Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 1 SC476303 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare 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

A private company owns the home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children irrespective of gender. The home supports children who have experienced behavioural, emotional and/or social difficulties. The manager has been registered since 3 January 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 good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2018 Full Outstanding 01/08/2017 Full Good 29/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 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; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff— provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(vii) and (c)(i)) In particular, direct action should be taken to ensure that the garden area and outside spaces are well maintained. The rear

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Requirement Due date

outside space requires a caring touch that will provide the children with a more welcoming environment in which to enjoy their time together with their peers and staff. 30/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— 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; 16/05/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 4 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i) and (b)) In particular, ensure that risk assessment and risk management plans are not overly complicated, and identification and grading of risk is carefully recorded.

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Recommendations

 Staff should encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. Children must be able to take up any issues or make a complaint with support and without fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Regulation 39 sets out the requirements on the registered person to have a complaints procedure. Children must be aware of this procedure and be reminded of it as necessary. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22 and 23, paragraph 4.13) In particular, the registered person must ensure that each child’s complaint has a satisfactory outcome and is shared with the child and their views are recorded.  Where children are placed in a home are not engaging in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school role for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that

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Recommendations

the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured educational activities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  Children’s homes staff should seek to identify and provide appropriate opportunities for children to develop themselves in accordance with their wishes and feelings and as part of the home’s plans for their care. Each child’s talents and interests should be understood and nurtured, with children selecting activities based on their personal preferences and abilities, so far as is reasonable. Staff should also support children to try activities that are new to them, where appropriate. Staff should ensure that children understand what local leisure and other cultural or religious services are on offer for them, support them to access

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Recommendations

any relevant leisure passes and encourage them to participate in activities in the community and wider if appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.4 and 6.6)  Children’s home staff should take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on the individual child’s needs and developmental-stage about when to allow a child to take a particular risk or follow a particular course of action. Staff should discuss the decision with the child’s placing authority where appropriate. If a child makes a choice that would place them or another person at significant risk of harm, staff should assist them to understand the risks and manage their risk-taking behaviour to keep themselves safe and others safe. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 5 including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7)

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Recommendations

In particular, to ensure that further strategies are considered to address children’s substance misuse.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

In particular, staff should ensure that the provider’s recording documentation is completed in full as required. This is in respect of weekly summaries and recording of critical incidents in diagram format.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with individualised care. They enjoy spending time with staff who are nurturing and warm in their displays of affection. Children build trusting and meaningful relationships with staff and their peers. Children are full of praise for the staff team. Their comments include, ‘Staff will do anything for you, they genuinely care and have been so supportive’ and ‘Staff are always there for you and are chilled when they talk to you, which helps us as children not to be stressed.’ None of the children are attending school or alternative forms of education consistently. Staff are liaising with colleges and virtual school heads to ensure that children are provided with education. However, staff are not consistently providing structured educational activity throughout the day. This limits children’s career aspirations in adulthood. Children are in good health. Staff engage with a number of health professionals and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

services to ensure that specialist support is in place to meet children’s emotional needs. The manager and staff in the home are supported by a clinical mental health practitioner who provides case consultation and training. This enables staff to support children in crisis and helps children to regulate their emotions, thus providing a safe, nurturing environment for children in which to feel safe. The manager and staff consistently advocate and challenge services that support children to ensure that they are provided with appropriate responses. The manager and staff escalate concerns in a professional manner to achieve positive outcomes for children. This supports care planning by working together. Staff encourage children to take part in activities both in the home or out in the community. The children particularly enjoy spending time with staff such as going for walks and local drives. However, children are not inspired to take up personal and new

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

interests which enable them to develop friendships and promote social development, thus reducing their potential to succeed and develop social skills into adulthood. Staff go above and beyond in supporting children in maintaining quality contact with Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 6 their families. Parents have attended the home at Christmas to spend time with their child and staff have transported children to their home areas for contact, often a considerable distance away. Staff are flexible and can stay locally, providing extra support if required. As a result, children feel safe and enjoy a sense of family and identity. Transitional arrangements were reviewed at this inspection and were found to be of a very high level. The independence work carried out with one child was excellent. Tasks were linked to essential skills for the child to take forward into adulthood, as well as step-by-step instructions on a range of subjects and processes. These have been put

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

together in a personalised folder that will support the child on her journey to independent living. Children are confident in travelling independently, with one child travelling by plane to see her parents for contact. This enabled her personally to develop confidence and pride in her achievement. Children understand how to make a complaint and are supported in the process. They are listened to and their opinions are valued. However, the outcome of complaints, which forms feedback to children, is not always recorded. This is a shortfall in practice. Additionally, weekly children’s summaries, although they are detailed and welcomed by social workers, are not always completed in full. In particular, the visual presentation of data is rarely completed. This diminishes the purpose of the recording tool, especially when monitoring critical incidents.

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

Children live in a home that is safe and very homely, and which provides them with space to grow and develop. The children spend quality time with staff in a supportive and nurturing environment. The home operates the provider’s core paperwork and systems. In terms of risk assessments and risk management, these are overly complicated . This means that there is duplication and unnecessary identification of risk when there is no evidence in individual cases. This results in unnecessary risks being identified, potentially limiting the overall effectiveness of the risk assessments. The staff use key-worker sessions to help children understand how to keep themselves safe. The staff listen to children and understand the risks that they take and why. However, children’s misuse of substances continues which leaves them at risk of harm. This means that strategies implemented and recorded in risk assessments are not effecting change.

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

Staff are proactive in reducing the time that children who go missing are away from the home. Staff have good relationships with local police and follow missing-from-home protocols. Staff recognise the triggers that cause children to engage in self-harm. They are skilled and experienced in direct work with children, including those where these behaviours are potentially life threatening. Individual safety plans for specific harmful behaviours are well written. Staff are vigilant and endeavour to provide a safe place in which children can flourish and develop a sense of well-being. Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 7 Children feel listened to and valued by staff. They have developed trusting relationships with the adults who are given the task of keeping them safe. The manager has a strong relationship with each child. She is a significant positive role model who helps them to develop resilience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is passionate and inspirational. She is extremely well organised and ensures that standards of individualised care are high. The staff are motivated and share her commitment and dedication in achieving the best outcomes for children. The manager supports her team with a strong group of team leaders. This enables staff supervision to be of a high quality and consistent. The staff, as a result, feel supported and valued. Monitoring process are thorough and effective. The provision of specialist training has enabled the staff to gain the skills needed to meet the children’s complex needs. The manager ensures that monthly team meetings are a forum for open discussion. A member of staff commented that, ‘It is definitely a democracy and ideas are explored and encouraged.’ The manager and staff are effective in promoting positive outcomes for children, while developing their emotional strength and confidence. This ensures that children have the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

skills and resilience to take forward for the future. The manager and staff communicate exceptionally well with professionals and families. This is an undoubted strength and ensures that care planning is done in partnership and is effective. This ensures that strategies to support children are thorough and effective. The manager has established a working relationship with the adjacent diocese. This has been with the intention of improving the perimeter wall. Plans have been agreed and work is to begin. However, since the last inspection there is little evidence to suggest that this space has been utilised. It is an area that has not enhanced children’s living experience and is a shortfall in practice.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 8 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: SC476303 9

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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 Childcare Limited, 4th Floor, Waterfront Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RH

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Inspectors

Michael Dack, social care inspector Mark Proffitt, shadow Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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