Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Essex

Inspection report children's home: SC471153 1 SC471153 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

This home is privately owned by a national provider. The home cares for up to two children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2020.

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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 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: SC471153 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/10/2019 Full Good 26/06/2018 Full Good 24/10/2017 Full Good 09/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC471153 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well cared for and enjoy stability at this home. Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs and work well as a team to offer children the consistency that they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enabled two children to move on to semi-independent living. These moves were carefully planned and supported by staff. In preparation for the move, staff helped children to gain practical independence skills and to improve their understanding of safe relationships. Children remain in contact with the manager and staff for advice and guidance. This is evidence of the trusting relationships that staff developed with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has complex needs which were not known at the point of their move into the home. Detailed planning ensures that staff are consistent and sensitive in the care that they provide to avoid unnecessary anxiety for this child. Staff have adapted well to meeting the child’s specific needs and have been creative in helping them to settle into the routines at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise children’s achievements. Children regularly receive praise and rewards, including when they are kind to staff and each other. This helps maintain the calm and caring environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend and engage in education. Staff have good working relationships with children’s schools that help them address any issues quickly. Children have been supported to obtain work experience and apprenticeships. These experiences help children gain skills and improve their employability. For one child, work experience was an opportunity for them to learn from their mistakes and gain a greater understanding of the expectations of the workplace.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children maintain relationships that are important to them. Staff enable children to spend time with family members as agreed with children’s social workers. Children are encouraged to make friends and, when safe to do so, spend time with their friends unsupervised at the home and out in the community as any child would.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children choose activities and outings to access in their free time. Staff provide high levels of emotional support to one child who finds social situations and busy environments difficult to manage. The manager increases staff support at these times to make sure that these outings and holidays can take place and are managed well. Inspection report children's home: SC471153 4 Staff help children to understand their identity and feelings around gender and sexuality. Staff are non-judgemental and communication and written records reflect how children want to be known.

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

Staff know how to help children when they are feeling anxious or angry. Staff follow plans that clearly outline how children prefer to be cared for. As a result, there are low levels of incidents at the home and there have been no physical interventions.

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

Staff successfully supported children to reduce and then stop incidents of going missing from the home. While staff have not managed incidents of children going missing from the home for a sustained period, they have maintained a good knowledge of the local area and the immediate steps that they would take if a child left the home without permission.

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

Staff work well with other agencies to improve children’s safety. They have established good working relationships with the police who visit the home regularly to build relationships with the children. As a result, one child transformed their view of the police and took part in a litter picking event with a community police officer. These positive working relationships enable effective information sharing about the vulnerability of the children and any emerging concerns about the local area.

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

Staff use bedroom door alarms to help them supervise children and to reduce the likelihood of them leaving the home undetected. However, these measures limit children’s privacy and have not been risk assessed to ensure that they are necessary and proportionate for each child.

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

Staff help children access specialist services when they need them. This includes supporting children to engage with mental health and substance misuse services. Access to these services helps children and staff better understand what the child is experiencing and how staff can best support them.

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

Staff are vigilant about indicators of bullying. They are proud of the children’s kindness and acceptance of each other. The manager carefully considers how children will get along at the point of matching.

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

Risk assessments are detailed and regularly reviewed for each child. However, one risk assessment, specific to lone working with a child, does not fully consider how staff can reduce the risk of allegations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads a stable and strong staff team that provides continuity of care to children. Staff feel well supported and enjoy working at the home. Inspection report children's home: SC471153 5 The manager ensures that staff have access to bespoke training as needed. This includes online training and consultations with specialists. This helps staff to feel more confident in meeting children’s diverse needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established effective working relationships with professionals. She engages with multi-agency groups to implement safety plans and is proactive in bringing professionals together to discuss children’s unmet needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that there is regular consultation with children. She listens to children’s views and is a good advocate for their wishes and feelings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the service well. This includes recognising when staff cannot provide the specialist support that a child needs. The manager has worked openly and transparently with professionals to inform a planned and carefully considered move for one child who needs a different type of service to meet their specific needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is organised and committed to the care of the children. She has met all previous recommendations and is implementing an internal development plan to update and improve the facilities at the home. Inspection report children's home: SC471153 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children can access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet the children’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. All decisions must be informed by rigorous assessment of that child’s individual needs, be properly recorded and kept under review. In particular, ensure that the use of bedroom door alarms is risk assessed for each child and only used if assessed as needed to safeguard each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that risk assessments are clear and consistently provide staff with clarity on the arrangements to protect children and the steps that they must take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. In particular, ensure that the risk assessment in relation to lone working

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Recommendations

includes clear guidance for staff on how to reduce the risk of allegations against staff, with particular reference to the previous allegations made by children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC471153 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC471153 8 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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