Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children's home: SC412175 1 SC412175 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and is working towards the level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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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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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: 29 January 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC412175 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/12/2018 Full Good 06/02/2018 Full Good 14/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC412175 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, there were three children living in the home. Children know staff care about them and children say they feel cared for and listened to. Children have positive relationships with staff and can confidently share their views. Two children stated that this is the best home they have lived in. These positive relationships are the foundations by which the children make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are prepared well for future independent living. This is because staff know it is important for children to build the confidence they need to live independently. One child has obtained a part-time job and another child is being supported to attend job interviews. These opportunities and experiences help to develop children’s skills and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education. Staff attend education meetings and try to engage children in education when they struggle to attend. Staff set achievable targets that are promoted through incentives. One child’s educational progress means that she has now secured a place at college. The manager has advocated well for another child to ensure that she receives appropriate assessments and an educational provision that is conducive to her needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to build relationships with people who are important to the children. They work collaboratively with families to rebuild relationships and address any difficulties. This recently supported one child to go on holiday with her parents. As a result, children have positive experiences with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children’s complex needs. They work closely with the organisation’s mental health practitioner and work in partnership with others and advocate well for children. Children receive specialised support to promote their emotional health and well-being. One child who did not want to access mental health support is now engaging with mental health services. This is because staff have helped her to understand her needs and have involved her in planning her care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of creative ideas that help them to feel valued and supported. For example, staff provide them with self-soothing boxes to support them with emotional regulation. Children’s memories are captured in books that they create with staff. The manager has also introduced a ‘you can do it’ box. This is a lucky dip box that supports children to stay motivated to achieve their goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager recognises that she should have used her professional curiosity to seek more information prior to one child moving into the home. The child moved on from the home as the risks to him could not be safely managed. Although his transition from the home was managed in a planned way, he and other children were exposed to risk for a short time. Inspection report children's home: SC412175 4 The environment is spacious, which means that children have access to a variety of areas which they can enjoy together or more independently. However, the home appears tired in places and a bathroom needs refurbishing. Staff do not always take a proactive approach to ensuring that spaces remain homely for children. For example, when children were provided with new furniture for their rooms, old furniture was left in their bedrooms. The manager has begun to make improvements to the home, and an improvement plan is in place.

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

Children say they feel safe. This is because they feel cared for by staff who understand their needs. One child stated that she felt safe because, ‘staff don’t give up on me’. The manager ensures that risk assessments are specific, well recorded and understood by staff. This means that staff have clear strategies and know what to do to keep children safe.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff respond proactively and work collaboratively with safeguarding agencies. Detailed records are completed and staff maintain contact with family and friends. Because of these proactive approaches, staff find out where children are and take steps to keep them safe.

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

Children benefit from clear and consistent rules and boundaries and positive relationships with staff. Behaviour is managed by positive re-enforcement. For example, the children collect pom-poms for positive behaviour and each pom-pom can be exchanged for 50p. The children respond well to this encouragement.

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

Staff support children to understand risk. An excellent piece of work was completed that mapped out one child’s safe and unsafe relationships. Children also receive individual direct-work sessions with staff and have other opportunities to participate in workshops where they build their knowledge and understanding about how to keep themselves safe. As a result of the work completed, risks of child sexual exploitation have significantly reduced for all children.

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

Children are involved in compiling their risk management plans. Children who safe harm are supported well by staff. They complete safety plans together with staff to help them understand risk. This inclusive approach helps children develop and understand strategies they can use to keep safe.

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

The need for staff to physically intervene to keep children safe is rare. Nevertheless, there has been an isolated, yet significant incident. During this incident, staff did not follow a risk assessment in place for a child. As a result, a physical intervention occurred that may have been avoided. In addition, staff did not obtain medical advice about a child’s condition. This left a child vulnerable to harm during this physical intervention. Leaders and managers did not ensure that this incident was recorded and reviewed, and staff were not debriefed and supported to reflect on what happened. Managers and leaders had already reflected on this incident prior to the inspection and have identified learning as a result. Inspection report children's home: SC412175 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A child-focused manager leads the home. She is ambitious for the children and wants the best for them. She has a good understanding of the children’s progress and their needs. This ensures that children receive good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is approachable and supportive. Staff say they feel supported. One member of staff said, ‘She’s a lovely person to work for. She empathises with the children, she wants to see them achieve.’ This supportive approach is underpinned by regular and effective supervision sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children receive care from a stable team of staff. This means that children are cared for by people who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to staff’s continuing professional development. She recognises the impact this has on meeting the children’s individual needs. Staff receive a comprehensive induction, regular training and up-skilling sessions to support them in their role. This support promotes reflective practice to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to meet the diverse needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes good use of the audit tools and support systems in place. She understands the home’s strengths and weaknesses. She regularly reviews the quality of care in the home and puts in place actions to improve this where needed. As a result, she has a clear vision about how to improve children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work collaboratively with external stakeholders. They communicate well and ensure that social workers are kept up to date with children’s progress as well as any concerns. Partnership working is at the centre of managing and reducing risk to children. The manager challenges other professionals when the response from them does not meet children’s needs. This contributes to children’s safety and ensures improved outcomes for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children have a wide range of opportunities to share their views, wishes and feelings. The manager has introduced new methods of involving children in their care. For example, she introduced a ‘My Time at [the home]’ questionnaire to learn more about the children’s views about their care and the progress they make. She is using the information from this to develop the home. Inspection report children's home: SC412175 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that expert advice is obtained about a child’s health condition and any implications regarding physical intervention, so that measures can be put in place to reduce risk. 8 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 8 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC412175 7 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that restraint records meet regulation, and that the child and staff are spoken to about the measure.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should provide a nurturing and supportive environment that is homely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC412175 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian Childcare Limited, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Natasha Skinner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC412175 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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