Children's Home run by Care Haven (UK) Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 1 SC065374 Registered provider: Care Haven (UK) Ltd

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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 and accommodation for five young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned and managed.

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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: 25 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people benefit from well-planned, highly personalised care that promotes their needs very effectively and contributes to change and improvement in their lives. Young people make good progress, taking into account their individual starting points, across all aspects of their physical, social, emotional and Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 2 behavioural development.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with the families of young people, schools, health professionals and social workers to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help and support.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people enjoy warm and secure relationships with staff and sustain their positive attachments. Staff provide young people with continuity of care so that they have consistency and stability in their lives. Young people benefit from a safe, caring, highly supportive and nurturing environment. Young people are kept safe and have a strong sense of personal safety.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The safety of young people is consistently at the centre of staff practice irrespective of the challenges this presents. Staff have a good understanding of the specific needs and vulnerabilities of young people and take appropriate action to protect them.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. He makes positive use of the home’s external and internal monitoring activities and takes appropriate action to secure the home’s improvement.

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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

 The registered manager has completed an evaluative and detailed six-monthly quality of care review. The report is focused on young people’s progress, achievements and experiences. However, it does not include the lessons learned from placement breakdowns, disruptions or failures, which is a missed opportunity for the home to improve its practice.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Health and safety matters are addressed effectively. However, the stairs carpet is worn and in need of replacement.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Not all staff are trained in attachment theory and the home is overly reliant on the use of online training, which is not a substitute for face-to-face training.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/05/2016 Full Good 15/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 22/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 3

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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 they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This relates specifically to ensuring that all staff have completed all mandatory training, including face-to-face training, on attachment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislation. This relates specifically to replacing the worn carpet on the stairs. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact that the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. This relates specifically to the registered manager’s analysis of any placement breakdowns and any lessons learned from that experience. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from well-planned, highly personalised care that promotes their needs very effectively and contributes to change and improvement in their lives. Young people make good progress, taking into account their individual starting points across all aspects of their physical, social, emotional and behavioural development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy warm and secure relationships with staff and sustain their positive attachments. They benefit from continuity of care and have stability and consistency in their lives. Young people benefit from a safe, caring, highly supportive and nurturing environment. Young people report, ‘It’s just nice. The staff try to make it as comfortable as they can. It’s like a home from home, if you get what I mean. The staff are decent. They’re funny and like a family. They’re like in a combined way, the perfect mum and dad.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from effective, high-quality support from caring, committed and dedicated staff. Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with the families of young Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 4 people, schools, health professionals and social workers to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help and all-round support. A compliance officer reports: ‘The home has a very calming atmosphere… staff are open and transparent and provide excellent care for their young people. The team is very cohesive.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are effective arrangements to promote young people’s good health. Young people are registered with a doctor, a dentist and an optician and have access to these services, when they need them. Those in need of additional support have access to counselling and therapy to promote their psychological and emotional well-being. Staff provide good advice and support on key health issues and this encourages young people to live and lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Medical consent is obtained so staff are clear about what types of health decisions and responsibilities are delegated to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people attend school on a regular basis with good support and encouragement from staff. Staff work closely with school to maximise young people’s progress, achievements and learning. They consistently have high aspirations for all young people. Staff actively involve young people in constructive and enjoyable activities, such as go- karting, cinema, bowling, arcades and swimming. Young people report, ‘Staff try to keep us occupied.’ Young people receive the support they need to have contact with their friends and families. Consequently, they sustain their close relationships with the people who are most important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are able to influence and make a positive contribution to the running of the home. Staff actively involve young people in key decisions and will act on their reasonable requests. Young people know how to make a complaint and their rights are promoted effectively. There have been no complaints since the last inspection. Young people report: ‘I’m a completely different person now because of the staff. They’ve helped me cope with so many things… the staff here have always been there for me. Staff have been absolutely amazing.’

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

The safety of young people is consistently at the centre of staff practice, irrespective of the challenges this presents. Staff have a good understanding of their specific needs and vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address them. Risks associated with young people are well known and understood by staff. Young people become increasingly safer as result of the actions staff take to support and protect them. The use of clear risk assessments and proactive safe working practice contribute to the well-being and safety of young people.

