Children's Home run by Crystal Care Solutions Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 1 SC460800 Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately run and managed.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 December 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 outstanding

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 All admissions to this home are well planned. Young people are admitted in a controlled and positive way. The registered manager ensures that young people are appropriately placed and matched. Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 2  Young people benefit from effective, high-quality support from staff. 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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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff consistently ensure that the views of young people are central to all aspects of their practice. Young people are able to influence and make a positive contribution towards the running of their home. Young people are involved in all aspects of care planning and daily living.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Risks associated with young people are well known and understood by staff. The use of clear risk assessment, combined with proactive safe-working practice, promote the safety and well-being of young people. Young people are kept safe, and have a very strong sense of personal safety.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home benefits from a suitably qualified, well-trained and experienced registered manager who demonstrates strong and effective leadership of the operation of the home. The registered manager leads staff by example, and she channels their efforts effectively. Staff are well managed, supported and led.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager makes good use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities. She has a very good understanding of the home’s strengths, and takes action to tackle any identified weaknesses 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

 There are effective arrangements for monitoring the performance of the home. However, the home’s independent monitoring programme lacks appropriate consultation with the relevant people. Additionally, the reports do not include the independent visitor’s impartial and professional opinion as to whether the care provided by the home safeguards young people effectively and promotes their well-being.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/10/2016 Full Good 16/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24). This relates specifically to ensuring that there is independent consultation with stakeholders, staff and young people, and that the independent person routinely reports on the arrangements to safeguard young people and promote their well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Admissions to the home are well planned. Young people are admitted in a controlled and positive way. The registered manager completes detailed risk impact assessments which assess the needs of young people carefully, and ensure that they are appropriately placed and matched.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress taking into account their individual starting points, across all aspects of their physical, social, emotional and behavioural development. They benefit from well-planned, highly individualised care that promotes their needs effectively and contributes to change and improvement in their lives. One young person commented, ‘It’s one of the best homes I’ve been in. I absolutely love this house.’ A social worker reported, ‘It’s a brilliant placement… my young person needed a safe space and they provided a safe space for him. I have nothing but good things to say about the placement.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide young people with continuity of care so they have consistency and stability in their lives. Young people develop a sense of permanence and belonging. Young people are kept safe and feel safe. They have a very strong sense of personal safety. Young people enjoy warm and secure relationships with carers, and benefit from the high-quality support provided. Young people have positive relationships with staff, who provide appropriate role models. One young person commented, ‘It’s better than any other home I’ve lived in. I’ve lived in three different children’s homes before. Staff here are more caring and supportive. The team we’ve got now just works, and the kids just get on with the staff… I think I’ve found my place. It’s like one big happy family… It’s pure fun. It’s absolutely brilliant.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Effective arrangements are in place to promote the young people’s good health. Medical consent is obtained, and staff are clear about what types of health decisions and responsibilities are delegated to them. Young people are registered with doctors, Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 4 dentists and opticians, and have access to these services when they need them. Additionally, they have access to regular therapy to promote their emotional and psychological well-being. Therapy enables young people to make sense of their earlier childhood experiences, and it provides them with the support they need to work through their own feelings, emotions and behaviours safely. The home maintains highly effective partnerships with young people’s therapists to support their therapeutic journey and recovery.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A therapist said, ‘I think it’s brilliant. I have noticed that staff work well together as a team and ensure that the young people’s needs are met. In terms of their learning there’s been attachment and good lives training. The manager in particular has a really good history of working within trauma services. You can see how they really invest in the children. The children here are safe and they thrive in that safety.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s education is prioritised effectively. They are actively encouraged to attend some form of education, and receive the support they need to promote their regular attendance, educational achievement and learning. The home works very closely with the providers of young people’s education to maximise their progress and learning. Young people make good progress in education and training, and in gaining work experience, taking into account their starting points. Staff consistently have high aspirations for young people. They support young people in achieving their training and educational goals, and their career aspirations. A headteacher commented, ‘The staff are friendly, well informed and proactive in supporting the young people in their care. They work well with the school staff, and communication and contact is excellent. They also consider lifelong learning, volunteering/work experience placements for the young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home proactively supports family contact for young people, even when they live a long way from home. Staff will travel long distances to facilitate contact taking place, including supervising contact if needed, to ensure it is a safe and positive experience for everyone. As a result, young people 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

The home provides young people with a broad range of constructive and positive activities, both at home and in the wider community. Young people enjoy gaming, camping, clothes shopping, trampolining and bike riding. Young people’s specific interests, talents and hobbies are supported and encouraged.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently ensure that the views of young people are central to all aspects of their practice. They ensure that young people are able to influence and make a positive contribution towards their care and the running of the home. For example, young people are actively involved in all aspects of care planning, risk management and daily living. Consequently, they feel well informed, appropriately valued and involved. Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 5

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

Staff consistently place the safety and well-being of young people at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges this presents. Staff have an excellent understanding of the young people’s specific needs and vulnerabilities, and take appropriate action to address them. The use of robust risk assessments and proactive safe-working practice promotes the safety and well-being of young people.

