Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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 manages this children’s home. It provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.. Two children were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since 13 March 2024. A manager has been appointed but is not yet in post.

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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: 11 October 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: 2594539 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/10/2023 Full Good 12/10/2022 Full Good 06/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children in this home have trusted relationships with staff. Staff get to know children and understand their needs. Children’s views are valued. Staff seek out the child’s voice to involve them in their own plans and decision-making. Children are encouraged to access advocacy support, and staff will advocate for children to ensure their voices are heard. Managers will challenge professionals if there are concerns. One professional said that staff encourage the child to share their voice and opinions with others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are achieving in education, which staff encourage and support. Staff build positive relationships with educational professionals to support children with attending school and having the opportunity to achieve. This ensures that children have options for their learning and are encouraged to develop aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to stay healthy. Children with lifelong conditions are helped to understand and manage these to improve their health and well-being. Staff work with health professionals to encourage children to access appointments and promote healthy routines to manage their conditions. Similarly, children receive help when they struggle with their emotional well-being and have access to specialist support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to be independent and are treated with dignity and respect. Children feel happy and safe. They can identify staff who they feel able to confide in. However, each child has an active door alarm on their bedroom. The constant use of the door alarm is a form of surveillance. Children feel that they impact on their privacy, and they do not understand why they are in place.

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

Children feel safe. One child has shared worries with staff and knows that staff will respond to ensure their safety. Staff are knowledgeable about how to keep children safe. Plans and documents provide staff with clear guidance and strategies to keep children safe. This ensures that children are protected from harm.

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

When an allegation is made against staff, urgent action is taken to protect the child. Managers work closely with professionals, including the local authority designated officer, to address the risk of harm. All allegations have been investigated thoroughly through the allegation management process to ensure children’s safety as a priority.

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

Staff are skilled at de-escalation strategies. Individual work with children to manage their frustrations is completed to support children in developing skills to communicate effectively. This has resulted in no missing-from-home episodes or use of physical restraint. Staff know the children and use their knowledge through training to help children manage their emotions safely. All staff access training to ensure that they are knowledgeable and can act in accordance with a child’s plan. This means that any Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 4 incident that requires staff to use restraint in the future would be done safely and only as a last resort.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted, and the use of negative consequences is minimal. Where negative consequences are given, the written documents are brief and do not provide context. There is no restorative action being taken to support children’s learning and reflection for the future. This is a missed opportunity for staff to support children in their thinking and future actions.

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

Fire safety checks are not being completed regularly. The fire safety policy is not being followed. This has resulted in fire safety equipment in the home not being checked to ensure it is working effectively. If fire safety equipment is damaged or unusable, children may not be able to leave the home as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency, to remain safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a notable change in staffing. There is no registered manager in post and some staff have left to assume other roles. The home is currently managed by a deputy manager with oversight from a visiting registered manager and the senior management team. Senior managers have ensured that children continue to have consistency of care by using bank staff and staff from other homes to provide care. The use of agency staff has been minimal to ensure consistency and reduce the impact of the changes on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision and team meetings. Staff state that managers are visible and available. Team meetings are used to share information and update staff. Supervisions provide staff with planned time to reflect on and develop practice. This benefits children as they are cared for by staff who reflect and learn as part of the care they provide.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff receive appropriate training. All staff hold appropriate qualifications or are working towards these. This means that children receive care from staff who have the knowledge and skills they need to provide good-quality care and support for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff complete daily records as a lasting memory for the child. In some records, the use of language is not at the quality expected. Some documents are written in a way that uses judgemental or blameful language without providing detailed context. Managers have identified a development need around the use of language. If a child requests to read their documents in the future, they may find that some of these are unpleasant to read.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use a monitoring and review system to track children’s progress and the quality of care. There is a proactive approach to reviewing and learning from practice to provide the quality of care expected. Where monitoring identifies a need, this is addressed with action from the managers. However, some needs have not been addressed as they have not been identified during the monitoring and review process. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 5 This means that the monitoring and review system has not been effective in all aspects of care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 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, 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

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the fire policy is followed and all checks are completed to ensure that fire equipment is in working order and fire drills are completed regularly. 30 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(d)) 30 November 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 promotes their welfare.

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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. 30 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 7 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s documents are available, manager oversight is visible on documents as expected, document accuracy is maintained and documents are reviewed regularly and reflect updates.

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Recommendations

 Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be 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. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (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: 2594539 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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

Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2594539 9 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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