Introducing Our Team

Sam Watts

Registered Manager

Sam is a qualified Social Worker and has led fostering teams within Local Authorities. Most recently, Sam has been a dual registered manager for Derby City Council. Sam was attracted to Cedars Childcare and The Meadows by the opportunity to create a home that addresses the problem of younger children, who should be placed in families, entering the residential system and becoming “lost in care”.

Luke Buckle

Deputy Manager

Coming Soon.

Tom Ellison

Non-Executive Director

Tom has over three decades of experience in children's residential care, education and clinical support. A Director of over 20 years standing, he has substantial experience in leading organisations engaged in providing specialist support to children and young people.

Why I believe in Cedars.

"Many times I have seen the children that we will be caring for at The Meadows. These are those vulnerable, often younger children, who would ideally be placed in foster homes but due to a lack of options they are cared for in residential homes.

Despite the home’s best efforts, over time these children lose the opportunities to be fostered and so remain in the residential system.

We will offer homes that will provide the specialist care that these children need, throughout their experience of coming into care, rebuilding trust and enjoying new experiences and then moving on. We will have a skilled team providing positive, loving and therapeutic care whilst building collaborative effective relationships with professionals to ensure the children thrive in their new families."

Sam, Registered Manager

"We have developed Cedars Childcare in response to the crisis in foster care. I have seen a number of children who could have thrived in a family, enter residential care and become lost in the system. Those children have experienced things that mean they will no longer be suitable for foster care at any point in their childhood.

We want to create homes that are consciously temporary by their nature but where there is a high level of nurture and skill.

Moreover, we want to create homes where work can be undertaken to forge a successful pathway into foster care as soon as is practical."

Tom. Non-exec Director

Team development

We're committed to offering staff support, development and training that is considered “best in class” and that equips the staff to be effective in supporting children to overcome any barrier to a successful transition into family life.

All Cedars care staff receive:

Comprehensive support from a social work led management team who will work with each member of staff to develop their personalised training and development passport.
Mandatory training to Level IV that will be tailored to the the environment and the task of preparing children for families.
Regular Reflective Practice sessions for the team led by a psychotherapist.
Post qualification training for staff that can lead to accreditation as a therapeutic practitioner.
Two distinct training pathways for Expert Practitioners and Trainee Managers.