About
A better way to find the information our sector needs.
The Children's Home Hub is an independent resource created to make useful information about children's residential care easier to find, understand and use. We are not regulators, inspectors or official representatives of the sector.
Who is behind Children's Home Hub?
Children's Home Hub was founded by Darren Dudley to make information, practical tools, independent research and trusted sector services easier to find and use across children's residential care.
CHH does not claim that its founder personally holds every form of professional expertise represented across the platform. Regulatory and practice-focused content is built from published primary sources and, where appropriate, strengthened through review by people with relevant children's residential care experience.
As the platform develops, named practitioner contributors and reviewers will be shown wherever they have contributed to specific resources, tools or research.
Meet the people behind the HubHow CHH establishes trust
Primary sources
Resources should reference legislation, statutory guidance, Ofsted publications and other authoritative sources wherever appropriate.
Practitioner review
Where a resource or tool has undergone practitioner review, clearly show this and provide information about the reviewer where permission has been given.
Transparent standards
Consultant entry requirements, review processes and tool assurance methodology are publicly available.
Independent research
CHH publishes research based on responses and evidence collected directly from the sector, with methodology and limitations shown alongside findings.
What Children's Home Hub is — and isn't
What CHH is
- an independent sector platform
- a practical resource library
- a collection of free supporting tools
- a publisher of sector research
- a transparent way to discover checked consultants
- a platform intended to improve access to useful information
What CHH isn't
- Ofsted
- a regulator
- a trade association
- a substitute for professional advice
- a replacement for provider care-management systems
- a repository for children's case information
- a guarantee of consultant performance
What the Hub is
Children's residential care in England is shaped by a complex framework of legislation, regulations, statutory guidance and inspection. Navigating it takes time, and reliable, independent guidance is hard to find. The Hub brings the important information together in one credible place, clearly sourced and clearly explained.
We do not replace Ofsted, the Department for Education, professional advice or the underlying legislation. We make it easier to find and understand them.
Our core principles
Evidence before opinion
We lead with sourced, verifiable information and clearly mark where Hub commentary begins.
Practical over complicated
We make complex regulation and guidance easier to understand and use, without losing accuracy.
Open access where possible
We keep core guidance and resources freely accessible to the sector.
Clear sources
Every regulatory article lists its sources and links to the underlying legislation and official guidance.
Independent research
We conduct original research and publish methodology and data alongside findings.
Useful resources
Guides, checklists, templates and tools that genuinely help people do the work.
Sector collaboration
We work with the sector, including providers, managers, workers and specialists, to keep the Hub relevant.
Our sources
Every regulatory guidance page includes a "Sources and further reading" section listing the legislation, statutory guidance, Ofsted guidance, government guidance and official publications it draws on. Each source is created once and reusable across the Hub, so that when an official document changes, we can see exactly which of our pages need review.
Contribute
The Hub gets better with sector input. If you'd like to contribute resources, research, feedback or specialist knowledge, we'd like to hear from you.
Stay informed
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Receive new resources, research and important Children's Home Hub updates.