Children's home run by Your Chapter Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Children Holdco 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

This children’s home is one of many owned by a private provider. This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children, and may provide care and accommodation for children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The registered manager has been registered at this home since 2016.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2017 Full Good 15/05/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 02/02/2017 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(b)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that plans and assessments are updated to outline the arrangements for their care following changes to their circumstances. 22/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if— (i) the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28(1)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that the relevant qualification is achieved within the timescale specified in the regulation. 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25(1)(d)) 22/6/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) It is recommended that the registered manager focuses the quality of care report on child criminal exploitation. Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in an environment that is homely, nicely decorated and provides children with space to grow and develop. The home has pictures of the children and staff together enjoying various activities on display. Young people’s bedrooms have recently been decorated and personalised to the choice of the child, which provides each child with their own space that they are proud of.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make very good progress in developing independence skills. One young person has a personalised, individual independence plan that is supporting him in developing budgeting skills, and managing increased levels of independence and responsibility. However, the plan also ensures that he continues to receive the support that he needs to meet his needs. The young person’s plan also ensures that the young person is contributing to his savings, which will provide him with a lump sum when he leaves the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff at the home have been successful in encouraging and supporting young people to attend education. In particular, the attendance of young people who have previously had poor attendance has improved since living at the home. One young person has secured an apprenticeship and is working every day while he awaits the start of his college course in September.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lots of opportunities to take part in activities such as trampolining, boxing and snooker. Some children at the home have had very limited experience and opportunity to take part in activities and hobbies in the past, so staff ensure that they provide a wide range of experiences to help children have fun and learn new skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff and are able to identify the particular staff whom they like to talk to. The staff team and management at the home have experienced very little change and this has ensured a consistent and stable staff team that works well together, enabling strong bonds to be formed between children and staff.

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

Children at the home have some very challenging and complex behaviours that include missing from home incidents and drug taking, and some children are subject to criminal exploitation. Despite these challenges, the staff have worked with other professionals, families and others involved in the care of the children to try to reduce these risks and keep children safe. Despite their efforts, there have been incidents were young people have been exposed to significant risk. When this has occurred, the manager has acknowledged the limitations of the home and supported plans to seek alternative accommodation for young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 5 Staff help children to understand risk and how to stay safe. They have a good understanding of children’s needs and use well-written and clear risk assessments to support children’s safety. Risk assessments give clear actions and responses for staff to

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

follow. When young people are exposed to risk, staff are pro-active and have taken appropriate action to reduce risks. However, when circumstances for children have changed, sometimes as a response to a temporary crisis, the risk assessment and plans for them have not always reflected the new arrangements, and this could lead to confusion and inconsistency.

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

When children go missing, staff are pro-active in their responses. They follow each child’s missing from home protocol and report to all relevant agencies in a timely manner. One social worker commented that the home has gone the ‘extra mile’ to try to locate a young person when they were missing. Practice at the home could be further improved by increasing the knowledge and understanding of child criminal exploitation and the grooming process linked to young people who are subject to this. This could further ensure that the staff are working with young people in the home to reduce the risks apparent to them. The registered manager has taken steps to secure training on criminal exploitation and gangs, and is in the process of commissioning a professional who has worked with young people who have been exposed to gang cultures to support the staff and further their learning.

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

There have not been any incidents of restrictive physical intervention in the home and there are few incidents of challenging behaviour, because staff use their relationships with young people to divert and diffuse challenging behaviour when it occurs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is an experienced and dedicated manager who has a strong commitment to improving the outcomes for children. He is supported by an equally dedicated deputy manager, and together they lead a team of staff that has high aspirations for children. The registered manager has yet to achieve the required qualification, and this is a requirement of this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is clear about its ethos to support young people ‘as if they are our own’. Relationships between staff and children are positive, one young person who has recently left the home told the inspector that ‘staff are the best’ and was overheard having positive conversations with staff on the phone over the two days of inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with other professionals involved with each child. A family support worker involved with one child and his family told the inspector that the manager has been a ‘wonderful support to the family’ and that this support has contributed to her improved parenting of the child and an improved relationship between them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are engaged in regular group meetings and are encouraged to contribute to activity and menu planning. However, this contribution is sometimes tokenistic with planned menus not always being adhered to. The home uses positive rewards with Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 6 young people to promote good behaviour. The registered manager has recognised that the system for this could be improved, as currently it is not clear what impact this has on children. The registered manager recognises the importance of children’s participation and has ideas about how to improve these areas of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a weekly fire-safety risk assessment that is used to identify any health and safety issues. Despite this monitoring, one member of staff has not undertaken a fire evacuation. This is required so that in an emergency staff can evacuate children from the home effectively. The registered manager acknowledged this oversight and is taking steps to ensure that this is actioned.

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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: 1240883 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Holdco Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Care 4 Children, 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspector

Jessica Forshaw, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1240883 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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