Children’s services Merthyr are committed to developing services for young people leaving care further – report
Care Inspectorate Wales (DSS) inspection of children's services in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council during April and May 2018.
The inspection made considering the experience and progress on the periphery of care, looked after children and care leavers, and the use of foster care, residential care and locations outside the area.
Inspectors also made inquiries consider child protection, emergency protection measures and plans protecting care and support.
findings
- Both the children's service dedicated workforce with professional commitment to promote the best outcomes for children and families.
- The staff understand and follow the procedures and processes protected.
- The local authority recognizes the need to develop its services for young people leaving care further and wants to do so.
- Inspectors found examples of good practice but this was not consistent. Immediately before the inspection, the children's services have faced challenging times after identifying areas of poor practice which are compounded by recruitment problems.
- Although staff is dedicated and professional, the inability to transfer cases between some teams as a result of vacancies has affected staff morale.
- Steps were being taken to address the challenges faced by frontline staff by recruiting key staff and agency staff.
Areas for development
- Improved consistency of quality assessments, including detailed analyzes of the strengths and risks.
- Further work is needed to ensure that partner agencies will share a clear understanding of significant harm in referring cases to the Multi Agency Protection Center.
- Develop a more comprehensive quality assurance system, including greater emphasis on frequency, consistency and quality of frontline supervision.
next steps
An SSD is expected to consider the local authority areas identified as those for development and take appropriate action. DSS will monitor progress through its ongoing engagement with the local authority.
