Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 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

The home is a privately run children’s home. It is registered to provide care for one child aged between eight and 17 years. The manager was registered with Ofsted in May 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: 22 November 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2022 Full Good 25/05/2021 Full Outstanding 17/09/2019 Full Good 16/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager’s comprehensive planning for the children supports them to move in to and out of the home well. This enables the children to be better supported through vulnerable episodes in their lives. In doing so, the children enjoy successful starts to life in their new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The living environment reflects that of a family home. The child’s interests and personality are visible throughout the home. Additionally, the carers are skilled at completing a daily journal for the child. Cumulatively, these efforts give the child a sense of being valued and loved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The carers are skilled at using opportunities that occur naturally to learn about the children’s lives. The carers’ creativity gives the children a therapeutic outlet to speak out and feel reassured around issues such as family relationships and topical newsworthy events. This has built a degree of trust and confidence in the relationships between the carers and the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers make every effort to integrate the child into their local community, and they have supported the child to carry out charity work and undertake voluntary pursuits. These experiences and insight have broadened the child’s ability to empathise and help people and animals who need extra support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager works collaboratively with other agencies and professionals involved in the children’s care. Effective steps are taken for children who are not accessing school. This has ensured that other professionals undertake their role and responsibilities concerning the child’s right to an education. For the children who have experienced challenges and delay with accessing school, as an interim measure, the carers implement stimulating work and provide educational experiences for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The carers are creative, and they use the completion of day-to-day chores involved in the running of the home to develop the child’s life skills. The carers try to turn mundane tasks into learning opportunities. The carers’ approach to this has encouraged the child to want to learn how to safely use cooking utensils and household appliances. These efforts have had a positive impact on the child’s confidence.

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

The carers build meaningful relationships with the children. This means that when children are in a state of distress, they are more likely to respond positively to their carer’s direction. As a result, incidents involving the children tend not escalate as the carers are effective and confident in supporting the children to recover. Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 4 For children who smoke or vape, there was a lack of a clear strategy to deter this. Although the carers highlight their concerns around this behaviour to the children, the boundaries and expectations of the child are ambiguous. This means that the children are at risk of receiving inconsistent boundaries from their carers.

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

The carers have a good understanding of the child’s personal care needs, including the child’s mental well-being. The carers are confident to have conversations with the children about the children’s personal care. Therefore, the child is comfortable and able to seek reassurance on issues associated with growth-related development.

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

There is a robust and effective response when the children need to be reported as a missing person to the police. These events have not been frequent, which is testament to the positive relationships that the children build with their carers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed and takes full ownership for her role and decision- making. The carers feel highly supported and value their role. This has created a tight-knit team that is focused on their care of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are frequent. Additionally, for children who have only recently moved in to the home, the manager implements ‘weekly catch ups’ with her team. These meetings help the carers to quickly learn from colleagues about their emerging view of the child’s care needs. This forum aids the flow of information at a vulnerable point in the child’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes effective use of the home’s development plan. This has a strong focus on developing the carers’ skills, and the contribution that they make to the team. Additionally, the manager often reviews the development plan. This means that there is good oversight on the carers’ access to training and development opportunities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s analysis of risk in respect of one child was contradictory. This was in relation to the child’s identified risks against the manager’s analysis around sufficient staffing levels in the home. Consequently, on a limited number of occasions, the carers’ ability to better support the child was limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recruitment process is thorough and highlights the support needs of the employed carers. However, the manager is not consistent in detailing how known areas of support are addressed during all the carers’ probation periods. This means that there is a significant vulnerability around effectively addressing important aspects of the carers’ role and responsibilities to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 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, The 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(d)) 15 November

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)(b)) 15 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with the children’s individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help the children to understand, and where necessary, work to change negative behaviours in key areas of the child’s health and well-being, such as, but not limited to, the use of vapes and tobacco. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 6 take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘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 for children’s home: 1236773 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: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1236773 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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