find ways to learn that meet their needs. A member of staff said, ‘ My young person likes a calm approach, a therapeutic and calm approach. I split her work and break it into short chunks to

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 5 enable her to focus more. She responds much better to regular breaks and active breaks and I have fed this back to the school.’ Young people have ambitions. For example, one young person wants to be a sports teacher when she is older. Because of her career focus, staff and her school have arranged for her to complete a personal training course at a local gym. These positive experiences support young people’s feelings of self-worth. A young person said, ‘It’s g iven me options being here. Hard to explain what it is that they do, but it is just amazing. It is like a family here. They care for me. I do loads of stuff. I love it here. I like it and want to stay here. It’s the first place I haven’t wanted to run away from.’ Young people are involved in their care. The registered manager regularly seeks young people’s feedback. He welcomes their views, wishes and feelings and acts on them.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people feel able to talk to staff. However, they do not have information to support them to make a complaint independently of staff. The registered manager regularly takes the young people out individually when they have any queries or issues in the home, and he supports the young people to understand when decisions have been made which they do not always agree with. There is a focus on talking and resolving issues early before they become larger issues. Because of this focus on communication and mediation, the home is calm. Young people enjoy relationships with one another and with their staff team. A member of staff said, ‘ This is a second home for us. It is like family here.’ Staff are good at supporting young people to see their families. Staff liaise regularly with young people’s placing authorities to arrange contact. Staff are good at finding ways of enabling young people to have fun with their families. For example, staff are facilitating

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

and supervising a beach holiday for a young person and her family. Young people get to have positive experiences with their families. Staff work hard to risk assess and ensure that contacts are safe, such as informing other agencies and making regular phone checks to young people when they are seeing their families. Staff are good at building and maintaining relationships with the important people in young people’s lives. However, contact plans do not always explicitly detail contact arrangements and the expectations of staff during contacts, such as completing phone checks. This is a recording issue only and has not had any impact on young people. Admissions and transitions are well planned and the registered manager remains focused on the needs of his young people. He has appropriately challenged placing authorities when young people’s transition plans have been poor and not suitable for young people’s individual needs. Staff encourage young people to learn skills in preparation for

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

independent living. However, these are not always documented with a clear plan in place for young people to follow. Prior to young people arriving at the home, the registered manager ensures that he has all of the necessary information and that he has met with the placing authority. Where possible, young people visit the home and have tea prior to moving in. Well-planned admissions have supported young people to settle in. A social worker said, ‘They are fantastic at the home. I was so impressed from day one. They wanted to meet with me prior to my young person arriving to make sure she was suitable. I cannot fault them. My young person has made progress in respect of education, she is thriving.’

p.5

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 6 Young people are safe and become increasingly safe. Their risk-taking behaviours reduce. On the one occasion when a young person has gone missing during a visit to their family, the registered manager and staff team liaise effectively with placing authorities and police. Staff complete preventative work with young people, such as asking them the reasons why they went missing in previous placements. Staff try to understand the triggers for young people’s risk-taking behaviours and they then take action to prevent such occurrences from happening. Staff are consistent with the rules and boundaries in the home and, in turn, young people are clear about the expectations on them. Consequently, there have been very few incidents in the home. Staff are good at building trusting relationships with young people. They invest in young people and, because of this, young people trust the staff team. Some young people have

p.6

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

felt able to share important information about their past experiences. Staff are good at working in partnership with other agencies, such as the police. They understand the importance of sharing information while maintaining their focus on the young people. Staff help young people to understand about keeping safe, grooming and child sexual exploitation. Staff are safely recruited. The registered manager has established a team that is passionate about caring for young people and supporting them. While staff receive training in areas such as equality and diversity, safeguarding and child sexual exploitation, on occasion staff do not have the opportunity for further external training. Staff work closely with the clinical team that provides them with advice and guidance to manage young people’s emotional needs. However, staff do not have enough opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge further.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a registered manager in post who is suitably qualified. A committed, skilled and knowledgeable deputy manager supports the registered manager. Out of the 12 members of staff, six are appropriately qualified. The remaining members of the staff team are enrolled onto the appropriate qualification. The registered manager invests in his staff team and young people. Both the registered manager and deputy manager ensure that they are always available to support their staff team. A member of staff said, ‘They are always at the end of the phone.’ The registered manager and deputy manager have high ambitions for the young people. They are proud of the progress the young people have made and they are proud of how committed the staff team is. The registered manager has a development plan in place and he wants the staff to develop further in the care that they provide to young people. The registered manager wants young people to have positive experiences, to be safe,

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

and to progress while they live at the home. The registered manager has supported the staff team to address previous shortfalls. New paperwork has been implemented, which provides a clear monthly review of each young person’s behaviour, risks and progress through the month. The registered manager has adapted young people’s plans so that they link in much more closely with the aims and objectives of young people’s placements. Staff find the plans helpful as they provide clear goals and guidelines. Young people’s care is well coordinated and planned, which supports good progress. The registered manager has implemented new Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 7 staff shift teams and shift patterns. This has provided young people with greater consistency. Staff recognise the improvements that the registered manager and deputy manager have made. A member of staff said, ‘The staff team here is absolutely brilliant.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

We have separate teams, but we cover for each other. Everyone is on the same page. The seniors are consistent and the handover is about the kids. On the whole, it is brilliant. The support is unreal. The managers go the extra mile to work for the kids. The registered manager works with the kids and they think a lot about that, as well.’ A strong and visible management team ensures that staff feel well supported. A member of staff said, ‘There have been changes in the staff team, but we all get on. As a staff team, we are firing on all cylinders. The little things we iron out, such as everyone being consistent. I enjoy being here. I think the managers are fantastic. I love my job.’ Supervisions are regularly completed. However, the registered manager does not receive enough good-quality supervision. The registered manager’s supervisions do not enable him to have the opportunity to reflect on staff practice and he does not receive enough

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

support or guidance. While the registered manager has attended learning events, staff do not have enough opportunity to engage in specialist learning and training relevant to their young people’s needs.

p.7

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.

p.7

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: 1159385 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian Group, 4th Floor Waterfront Building, Chancellors Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

p.8

Inspector

Hannah Bates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1159385 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

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

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9