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

Young people rarely go missing. However, when they do, there are effective procedures and arrangements to locate young people quickly and encourage their safe return. The home maintains highly effective partnerships with the police, social workers and other safeguarding agencies to promote the safety and well-being of young people. Significant incidents are notified promptly to the appropriate authorities charged with a duty to protect young people. Young people are protected from abuse and all other forms of significant harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 5 Staff are trained in child protection, so they know how to deal with allegations and report suspected abuse. There have been no allegations or referrals to children and young people’s services since the last inspection. Staff employed to work with vulnerable young people are selected and vetted very carefully to ensure that young people are protected

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

from unsuitable people. Visitors to the home are closely chaperoned and there is strict and suitable monitoring of such people.

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

Staff work closely with young people to ensure that they know how to keep themselves safe from harm. Staff regularly share information with young people to promote their awareness of risk and to encourage their responsible and safe behaviour. Young people are kept safe and have a strong sense of personal safety.

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

Staff have high expectations of young people and their behaviour. They provide young people with appropriate boundaries that actively encourage their positive behaviour. Staff consistently praise young people’s positive behaviour and ensure that negative behaviours are appropriately challenged and addressed. They work closely with young people to repair relationships, develop empathy, and establish ownership of behaviour. Young people report, ‘I like it that the staff are strict. They are strict but they will bend the rules a bit… they’re helpful. I like the way they care.’

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

Consequences for managing unacceptable behaviour are fair and proportionate. Most sanctions used are restorative in nature and these encourage young people to reflect on their behaviour and any wrong-doing. The use of restraint, if used at all, is only ever used to protect young people from suffering actual harm. Young people report, ‘They have helped me a lot with my anger and little things like the word no… when I first came I was spending most of my time being restrained. I would smash and break things all of the time and I mean everything. Now I can actually control myself more. I still have blips but not that often.’

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

The home provides young people with a physically safe, appropriately secure, warm, comfortable and homely environment. However, the carpet on the stairs is now showing signs of wear and tear. This is in need of being replaced in keeping with the good standard of the accommodation otherwise provided. Health and safety matters are addressed effectively to ensure the safety of staff, visitors and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from strong, ambitious and enthusiastic leadership. The home employs a well-qualified and experienced registered manager and deputy, who together demonstrate effective and strong leadership of the day-to-day operation of the home. They stimulate staff’s enthusiasm and ensure that the team’s efforts are channelled effectively. They ensure that staff meet the aims and objectives as set out in the home’s statement of purpose in delivering a good-quality service for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular professional supervision. This ensures that they are routinely supported in the work that they perform. The registered manager ensures that staff are Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 6 well supported, managed and led. He provides them with clear purpose and direction and ensures that they share and implement the home’s ethos, approach and philosophy in caring for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have access to relevant and appropriate training that enables them to meet the specific needs of the young people, such as managing behaviour, child protection, self- harm and caring for traumatised children. However, not all staff are trained in attachment theory to develop their knowledge and awareness of earlier childhood trauma and its impact on young people. Additionally, the home is overly reliant on the use of online training. While this is beneficial, it is not a substitute for face-to-face training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are sufficient staff employed to meet the needs and numbers of young people that currently live at the home. However, there are staff shortages and the recruitment of additional staff is ongoing. Should occupancy levels increase, this would put a strain on existing staffing and resources and could jeopardise the good outcomes being achieved. Consequently, the registered manager is reluctant to take any new admissions at this time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has completed an evaluative and detailed six-monthly quality of care review. The report is focused on young people’s progress, achievements and experiences. However, it does not include the lessons learned from placement breakdowns, disruptions or failures, which is a missed opportunity for the home to improve its practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The performance of the home is monitored effectively. An independent person visits the home on a monthly basis to review the quality of young people’s care and the arrangements to safeguard them and promote their well-being. The registered manager makes good use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities and takes action to secure improvement.

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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: SC065374 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Haven (UK) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o Stephen Glicher & Co, Eden Point, Three Acres Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 6RL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Patricia Swallow

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065374 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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