Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Barnsley

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 1 SC482419 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

A private company owns and runs this home. The home provides short-, medium- or long-term care for up to three children who experience emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in 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 good

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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 for children’s home: SC482419 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2023 Full Good 24/03/2022 Full Good 26/11/2019 Full Good 25/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children speak highly of the support they receive from staff. Children trust caring adults and feel able to discuss any worries with them. Staff are caring and nurturing towards the children and understand their needs. One child said, ‘The laughter and smiles the staff put on our faces is unreal.’ This means children feel loved and cared for by supportive adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend education regularly. When children have difficulties in education, staff support and advocate on their behalf. Staff with relevant education experience help to enhance children’s learning in enjoyable ways. Staff openly talk about the children’s aspirations for the future and next steps. This means that children aim to achieve their educational potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children make gradual progress. Staff have frequent discussions with children about a range of topics. Staff know what works best for each child to enable discussions to be effective. As such, some of the children’s identified behaviours and worries they experienced before they moved into the home have not occurred, and incidents have reduced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to access a range of activities each week. Children do activities individually, but they also enjoy spending time together. Staff show an interest and join in activities, such as going to the gym and completing park runs. This allows children to broaden their opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated and maintained to a good standard. Children contribute to decisions about the home, for example having pets. Staff encourage children to complete household tasks, such as cooking and doing the laundry. These skills support the children to develop a sense of responsibility and prepare them for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have a safe space to relax, and they personalise their bedrooms. However, the children’s movements are monitored by the staff through the use of bedroom door alarms. This institutionalised practice compromises the children’s privacy.

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

Staff ensure that children have up-to-date risk assessments that incorporate what other agencies are doing to support the children. These assessments are reflective of the children’s current and historical worries and behaviour. Staff know the children well, so they can identify any of the children’s behavioural changes that may highlight a potential concern. This means that children receive help from adults who know them well. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 4 Children currently do not go missing from the home. One child said, ‘I ran off before, but I don’t here.’ When children do go missing, staff are proactive in trying to locate them. Staff work with professionals and family in line with missing-from- care procedures. Staff welcome children back and request that return home discussions take place.

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

The manager and staff carefully consider all the needs of the children before any new child moves into the home. Staff seek the children’s views about who should come to live in the home, and the manager ensures that the staff have the skills to support the children’s needs before they move in. This means children can live comfortably with one another without concern.

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

The manager identifies when the staff can no longer meet the children’s needs. The staff prepare the children to move on, and they sensitively discuss this with the children who remain in the home when it is a planned move. Staff provide children with photo books that capture their time at the home and arrange a leaving party. This allows children to feel supported and helped to move on in a planned way.

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

Children who live in the home have not been held by the staff. When staff have used physical intervention and held children, they did so as a last resort to ensure the safety of the child and others.

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

The staff do not always have the skills and ability to manage the children’s anxieties and worries appropriately. Consequently, when some challenging situations have occurred, the staff have contacted the police for assistance to manage the children’s behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager deeply cares about the children and staff team. Staff say the manager is approachable and that they can discuss differences in opinion. One staff member said, ‘It wouldn’t be the same without her.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team in place, and there has not been a need to use agency staff. This ensures that children receive consistent care by familiar adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions, and they access relevant training to meet the children’s needs. The manager identifies any gaps in the staff’s learning and ensures that appropriate training is provided. New staff receive an induction to the operation of the home and support from the wider team. This means staff have the knowledge and skills to care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The process to escalate shortfalls in the local authority’s practice, such as failing to provide the service with the child’s important documents, such as their care plans, is inconsistent. This means that staff do not always have the most up-to-date information to best support the needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 5 The manager has oversight of all the children’s documents, and they complete regular audits of the documents that are pertinent to the operation of the home. While the independent visitor completes the Regulation 44 visits, they have missed an opportunity to ascertain feedback from others on the quality of care the manager and staff provide to the children. The manager provides some challenge to the independent person and senior leaders. However, this has not been effective. This prevents the service for children improving as constructive scrutiny is not received.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the child’s placing local authority provides them with a copy of the children’s care plans. 1 May 2024

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(xi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff have the confidence to de-escalate incidents to ensure that the police are not used to support behaviour management initially. 1 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person seeks consistent feedback from others involved in the lives of the children and provides scrutiny to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. In doing so, the registered person should ensure that the home maintains a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression and that the use of bedroom door alarms is proportionate to the presenting needs of the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC482419 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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Inspector

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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