Children's Home run by Cameron & Cooper Limited in Surrey

Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 1 Registered provider: Cameron And Cooper Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It provides care for up to six children. The statement of purpose states that it admits children who need therapeutic care and support.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since May 2019.

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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.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 8 December 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 15 October 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/10/2019 Full Good 14/02/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 22/05/2018 Full Good 05/02/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience well-planned care from staff who are committed to building and maintaining positive relationships with them. This makes children feel secure and cared for, which enables them to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Therapeutic care enables children to make good progress in relation to their emotional well-being. Individual and group therapy sessions provide a safe place for children to talk about traumatic events in their lives. In one group session, a child who was subject to transphobic comments from another child was able to describe the significant impact it was having on them. The child making the comments was enabled to consider how their own upbringing had influenced the language that they used, even when they didn’t hold the views they were expressing. They were helped to understand that they were being unacceptably prejudiced. As a result of the therapeutic approach, children have opportunities to explore their early life experiences and develop their own identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage in education. One child, who experienced anxiety about leaving the house when they first arrived, has benefited from the on-site education. Effective joint working between the residential and school staff has enabled the child to progress to regularly attending a local stables for work experience. This achievement has now led to an opportunity to undertake voluntary work. Children’s life chances are improved because of a sensitive, individualised approach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to preparing children to live more independently in the future. One child has recently started to have free time in the community. Staff are supporting them to develop reliable skills to do so safely, such as making sure they know how to cross the road. The child and the staff spoke with pride when they described the progress they are making. The careful support children receive gives them the confidence to achieve goals which are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s participation is an important aspect of the home. As well as being empowered to have a say in day-to-day decisions, children are included in bespoke information-sharing sessions. Material from staff training is adapted and delivered to children, with the opportunity to explore their understanding. Topics include bullying, online safety, social media, and the LGBTQ+ community. If the children themselves have had experiences which other people could learn from, they are actively encouraged to share their thoughts and advice. This inclusive culture helps children to understand the importance of building relationships which are based on trust and respect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children require specialist intervention in relation to their physical or mental health needs, staff and managers seek advice without delay. One child is currently in hospital and is having regular visits from staff to make sure that they have Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 4 everything they need and to provide emotional support. Managers have had challenging conversations with other professionals to ensure that the child is not discharged until the services which give them the best chance of remaining healthy are in place. Proactively advocating in this way enables wraparound care for children to make sure that all their needs are understood and being met.

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

Safeguarding children is a priority. Managers undertake a thorough risk assessment of the likely impact of any child moving into the home, focusing on their needs alongside those of children who already live there. Additionally, when there are unplanned endings, managers reflect on them to identify learning in order to improve practice. This results in careful planning and matching.

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

Staff receive regular supervision and good-quality training that is relevant to the needs of the children that they are looking after. Risks to children are reduced because they are being cared for by knowledgeable, well-informed staff.

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

Social workers were complimentary about the quality of care and the steps taken to make children increasingly safe. One social worker described how staff and managers had quickly recognised the signs that a child was at risk of criminal exploitation when they visited the area close to their family. The social worker stated that the child has ‘received excellent care and is a lot safer now they are at this home’. This demonstrates how well staff and managers understand children’s vulnerabilities and how they work closely with other professionals to keep children safe.

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

Safe recruitment processes are understood and implemented by the manager and staff responsible for this area of practice. However, records of recruitment do not fully demonstrate the sound decision-making about whether staff have the knowledge and skills required. This shortfall in recording undermines a rigorous process which ensures that only suitable adults are employed at the home.

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

Incidents of children being at risk of harm reduce over time. One child arrived with a history of displaying self-harming behaviour when they were frustrated or distressed. They have been helped and supported to manage their feelings and the frequency of incidents has steadily reduced. Despite good care practice in relation to safeguarding, the written risk assessments and behaviour management plans designed to reduce vulnerabilities are not routinely updated. As a result, they contain conflicting information and do not reliably inform staff how to keep children safe. In practice, staff know the children well and provide safe care.

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good

There are several vacant care staff posts, which is impacting on the morale of existing staff. Staff are working hard to ensure that there is no impact on the quality of care the children receive, but they do not have enough opportunity to keep Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 5 records up to date. Key workers report being overwhelmed by expectations with respect to record-keeping, and frustrated that they cannot meet them.

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good

Despite consistency in the management team, there continues to be no registered manager. The responsible individual supports the manager with the day-to-day running of the home. As a result, the roles of leaders and managers are not clearly defined. This has had an impact on service development in terms of streamlining recording systems to address staff concerns about the unmanageable burden of keeping records up to date. This has also meant that management oversight of the quality of recording has slipped.

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good

Managers are fully involved in the children’s lives. They are very clear about the progress children are making and have high aspirations for what they can achieve. They are passionate in their efforts to be trusted figures for the children. This makes them good role models for staff.

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good

The organisation maintains the statement of purpose and now submits updates to Ofsted. However, the statement of purpose does not include the qualifications and experience of staff.

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good

Managers have sound awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They have made changes to practice to address shortfalls they have identified. There is a plan in place to further improve the service. Managers are aware that they need to give staff the opportunity to understand and implement changes to practice if they are to be fully embedded. As such, managers demonstrate a commitment to ensuring continuous improvement. Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 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 registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1)(3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose includes details of the experience and qualifications of staff. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 30 September

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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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 30 September Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 7 In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans are up to date and relevant.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that records demonstrate good employment practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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 children’s home: 1256973 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cameron And Cooper Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Accord Accountants, 191-193 High Street, Hampton Hill, Hampton TW12 1NL

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Inspector

Helen Simmons, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1256973 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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