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

Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 1 SC456532 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for two children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home forms part of a large social care company.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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Good

How well children and young people are helped and protected Good

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Good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Good

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Good

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

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Good

Date of last inspection: 1 February 2017

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people make good progress living at the home. This is because they experience stability in their lives and are cared for by competent and consistent staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 2  Young people enjoy trusted relationships with staff and with each other, and they are settled and happy at the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Having completed and passed their exams, the young people have been supported by the staff to secure further education or work placements.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people enjoy a range of activities, specific to their interests, and enjoy spending time with the staff and each other.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are listened to. Their views are regularly sought and acted upon by the staff.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people value the support that they receive from the staff and others, particularly in relation to their emotional well-being, education and physical health needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people, over time, understand the impact of their behaviour on other people. Their social and relationship skills are improved.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Partnership working is good. In-house therapy and other agencies are available to the young people. These are used to good effect to provide additional services to support the young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The period when young people are moving into the home or moving on to adult provisions is well thought through and managed.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff help young people to have the skills for adulthood at a pace that matches young people’s needs and abilities.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are safe and feel safe. The staff have a good understanding about relevant policy, procedure and their individual responsibilities to safeguard the young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager is an effective leader who leads by example. She is child-focused and persistent in pursuing the best outcomes for the young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff feel supported, informed and educated through regular training and supervision related to their roles.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Although staff have an annual appraisal, some appraisals are yet to be completed.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There is not a sufficient audit trail for all areas of recording.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children looked after plans need updating. Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 3  Return home interviews following young people’s missing from home incidents are not consistently provided.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/01/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 4

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Statutory requirement

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)) 30/09/2017

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Recommendation

 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 must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should 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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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people who have lived at the home for a significant period of time are settled and make very good progress. They continue to develop routines and are improving their life chances and their personal and social skills. Those young people who have recently arrived at the home are developing relationships and are settling into the home’s routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Collectively, the staff commented on the importance of close relationships, and how they underpin the kind of support that the young people need. A staff member said, ‘I have a Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 5 good, open relationship with the young people.’ Another staff member spoke of how just listening to young people during car journeys, going for walks or playing games can open their eyes to being more approachable. This was evident in observations made during the inspection of positive interactions between the young people and the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of the home is the nurturing, caring relationships that young people enjoy with the staff and with each other. Staff practice is encouraging and supportive. The young people flourish because of their positive attachments to staff. Staff make sure that young people’s experiences are full of laughter, fun and opportunities to create positive memories. This is evident in scrap books produced of young people’s time at the home and photographic collages of young people’s early life experiences and times spent with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people feel listened to. Staff understand the importance of helping young people to make choices and decisions about their lives. One-to-one discussions, group meetings and daily chats are commonplace throughout the day-to-day care practices. As a result, young people are able to express their views on all aspects of their lives and life at the home. This helps to build their abilities to express themselves as well as to develop their self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are positive about their experiences at the home and one young person told the inspector, ‘I am settled here and enjoy living in the home. My staff are all very supportive and we do lots of things together and have a laugh.’ Another young person says, ‘It’s good here and I am settling in and I like all of the staff.’ And a parent response described her son’s placement as ‘absolutely brilliant’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have fully appreciated their activities during the summer holidays. Activities and trips away have been enjoyed and these have been specific to the young people’s individual interests. With young people having taken and passed their exams, one young person is looking forward to his college course and another young person is to commence higher education combined with a work experience placement. Young people have had their chosen career paths met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have access to specialist internal and external help. The organisation has its own team of therapists, who are available to the young people as and when needed. One young person has benefited from external counselling sessions, which helped him to understand and cope with setbacks in his life. The organisation’s clinician regularly attends the staff team meetings. This is to discuss young people’s behaviours or presenting issues with the staff in their management of young people. As a result, the staff understand the importance of improving young people’s emotional, social and psychological well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s physical health needs are managed well. The staff encourage young people to lead a healthy lifestyle and keep fit, and they provide, or educate young people to have, a nutritious and balanced diet. Appointments at the local health services are attended by young people and recorded in their plans, for monitoring purposes. All medication at the home is stored securely, administered safely and accountable in the Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 6 records kept by the home. Young people are joining the manager and staff in a memory walk to raise awareness of dementia and collect money through sponsorship for the local charity event.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Following the last inspection, one young person has moved on from the home. This was supported by staff in a planned way that was requested by the young person. He regularly keeps in touch with the staff and is settled in his own placing authority. A celebration of his time at the home was enjoyed with an evening out dining at his chosen restaurant and having fun participating with the staff in karaoke. The young person’s scrap book was presented to him, demonstrating his time spent at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person has moved into the home and confirmed that she visited the home prior to moving in and received all of the information about the services that the home provides. This provided opportunities for the young people to meet each other and staff to assess their compatibility. A ‘welcome to your new home’ card and gift was purchased by the young person who was already living at the home and presented to the new young person on her arrival at the home. The relationships between the young people are strong, and they are helpful towards each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage young people to learn independence skills, and this is a routine of the home set within agreed plans for the young people. Young people cook, clean their bedrooms, do their own laundry, use public transport and develop budgeting skills. This means that young people are better prepared for living independently in the future. Transitions to future placements are managed well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from having agreed contact with friends and family who are important to them. Staff go out of their way to make everyone feel comfortable during contact visits. This helps young people to feel relaxed. Staff act as any reasonable parent would do and have delegated authority. They know the young people’s friends and families well. This allows young people to enjoy overnight stays with their friends and family.

