Evaluation of Brucefield Case Management Arrangements

Brucefield young people's unit is a long-established local authority home for children and young people. At the start of the pilot project in 2007 the residential service consisted of two units with 3 places in each; Brucefield itself and a satellite unit referred to as 'Glasgow Road'. The care is provided by a single team of residential staff, with the manager and depute based at Brucefield. Brucefield was designated as a short-term unit which would take planned and emergency admissions. It would aim to work with young people admitted for a short time and then either returned home, or a longer-term placement sought. The Glasgow Road unit was designated as a longer-term unit, and has lower staffing levels. It was not normally expected to receive emergency or short-term admissions but would offer places to children where the care-plan decision had been to provide longer-term care and 'preparation for independent living' under the 'leaving care' arrangements.