Children's home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 1 Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to eight girls who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private provider operates the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: first inspection since being registered July 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Admission processes do not ensure that the service and staff team can meet the complex needs of young people prior to them moving into the home.  The role of the clinician and the amount of time she should be present in the home are not clear to staff. Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 2  Staff do not receive the support they require after serious incidents to reflect on practice and consider ways of managing similar incidents in the future.  Staff call the police to resolve incidents they do not have the skills to resolve themselves.  Managers are not informing HMCI, Ofsted, in a timely manner of all serious safeguarding incidents.  The registered provider’s systems for staff probation and supervision do not support or equip staff to confidently meet the needs of complex young people.  The majority of staff have not yet attended training to support them to develop skills to meet the significant needs of young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Sufficient staff have not been employed at the point of more young people moving into the home.  On-call systems have not effectively supported staff to manage on difficult shifts.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Some young people make some good progress towards meeting some of their aims and objectives.  Young people receive good educational support. Staff are clear about the value of learning and of keeping good daily routines.  Young people develop relationships with staff which help them to grow in confidence.  Contact with significant family members and friends is encouraged, supported and maintained well.  Young people reduce some of their previous high-risk behaviours such as going missing from care because of the diligent care of staff.  Staff work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that young people receive support and guidance.  The home’s management team is fully aware of the service’s strengths and weaknesses and is striving to drive positive change. Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 3

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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(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive well-planned care from the home and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to ensure the effective induction of children into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14(1)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)) 31/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must ensure that staff seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the 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. (Regulation 5(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to reducing the use of the police to resolve incidents. 31/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 31/01/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 4 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff have the skills and support to manage the emotional and behavioural needs of young people. The registered person must notify HMCI without delay if there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there, a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated, concludes, or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(c)(d)(e)) 31/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(b)(c)) 31/01/2018

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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 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualification and skills to meet the needs of each child, which specifically relates to staff receiving training;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child, which specifically relates to having enough staff in place when young people are admitted into the home;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child, which specifically relates to managers and on-call staff ensuring that shifts within the home are covered with adequate staffing arrangements. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(c)(d)(e)) 31/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. (Regulation 33(1)(b)) 31/01/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 5

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improvement to be good

This is the home’s first inspection since it was registered in July 2017.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s progress is not yet consistent or always sustained. Four young people moved into the home in quick succession when the home first opened. When considering admissions, managers did not fully assess the likely impact on vulnerable young people already placed of other young people joining the home who had more challenging behaviour. Managers did not consider the resources, skills and experience needed by the very new, and still developing, staff team to meet the complex needs of those young people. As a result, between September 2017 and the beginning of November 2017, young people’s progress has been adversely affected by escalating behaviours that placed them at risk. The staff did not have access to the support, resources or training they required to manage all these risks. Police intervention was required on a number of occasions, to resolve incidents. The therapeutic principles of this service were not

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improvement to be good

sustained during this period. The clinician attached to the home has not been available on site two days a week and strategies such as community meetings stopped.

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improvement to be good

The responsible individual and registered manager worked in partnership with the local police and placing authorities. Disruption meetings took place but it was recognised that the service was unable to meet the needs of one young person and notice was served. Another young person’s placement ended when she went missing from the home’s care, and she subsequently moved into a foster placement nearer her family home.

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improvement to be good

Since the beginning of November 2017, the responsible individual and registered manager have made a strategic decision not to move any more young people into the home for the foreseeable future. The registered manager and staff team are focusing on developing the staff team and stabilising and engaging the remaining two young people. Over the last month, young people’s relationships with staff have strengthened and incidents of high-risk behaviours have significantly reduced.

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improvement to be good

Although periods of this home’s first months of operation have been unsettled, all young people have made progress in some areas of their lives. Young people successfully sustain relationships with family members and friends in accordance with their care plans. Staff clearly understand the importance of contact for the young people and support contact arrangements. Staff successfully support young people who have been out of education, often for a significant period of time, to re-engage. Their attendance and educational outcomes improve and they develop aspirations for adulthood. Young people engage in age-appropriate activities in the local community. Staff introduce a variety of hobbies, interests and outings with a view to young people joining community- based clubs and groups. Young people attend health appointments and establish a healthy pattern of sleep and a routine of nutritional meals. Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 6

