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

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

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to care for up to four children who may have emotional and social difficulties, as well as learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in this home at the time of inspection. Inspectors spoke with all three children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 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

Date of last inspection: 6 September 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/09/2022 Full Good 14/09/2021 Full Good 25/06/2019 Full Outstanding 10/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a large home that is personalised to their interests. Children are involved in the upkeep of the home and their photos and artwork are displayed on the walls. Children enjoy living here, with one child describing the home as ‘ace’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s emotional wellbeing and have built trusting relationships with them. They provide clear boundaries and nurturing care that children respond well to. One child said, ‘It’s okay to cry here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer children a variety of activities based on their individual interests. They encourage children to remain active and enrol children in clubs that they enjoy. This supports children’s social development and helps improve their self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to take care of their own health and hygiene. They take children to health appointments when needed and have been able to quickly identify potential health needs for children that had not been identified prior to children moving to the home. This supports children physical and emotional health and ensures that they have the right support in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff listen to children’s wishes and advocate for their needs to be met. This helps children to feel valued and to understand their family identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff teach children how to take care of themselves and support them to develop skills that will prepare them for adult life. Children are involved in their independence planning and know what they need to do to continue to progress. Staff are skilled at balancing children’s autonomy with safely managing risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are strengths-focussed and take the time each day to let the children know what they did well. In addition, they have child-friendly media up on the wall that reminds the children of positive achievements. Children have contributed to the development of these projects.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is supported by a therapeutic team that works directly with each child and with staff. This support enables staff to better provide trauma-informed care for each child. One parent commented on the improvements their child has made in their ability to express themselves. This helps children to develop better coping skills and improves their emotional wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team has a good understanding of each child. They celebrate children’s accomplishments and support them through difficult times. One member of staff said, ‘We are more of family than a care home.’ Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 4

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

Children feel safe and can identify staff in the home who can help them with their worries. Children understand why rules and boundaries are in place and know that staff want to keep them safe. One child said of staff, ‘Everyone is really kind.’

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

Staff keep children’s risk management plans up to date and involve the children in writing these. This enables all children to contribute to the care they receive. These plans provide staff with helpful strategies should risks arise. Staff are aware of their responsibilities when children progress to higher levels of independence, but this is not always clearly reflected in children’s plans.

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

Children have alarms on their bedroom doors to ensure that staff are alerted to doors opening at night. However, on one occasion the alarm did not work as expected resulting in an incident between children. Staff and managers responded appropriately to the incident and put measures in place to prevent the same issue occurring again. Staff and managers report that the measures are followed but there is limited written evidence of this.

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

Staff supervise children on the internet and teach them how to keep themselves safe. When children have accessed material that is not appropriate for them, staff and managers have balanced risks proportionately. However, there were delays in action being taken to ensure that internet safeguards are used effectively to keep children safe online.

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

Staff have developed positive and effective relationships with key people involved in keeping the children safe. Staff are good advocates for children and challenge other professionals to better meet children’s needs.

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

Staff know how to respond to keep children safe. When challenges arise, staff follow all necessary safeguarding procedures. Staff use physical interventions as a last resort and only when needed to keep the children safe. When staff do have to hold a child, they record this well and ensure that someone who wasn’t involved in the hold talks to the child after about what happened.

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

When children go missing from home, staff are proactive in searching for them and working with others to find them quickly. Effective staff responses to risks have helped to keep the children safe.

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

Children know how to make a complaint, but none have felt the need to do so. Children say that staff always respond if they ask for things to change or improve. This enables children to feel heard and valued. Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager of this home is experienced and consistent, having been in place for over seven years. The manager is supported by a deputy; together they ensure that children are provided with new opportunities. Managers have been working hard to make improvements in the home and ensure that staff can provide the best care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is supportive of staff and focuses on improving staff wellbeing. Staff are happy in their roles and feel valued by their managers. One member of staff said of managers, ‘They just can’t help me enough. It’s brilliant, I can’t fault them.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is experienced and stable. Staff receive regular supervision and attend monthly team meetings that provide them with the opportunity to reflect on their own practice and learn from each other. One staff member said of the team, ‘There’s 100% trust between us all. It’s like a family.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager follows safer recruitment practices to ensure that staff are safe to work with vulnerable children. Staff are suitably qualified and are provided with positive training opportunities that are relevant to the needs of the children. However, there was some confusion about whether staff have received recent training for one risk presented by a child who has lived in the home. A recommendation has been made for staff to be trained to understand this risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s case records are generally well kept. However, one child’s statutory documents are not all kept in the home. This does not support staff to understand children’s limitations and could result in key information being missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers discussed positive internal oversight of staff practice in the home, however records of this oversight were limited. The management team makes good use of independent oversight to promote the wellbeing of the children. Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 6

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments are clear in terms of timings for staff supervising children, that handovers record that door alarms have been checked, that processes for device hand-ins are clear so these cannot be missed and that the internet safety processes in place are robust, effective and kept under review. 24 February 2024

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 24 February 2024 Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 7 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

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there are records of the oversight provided within the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each child’s records are completed and maintained. This is especially in reference to children’s statutory documents. 24 February 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that training needs identified for specific risks are rolled out to staff in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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 for children's home: SC460800 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crystal Care Solutions Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Inspector Kelly McCurdy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC460800 9 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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