Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 1 SC456330 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns and operates this children’s home. The home provides long- term care and accommodation for up to four children aged between 11 and 18.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since January 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 13 September 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following the interim inspection on 13 September 2017, a restriction of accommodation notice was placed on the home, and three compliance notices were issued. Subsequent monitoring visits on 16 October 2017 and 27 October 2017 found that the restriction of accommodation notice had been adhered to and that the compliance notices were met. Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/09/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/06/2017 Full Good 08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 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 health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(ii)) 04/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. 04/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 4 (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(iii)) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child's relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health. Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(vii)(b)(d))*

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Requirement Due date

Urgent action is required to ensure that managers review and evaluate policies and procedures and assess staff knowledge and practice, to ensure that children are protected from harm effectively.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all staff and managers follow the home's safeguarding policy and procedure at all times.

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Requirement Due date

Urgent action is required to ensure that the children's individual risk assessments are up to date, and include all potential risks to themselves and others and the action to be taken by staff to reduce the identified risks.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all staff on each shift have read and understood the content of each risk assessment and the strategies that they need to employ to reduce the risk and that they implement the risk assessments. 04/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children's home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 04/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 5 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home's statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(f))*

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Requirement Due date

Urgent action is required to ensure that: the home is effectively managed in line with the home's statement of purpose; that effective and accurate monitoring identifies concerns that compromise the safety and well-being of children; that staff take necessary action to safeguard children effectively; to review and evaluate staff practice to develop the quality of care provided at the home.

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Requirement Due date

Urgent action is required to ensure that the deployment of staff is effective in providing children with clear boundaries, appropriate levels of supervision in line with risk assessments, care plans and behaviour management plans and that staff are accountable for their actions and practice. The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and 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 is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 04/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 04/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 6 In particular, ensure that the fire doors close without obstruction.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children’s care and experiences are compromised considerably because of poor staff practice. Inconsistent care and inadequate supervision have enabled children to drink alcohol in the home and to leave the home at night without the staff noticing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Processionals spoken with during the inspection highlighted several practice concerns. These included the staff failing to challenge aggressive and intimidating behaviour and a failure to ensure that the children attend important appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The promotion of the children’s health is poor. One child with a healthcare plan has not been provided with any resources. Specific actions for the staff to take, as detailed in the child’s key-worker session records, have not been met. This is despite the child requesting unobtrusive support for his health needs and this being agreed by the staff. Failure to provide good support has left a child vulnerable and unable to preserve his dignity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Communal areas are comfortable and clean, and the furnishings are of a good standard. However, one bedroom has no wardrobe doors and another has a strong, unpleasant odour. The staff’s failure to address the odour makes one child highly vulnerable to being bullied.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children cannot access all areas of the home because the staff routinely lock rooms as a behaviour management strategy. Locking doors in communal areas exacerbates incidents. The children push against locked doors, take keys and try to force their way into the locked areas. The staff implement this door locking strategy without planning or prior agreement because they do not know what else to do and are unable to manage challenging behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Two of the children have made good progress in their attendance and achievement in education.

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

The staff have failed to keep the children safe. Risks to the children are identified on a number of risk assessment forms. The staff are unclear about which assessment to use and how to classify risks. The assessment of risk is not logical and does not consider presenting and known behaviours. The staff fail to adhere to some risk assessment guidance. In one Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 7 example, staff have failed to follow a risk management strategy of ensuring that a child sits in the rear seats of the car. The staff have made their own decision to allow the child to sit in the front of the car. Failure to follow risk-reduction strategies leads to inconsistency in staff practice, means that children are unclear about behavioural boundaries and expectations and puts staff and children at unnecessary risk.

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

The supervision of the children and deployment of the staff fails to meet ratios agreed by commissioners when placing the children. A child who was supervised in a supermarket by two members of staff was able to steal and consume alcohol before returning to the home and climbing onto the roof of the home while intoxicated. The staff failed to supervise or safeguard the children, leaving them at risk of injury.

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

The staff do not consistently provide the necessary boundaries to maintain good order and a safe environment. There is a failure to challenge the children, who collude with one another to outsmart the staff. The staff are dealing with incidents as they unfold; they are not proactive or creative in the prevention of these incidents. Two children left the home minutes after going to bed because the staff failed to follow behaviour management support plans. The staff were unaware that the children had left the home until the police knocked at the front door five hours later and alerted the staff. The staff made no checks during the late evening, enabling two children aged 12 and 13 to spend the late evening and early hours of the morning in the local town centre.

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

The grounds of the home have an old and uneven patio; the slabs are loose and some are broken. A crumbling wall to the rear of the property has loose bricks. There is a flat roof that, until recently, the children accessed via a fence that adjoined the property. The staff did not identify these hazards. This is despite the children accessing the roof on three occasions. Additionally, three fire doors in the home failed to close properly. This questions the staff’s ability to monitor the home’s health and safety precautions.

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

An allegation made by a child in regard to two staff members was investigated by the responsible individual prior to any guidance from the designated officer. This contravenes the organisation’s allegations procedure in the safeguarding policy. The child remained at the home for an evening with the staff about whom the allegation was made. Therefore, the intended safeguards were not provided and the child was left potentially vulnerable.

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

Parents sharing the care of their children with the home as part of reunification plans welcome the guidance and the support of the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager of the home has the necessary qualifications and experience to provide appropriate care to vulnerable children. She was registered to manage the home in January 2017. Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 8 The manager inherited a number of practice issues in regard to the conduct and performance of the staff team. She has identified and taken action on specific performance concerns in regard to some members of staff. These concerns include the supervision of the children, and staff members’ professionalism and work ethic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The care provided does not support the intended aims as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. There is a lack of energy and integrity. Incident reviews reflect different accounts of incidents, and some of the staff do not adhere to the manager’s guidance or the supporting care plans for the children. The care is ad hoc and inconsistent. The staff fail to adhere to boundaries and fail to challenge the children and keep them safe. This has had a significant impact on the quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management structure is flawed by the organisation’s inability to recruit and retain a deputy manager. The remaining senior staff do not work as a team, and they undermine one another. This has left a relatively new team without good-practice role models and without clear direction when the manager is not on duty.

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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: SC456330 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspectors

Deirdra Keating, social care inspector Ricky D’Arcy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456330 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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