Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Walsall

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 1 SC476270 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A large private provider owns this home. It provides care for up to five children who may have had adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a manager who registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, no children have moved into or left the home. At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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This monitoring visit

Ofsted last visited this children’s home on 8 November 2023, to conduct an assurance inspection. At that inspection, no serious or widespread concerns were identified. The purpose of this monitoring visit was to review the safety and well- being of children following Ofsted receiving information in the independent visitor reports relating to the safeguarding of children.

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This monitoring visit

The two children living at this home spoke to the inspector. They continue to like living at the home and spoke positively about the staff who care for them. The children say they feel safe and well cared for. One child said the staff are helping them with their planned move to their new foster parents’ home.

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This monitoring visit

The home is equipped to meet children’s needs. There is an emphasis on making the environment as homely as it can be. However, when there is damage to the home, there is a significant delay in carrying out repairs. After almost two months, there is still graffiti and some damage in one child’s bedroom. This poor experience does not always show children that they are valued. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 2 Staff only physically intervene to keep children and others safe as a last resort. The manager reviews how staff manage challenging incidents to continually improve practice. Debriefs are carried out with the children and the staff members involved. This helps staff to reflect on incidents to continually improve their practice. However, incident reports and physical intervention reports are not always clear. For example, related documents and reports sometimes contradict each other. This creates

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This monitoring visit

confusion and means that managers may mistakenly raise or miss concerns.

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This monitoring visit

Clinical support provides staff with guidance to understand how to respond when children need emotional support. However, agreed strategies are not always put into practice and, on occasion, staff responses are punitive. For example, one child was told that if behaviours that challenge continued, staff would not want to come in and work with him. This poor practice creates confusion for the children, whose behaviours have then escalated to injuring each other, injuring staff and causing damage to the home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/05/2023 Full Good 08/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/07/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 3

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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 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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered person takes swift and effective action to repair any damage in the home, particularly to children’s bedrooms. 4 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This specifically relates to ensuring that reports are clear and accurate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 4  The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. In particular, where there is a complex trauma

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Recommendations

approach, staff should incorporate this into their daily practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 5

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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: Deborah Robertson-Kesterton

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Inspector

Kev Brammer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476270 6 regulates and inspects 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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