Children's Home run by Crystal Care Solutions Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 1 SC460800 Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, and for children who may have learning disabilities. The home is privately run and managed.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in August 2016.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID 19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/06/2019 Full Outstanding 10/01/2019 Full Good 13/12/2017 Full Good 28/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make excellent progress from their initial starting points. Two of the children have transitioned out to post-18 accommodation, and one child has recently moved in. Children said that they feel safe and happy, that staff support, guide and listen to them, and that there is always someone to talk to. One child said: ‘It is really good, and I enjoy it here. It’s a really nice place. I’m not just saying that, but compared to other places, this is the longest I have stayed anywhere. Staff are really close, making sure we have the best outcomes.’ Children say that staff are proud of their achievements.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Over the past year, the home has adapted to cope with the pandemic in creative and thoughtful ways to help children. Staff organised a music festival in the spacious grounds. Children and staff created a sensory garden area and grew vegetables and herbs. This helped the children to have a focus and build on their skills of responsibility and nurture. All the children found this activity therapeutic, and in turn, rewarding. Children and the staff engaged in mindfulness activities to help children regulate their emotions through uncertain times.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has had some internal maintenance. A new kitchen and bathroom have been installed. There has been some improvement to the internal paintwork to make the hallway brighter, but it requires repainting. Children’s bedrooms are untidy. Paintwork is damaged and wardrobe doors require replacement. Health and safety issues, such as an exposed wire dangling from a child’s ceiling and an unlocked window restrictor in another child’s bedroom, have been overlooked by staff. Staff and the children report that the decor of the home requires improvement, including the main office. A recommendation has been made to address this matter.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of relationships between professionals, staff and parents is good. Professional relationships are strong and there is excellent communication from the home. Professionals report that staff are child-focused and place the interests of the children at the core of their daily practice. Professionals observe that the children, who have highly complex needs, have trusting relationships with staff. Children progress to independent activities in the community in a safe, structured and measured way. A parent reported that she is regularly kept informed and given a chronology of events for the week. She said that she is pleased with her child’s overall progress.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Opportunities for the children to progress to independent living are good. Children work through an adult life plan with staff to help them understand their rights and entitlements as young adults. Children have detailed independence plans that cover a broad range of subjects, such as budgeting, how to register with a GP, identity and fraud. In addition, they learn key life skills, for example cooking and personal hygiene. Children who have left the home say that they felt listened to and supported. Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 4 Children make good progress in relation to their health, education, and emotional, social and psychological well-being. Children are registered with local primary care services and have specialist education provisions to support their learning. Children have an opportunity to learn in subject areas of their own interest, for example mechanics or social care. At the point of referral, children moving into the home

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

would benefit from a detailed care plan from the placing authority to address education and health needs. This would prevent delays in children attending education and ensure that immediate health needs are met before the child moves in.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children maintain contact with family members and family time is supported by staff. Staff travel some distance to ensure that children have positive time with their families. One parent said that she was delighted that staff attended and supported her child at a special event. This demonstrates the positive relationships between children, parents and staff.

p.4

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

Risks are identified, understood and managed well. A multidisciplinary support package helps children become increasingly safe. Risk assessments and behaviour support plans are detailed. In addition, these documents are co-written with the therapist and registered manager. Consistent and clear boundaries help children feel safe.

p.4

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

Therapeutic support is provided by a specialist team of practitioners that follows a strength-based life skills programme to help children meet their personal and social goals. Consequently, there has been a significant reduction in incidents. A restriction of liberty order placed by the courts on one child has now been withdrawn. This is significant progress for this child, who previously had a high staffing ratio of three to one to manage their care. Children make good progress in their emotional development and develop a good understanding of their own risks and how to manage them.

p.4

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

Case recordings of children that go missing from the home require more detail. One child was missing from the home for over two hours. Insufficient detail in case recordings does not demonstrate what actions staff took to ensure the safety of the child during the period of absence.

p.4

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

Safety plans to support children who demonstrate self-injurious behaviour require more detail. Although safety plans evidence multi-agency input and therapeutic interventions, they do not have a clear action plan or log to evidence the measures taken in the home to manage the risks.

p.4

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

Children are subject to fair and proportionate physical control measures, but only in exceptional circumstances. Staff are proud of the children and their achievements. Children receive monthly progress reports as newsletters that provide a tangible record of how much progress they are making and offer reassurance that staff are Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 5 proud of them. Positive rewards and consequences help children to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem.

p.4

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

A multi-agency partnership with the local community police officer helps to identify local area hotspots with high levels of crime. This is particularly relevant for those children who are developing their independence skills in a safe and planned way. Staff ensure that walking routes for children avoid areas that could put them at direct risk and, therefore, they continue to remain safe in the local area.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager demonstrates a detailed and thorough understanding of children at the home. The registered manager has high expectations for children in her care. The manager is supported by her highly knowledgeable deputy manager, who is interested in research to inform daily practice. Exposure to current themes in social care helps staff with personal development and increases their knowledge so that they can better support children. Senior staff are passionate and committed to improving outcomes for children. The manager speaks highly of her staff team and said: ‘Staff are fantastic and step in. They are competent and passionate about the home.’

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is evidence of management oversight in relation to updated records that do not have the correct legal order on children’s paperwork. However, safety plans for self-injurious behaviour have not been updated to reflect current concerns. Language in activity planners can be misinterpreted as punitive and consequently have a negative effect on the children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are proactive and will actively challenge on behalf of the children. There is evidence of staff providing appropriate challenge during a multi-agency meeting for one child who was due to leave the home. This ensured that the input of all relevant professionals and the voice of the child were captured.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision records are now up to date and all staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. The well-being of staff is important, and staff have access to mindfulness and a ‘stages of grief’ model to help support them through the pandemic. A self-appraisal discussion ensures that staff have an opportunity to reflect on their own practice. In addition to mandatory training, staff have training from the therapeutic team that is tailored to the specific needs of the children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Equality and diversity are promoted. Children are encouraged to express their identity in a supportive and understanding environment. However, children’s records can be confusing for those children who are, at this stage, unclear about their gender identity. Capturing the wishes and feelings of the children to understand the pronoun they prefer would be helpful in this matter.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal and external monitoring systems are in place to monitor the progress of the home. However, the independent visitor does not routinely capture the views of Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 6 children, parents and social workers. The manager does not routinely evaluate the progress of the home. The home’s statement of purpose requires updating.

p.5

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the 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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii)) 24 December

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi)(b)) 24 December Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 7 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

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; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h)) 24 December

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that children’s bedrooms are suitably decorated, broken furniture is replaced, window restrictors are working and exposed wires are fixed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person must ensure that there is active independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24).  The registered person must ensure that children can express their views, wishes

p.7

Recommendations

and feelings themselves on using a suitable pronoun that identifies their gender identity in children’s records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.4)  The registered person must review and revise where appropriate the statement of purpose (regulation 16(3)(a)) and the children’s guide, as necessary, and make sure that children are given an explanation of any changes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.23) Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 8

p.7

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC460800 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Bank House, Market Square, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 1ET

p.9

Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC460800 10 to 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.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10