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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 1 SC457089 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 owned and managed by a large organisation. It provides care for two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager holds the required qualification and is registered with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 17 January 2023

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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: SC457089 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2023 Full Good 14/03/2022 Full Good 10/10/2019 Full Good 21/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. Both children have lived in the home for over a year and their progress and lived experiences continue to grow. One child said ‘I have never felt so loved’ and another child said ‘this home is 10 out of 10’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff promote education. Both children attend school full time and are meeting set targets. School staff and care staff work well together and understand children’s learning needs. During the inspection, one child was effectively supported by staff to prepare for and attend her exams. Consequently, children make progress and have opportunities to achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy and engage in a range of positive activities. They have been on holiday with staff, trips to theme parks, and participate in community events. Children are encouraged to bring their friends home. These experiences encourage children to develop new friendships and have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have influence over their day-to-day care. Children participate in weekly house meetings to share their views, feelings, and wishes. However, staff do not consistently discuss with children their care plans and the targets within these. This is a missed opportunity to further consider children’s wishes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access health appointments. Both children are engaging with specialist support to help them to understand their emotions and behaviours. This means that children’s wide-ranging health needs are well managed by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand and promote family time. Staff support the children when visiting people who are important to them, and send weekly care summaries to parents. One parent said that the staff have helped her to rebuild her relationship with her daughter. This enables parents to still feel involved in the everyday care of their children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well furnished and nicely presented. The communal spaces are decorated with photos of children having fun. Children can personalise their bedrooms and the home. One child likes to create dens in the dedicated games room. Another child enjoys caring for her pet rabbit.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they feel safe and are well cared for by staff. Since the last inspection, the manager has improved the quality of risk assessments to provide staff with information about children’s vulnerabilities and clear strategies that should be used to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 4 Staff take appropriate action when children go missing. Staff try to locate children, searching for them and working with external agencies. When children return home, they are offered a warm welcome. However, staff do not effectively explore known and emerging concerns with children. For example, staff do not explore the reasons for why children may go missing. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that the correct support is provided to children.

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, managers had failed to ensure that a disclosure made by a child was reported to the police in a timely manner. Despite this, the managers had informed the placing authority and sought additional support for the child. However, this delay does not ensure a sufficient multi-agency response to a safeguarding concern. The manager took immediate action during the inspection to ensure that this information was reported to the police.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been no incidents of physical intervention. Staff use incentives effectively. These include praise and individualised reward charts. When children feel worried, staff are proactive and thoughtful. Staff discuss and encourage alternative behaviours, such as using a reflective journal. This practice helps children to understand the impact of their emotions, and encourages supportive relationships.

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improvement to be good

Concerns about staff practice are taken seriously and managed well. The manager ensures that matters are investigated thoroughly, and children are kept informed of the outcome. This helps children to feel respected, listened to, and valued.

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improvement to be good

The arrangements for the safeguarding and administration of medication are effective. When a medication error occurred, this was identified promptly and medical attention was sought to ensure that the child was safe and their health had not been compromised. In addition, the manager ensured that staff had learning opportunities to reduce the risk of further errors.

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improvement to be good

The recruitment of staff is safe. The staff who are recruited to work in the home are subject to all the necessary checks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitably qualified manager in post, who has been registered with Ofsted since April 2022. He is child-focused and passionate that children receive the best possible care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions and team meetings take place regularly. Furthermore, staff told inspectors that the induction they receive when joining the home is comprehensive and they benefit from the consistent support from managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed mandatory training and training to support them in meeting the children’s needs. Regular consultations with the company’s clinician are used to further improve staff practice. During the inspection, the manager recognised that Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 5 staff required recording and reporting training and took steps to schedule this. The manager is passionate about creating a learning environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During the inspection, the manager told the inspector that he did not agree with the child’s placing authorities’ plans to keep the child safe. This has been escalated and challenged by the manager and a safety plan had been devised to improve safety measures. However, the manager had failed to record important conversations with professionals about this. This means that it is not clear if children receive all the support they require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual complete monthly audits to assess the quality of care. The manager recognises the need to improve monitoring systems and implemented a system to review the direct work that staff complete with children. At the time of the inspection, this work was not fully embedded into practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals was unanimously positive. Professionals speak highly of the support that staff provide for children and the positive impact that this has had on children’s lives. One professional said, ‘I cannot fault the care provided. [Name of child] is thriving.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 6

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers and staff ensuring that support offered to children following incidents is effective and informs the development of care provided.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, managers must ensure that disclosures are responded to effectively and that children understand the steps that are taken by staff to keep them safe. 15 March 2024

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 15 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 7 This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that children’s written documents evidence discussions that have been held with professionals.

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Recommendation

 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. Information should be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child and take into account their views on any relevant plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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 for children’s home: SC457089 8

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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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Inspector

Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC457089 9 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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