Plans for new children’s home and social services hub approved

COUNCILLORS have agreed to create a new children’s residential home and social services hub costing £2.25 million.

Bridgend council’s cabinet approved plans to relocate Maple Tree House, a council-run children’s home, to a new site in Bridgend, during a meeting on Tuesday, June 22.

Cllr Nicole Burnett, cabinet member for social services and early help, said she is “immensely proud” that the new hub will be created in Bridgend.

“People’s perceptions of care experienced children are very wideranging but I know that these children have had some of the most complex, adverse experiences, through no fault of their own and we need this facility,” she said.

The new hub will include the emergency and assessment unit currently based at Maple Tree House, a home for eight to 17 year-olds, as well as the council’s fostering and placements team. The facility opened in December 2018 and provides a service for up to six children and young people, including two emergency beds.

In 2020, plans were made for the hub to be developed at the former Brynmenyn Primary School site, which lies north of Bryn Road. The new hub will create an extra emergency bed.

At the moment, emergency beds cost the council about £180,000 per year. The new set-up could save the council approximately

£80,000.

Clare Marchant, the council’s corporate director for social services and well being, said the new hub “will be really leadingedge in the Welsh and, dare I say it, UK context”.

“The service will support children and young people to live and continue to live in Bridgend county borough and that means that they can remain connected with their own schools, with education services here, their families and communities.”

Maple Tree House failed three inspections between September 2019 and August 2020 for reasons including assaults on staff and young people’s poor diet.

A Care Inspectorate Wales report described the home as “suitable for short-term placements” but “not particularly homely”, despite new flooring being installed. Officers also found issues with “maintenance and personalisation” of the young people’s accommodation. CIW visited the home in October 2020 and concluded it was no longer an area of concern.

Ms Marchant said council staff and partners have listened to children and young people about what they would like to see at the new hub, for example the design of bathrooms and games rooms.

“While the current services have been invaluable in providing provision, they are not the best home environment which we would all want to see for our children and young people in our role as corporate parents.”

Cllr Burnett said: “This is the triage that we need in order that we can deal with issues in a therapeutic, holistic and childcentred way.

“These children have been very often pushed and pulled around the county, further beyond in the past, and now it’s an opportunity to bring them all back into the county and actually address the issues that they have to deal with.”

The Labour member added: “I’m going out to meet some of these children hopefully at the end of this week and I think our child-centred approach is something to be really proud of.

“I know these children are looking forward to having a home environment rather than an institutionalised environment.

“All children deserve a home, they all deserve a chance to thrive and I feel really confident that this is our best chance of allowing those children a positive future.”

A report by Ms Marchant states the new facility “will enable more seamless working and better outcomes for children and young people, which cannot currently be delivered to maximum effect from the existing site”.

It also states the spot is “in a much more favourable setting” as it is “close to amenities but not in a built-up residential area”. It is hoped this will “support the best possible outcomes for children and young people”.

Laura Kinsey, the council’s head of children’s social services and responsible individual for Maple Tree House, will oversee the development of the new hub.

She said local residents will receive leaflets informing them about the start dates for construction and “alleviate any concerns they’ve got about how the works will possibly impact them”.

She added: “We’d be more than happy to meet with local residents directly ourselves if they’ve got any specific issues or concerns or observations that they want to raise with us.”