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

Young people feel safe at the home, and they have become safer as a result of the actions of staff. Managers and staff understand the role of the designated officer should an allegation be made. They continue to have positive relationships with other safeguarding professionals. Training is completed and regularly refreshed in areas such as around child sexual exploitation, radicalisation, self-harm and sexualised behaviour. This has enhanced staff knowledge and skills in relation to safeguarding. The pros and cons of social media and internet use are known by staff and this knowledge assists them to monitor and keep young people safe when online.

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

Although there have been occasions when young people have been missing from the home, this has significantly decreased since the last inspection. The staff are very clear about the actions to take should this occur. Each young person has their own risk management plan, dependent on their assessed level of vulnerability and risk. The police Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 7 are sent a risk assessment, including a photograph, when a young person is admitted to the home, so that they can act quickly in response to any incidents or risk that young people pose.

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

On previous occasions when young people have been missing, a return home interview with them has not always taken place. This has prevented the sharing of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child.

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

Over time, young people have significantly improved their behaviours. Reflective work through key-working sessions enables young people to regulate their thoughts and emotions, and this has led to improvements in their behaviour. Staff provide consistent expectations and boundaries, while encouraging young people to understand the consequences of their actions and any impact that their behaviour may have on others. One young person has significantly reduced his verbal outbursts, and damage to property is minimal. Consequently, there has not been a need to use any physical intervention.

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

Sanctions are fair and agreed with the young people and monitored by the manager for their effectiveness. Positive rewards are used alongside incentive charts. Special allowances, certificates and monetary rewards are used to celebrate young people’s achievements and success. This is notable in the records kept for the young people, where positive attitude, behaviour and achievements in education have been recognised and rewarded.

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

Regular and comprehensive health and safety checks ensure that the home is a safe environment. Fire evacuation drills teach young people and staff what action to take in the event of a fire. Visitors are told about the fire evacuation procedure and assembly point. New young people or new staff arriving at the home undergo a full fire evacuation drill, which is recorded in the records kept by the home. The manager completes an annual review of the location of the home to ensure that any wider risks are assessed to help secure young people’s safety within the community.

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

Staff recruitment processes are thorough. All checks are appropriately completed, and the individual’s attitude and approach to young people is carefully assessed prior to a job offer being made. The manager described her involvement in the recruitment process and a new staff member confirmed that he did not start work at the home until all checks had been returned. Records show all required recruitment checks are in place.

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

Young people told the inspector that the home is just like a family home environment and is spacious and comfortable. They have chosen their decorations and furnishings in their bedrooms and there are plenty of books, games, arts and crafts available to them at the home. There are no outstanding repairs and the new flooring for the conservatory has been ordered. Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 8

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably experienced and qualified registered manager, who is qualified in the level 5 diploma for residential childcare in leadership and management. She has been in post for seven years and has effective leadership skills. The registered manager is also responsible for another two homes within the organisation. She is supported by a competent, experienced and qualified first line manager. Together, they are child-focused and persistent in pursuing the best outcomes for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the management team at the home. They attend regular team meetings and confirm that these provide ample opportunities to review and reflect on practice. Staff records show regular and effective supervision is carried out. Staff practice is appraised annually, although some staff appraisals are yet to be completed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are either qualified to an appropriate level or are enrolled and undertaking the relevant qualification (this applies to two new staff members). This will ensure that all staff are appropriately qualified in the timescale required by regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two of the three requirements made at the last inspection have now been met. The registered manager sent Ofsted an action plan to show the steps that she had taken to meet compliance with regulation. There is now a clear understanding that all significant incidents have to be reported to Ofsted without delay. There are no risks of young people harming each other. Staff have discussed consistent strategies to deploy should young people resort to play fighting. This is not an issue as one young person has now moved on from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has escalated her concerns with senior leaders in the placing authority. For example, she has challenged the local authority to ensure that they complete return home interviews when a young person returns from an episode of going missing. And she has made representation to senior leaders in relation to sending the home updated children looked after documentation. The responses to these challenges will be monitored by Ofsted for their effectiveness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s plans for young people are up to date. Placement plans are reviewed regularly and young people have their own ‘My care plan’. However, in some of the records at the home, duplication is evident and some areas of recording do not leave a sufficient audit trail. Duplication in records has created unnecessary work and does not allow for better use of benchmark data to track individual young people’s progress during the period that they live at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team has systems in place to check the quality of care provided to the young people. There is a development plan to improve the experiences and outcomes for the young people. However, the development plan and the six-monthly review of the quality of care would benefit from being more specific, with clear goals showing actions taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person monitors and reports on the progress of the home each month. Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 9 Consideration is given to how the home meets the aims and objectives as outlined in the statement of purpose document. This external oversight helps the home to develop and maintain good standards of care. The registered manager takes action to tackle any areas that the independent person identifies for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s approach to equality and diversity is good. Staff were observed to be open in their discussions with the young people. This creates an inclusive culture for young people and staff. There are regular themed displays in the home that tackle current social issues and characteristics representing diversity. These measures ensure that the young people have a strong awareness of difference, and see it as something to be proud of.

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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 differences 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 whom 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: SC456532 10

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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 Group, 4th Floor Waterfront Building, Chancellors Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

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Inspector

Mark Kersh: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456532 11 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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