Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Middlesbrough

Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023.

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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: 1229417 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/06/2023 Full Good 18/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living at the home says that they feel safe. Although the child has expressed a wish to return home to live with their family, they say that they would not want to leave staff. This is because the staff know the child well and the child has trusting relationships with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the child to attend school. Education professionals say that the child has made good progress in a short space of time. Staff attend all meetings, which helps to promote good communication between the staff and education professionals. This helps staff to better support the child with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to have a relationship with family members. They understand that the child can find this difficult at times and provide the child with appropriate support when required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and well decorated. However, the child’s room contains some broken furniture. Although replacement furniture has been ordered, this has been significantly delayed. This prevents the child from having a homely personal space in a timely way. The outside area is also not a safe and welcoming space for the child, due to ongoing maintenance. This prevents the child from making the most of the space available to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s records contain information about them that conflicts with their own sense of identity. This may prevent them from feeling that the staff understand and respect their identity, should they access their records.

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

Staff follow the necessary safeguarding procedures when the child goes missing from the home. The manager ensures that the child is offered the opportunity to speak to an independent person on their return home. This provides staff with the opportunity to obtain information that may help them to improve the child’s safety.

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

When the child is in distress, staff respond well and provide good emotional support. This means that it has not been necessary for the staff to hold the child when their behaviour has posed a risk to themselves or others. When the child feels unable to attend any meetings about their mental health, staff continue to support them until they feel ready to attend. This contributes towards the positive relationships that the child has with staff.

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

When the child makes an allegation against staff, this is taken seriously. The manager investigates this and informs the child of the outcome. This helps the child to feel listened to. The manager helps to repair relationships between the staff and the child Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 4 after an incident has happened. This helps to maintain the positive relationships underpinning the progress the child makes.

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

The manager completes a safer recruitment process. This helps them to be assured that the child is cared for by safe adults.

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

Staff know and understand the risks for the child well. However, the risk assessment does not consistently provide staff with the strategies to mitigate all known risks. For example, the child only accesses the internet when supervised. However, the manager does not ensure that staff help the child to understand the risks associated with being online. This increases the child’s vulnerability to exploitation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the child well and is committed to providing them with a good level of care. When required, the manager provides practical support to assist staff when there are staffing shortages. This does not have an adverse impact on his oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When staff’s practice falls short of the standards expected, the manager addresses this directly with the relevant staff members. This helps the manager to be assured that the child receives care from staff who have the necessary skills and knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff members complete a probationary period to prepare them for working with the child. All staff complete mandatory training, including training that is specific to the child’s individual needs. One professional commented that the staff are eager to learn and utilise the training offered. This helps to improve the standard of care that the child receives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions sessions are carried out on a regular basis. They support staff to reflect on their performance and how this has an effect on the care that the child receives. Staff say that they feel well supported by the manager and feel confident to approach him with any concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager completes a review of the location of the home. However, this is not completed regularly, and professionals who are expected to contribute towards this are not consulted as required. This prevents the manager from being assured that all known local environmental risks are assessed, evaluated and mitigated against. Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 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 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 requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 15 July 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 15 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that for children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered manager 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. Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 6 (‘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: 1229417 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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Inspectors

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Kerry Chater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1229417 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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