Dumbell House is a private residential family centre, opened by Kaleidoscope Assessment Services in 2023.

Dumbell House is located in a peaceful residential area of Salford, Greater Manchester. The property is situated within walking distance of many services inclusive of shops, schools, doctors, hospital and children centres. Dumbell House is situated close to Manchester town centre, which hosts services such as a college, university, train station, bus station and large shopping centre close by. There are also swimming baths, with a gym.

Dumbell House is a terraced house, which is tastefully decorated.

Dumbell House is able to provide accommodation to two families, with a family in this context consisting of one or two parents, and one or two children aged up to 5 years old. Facilities allow each family to have an en-suite room, access to a communal tv room and shared kitchen facilities, and an area for training, meetings, and downtime for families. 

We are able to provide residential parenting assessments for families, parents aged 16 years and upwards, of any gender, families with learning disabilities, families with a history of abuse, neglect, drug or alcohol addiction/behaviour, families with who have experienced domestic violence, and / or where there are protection concerns as a result of a history of mental health. For families with a physical impairment, we are able to offer a placement if the person is able to climb stairs unaided.

Each bedroom consists of a bedroom and en-suite bathroom, and is equipped with a medication cabinet. Residents are encouraged to bring small items of personal possessions, such as pictures and ornaments, to personalise their room. Unfortunately, due to the size of the rooms, residents will be unable to bring large items of furniture. We are also unable to accommodate pets at Dumbell House.

At the rear of the property there is a smoking area for parents only. Whilst smoking cessation will be promoted to all parents who smoke, we recognise that some parents may continue to do so, and this allocated area is the only part of the property where residents are permitted to smoke.

Dumbell House operates a service with staff available 24-hours of the day, to ensure parents are supported throughout the day and night.

Dumbell House also has the facility of portable CCTV footage through the use of an iPad, to enable staff to continuously monitor families. This is to ensure that when situations occur when staff are away from the office, CCTV monitoring can continue to be upheld at all times. All staff are trained during their induction, and understand the requirements and restrictions imposed around the use of electronic monitoring.

The CCTV cameras are in constant use externally at the entrance, exit of the building, in order to protect the safety of all residents, staff and visitors. Appropriate signs are displayed where CCTV footage is used. All CCTV footage, including monitors, are held in a private area in the staff office.

CCTV footage can be requested by the local authority, guardians and the court for viewing. The CCTV system holds footage for a month before the system reboots. If there is a concern, and / or should footage be required, a request should be made within this timescale, prior to the system rebooting. All footage requested would need to be funded by the local authority. This would include any devices and transportation of the footage required.

Directors & Management Team:

Noor Ali - Director

Noor is a qualified Social Worker, with a BSc in Mathematics, NVQ L5 in leadership and management and MA in Social Work. He has over 9 years of experience working in fostering and children’s residential homes within the management teams and as a Director, where he has had the opportunity to make a significant difference to vulnerable people’s lives.

Deborah Aremu - Service Manager

Deborah is a qualified Social Worker, with a BSc in Law, and a MA in Social Work. She has over 40 years of experience supporting children in care and in various positions including Service Manager, Registered Manager, SSW and Senior Practitioner. She enjoys building relationships with families and supporting them within their role to provide safe, caring and nurturing homes for children and young people, which meet their holistic needs, Deborah also enjoys supporting Social Workers and staffing teams with their professional growth and development, to empower and equipt them to best meet the needs of the families. 

James Broadfield – Responsible Individual 

 James has worked in social care for over 14 years. James holds the following qualifications: Level 3 children and young people, Level 5 in leadership and management, Level 7 in strategic management, PGCE TLAN teaching learners with additional needs (M) level 7, currently completing a MSC in senior leadership. Safeguarding 3 and 5, Emergency First Aid Child Protection level 3, PAMs 3. James has a number of years’ experience managing residential home teams working with vulnerable children and adult with complex needs.

Joanne Kelly – Registered Manager

Joanne has over 10 years’ experience working with vulnerable children and families in residential and educational settings, as well as gaining nursery experience achieving her Early Years Professional Status. Joanne has completed a level 3 in Children and Young People Workforce, BA Hons Degree in Early Childhood Studies, HLTA, QTS, and a Level 5 in Leadership and Management. She has experience working with children and young people in senior positions within residential provisions for looked after children and teaching children with EBD. Joanne has a passion for working with children, young people and families and supporting them to achieve the best outcomes.

Gill Franklin – Deputy Manager

Gill has over 30 years’ experience working with children and young people in the Early Years sector, including managing her own nursery setting for the last 10 years.  Gill has completed her NNEB and Level 4 Cache NVQ in Children’s Learning & Development and Train the Trainer course for Safeguarding. Gill has a great depth of knowledge in child development, which she is passionate about sharing with the staff team and families at Dumbell House to enhance learning and development.

Social Workers & Family Support Workers:

Imogen Dewhurst - Assessing Social Worker

Imogen is a qualified social worker who has experience working with children and families providing support, including previous experience as a Family Support Worker here at Kaleidoscope. Imogen has previously completed children and family assessments for families with a range of different needs.  Imogen is also a Freedom Programme Facilitator and delivers this to parent/s who require this support. Imogen is ParentAssess trained and completes the parenting assessments for families at Dumbell House. 

Family Support Workers

We have employed a number of skilled and experienced family support workers, who undertake direct work with families, as well as observations, and complete daily records based on their direct and indirect interactions.

All our support workers are interviewed in house and given a full training catalogue to complete before beginning work within our centre and are also required to do a number of shadow shifts to ensure they understand and know their role fully.  

All of our family support workers have experience in the social care sector, and either hold a relevant qualification to the role, or are working towards achieving one.  All our current support workers at Dumbell House have remained in their position for over 2 years, gaining extensive experience in our family assessment centre. We have recently employed a bank member of staff who has a BTEC Level 3 in Health and Social Care and 10 years’ experience in the social care/childcare sector.

Guidance and Information for Residents

Kaleidoscope recognises that living in a communal environment away from home and undertaking a parenting assessments can be an unsettling and anxious time for all families. We therefore aim to make placements as comfortable as possible, and the process of the assessment an empowering and supportive process for all residents. We have prepared a Parent’s Guide which will be given to each parent prior to their admission to Chester Road. The Parent’s Guide provides families with as much information as possible about Kaleidoscope, and is designed for residents to keep and reflect back on throughout their stay. 

Should there be any questions from a resident that are not contained in the Parent’s Guide, staff will be available to answer these at any time during their stay.

We welcome feedback from all aspects of our service and encourage parents to tell us if they have questions and / or concerns.