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

Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 1 SC372621 Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 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 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: sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are happy and have positive experiences living in the home and their local community.  Staff put young people at the centre of their practice.  Young people respond well to the targets set out in their individual placement plans. This supports their progress and development.  Staff support young people to attend school regularly and to make progress with their learning. They are ambitious for the young people and encourage them to have high and realistic aspirations.  Young people are safe. Risk assessments are clear and up to date.  Incidents of risky or harmful behaviour have reduced in number.  Staff are committed to the young people and have a warm and nurturing approach. The home’s model of care ensures that staff provide young people with consistent care.  Staff support young people to have regular and safe contact with family, carers and friends.  The manager provides strong and stable leadership, and is able to identify the

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Key findings from this inspection

strengths of the home and areas for development.  The manager makes sure that young people’s views are listened to and their wishes acted upon.

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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

 Ensure that young people can access all communal areas of the home.  Ensure that the home is appropriately furnished to meet the needs of young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Good 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 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 quality and purpose of care standard requires the registered person to understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation (6)(1)(2)(c)(i)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises is necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 21(b)(c)(ii)) 31/03/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from good-quality care that contributes to them making progress in many aspects of their lives. This is because the staff put young people’s individual needs at the centre of their work. Relationships are warm and caring, and interactions between the young people and staff are relaxed. Young people are clearly at ease with the staff, and appear to be settled in their home. One young person told the inspector, ‘The staff make the house feel like home; it’s like one big family.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that all young people have appropriate plans in place. Young people contribute to their plans and set targets with staff. This helps them to focus on key aspects of their development, such as independence and emotional well-being. Young people and their key workers work together well to review these targets. This gives the young people a clear sense of focus and pride in the progress that they make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s attendance at, and engagement with, the organisation’s school is excellent. The young people’s attendance rates are 100%, 97% and 90%, respectively, which is a vast improvement on their starting points. For example, one young person was not attending school regularly prior to living in the home, and was falling behind Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 4 their peers. They are now making substantial progress. This is likely to significantly improve their life chances moving forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are in good health, and staff support them to seek out and take part in physical activities like football and attending the gym. Staff have supported young people to stop smoking by discussing the health benefits of doing so. Giving up smoking significantly improves young people’s health. Young people are registered with local health services and medication is safely stored and administered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people effectively to understand and manage their emotions. The in- house clinical team supports staff to reflect on and support the emotional well-being of the young people. As a result, young people’s emotional health has improved significantly from their starting points. A foster carer commented that their young person is ‘a lot calmer’ and ‘thinks things through now; before, they would just kick off’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that young people have regular contact with family, carers and friends. Staff play an active role in supporting contact by providing transport and supervision when necessary. This has allowed the young people to share important time with their families that is positive and safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a warm and welcoming family home that provides young people with a safe and secure environment. Young people receive encouragement to personalise their bedrooms and make these spaces their own. This gives young people a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to take part in the day-to-day running of the home. They have monthly meetings which allow them to put forward their views. The manager and the staff team consider these views and provide young people with sensitive, child- friendly responses. For example, a young person recently requested funds to decorate the shed, and was encouraged by the manager to get quotes for materials to complete the job. Young people are also encouraged to participate in decisions about their lives by attending their statutory reviews and by taking an active role in their key-work sessions. This gives the young people a sense of ownership and responsibility regarding their lives, and helps to increase their sense of independence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have access to a wide range of activities, which enhances the quality of their day-to-day experiences. For example, one young person now enjoys horse riding and another young person, a talented footballer, was supported by staff to join a local team. One young person has also developed a keen interest in motor mechanics, and is being encouraged to pursue this as a possible career. The young person said, ‘I wasn’t really into mechanics before I came here, but now I really like it.’ Staff also inspired some young people to get involved in fundraising events for their school. Their certificates of achievement are on show in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 5

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people say that they feel safe and are safe in the home. Detailed risk assessments provide staff with information and strategies that enable them to safeguard young people. As a result, instances of risk-taking behaviour have significantly reduced. For example, some young people used to associate with negative peer groups or went missing from the home, but this is no longer the case. A young person told the inspector, ‘The people around me help me feel safe.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Incidents of young people going missing rarely occur. For one young person, this is significant progress, as they regularly went missing prior to living in the home. The staff know the young people well and are proactive in managing risks. Staff also support young people to understand how their behaviour could place them at risk and to think about alternatives. A social worker commented, ‘If [name of young person] wanted to run off they would, but they don’t. The staff know the young people well; they use strategies to calm them down, like running a bath. They feel safe here and are able to disclose their feelings.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff build strong, open and trusting relationships with the young people. As a result, the young people know and respect the boundaries set by the staff. This helps young people to feel secure. Staff support and encourage young people to behave positively. Staff are skilled in de-escalating potentially challenging situations. Their calm, positive and measured responses have resulted in a low number of instances of restraint.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people have ample space to engage in communal activities, but are also provided with opportunities for privacy. However, the doors to the lounge area and kitchen are locked, and so these rooms are not accessible to young people at specific times. This restricts young people’s access to their home, and is not in keeping with an otherwise warm, nurturing and welcoming environment.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Safe staff recruitment policies and procedures ensure that unsuitable staff are prevented from working at the home. Staff training is up to date and focuses on key aspects of safeguarding young people. Staff undertake regular fire and health and safety checks. As a result, young people live in a safe environment.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager reviews the location risk assessment and updates this when necessary. This ensures that the manager and the staff understand potential risks in the local community, and use this understanding to keep young people safe from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced, and leads a passionate and committed staff team. Staff have either completed or are working towards their level 3 diploma in residential childcare. Staff receive regular as well as targeted training. As a result, staff are able to respond effectively and consistently to the needs of the young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 6 Staff receive supervision regularly and this focuses on staff development, young people’s progress and the staff’s well-being. This allows staff to reflect on the support they offer to young people and the emotional impact that caring for young people can have on them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the staff work with a range of professionals to make sure that targets set for young people are relevant and up to date. Senior management, in-house clinicians and the staff team also review each young person’s targets. This ensures that young people are given consistent care by staff who know them well. Furthermore, it means that managers, therapists and staff carefully track young people’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person visits the home monthly and they provide a rigorous, impartial assessment of the home. This external scrutiny helps to ensure that young people are safeguarded, and that their well-being is being promoted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the staff have worked hard to improve the physical environment of the home. The home is welcoming and personalised for the young people. Unfortunately, a young person’s bedroom furniture has been broken for several weeks. It is acknowledged that the manager has made efforts to repair it. The manager is now planning to replace the furniture. A curtain pole in the living room had also fallen from the wall. This state of disrepair was not in keeping with an otherwise well-decorated home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All the requirements from the last inspection have been met. This is evident in the physical restraint and missing-from-care records, which have improved.

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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: SC372621 7

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Gareth Leckey: social care inspector Dave Carrigan: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC372621 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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