Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in North Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 1 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

This is a privately run children’s home. It provides care for up to four children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. This home caters specifically for children or young people who have been subjected to child sexual exploitation. Education is provided on site.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 20 November 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home has been subject to a suspension of registration since the last full inspection. This ended on 18 February 2018. Compliance notices were issued in relation to the protection of children standard, the leadership and management standard, the positive relationships standard and regulation 16. These notices were all considered to have been met following a monitoring inspection on 15 February 2018. Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 More time is needed to demonstrate that the improvement in the ability of staff to engage the young people in attending health appointments can be sustained.  The young people have not yet started to develop an understanding of healthy, nurturing relationships.  The manager needs to display her ability to challenge placing authorities and others in the interests of young people. She needs to demonstrate action when she recognises that the home cannot meet a young person’s needs.  Full information sharing with partners must be maintained in order to protect young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team has undertaken a full programme of training in relevant subjects, such as advanced child sexual exploitation, safeguarding, restorative behaviour management and risk analysis. The increased knowledge of the staff is starting to be evident in improving the standards of practice.  The manager has reviewed all aspects of the service. She has introduced child- friendly care plans, strengthened supervision arrangements and ensured that staff are engaged in continuing professional development. These changes have strengthened the quality of service being delivered to the young people.  The manager and staff are establishing clear expectations and routines for young people from the start of their placements. This helps to give young people, many of whom have experienced chaotic lives, a sense of security. The young people learn what is expected of them and it is leading to improved engagement in education.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/11/2017 Full Inadequate 18/08/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 24/04/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/11/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 3

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Recommendations

 When the placing authority or another relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, the home must challenge them to meet the child’s needs (see regulations 5(c)). Staff should act as champions for their children, expecting nothing less than a good parent would. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations and quality standards’, page 12 paragraph 2.8)  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child’s day-to-day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations and quality standards’, page 33 paragraph 7.3)  Staff should understand and help children to understand what makes a healthy,

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Recommendations

nurturing relationship. Staff should be skilled to recognise the signs and provide support to children in danger of or involved in exploitative or damaging relationships with others and where possible prevent these types of relationships. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations and quality standards’, page 39 paragraph 8.10)  The home’s procedures must take into account the views of appropriate local services and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing person’s incidents in the area where the home is located. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations and quality standards’ page 45 paragraph 9.29) Specifically, the home should provide the police with full information about any young person as soon as possible after they are admitted. This is to ensure that the police can respond swiftly in the event that a vulnerable young person goes missing.

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improvement to be good

A number of measures have been taken to improve practice at the home since the last full inspection. These are beginning to impact positively on the experiences and safeguarding of the young people.

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improvement to be good

Although placements are relatively new, there are signs of warm relationships being developed between the young people and staff. Staff are alert to the experiences of young people, and are investing time in listening to them and building up trust. Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 4 The manager, staff team and company education staff are working together to establish clear routines around attendance in education. One young person, who has not attended school for a number of years, has achieved an 86% attendance rate. Attainment levels of young people are assessed and an individual curriculum put in place. This will greatly increase the potential of young people to achieve more positive outcomes.

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improvement to be good

Young people who are placed a long way from their home areas are in the process of obtaining specialist services. Health needs are being catered for, and all the necessary health appointments are attended. The therapeutic process described in the home’s statement of purpose has been strengthened to ensure that the young people are receiving the help that they need to recover from trauma and to build emotional resilience for the future. The staff are supporting the young people to develop healthy lifestyles in areas such as hygiene and diet. For example, one young person is joining the local gym. These are positive measures which will enhance the well-being of young people. As the placements are in the early stages, a recommendation is being made to ensure that this practice is sustained.

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improvement to be good

The staff are engaging the young people in a range of recreational opportunities tailored to their individual interests. They are ensuring that the young people go out into the community by taking part in day trips, shopping and physical activities. Staff are arranging horse riding for one young person. Direct work has commenced immediately with the young people to address feelings and concerns during the settling in period. It has not yet been appropriate to start work around their experiences and perceptions of relationships, but staff are planning to do this as soon as it is appropriate. The manager and staff team now demonstrate an understanding of the importance of clear, consistent routines and boundaries for the young people, and there are plenty of activities in their free time. This structure will help to divert them from previous patterns of behaviour and support them to recognise unhealthy relationships. A recommendation is made in this

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improvement to be good

Young people are being aided to develop a more positive self-image by initiatives such as a ‘daily book’ that is completed by staff and that records reflections about the day for young people to read. One entry reads, ‘It was great to be with you today, me and J had such a good laugh with you.’ Another says, ‘Keep up the positive attitude; we are so impressed.’

