Children's home run by Keys Child Care Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 1 SC449245 Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who have a variety of complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager started in February 2019 and became the registered manager in September 2019. She also manages another one-bedroom home owned by the same provider.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 24 September 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/09/2019 Full Good 13/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 30/04/2018 Full Good 09/01/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children currently live in this home. One child has undergone a well-planned move and has returned to the care of his mother. The social worker told the inspector that the child ‘made significant progress during his time at (the home), in respect of his behaviour, emotional and educational development’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The current children are also making excellent progress. This is as a result of the good-quality care that they receive from a nurturing staff team. This progress ranges from children developing their independence skills, getting a job, obtaining qualifications and being able to re-establish relationships with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proud of children’s achievements and remind them of this daily. This helps children to understand each achievement they make and helps them plan for a bright future. A child told the inspector, ‘I was on a bad track when I came here. Being here helped me to be where I want to be.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of individualised activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, children made the most of the home’s lovely garden, going on local walks and enjoying the local countryside. As restrictions have eased, children have enjoyed activities such as trips to purchase ice creams and visits to theme parks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at helping children to find their own identity and to support them to try new things. As a result, a child has been able to find a passion and skill for skate-boarding. This newfound skill has helped his confidence and enabled him to make new friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming. All of the children’s bedrooms are currently undergoing decoration. Children have chosen colours for their bedrooms and new furniture. Pictures of the children fill the home. This includes pictures of a child’s pet hamster that is important to him. This is a home that children invest in and feel proud of.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children leave the home, staff make them a ‘memory pillow’. This is a personalised pillow that contains a book full of pictures and comments about the child’s time spent in the home. This helps to capture children’s positive childhood memories.

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

Staff use a therapeutic model of care which is embedded in their everyday practice. This helps staff to identify children’s emotions at an early stage. A child told the inspector that staff will recognise when they are feeling anxious and will offer Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 4 support. This helps to make children feel safe and, as a result, incidents are low in number.

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

Staff are innovative in their thinking around how to keep children safe. For example, a member of staff was able to make a phone case for a child’s phone. This case ensured that the camera could not be used. This meant that the child was still able to have a phone and, therefore, did not feel isolated from her peers whilst further work around phone safety was carried out.

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

Children living in the home have a history of missing from care. This decreases over time. One child has gone missing since living in this home. There has been excellent joined-up work with professionals and agreed strategies put in place to help stop this from happening again.

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

Staff have undergone a range of training to help them understand how to keep children safe. Some staff’s refresher training is not up to date. Staff have completed some online training to help keep their skills up to date, but they still require an element of face-to-face training as per the company’s policy.

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

There are some practices that have been designed to keep children safe, that have become commonplace rather than individually risk assessed. For example, door alarms are used on all children’s bedroom doors. All children have to hand in some toiletries, despite the risk to children having them being very low. This is now a practice that the organisation plans to reconsider.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate, child focused and keen to develop the service. She continues to strive to ensure that children receive the best possible care. The registered manager’s passion is infectious and, in turn, staff are enthusiastic in their role and in achieving excellent outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals are all very complimentary about the registered manager and the care their child receives. A social worker stated, ‘Communication with the home has been exceptional, and I have at all times been notified in a timely manner of any incidents that have required my attention. [My child’s] weekly recordings are always sent to me each Monday and are extremely comprehensive and detailed.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement made at the last inspection has been met. The registered manager now writes to the children after each ‘young people’s meeting’ with feedback about any requests that have been made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on staffing availability at times. This has seen staff leave and, on occasions, they did not say goodbye to the children. Remaining staff have worked hard to help children during this time. Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 5 The registered manager is aware of the strengths and weakness in the home. She is aware that occasionally staff use language in recordings that it not helpful for the children, and she is continuing to support staff in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular, good-quality supervision. However, agency staff are not always given the same opportunity to reflect and improve on their practice. A recommendation has been made as a result. Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on the individual child’s needs and developmental stage about when to allow a child to take a particular risk, or follow a particular course of action. Staff should discuss the decision with the child’s placing authority where appropriate. This is in relation to children’s bedroom door alarms being used and children’s toiletries being removed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including

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Recommendations

agency staff, receive supervision of their practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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 for children’s home: SC449245 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton BL1 4AG

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Inspector

Louise Battersby, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC449245 8 to 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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