Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Durham

Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 1 SC457573 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

The home provides accommodation for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a private provider. There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 April to 1 May 2019

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/05/2017 Full Good 11/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained, warm and welcoming. Staff have paid attention to the furnishing and decor of the home, which means that each child has personalised space that they are proud of and that reflects their individuality.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children receive a good standard of care that is individualised to meet their needs. Staff show genuine warmth and interest in the children. Staff are motivated to support children to achieve to the best of their ability and reward their success with fun activities and gifts. One young person spoken to said, ‘I don’t think the staff could do anything better. I’ve got everything I need.’ Children’s records are detailed and set out what the individual plans are for the child. However, children’s involvement in their plans needs to be clearly evident in the records.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff know the children well. They know what their likes and dislikes are and plan activities with them that are both fun and educational. Children living in the home are supported on a day-to-day basis to meet with their family and friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

School attendance is good. Staff understand the importance of education and the effect that it has on children’s outcomes. Staff work hard to ensure that children regularly attend school. One young person who initially did not engage with school has recently achieved 100% attendance. When children are waiting to start an education provision, the staff team ensures that the children have access to educational alternatives like home tutoring and educational activities. This will assist in the transition to an educational placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enable the children to make a positive contribution to others. One young person discovered that a member of staff working in the home had experienced the trauma of cancer in her own family. As a result, the young person plans to raise money for cancer research by doing a parachute jump as well as organising a charity barbecue. This reinforces a sense of belonging for the children as well as being able to witness at first hand the positive impact that they can have on their community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health plans are clear yet comprehensive. The manager and staff are supported by a clinical mental health practitioner who provides case consultation and training. As a result of intervention from the manager and the child’s social worker, one child is getting one-to-one support sessions from the mental health practitioner, which is over and above the normal remit. The support that the child is receiving is having a positive effect on her emotional well-being and confidence. The advice given to the staff after the one- to-one sessions enables the staff to feel more confident around effectively meeting the needs of the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The medication records for children are not always filled in correctly. The reason for administering non-prescription medication should always be clearly recorded, as failure to do so may lead to underlying medical conditions being missed. Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 4

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

Presenting risks for children are well known by staff and recorded in appropriate risk assessments and risk management plans. Strategies implemented support the reduction of harm to children.

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

Staff work well with all agencies in reducing the time that children who go missing are away from the home. They actively look for children and use one-to-one work well to help children understand how to avoid difficult situations. The manager attends the local police and safeguarding meetings to look at how to work collaboratively to safeguard children in their care. This supports a collective response to issues that occur in the local community and to safeguarding incidents that require a visit to the home by the police. Children have come and gone during a relatively short period at the home. This has provided an element of instability. However, it is evident that staff have worked compassionately and with dedication to support children in times of crisis. They have followed safeguarding protocols and risk management strategies that have enabled children to be safe. The provider ensures that all staff have access to appropriate

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

safeguarding training. This has involved specific areas of concern linked to self-harm and potential exploitation such as radicalisation and county lines. This supports the safeguarding culture of the home.

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

Room searches are inevitably required to ensure that children are safe. However, the staff do not routinely record this as a strategy in risk management plans and do not engage children in why it would be necessary. This does not support children’s awareness of their own plans or enable them to have a right to an opinion or control. Consequently, respect and trust could be devalued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since December 2018 and is due to be registered. The provider has taken effective and timely steps to appoint an appropriate, permanent manager. This is her first management position. She is confident and committed to ensuring that children receive the best quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has streamlined information in children’s files. This has led to them being more manageable and effective. Therefore, accessing essential information is quick and efficient. Internal monitoring procedures and external independent visitor evaluation identify areas for improvement. This supports the maintenance of good-quality care for children and promotes positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings and supervision take place as stated in the home’s statement of purpose. They focus discussion on the children and are reflective in nature. Improvements are evident since the last inspection in the timeliness of supervision. As a result, staff provide consistent and nurturing care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff maintain positive relationships with professionals and families. This Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 5 mainly occurs through proactive communication and working together. The manager spends a considerable amount of time with children. This is often in one-to-one situations, helping them to understand the emotions that affect their behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is properly staffed and safer recruitment checks are thorough, ensuring that the staff are able to deliver high-quality services to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management and leadership team takes appropriate steps to review placements of children. This has led to children being placed closer to home as a result of struggling to settle and identify with their new environment. However, there are shortfalls in matching considerations. The views and wishes of children are not thoroughly considered prior to admission. This affects children’s emotional well-being and ability to regulate their emotional and risk-taking behaviour.

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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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that they have considered the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s 13/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 6 relevant plans and they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children.

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Recommendations

 A child’s bedroom should not generally be entered without their permission. Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 16 and 17, paragraph 3.20)

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Recommendations

Specifically, staff should record room searching within risk management plans as an action to support a child’s individual health and well-being. This should be in agreement with relevant care team professionals. The child should be made aware of its necessity as a strategy to protect them and others from potential harm.

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Recommendations

 Medicines must be administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Where the home has questions or concerns about a child’s medication, they should approach an expert such as a General Medical Practitioner, community pharmacist or designated nurse for looked-after children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that all medication records are fully completed, signed and dated and ensure that records are clear about why non-prescribed medication is administered.

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Recommendations

 Registered persons must ensure there are procedures in place for welcoming and introducing each child to the home, and that they are sensitive to the needs of the child. A warm welcome and introduction to the home is an entitlement for all children whether they are admitted in a planned way or in an emergency. Where possible other children and young people should be supported to contribute to the design of the welcome and introduction and where appropriate the welcome itself. The home has a key role in helping children to understand why they are living there and the plans for their future. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.7)

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Recommendations

In particular, if at all possible, children’s views and opinions should be sought prior to arrival at the home, ensuring that they are welcomed and valued as individuals.

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Recommendations

 Children should be actively encouraged to read their records and to add further information to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 7 quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.6)

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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: SC457573 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Waterfront, Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, Middlesex W6 9RU

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Inspector(s)

Michael Dack: social care inspector Mark Proffitt: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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