Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report children's home: SC459168 1 SC459168 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

This privately owned home provides care for four children, irrespective of gender. The children may have experienced neglect and/or emotional abuse or had traumatic experiences which have left them vulnerable. The manager of the home was registered with Ofsted in May 2018.

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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 and widespread failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 6 December 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC459168 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 15/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/10/2017 Full Good 20/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC459168 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 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—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)) 20/06/2019

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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.

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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 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)(d)) 20/06/2019 Inspection report children's home: SC459168 4 In particular, ensure that the gate is repaired and kept closed. 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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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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ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and

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ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d)(e))* 10/07/2019

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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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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

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use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))*

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that monitoring and oversight of incidents informs the matching process for new children coming to the home. 10/07/2019

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Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5)) 10/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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undertake appropriate continuing professional development; 10/07/2019 Inspection report children's home: SC459168 5 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the missing child policy’) setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent; and

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have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff follow missing-from-care protocols and that children are offered a return interview after they have been absent from the home. 10/07/2019

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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 majority of children experience poor care and lack good guidance from the staff. Children’s risk-taking behaviours increase while at the home. There have been three new admissions in the last six months, and three children have left the home. One child, who spent five weeks at the home, caused a significant amount of damage to the house. The placement ended abruptly following his arrest.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The provider has failed to ensure that there are sufficient adequately experienced and qualified staff to meet children’s needs and provide continuity. Despite an evident lack of resources, there is a constant push for new referrals. The overall quality of care has declined. This is detrimental to children’s welfare and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is situated on the side of a fast road where traffic frequently exceeds the speed limit. A gate was installed after children repeatedly left the home using this road. Since then, the gate has been regularly reported as faulty and the staff have failed to consistently keep the gate closed. The staff have reported faults with the gate six times in six months. Repairs were carried out; however, the gate was broken during the inspection. This poor response to repairs fails to prioritise children’s safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Half of the children at the home do not attend education or college. The absence of a structured routine leaves them with long periods of time with little to do. Children have been drawn to spend time in the local town with peers who are a negative influence. Children who are new to the home have been introduced, through other children living at the home, to anti-social groups. Children have been drawn into criminal behaviour, Inspection report children's home: SC459168 6 substance misuse and violence. This significantly reduces children’s life chances and aspirations for the future. Children’s activities and associations pose the risks that the placement was intended to reduce. A parent of one child said, ‘He [the child] lost everything when he moved to the home.’

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

The staff failed to follow the guidance in risk assessments and to update risk assessments following incidents. For example, staff failed to act when a child researched concerning content on the internet. Despite the staff being aware of this, the child’s risk assessment fails to detail the increased risk, or the actions needed to keep the child safe. Staff failed to follow this up or make a referral for clinical assessment, leaving this child at risk of harm.

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

The staff have not managed repeating behaviour well enough. Consequently, children leave the home daily and are, at times, missing for several days. One child has been missing from the home on 76 occasions in seven months. There has only been one return interview provided for this child. Another child left the home late in the evening after staff failed to check that he was in bed. This is despite his door alarm being activated as he left his room. The staff were unaware that the child had left until they were asked, by the child, to collect him from a local town the following morning. During another incident, the missing-from-home protocol and the child’s risk assessment could not be implemented due to there being insufficient staff. This child was subsequently missing for three nights and travelled a considerable distance. On another occasion, a child left the home and the staff failed to report the child as missing until an hour later.

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

This was not in line with the child’s protocol. The number of inconsistent approaches by staff, the failure to follow protocols or risk management plans and failure to supervise children in line with their identified needs have all compromised the safety and well- being of children.

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

The staff are unable to manage incidents effectively and provide safe and consistent boundaries. Professionals spoken with during the inspection expressed their concerns about behaviour management. They talked about the chaotic feel of the home, staffing issues and staff calling the police to manage children’s behaviour. The lack of experienced and competent staff has resulted in children having no direction and fails to keep children safe.

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

The safe area risk assessment is not robust. It fails to include information that is crucial to understanding current risks. Despite the excessive number of police call-outs in the last few months, the assessment is based on information from 2017.

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

Leaders have failed to ensure that allegations about staff conduct are managed effectively. A failure to report safeguarding concerns promptly placed children at risk. The management team failed to follow up this delay in reporting. Managers have not done enough to ensure that staff understand the importance of timely reporting and the potential impact of failing to do so.

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

An investigation into concerns about staff conduct lacked depth and professional Inspection report children's home: SC459168 7 curiosity. Following conduct concerns, the designated officer set management actions. Managers have failed to implement these actions. The investigation report includes contrary statements and the investigating manager has failed to explore some areas. Lack of effective action to address conduct concerns means that managers cannot assure themselves that staff practice is safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has been registered since May 2018. He is due to leave the role of registered manager in June 2019. The interim management arrangements are unsatisfactory.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have not provided adequate levels of managerial supervision. The staff team is inexperienced. Staff lack the qualifications and skills required to meet children’s needs and provide adequate supervision levels. Out of nine staff, three are qualified, including the registered manager. Six of the staff are in their probationary period. The manager raised serious concerns, in April 2019, about staffing levels. Some shifts are covered by staff from other homes. These arrangements fail to provide continuity of care for children. A parent said, ‘The staff come and go. The only ones I knew left quickly, and there are so many agency staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite the inability of staff to provide good care and safeguard children, new referrals for potential admissions that are sent to the manager average 10 a day. These referrals have already been screened as potentially suitable for the home and have to be reviewed by the manager. Despite the lack of sufficient staffing, there is a push to place children who present with highly complex needs. The home is not operating in line with the statement of purpose, which offers therapeutic input and guidance for children delivered through the staff in personal sessions. The staff fail to provide this level of guided support. High levels of incidents in the organisation’s other homes reduce the capacity for clinicians to direct the staff. Staff have failed to provide an environment that enables all children to make progress. One child is withdrawn and has not had any therapeutic work. This was confirmed by the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

social worker. Recurring shortfalls that were identified by Ofsted in August and December 2018 remain. The concerns raised by the manager with the organisation have not been addressed satisfactorily. Senior managers have failed to adequately respond to the concerns that the manager has raised with the organisation about staffing capacity. Inspection report children's home: SC459168 8

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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: SC459168 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: 4th Floor, Waterfront Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RU

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Inspectors

Deirdra Keating, social care inspector Brenda McInerney, Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC459168 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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