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

Young people are kept safe and feel safe. They become increasingly safer as a result of the actions that staff take to support and protect them. There have been no episodes of young people going missing since the last inspection; however, there are well-known procedures and arrangements in place to locate young people quickly, should they do so.

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

Staff proactively promote the safety of young people. They maintain highly effective partnerships with schools, social workers, therapists and other professional agencies to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help, protection and all-round support. There is evidence that young people make significant progress against their plans, which results in sustained improvement in their lives.

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

Therapy, combined with individually tailored support programmes (ICOPEs), enable young people to work towards their independence and unsupervised free time. This is a slow and very well controlled process that is part of a multi-agency approach. There are four stages to this process, with the outcome of each stage carefully reviewed and monitored. The ethos of the programme is about young people’s successful reintegration into the community, rather than the restriction of their liberty or containment. One young person reported, ‘We get to see our risk assessments and have a lot of involvement in them. Risk assessments are about our safety. They are there for our and other people’s safety. I earn privileges to go out on my own and meet my friends.’

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

Young people benefit from a highly supportive, caring and nurturing environment that supports their safety, self-regulation, resilience, happiness and emotional well-being. Staff are trained in child protection, and know how to deal with allegations and report suspected abuse. Young people are protected from abuse and all other forms of significant harm.

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

Staff employed are selected and vetted carefully to ensure that young people are protected from unsuitable people. Visitors to the home are closely chaperoned, and there is strict and suitable monitoring of such people. Significant incidents are reported to the appropriate authorities so that appropriate action can be taken to keep young people safe from harm.

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

No complaints or concerns were raised by young people during this inspection. Young people know how to make a complaint, and their rights are promoted effectively. Staff create a warm and nurturing environment where positive behaviour is consistently praised, acknowledged and reinforced. Consequences to address negative behaviour are fair and proportionate, and the use of sanctions is kept to an absolute minimum. Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 6 The use of restraint is rare and, if used at all, it is only ever used as a last resort to keep young people safe and protect them from actual harm. The existence of high-quality relationships and mutual respect between staff and young people provides the foundations for resolving conflicts positively.

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

Young people benefit from a physically safe, appropriately secure, warm, comfortable and homely environment. Health and safety matters are addressed effectively. The home provides a safe and suitable environment for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a suitably qualified, well-trained and experienced registered manager who demonstrates strong and effective leadership of the operation of the home. The registered manager provides staff with clear purpose and direction. She ensures that staff are managed professionally, and are well supported and led.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular team meetings and have regular practice-related supervision. They have appraisal of their practice to guide and support them in the work that they routinely perform. They benefit from high-quality training, which enables them to meet the complex and specific needs of the young people. They receive weekly training from well-qualified, trained and experienced therapists. This enables staff to develop their skills and knowledge about attachment and trauma, the good lives model, emotional regulation and effective risk management. Additionally, therapists have individual and regular team briefings with the staff team to discuss and review each young person’s progress and any specific work needed to help and support them. A therapist reported, ‘The care team are interested in developing their own practice in order to improve outcomes for the young people. In my view, they are recognising the importance of their

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

role and how this feeds into therapeutic work.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home clearly meets the aims and objectives as set out in its statement of purpose. The home delivers a high-quality service for young people, and can clearly demonstrate the impact and positive difference it has made to their lives. The home consistently strives to achieve the best outcomes possible for young people, and ensures that their needs are prioritised and met. The home maintains highly effective partnerships with the families of young people, social workers, therapists and all other professional agencies to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help, protection and all-round support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager uses feedback from quality monitors to inform and improve the services and facilities that the home provides for young people. The feedback received is consistently positive and a credit to the staff and the home. The home is visited, each month, by an independent person who scrutinises the performance of the home and reviews the standard and quality of young people’s care. Following each visit, a written report is produced on the conduct of the home. This enables the registered manager to have a good knowledge and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 7 The registered manager makes positive use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities to eradicate any weaknesses, and to secure the home’s improvement. However, independent monitoring activities lack appropriate consultation with the relevant people. Additionally, the reports do not include a judgement as to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

whether, in the independent person’s professional opinion, the care provided safeguards young people and promotes their well-being. A recommendation is therefore made in respect of this issue.

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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: SC460800 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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