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improvement to be good

The importance of contact with young people’s birth families is recognised and staff facilitate this, where appropriate. The manager is mindful of the risks that this may present for some of the young people, due to the nature of their needs, and is taking steps to ensure that any such risks are managed effectively.

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improvement to be good

The young people are settling in well and report that they feel safe and can identify staff whom they would talk to if they felt worried. Staff have gained an understanding of the trauma that the young people have suffered and of the resulting behaviours. This is as a Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 5 result of extensive training that the staff have recently undertaken in the areas of child sexual exploitation, safeguarding and behaviour management. This knowledge is being used to identify risks and put in place measures to mitigate those risks. The staff are able to evidence knowledge of individual missing from home procedures and how they would safeguard any young person placing themselves at risk. No incidents of missing from home or physical intervention have occurred since the last full inspection. However, young people have only been admitted for a short period of time since the home’s

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improvement to be good

Young people have input into their own behaviour management plan, which increases their understanding of how they can regulate their own emotions and the reasons for staff taking certain actions. They are putting together ‘self-soothe boxes’, which will contain items of their choice which may help to calm them in times of crisis.

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improvement to be good

The manager has developed stronger partnerships with the police since the last inspection. Local officers assisted in the preparation of the home’s location risk assessment, taking staff around the area to point out areas which might pose a risk to young people. The police have also visited the home to introduce themselves and chat with the young people. Feedback gathered during the inspection indicated that fuller information sharing in the interests of protecting young people who may go missing from home is an area where improvements could still be made. These partnerships are vital to the continuing protection of the young people and need to be vigorously maintained. A recommendation in respect of this is made.

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improvement to be good

The young people are being closely supervised in terms of communication outside of the home by phone or the internet, because of the risks that this may present to them. The manager and staff are alert to the need to monitor this closely in order to protect them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have used learning from the previous inspection to improve the experience and care of young people. The improvements made are sufficient to meet the requirements that had been previously raised. Some of these improvements need time to be embedded firmly in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff have undergone extensive training around child sexual exploitation and safeguarding in the last few months. They have gained better knowledge around protecting and supporting young people and they show renewed confidence in their practice. All staff without the appropriate qualifications are now working towards them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Systems have been put in place to monitor young people’s progress in the areas of education, health and emotional well-being, and staff appear more knowledgeable about the need for boundaries around the young people’s daily routines. Two therapeutic practitioners have been recruited. They are appropriately qualified and will work as part of the care team. They will ensure that all of the care is delivered in line with the young people’s individual therapeutic plans. Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 6 The manager has developed an escalation procedure to be used in the event of concerns that a placing local authority’s response is inadequate in relation to its role. She is clear in her understanding of her responsibility to challenge other agencies in the interests of young people. She is also aware of the need to recognise when continuing a placement at the home is not in a young person’s best interests. This will ensure that young people

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

receive the services that they need to keep them safe and achieve better outcomes in later life. However, as the young people have been admitted to the home only very recently, this commitment cannot be fully evidenced, therefore a recommendation is made in respect of this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is obtaining information about the young people prior to placement and undertaking a detailed impact risk assessment to ensure that the home can meet their needs. Care plans reflect the needs detailed by social workers. A new placement plan called ‘My plan’ has been introduced, which is prepared and written with the cooperation of the young person. This collaboration increases the understanding and ownership of their care by the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff receive regular supervision and participate in team meetings, which provide them with the opportunity to reflect and develop their practice. The staff identify that there has been a marked improvement in team dynamics since the last full inspection, and they are working more collaboratively. A member of staff said: ‘I think we are much stronger as a team. We will be more effective because we will all work together.’

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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 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 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: 1159397 7

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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

Janet Black, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1159397 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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