Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 1 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 provides care for up to five children who have experienced, or who are at risk of, child sexual exploitation and who are likely to experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties due to past trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since the home opened and registered with Ofsted in May 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection. The manager has ensured that children are well matched. Children get along with each other and there are examples of children being thoughtful and kind to each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs and have formed positive relationships with them. They provide children with a warm, homely environment in which they enjoy predictable daily routines. As a result, children are settled at the home and are making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend the organisation’s school. Staff support children to be up and ready for learning each day. Children have good attendance and engagement in education. Staff help children with homework tasks and take interest and pride in their achievements. For example, children’s work is displayed in the home, including an insightful poem which one child wrote about bullying. There is a high level of communication between staff at the school and the home. This provides children with continuity of support if they have experienced a difficult day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend and engage with the physical and mental health services that they need. Children access sexual health services for advice. Staff have helped one child to stop smoking with the assistance of smoking cessation services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in the weekly therapy programme aimed at addressing issues relating to child sexual exploitation. Incidents of self-harming behaviour have reduced. Staff have helped children to find ways of communicating their pain in non- harmful ways, such as writing down what they are feeling.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are sensitive to and respectful of children’s identity. They support children, in a non-judgemental way, to explore their identity. As a result, children feel able to talk about relationships, gender and identity openly with staff. Staff use these conversations to help children learn about healthy relationships and keeping safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have provided excellent support to help children maintain and re-establish relationships with family members who are important to them. This helps children to understand their history and culture and to build a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff arrange activities for the children to enjoy at the home, including baking and pamper nights. Staff encourage children to try new hobbies and clubs so that children can enjoy socialising and build friendships with peers outside the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard. At the time of the inspection, a fire door was broken and one of the home’s boilers required maintenance. These issues had been identified by the manager but a date for a Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 4 maintenance visit had not been confirmed. This took place during the inspection and the issues were rectified.

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

Children’s introductions to the home are carefully planned. They are made aware of the rules at the home in advance of moving in. This includes restrictions on the use of mobile phones and increased levels of supervision. Children are involved in writing their plans and highlighting the support that they would like from staff. Staff are aware of the importance of balancing children’s safety with increasing levels of independence as children prepare to move on.

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

Children are safer because of living at this home. Incidents of children going missing from care have reduced since they have lived at the home. There have been no incidents of restraint. Staff use de-escalation strategies to help children to remain calm. Positive consequences are immediate and effective. Children like the recognition of their positive behaviour.

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

Staff’s knowledge of children informs detailed risk assessments. Staff are sensitive to the indicators of change in mood for one child. This enables staff to intervene quickly to address concerns for deteriorating mental health.

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

Staff follow the plans to reduce the risks of children going missing from care and act quickly to return children if they leave the home without permission. However, missing-from-home protocols need strengthening to provide clear guidance for staff on what actions to take if a child gets on a train. Return home interviews have not taken place. The manager and independent person have escalated this concern with the placing social workers. The manager has been proactive in making referrals to independent organisations which can provide this service.

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

Staff undertake training which is relevant to the needs of the children. This includes training in safeguarding, child exploitation and self-harm. This helps staff to identity safeguarding concerns and confidently manage incidents.

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

The home has a comprehensive safeguarding policy. However, the manager did not report one safeguarding incident to the designated officer in line with the timescales outlined in the policy. This could have placed children at increased risk of harm.

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

The location risk assessment is regularly reviewed and contains actions to reduce risks. This includes staff having access to a ‘grab bag’ that contains a high-visibility jacket. This item was not contained inside the bag. This reduces the effectiveness of this risk reduction strategy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is invested in the success of the home and good outcomes for children. She empowers staff to make decisions and models a calm, nurturing approach to the care provided. Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 5 The manager has a detailed understanding of the children’s needs and plans. She maintains a good relationship with the children and takes the lead in key-work sessions and debrief conversations when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is newly established and has experienced some changes since the home opened. Staff feel supported by the manager and deputy manager and enabled to develop in their roles. The manager carries out reflective debrief conversations with staff to identify any learning after incidents. Performance issues are identified and addressed quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children feel able to share their views. The manager deals with complaints formally and uses children’s feedback to make changes at the home. The manager is a good advocate for children and recognises when an independent advocate is more appropriate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established good working relationships with other professionals. She has identified the local resources available to help meet children’s needs. The manager escalates issues when needed to ensure that children are offered the support that they should receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person regularly consults with professionals, parents and children to provide an informed evaluation of the service. The independent person provides good challenge and identifies clear actions for the home and external professionals to ensure that children’s plans are progressing. Internal audits are thorough and help the manager to continuously improve the service. Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when an allegation of abuse against a child is made, ensure that it is escalated within the timescales outlined in the home’s safeguarding policy. 10 December

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that risk assessments are clear. The assessments should consistently provide staff with clarity about the arrangements to protect children and the steps that staff must take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. In particular, the protocols for when children go missing from the home should provide guidance for staff in relation to following children if they board a train. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, staff should ensure that the ‘grab bag’ contains the items that have been identified in the location risk assessment as needed to reduce the risks when children leave the home without permission. (Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 7

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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: 2631595 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: Metropolitan House, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Dennise Springett

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Inspectors

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2631595 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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