Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Devon

Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 1 SC457132 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 one child who may have social and emotional needs. It is part of a national organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2020.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 16 February 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/07/2019 Full Good 14/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/07/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 3

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improvement to be good

Routines and boundaries in the home are not effective and do not support the child to make progress. Too often, the staff are allowing the child to have too much control in the home and are not implementing the consistent boundaries and routines that would help to ensure that the child makes progress.

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improvement to be good

The child has experienced many previous moves of home. He described this home as the best home that he has ever lived in and appears settled and happy. However, most of the time, the staff’s expectations of the child are not clear and he is living a nocturnal lifestyle. He is up at night gaming or watching television and is refusing to get out of bed in the morning.

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improvement to be good

There is a creative education plan in place and tutors visit the home, or the child can access his education virtually. However, most of the time, the child refuses to engage, often because he has been up all night and refuses to get out of bed. The child’s educational targets, as detailed in his personal education plan, are not being met.

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improvement to be good

The manager has been proactive in obtaining comprehensive assessments of the child’s emotional health needs. These assessments are now being undertaken and the child has started therapy. The staff are receiving specialist training in topics that will help them to meet the child’s specialist care needs, which are only now beginning to be fully understood by the staff and professionals.

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improvement to be good

The child will soon be leaving the home when he becomes a young adult. The staff are supporting the child to learn independent living skills, such as cooking, and he is doing his own laundry. However, there is not a pathway plan in place that details how the staff will comprehensively prepare him to ensure that he has the skills he will need in the future to successfully live independently.

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improvement to be good

The staff are supporting the child effectively to maintain a personal hygiene routine, by using creative strategies. This is progress for the child. He now showers and bathes independently, is cleaning his teeth regularly and has learned to keep his bedroom clean and tidy.

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improvement to be good

The staff understand the child very well and have established positive relationships with him. However, creative behaviour-management strategies are not in place to guide the staff and support the child to make progress and feel confident to regularly go out of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 4 The child said that he feels very safe living in the home and can speak to any member of staff if he is worried or upset. The child’s placing social worker reported that, since moving to the home, the child is the most relaxed and settled that she has seen and incidents of aggression are reduced.

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improvement to be good

Comprehensive assessments of identified risks and control measures are in place to help promote the safety of the child. The manager and the staff work effectively with safeguarding professionals and social workers if there is a safeguarding concern.

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improvement to be good

Incidents in the home are rare and are safely managed by the staff because they have a positive relationship with the child and use effective de-escalation strategies.

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improvement to be good

There is a robust safer recruitment process in place. This ensures that only suitable people are employed to work in the home.

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good

The staff report that they feel well supported and enjoy working at the home. The manager is well respected by the consistent and stable staff team. However, there is a lack of reflective supervision and learning from incidents to support the staff to develop their practice.

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good

The manager actively challenges other professionals to obtain the services that the child needs. She has successfully obtained therapeutic assessments for the child and pursues the placing authority if documents, such as the child’s pathway plan, have not been sent to the home.

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good

Staff benefit from a wide range of training that is informing their practice with the child. For example, training to understand autism spectrum disorder is arranged and staff have attended training around bereavement.

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good

The home provides the child with a homely and comfortable environment. The child is now proudly displaying photographs of his family around the home. His placing social worker reports that he has never felt settled enough to do this in any of his previous homes. On the day of the inspection, the manager made immediate improvements in the home to ensure that it does not have an institutional appearance.

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good

The manager has arranged stability meetings with the placing authority due to her concerns that the staff are struggling to meet the needs of the child so that he is making sufficient progress. As a result of raising these concerns, the placing authority has agreed to fund private therapy for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 5

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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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(vii)) 17 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)) 17 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 6 The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare. (Regulation 6 (a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that children benefit from healthy and structured daily routines. In particular, ensure that the aims of a child’s placement are clearly documented in their plans, along with how these plans will be achieved through the use of creative strategies and therapeutic interventions, and documented timescales. 17 June 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are supported to be ambitious for every child in the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential and to ensure that the staff understand and can meet each child’s needs in line with their potential. This particularly refers to ensuring that each supervision session contains the opportunity for staff to engage in reflective supervision and use any incidents in the home to inform their learning and development. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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 for children’s home: SC457132 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 EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicola McClements

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Inspector

Tina Maddison, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC457132 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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