Children's Home run by Crystal Care Solutions Limited in Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 1 SC367551 Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited Company Number 05952454 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered for up to three children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 September 2017

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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: 19 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager plans well for new admissions. This ensures that young people who are new to the home quickly settle.  Staff members‟ positive approach to education means that young people quickly Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 2 overcome barriers to engaging with education and make significant progress.  Young people develop excellent relationships with staff.  Staff promote positive behaviour and encourage young people to take responsibility for their own actions.  Caring and attentive staff provide young people with emotional warmth.  Good relationships between staff and partner agencies ensure that young people receive a coordinated approach to their care.  Staff support young people to develop the skills that they need for adulthood.

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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

 Staff have not ensured that they receive copies of key documents such as the local authority care plans.  Staff have been unsuccessful in supporting young people to stop smoking.  Decoration and maintenance are required in some parts of the home.  Some risk assessments do not provide clear guidance to staff on how to keep young people safe when they are online.  Staff use bedroom door alarms indiscriminately.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/04/2016 Full Good 10/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/06/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 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 registered person must ensure that any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises— is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home is necessary and proportionate, is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the appropriateness of using bedroom door alarms needs to be fully considered and kept under review. 17/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that they obtain copies of local authority care plans, looked after children review minutes and education and healthcare plans. 17/11/2017

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Recommendations

 For children‟s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of the children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, the registered provider should ensure that in a timely manner, maintenance and decoration required in relation to the garden fence, stairs carpet and lounge door are completed.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risk to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any risks on a day-to-day basis. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 42, paragraph 9.5) In particular, the registered provider should ensure that risk assessments provide staff with up-to-date and clear Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 4 guidance on how to keep young people safe, particularly when on the internet.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being. Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health including tobacco use. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager is successful at planning for the arrival of new admissions. This means that staff have a solid understanding of the needs of the young person before they arrive. Visits to the home before admission help to ensure that young people are less anxious when they move in. This means that a new young person is able to quickly settle and start to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people experience good routines, including having good school attendance. Staff support young people who have struggled to attend school to re-engage. An independent reviewing officer told the inspector that, „[young person] never used to attend education but the home got him back into education. They worked closely with the college to achieve this.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are all positive about staff. One young person told the inspector, „It is like living with a family.‟ Another young person said, „Staff are good. They listen to me. They put things in place for me if I need it.‟ Young people feel that staff know them well and care for them and this provides young people with a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of the emotional health needs of young people. For example, staff recognised that one young person struggled to settle at night time. Staff introduced a night-time routine, which included playing games and talking. This allowed the young person to feel safe and secure before he went to sleep.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to learn the skills they need for adulthood. On a day-to-day basis, staff encourage young people to cook and perform basic chores. For those young people on the pathway to independence, more focused work, such as budgeting, prepares them for leaving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have not managed to get young people to stop smoking. Staff are unsuccessful in encouraging young people to use nicotine replacement products.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people describe the home as being nice and homely. The home has benefited from refurbishment over the last 12 months. Despite this, there is room for further improvement. In particular, the stairs carpet is old and faded, the garden fence is falling down, and one of the couches has a rip. Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 5

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

Young people, who have in the past self-harmed, no longer feel the need to.

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

One young person told the inspector, „When I am out of the house, I look forward to going back.‟ This sense of belonging means that young people rarely go missing. A social worker said, „The progress made by [the young person] has been really good. He is a lot more settled with only one missing episode, which is a big improvement.‟ When young people do go missing, staff take decisive action. This reduces the potential risk that young people can be exposed to.

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

Staff use incentive charts and spontaneous rewards to promote positive behaviour. This is successful and young people are generally well behaved. When young people do make a mistake, staff use a restorative approach to address this. For example, staff have planned that a young person will help fix the damage he has recently caused to his bedroom wall. This means that young people learn to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

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

Staff have a good understanding of young people‟s vulnerability to child sexual exploitation. Staff work with partner agencies to share information and plan how to keep young people safe. Staff use specialist services to support young people to learn how to make safe choices.

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

Some young people have unrestricted access to the internet. Although this may be appropriate for their age, risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance on how to monitor the potential risk.

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

Staff use alarms on bedroom doors to monitor young people‟s movements. Staff do not fully assess why such measures are necessary to meet the young people‟s needs or review their effectiveness. The use of such measures restricts young people‟s free movement and privacy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since September 2015 and holds a suitable qualification. The child-focused registered manager uses monitoring systems to good effect. This means that he has a good knowledge of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision and training. This supports them to understand how best to meet the needs of young people. As a result, staff are successful at providing young people with personalised care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has developed good links with schools and local authorities. This ensures that a collaborative approach to meeting the needs of young people is achieved. One social worker told the inspector, „I have a good working relationship with the home; we make decisions together.‟ However, the registered manager has not used this partnership to ensure that staff have access to key documents such as care plans or Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 6 education and healthcare plans.

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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: SC367551 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited Company Number 05952454

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Bank House, Market Square, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 1ET

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC367551 8 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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