Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Shropshire

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 The young person has made significant progress since moving into this home. Over the last six months he has struggled in some areas of his life but he has continued to make good progress.  Positive attachments and relationships are seen as central to helping the young person move forward.  A consistent staff team knows the young person well. The staff contribute to a feeling of well-being and security for him.  Staff manage the young person’s challenging behaviour well. There is a strong emphasis on natural consequences, praising the young person and rewarding positive behaviour.  When the young person has gone missing from care, staff have been tenacious in securing his safe return.  The registered manager and staff team are not consistently evidencing challenge to education professionals to ensure the best outcomes for the young person. Records of missing from care incidents are not detailed and do not record the

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

actions taken by staff to ensure the young person’s safety.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, 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

Regulation 5: engaging with the wider system to ensure that each child’s needs are met: In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must ensure effective partnership working with placing authorities. 5. In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff: (a) seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (d) seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the

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Requirement Due date

registered person considers appropriate, having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the registered manager challenging education professionals in the best interests of the young people and the service and ensuring that there are clear records of challenge. 31/10/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Keep records detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36, schedule 3 (14)). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child’s parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (see paragraph 15.2) (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. This home is operated by a private organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 11/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/09/2015 Full Good 27/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/10/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

This home provides a long-term placement for one young person. Since moving into the home he has made significant progress. Since the last inspection, the young person has faced a number of challenges but with the committed support of the staff team his progress continues to be good. His social worker stated: ‘He has a consistent staff team, which provides him with the only real stability he has in his life. They are successful at making him feel safe and this enables him to continue to make progress.’

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Good

The staff team maintains an environment where the young person is safe and feels valued and cared for. They understand that for the young person living away from family and friends can at times be difficult and very emotional. To counter this, they provide a well-ordered, well-planned environment that is both warm and welcoming but with clear structure and ground rules.

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Good

The young person and staff have excellent relationships. The young person stated of one carer: ‘She is a good person and the best carer I have ever had. She has a good heart.’ Staff enable the young person to play an active part in the life of the home. His views, wishes and feelings underpin the day-to-day arrangements. He knows how to raise a concern or make a complaint if needed, including the use of external professionals and advocacy services.

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Good

The young person leads an increasingly healthy lifestyle. Staff promote habits that benefit his physical and emotional well-being. When he makes decisions that might negatively affect his health, staff are proactive. They talk with him about his actions and the impacts that they have. They also consult with medical professionals, making appointments and supporting him to attend.

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Good

The young person has experienced a number of educational changes but strives to continue to make progress. When he found a change of school too unsettling, the staff team was proactive in supporting him to return to his previous placement where he had made excellent progress. The staff stay in daily contact with school staff and monitor any incidents. They have successfully taken the time over the summer holiday to prepare him for another change in school arrangements at the beginning of the term. Staff support the young person to reflect on the experiences of others and develop empathy and understanding. He is more confident in social situations and is gradually trying, and engaging in, more hobbies and activities. Age-appropriate interests are promoted and encouraged. For example, staff have supported a recent interest to learn to fish.

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Good

The young person is developing skills that will support him as he moves towards adulthood. He enjoy undertaking day-to-day tasks alongside staff. A social worker stated: ‘Staff always have their eye on his destination.’

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Good

Managers and staff promote the safety and well-being of the young person at all times. The registered manager provides clear day-to-day direction and support to the staff team about protection of the young person.

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Good

A key strength of this staff team is its ability to support the young person to break his historical cycles of high-risk behaviour. There are significant reductions in the young person's previous patterns of behaviours, such as going missing, criminal activity and violence. Although incidents still occur, the use of physical intervention is minimal, with only one incident since the last inspection. The staff team uses its positive relationships with the young person to de-escalate situations. They reinforce appropriate and thoughtful behaviour with positive consequences and praise. The young person has learned coping strategies and to communicate his emotions more effectively. A social worker stated: ‘He has a real investment in the manager, staff team and the home. He can still be challenging at times but he is in a secure and nurturing environment where he is supported appropriately.’

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Good

Records of missing from care do not reflect the staff team’s good practice or the regular dialogue they have with professionals and known contacts during a missing episode. Records are not all in one place. This makes it difficult for the registered manager to review incidents to inform future practice. Incidents of the young person going missing had stopped. However, since the last inspection there have been two incidents that have lasted over 24 hours when the young person has returned to his home area. When the young person goes missing from care, staff respond immediately. They follow the local multi-agency protocol for missing young people, as well as taking specific agreed action for the young person. They go looking for the young person every day. They stay in contact with the young person on the phone and travel significant distances to have face-to-face contact. They are tenacious in wanting the young person to return home safe and well.

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Good

They work effectively with the placing authority to achieve this. Staff have a clear understanding of how to manage any safeguarding allegations. They receive regular safeguarding training, which includes a range of topics, including children missing from home and awareness-raising in relation to child sexual exploitation.

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Good

The home’s environment is safe, welcoming and homely. Damage to the home is quickly repaired, and as areas of the home become tired and worn they are revamped. The registered manager and staff team have involved the young person in this process and everyone is proud of what they have achieved.

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Good

Fire safety is well managed by staff. Regular fire drills take place and the young person knows how to evacuate the home in the event of fire. The home environment is safe and poses no risks to the health or well-being of the young person. Regular checks are made by the vigilant staff team, and where defects are identified they are swiftly resolved. As a result, the young person lives in a home that promotes his safety and does not expose him to avoidable risk.

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Good

The home is managed by an experienced person who is currently in the process of gaining the necessary level 5 qualification that is required for the role. He also manages another registered children's home, which is situated nearby. The registered manager’s time is shared between both homes, depending on the needs, demands and circumstances of each service.

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Good

The registered manager has reviewed the home’s statement of purpose and it accurately reflects the aims and objectives of the service. There were no requirements or recommendations made at the last inspection.

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Good

A stable, committed and skilled staff team ensures that the young person’s individual needs are met. All staff are appropriately qualified. They are supported to develop their practice through training, clinician-facilitated meetings, structured team meetings and supervision. All of this enables them to reflect on their practice, discuss how well the young person is progressing, and provide challenge. The registered manager and staff have well-established networks and relationships with a range of agencies and professionals who are involved in meeting the needs of the young person. The social worker recognises and values the difference that the staff team makes to the young person’s outcomes. He stated: ‘Staff work really well in partnership with the local authority. We are regularly updated of any significant occurrences in his life and they promptly inform us of incidents or concerns. The registered manager is proactive in pre-empting our requirements.

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Good

We have regular discussions and receive detailed review reports.’

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Good

The registered manager and staff promote the young person’s needs, and this sometimes requires them to challenge partner agencies where responses to meeting needs have fallen short of what is required. The registered manager has worked with, as well as challenged, the education provision for the young person. Work undertaken in partnership with education, or where challenge has been necessary, is not recorded. This makes it difficult for education to be held accountable when agreed actions are not fulfilled. It also makes it difficult for the registered manager to track the quality of his team’s work as part of his quality assurance role.

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Good

The registered manager regularly audits the operation of the home, seeking feedback from the young person, staff and placing social worker. This results in a staff team which is continually striving to improve the quality of the home and outcomes for the young person.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’. An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements

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What the inspection judgements mean

are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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