Moray children’s residential home highly praised by inspectors
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SOCIAL care staff at CALA residential service in Elgin have been praised for creating trusting, nurturing and respectful relationships with the children and young people in their care.
The children’s home, which is located at Linkwood Elgin and managed by Health & Social Care Moray, has been graded as “very good” following an inspection to assess how well the service supports children and young people’s rights and wellbeing.
The home provides residential accommodation for six children and young people and the Care Inspectorate identified significant strengths in the care provided at CALA, leading to positive outcomes for the young people, and was impressed by staff who demonstrated they have “the right value base required to provide compassionate care”.
The report highlighted that the young people felt safe and experienced relational nurturing care that promoted their emotional and physical safety. They had access to a range of activities and were encouraged to develop new interests that helped promote self-esteem and confidence. Staff were seen to be “hugely encouraging to the young people's interests, and sensitive to ensuring they got the best from their experiences”.
Significant importance was placed on ongoing relationships with young people who had moved on from the service, and to people who were important to the young people. Feedback from parents was extremely positive about staff respecting their role and views, and working together to the benefit of their child.
The report added that young people's voices were present in most aspects of their care and support and they benefited from being actively engaged in discussions and decisions about the things that were important to them.
Young people's goals and ambitions were recognised and supported by the team at CALA, with education given a high priority. The report commended staff for “advocating strongly on behalf of young people to ensure their right to education was upheld”.
Moray Integration Joint Board’s Audit, Performance and Risk Committee scrutinised the Care Inspectorate findings when it met yesterday (Thursday 29 February). The Board has responsibility for the services managed by Health & Social Care Moray. Councillor Scott Lawrence, chair of the committee, said: “This is an excellent inspection report. It’s clear the young people are receiving very good care and support and I’m pleased to see the recognition of the trusting, nurturing, and respectful approach to relationships that underpins the whole ethos at CALA.
“The whole report is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the staff and management to the young people in their care, and I would like to congratulate everyone involved.”
