Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 1 SC397092 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 children’s home is operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to two children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 January to 1 February 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

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

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children make good progress in key areas of their lives.  When children struggle to sustain progress, staff provide effective support to help them get back on track. Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 2  Children who have a history of going missing from home and putting themselves at risk are safe and have reduced these behaviours.  The clinician linked to the home is actively involved in facilitating discussions with the staff team to develop its practice to meet the complex needs of children.  The new manager and staff team are working well together to drive up standards in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Some risk assessments and trigger plans do not contain key information to inform staff how to keep children safe.  Some staff do not have the skills to ensure that they can effectively and safely manage instances of peer pressure.  Not all new staff team members have completed mandatory training.  Staff do not have adequate guidance for administering one child’s medication.  Strategies have not yet been effective in stopping a child from smoking or from applying pressure to her peer to smoke.  Not all new staff are receiving twice-monthly supervision in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good 15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 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, 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 health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relations to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff intervening to stop children smoking and encouraging each other to smoke. 30/04/2018

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to risk assessments, trigger plans and staff practice. 31/03/2018

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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 ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 30/04/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 4 This specifically relates to staff competing mandatory training. The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 31/03/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

This specifically relates to supporting new staff in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in most areas of their lives. When the consistency of this progress is affected by external factors, the manager and staff team work with the organisation’s clinician and partner agencies to put new strategies in place to support them to get back on track. For example, one child has been distressed by a serious illness suffered by a parent. Staff accepted that she did not want to attend education and prioritised a visit to the hospital as soon as it was appropriate. They then facilitated overnight contact with the rest of her family so that she did not feel isolated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a range of activities, which include horse riding and music lessons. If children lose interest, staff are quick to promote new activities. For example, both children are currently interested in the ‘This Girl Can’ sports initiative. Activities often support the home’s successful healthy lifestyle ethos.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff hold regular conversations and key-worker sessions on topics linked to day-to-day living, specific incidents and children’s aims and objectives. These discussions ensure that the children are educated in areas such as being healthy, safe relationships, personal safety, independence and life skills, so that in the future they can make informed decisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are consulted, and their views taken into account, when considering their future Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 5 plans and the development of the home. They have recently been involved in choosing paint colours for their bedrooms and living areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships with families and appropriate friends are supported by the staff team. In consultation with placing authorities, staff organise contact within the home or elsewhere, provide transport and, when necessary, supervision. One child has had friends come to tea and sleepovers at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote and support education. Some children increase their attendance and achieve good academic outcomes. For example, one child moved into the home over the Christmas holiday so that she was ready to start school on the first day of term. After two weeks on a reduced timetable, she has attended full time. Children are also supported when they are struggling with education. For example, one young person had successfully progressed educationally. In the 2017 autumn term she was assessed as being ready to move to back to a mainstream school. However, this move was delayed, due to her local authority’s long-term plan being uncertain, and she struggled to maintain focus. The manager has addressed this with the local authority and a new plan is now in place with clear timescales to ensure her educational progress.

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improvement to be good

Some staff do not have the skills required to stop children being a negative influence on each other. For example, children have recently been encouraging each other to smoke. There was also one occasion when children’s escalating behaviours resulted in damage to the home, a missing from home incident and police involvement. This led to children being taken into custody overnight.

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improvement to be good

The organisation and manager have reacted appropriately to these events. They have ensured that the staff on shift during the incidents have been supported and given the opportunity to reflect on their practice. Rotas have been reviewed to ensure that there are enough experienced staff on shift. Discussions and key-worker sessions have taken place with the children. The manager stabilised the home by working on shift for several days after these incidents. This enabled him to role model good practice to staff and keep the children safe.

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improvement to be good

Overall, the numbers of restraints, consequences and missing from home episodes are very low. Since coming to live at the home, children become safer and their previously harmful behaviours decrease. For example, children reduce their use of drugs and rarely go missing from the home.. When incidents do occur, they are managed quickly and effectively with the full involvement of other agencies. All safeguarding concerns are promptly and appropriately referred and, when necessary, staff are suspended pending investigations. Staff receive safeguarding training which includes a range of topics, for example children missing from home and identifying child sexual exploitation.

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improvement to be good

Some risk assessments, trigger plans and health plans are not detailed enough and do Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 6 not provide staff with the information that they require to keep children safe. For example, the documents do not contain details of people who children should not have contact with, actions to take if a child goes missing from care and the details of when medication should be administered.

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improvement to be good

Children 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 children by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been a number of changes to the management and staff team since the last inspection. The previous registered manager, and a number of experienced staff, left the home over a period of several months. An experienced registered manager oversaw the operation of the home, as an interim measure, while the organisation recruited a new permanent manager and staff team to the home. The responsible individual has provided a clear strategic approach and good oversight during this time. This has helped to ensure that, overall, children have continued to make good progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new manager started on 1 December 2017 and is currently in the process of submitting his application to be registered with Ofsted. He and the staff team are working well together. With additional support from the provider’s clinician, they are developing their practice and their relationships with the children and each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Five out of the eight staff are newly appointed and have not yet completed mandatory training as part of their probationary period. When this has been completed, it will further strengthen the team. Staff are positive about the induction they received and feel supported by the manager and the probationary process. All staff receive regular supervision. However, some newly appointed, qualified staff are not receiving fortnightly supervision in line with the home’s statement of purpose. This reduces the opportunities available to them to develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is establishing positive relationships with partner agencies and placing authorities. He is giving positive challenge when necessary to support better outcomes for children in his care. For example, this includes representing a child’s views about her current education placement and instigating a revised plan with clear aims, objectives and timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and areas for development within the home and staff team. He is using internal and external quality assurance processes effectively to improve outcomes for children and develop staff practice. For example, after the recent difficult incidents he has provided staff with additional training and supervision to develop their practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 7

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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: SC397092 8

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Dawn Bennett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC397092 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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