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improvement to be good

Young people’s safety and well-being are not consistently supported or managed. Between September 2017 and the beginning of November 2017, incidents resulted in young people causing significant damage to the property and cars, accessing drugs and alcohol, incidents of self-harm and safeguarding allegations. Staff did not have the relationships with young people or other team members, the confidence, training or experience they required to consistently meet the complex needs of this mix of young people. For example, staff have not received training in drug awareness and only four members of staff out of 14 have received training in self-harm.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s emotional and behavioural needs are not confidently met by staff. Support to staff managing extreme and challenging behaviours is not good enough. Staff receive training in behaviour management and foundation for attachment during their two-week induction. However, this is a new staff team, and for some, it is their first experience of working in residential care. They do not receive effective de-briefs after incidents to support them to consolidate learning, reflect on practice, or develop new skills. Guidance given to staff to follow has at times been naïve and has not safeguarded young people or staff. For example, allowing young people into each other’s bedrooms with minimal supervision. A short, additional behaviour management training session did take place for some staff, but it only happened on one occasion and did not help staff to consider ways of better engaging young people and managing them as a group. This

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improvement to be good

inexperience and the lack of support and guidance have resulted in behaviours escalating and staff calling the police to resolve a number of incidents.

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improvement to be good

Over the last month, incidents have significantly reduced and there has been no police involvement with the home. There has been an increased number of staff meetings involving the clinician. These have enabled the whole staff team to discuss good parenting models, routines and boundaries. Staff feel that the team is ‘stronger’, ‘growing in confidence’, ‘developing a more consistent approach’ and ‘has developed positive relationships with young people’.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a clear understanding of how to manage any safeguarding allegations. They receive safeguarding training which includes a range of topics, including young people going missing from home and identifying child sexual exploitation. Allegations have been appropriately referred but there have been delays in notifying Ofsted.

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improvement to be good

Young people are safer in terms of some of their historical vulnerabilities. For example, there is a reduction in their use of drugs and they no longer go missing from care. There has only been one incident when a young person went missing from the home. In all other incidents, staff have prevented young people from going missing and used the opportunities to educate young people about personal safety.

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improvement to be good

Young people are protected by the organisation’s robust recruitment practices. Staff are vetted and assessed as suitable, before any appointment is made. These procedures promote the safety of the young people by preventing unsuitable adults from working Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 7 with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has managed this home since it was registered and opened in July 2017. He holds the registered manager’s award and has previous experience of being a registered manager with another organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

When the home opened, the accommodation was furbished to a high standard and the initial small staff team spent time with the registered manager and clinician to develop working practices. However, when the first four young people moved into the home, the registered manager and clinician were unable to maintain a good standard of practice and support to young people, or the new staff team, in line with the therapeutic ethos of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some staff do not have the knowledge they require to enable them to meet the complex needs of young people in line with the organisation’s policies and procedures. Although all staff are due to receive training within the organisation’s normal timelines, 11 out of 14 staff are still on their six-month probation and have not completed all of the organisation’s mandatory training. This includes attachment, children misusing drugs or alcohol, self-harm, radicalisation, going missing and e-safety. Managers did not consider the impact of having the majority of the staff team new to the organisation. They did not consider alternative arrangements with the training team to try to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some staff were not supported in their new role. The organisation’s two-week induction is structured and valued by staff. Shadow shifts, probationary learning and supervisions once staff start working in the home have at times been unorganised and unstructured. Staff were left to fend for themselves on shadow shifts without knowing the layout of the home or being properly introduced to colleagues and young people. Fortnightly supervisions are not taking place for all new staff to support their learning and development. As a result, staff have not developed certain skills. For example, staff have not been shown systems and forms to complete. This has now been addressed, with managers from other homes coming in and supporting the new staff team. They have addressed shortfalls and archived paperwork.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The management of the development of the staff team has not been effective. Young people have moved into the home before the staff team has increased in size or had the chance to get to know each other or the young people already living at the home. This has put pressure on the new small staff team to cover additional shifts. As these shifts became challenging, staff became tired, went off sick or left. This resulted in the home being covered by staff from other homes within the organisation and on a very few occasions agency staff. Staff new to the organisation found on-call support not to be consistently helpful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

In early November 2017, a full review of incidents, patterns, trends and lessons learned was conducted by the registered manager. The responsible individual has increased his presence in the service. The independent visitor’s reports and the registered manager’s Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 8 quality assurance review are insightful. The registered manager’s first internal review of the home was brought forward. It was robust and is informing future plans to ensure that admissions of young people and increases to the staff team can take place and not adversely affect the day-to-day running of the service and outcomes for young people. Action points are in line with the requirements and recommendations made in this report and have been added to the home’s development plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Partnership work with external professionals and parents is good. They feel well informed by the registered manager and the staff team. They are always welcomed into the home and made aware of key events in young people’s lives. They are reassured by the registered manager’s positive and proactive contact.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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 children’s home: 1255147 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Edward James House, Hadley, Telford TF1 6QJ

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Christopher Whitworth

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Inspector

Dawn Bennett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1255147 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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