Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of several homes owned by a large independent provider. The home registered in October 2021 and provides care for one child with emotional needs, who may have challenges with their behaviour and is likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is registered as manager of another home in the organisation as well as this home. She has been the manager of this home since it opened.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 3

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outstanding

One child lives at the home. They have lived here since the home registered, and managers opened the home for this specific child. The child’s care was planned in detail before they moved in. For example, staff carefully considered the home’s decor, matching assessments of the child used a trauma-informed approach, and planning for the child’s move on from the home in the future is already underway.

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outstanding

The child has made exceptional progress with regards to their education. Staff support the child extremely well to promote their education. The child successfully gained GCSEs after previously not attending school. They are about to commence a traineeship and they speak about their future optimistically. College professionals have described the communication between the staff and themselves as ‘just brilliant’. This enables the child to thrive educationally.

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outstanding

Staff offer the child exceptional emotional health and well-being support. This promotes the child’s welfare and ensures they receive high-quality care to support their emotional needs. The child’s parent spoke positively about the emotional support the staff provide to their child and also to them as a family.

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outstanding

The child is fully involved in decisions about their care. Regular research-informed and supportive conversations between staff and the child help the child to grow and learn about the world, to keep themselves safer. Staff have worked closely with the clinical practitioner to find the right way to engage the child positively. This embedded culture supports the child to progress.

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outstanding

Staff have positive relationships with the child. The child said they would ‘not change a thing’ about the home. They benefit from experiences that are enriching their life and creating fond memories for them. Staff spend time doing a huge array of activities with the child. They take them and their friends and loved ones out on trips, and the child’s family have stayed at the home to visit overnight. Activities have included theatre trips, weekend breaks, and visits to spas and museums. This creates a sense of belonging and fulfilment for the child.

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outstanding

Managers embed a positive safeguarding culture throughout the home and in the care provided to the child. Staff are skilled and knowledgeable about safeguarding practice. Managers and staff fully understand their roles and responsibilities to keep the child safe. Since moving into the home, potential risks to the child have dramatically reduced. Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 4 Safeguarding incidents are rare. Staff know the child well and they use this knowledge to carefully plan their care and manage any potential risk. The child therefore experiences exceptional levels of safety planning and stability. In addition, consistently implemented, personalised and child-centred risk assessments contribute to the child’s overall safety.

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outstanding

Staff treat the child with positive regard. They recognise and understand when the child may struggle, and they provide nurturing support to meet the child’s needs. No restraints have occurred and negative consequences are virtually never used. The child consistently receives praise from staff for their achievements. This results in the home feeling like a ‘family home’, which is also how the child’s social worker described it.

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outstanding

Staff respond promptly to safeguarding concerns, to keep the child safe. They communicate well with other agencies and actively try to reduce the risks moving forward. The child is fully involved in their own risk management planning. The clinical practitioner offers staff research-informed advice that promotes a therapeutic response to the child.

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outstanding

When there have been incidents of a medical nature and the child has needed emergency care, staff have worked in a coordinated way. Staff seek medical advice and pursue any feedback from specialist services. The child is consistently involved in making decision about their care and how they wish staff to support them with health emergencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

An experienced manager has been in the post since the home opened. She is aspirational for the service, for the team and for the child. Staff describe her as ‘wonderful’ and as someone who encourages a learning culture which allows their skills to develop.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and senior staff members create a positive culture of reflection and learning. Staff use theories and research to help them to reflect following any incident. The manager then follows this up with further discussion. This results in the team continually learning and thriving in confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager offers staff regular and personalised supervision sessions. She uses research and evidence-based tools to help her understand the needs of the staff team and the best way to help each person learn. For example, she uses research- informed personality tools and other attachment-informed theories to adapt her teaching and communication, and even the way she praises staff members to show they are valued. This makes staff feel listened to and helps them feel more motivated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff attend mandatory and additional training to give them the skills to meet the child’s needs. They also attend training sessions with the home’s clinical practitioner Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 5 every month, which further embeds the home’s therapeutic approach. This results in a unified approach to caring for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has worked hard to create an environment where everyone feels invested. Team meetings use therapeutic tools to inform methods to engage the child. The manager involves the whole team in understanding her effective monitoring systems. This results in a sense of shared accountability between all professionals working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has clear systems to help her understand the child’s care. These include monthly reviews and tracking of events, which are discussed with senior leaders. The manager has also supported team leaders to develop their own tracking system, whereby they now have their own action plans to help them support their own supervisees. This means that all staff are now developing an effective understanding of the quality of care that the child is receiving to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

When a recent medication error occurred, the manager picked this up promptly in her audit and sought appropriate advice from other professionals. The manager has reissued advice to the staff to prevent a recurrence and recognises the need to implement more detailed guidance. In this way, the manager understands the areas of development needed and acts on these to help the service grow.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager recruits staff in line with safe recruitment, ensuring that only staff who can safely care for children and who have the right skills are employed. Some minor omissions where the reasons for all gaps in an applicant’s employment history had not been recorded were noticed by the inspector during this visit. The manager rectified this issue during the inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 6

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Recommendation

 The registered provider should ensure that they have a clear system in place to enable staff to understand any changes to medication requirements for children and that these are adhered to. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)

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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: 2620366 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2620366 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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