Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 1 SC457266 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 is operated by a large national company. It provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2018. They also manage a sister home that is in close proximity.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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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 outstanding

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/08/2021 Full Good 26/11/2019 Full Good 07/01/2019 Full Good 19/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well presented and provides a family-style environment for staff and children. The outdoor spaces are all well maintained and provide ample opportunities for children to explore, relax and play. The run-down shed identified at the last inspection has been removed and additional parking has been created.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Moves to the home are well planned. The manager ensures that they have detailed information about children and are confident that they can meet their needs before they agree to placements. They ensure that moves progress at a pace that meets the child’s needs and helps them settle. A child’s social worker told the inspector that, although they were frustrated by the length of time it took for a child to move, they feel that the decisions made by the home were child centred.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team uses the expertise and knowledge of the clinical lead to better understand children’s trauma responses and attachment behaviours. This provides strategies for staff to respond effectively to children’s behaviours. However, attachment knowledge could be used more effectively to support the matching process. The registered manager spoke to the clinical lead during the inspection to develop this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have experienced unplanned endings since the last inspection. One has moved to a residential home in another part of the country. Another has moved and is awaiting a long-term placement. Despite these moves not being what was hoped for the children, the team worked well with external professionals to ensure that they were managed in a sensitive way. All external professionals spoken to told the inspector that, despite thorough matching, the children found living together very difficult, which was completely unforeseen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move on from the home continue to be supported by the team; some for significant periods. One child has successfully moved to foster care and is thriving. The registered manager arranges catch-ups with them and another child who lived at the home at the same time. This helps children to maintain friendships and know that adults continue to be a support to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to do well in education. When mainstream provisions are not able to meet children’s needs, the home provides good-quality education for them at home. There is excellent communication between the registered manager and education providers. This helps to create learning opportunities for children that provide them with good outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home supports children to make sense of their past. The inspector saw evidence of sensitive and meaningful discussions being had with children about family and past experiences as well as their future. However, the home is not currently providing comprehensive therapeutic life-story work for children who do not have access to this through their local authority. Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 4 Staff are skilled in therapeutic parenting. Children’s experiences of trauma are fully examined when developing behaviour management plans. Staff have robust strategies to help them respond effectively to children’s individual needs. Staff are empathic and playful in their approach.

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

Staff work tirelessly to keep children safe and ensure that any known vulnerabilities are responded to effectively. Risk management plans are detailed and provide staff with clear guidance on how to respond to children appropriately. The child living in the home told the inspector that they feel safe.

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

When children go missing, there are very robust procedures in place to help find them and return them home safely. Staff go above and beyond, using their local knowledge and contacts to locate children and try to reduce these incidents. Records of these incidents are detailed and there is reflection to enhance learning.

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

Children are supported to take age-appropriate risk. They are supported to have experiences that reflect positive family life. The child currently living in the home has four hours each day to spend time with friends, and they also have sleepovers.

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

Restraint is rarely used. Staff are knowledgeable about all forms of restrictive practice and use this only when children or others are at risk of harm.

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

The home has robust recruitment practices. Agency staff are not used to cover absence. This ensures that children have continuity and stability. This also helps them to form trusting and loving relationships with their carers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is run by a conscientious, experienced and impressive manager, who clearly understands the strengths and vulnerabilities of the home. Staff spoken to, and those who gave feedback, have huge respect for the manager. They feel well supported and valued by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is excellent oversight by the manager in all areas of the home. They consistently review records and feed back to staff. On their return from annual leave, they review incidents that have occurred in their absence. They provide feedback to staff and managers when practice has not been good enough. They drive continued development and learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has outstanding links with external agencies. This means that children’s needs are well known and resources that support them are made available. Local authority social workers praise the team highly, particularly the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A strength of the home is the manager’s ability to strongly advocate for children. They challenge other agencies robustly. During the inspection, the manager Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 5 challenged education to apply for an education, health and care plan for the child as they are struggling at school due to their trauma responses. Despite previously not considering this necessary, the school agreed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

If a child does not settle into the home, the manager ensures that plans are reviewed regularly and a multi-agency approach is taken. Responses are swift and the manager is confident in approaching other professionals and formulating plans that may better meet the child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager consistently makes child-centred decisions. When children are in crisis or plans are not meeting their needs, the manager explores all options to try to formulate plans that may work for them. When the home is not able to meet the needs of children with developing complex trauma responses, leaders and managers go above and beyond to formulate plans that will cause the least amount of disruption to them while a more suitable home is found. Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they proactively advocate for children to ensure others deliver the high-quality support the child needs. This includes access to good quality life story work. When this is not available from the child’s local authority then the registered person should make efforts to source this independently. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.4)

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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: SC457266 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: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Victoria Elworthy

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Inspector

Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457266 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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