Children’s home in west Northamptonshire with pro-drug graffiti on the wall told to improve

A children’s home that had graffiti which promoted smoking drugs daubed on a stairwell has been told to improve by regulators.

Ofsted visited the West Northamptonshire home, which is run by Children and Adolescents Placement Provisions Ltd, last month.

Inspectors found areas in the home, which supports vulnerable children and young people aged 16 to 18, “needed decoration” and that carpets were worn.

Bedrooms were “not kept in an acceptable state of tidiness”, the home had a “reliance” on agency staff at the time and had no manager.

The company has since recruited staff and an induction process for them was imminent when the inspection took place on Friday, February 10. But Ofsted concluded the home was not an environment that children “can enjoy and be proud to live in”.

Residents at the home, which has capacity for four children, spoke “very negatively” about staff. The home had employed a tutor to support one child but they had refused to engage for some weeks, and there was no plan to get the child back into education.

But there were regular meetings between staff and children, whose views and wishes were listed to. The home was graded inadequate in September 2021. It was then rated as requires improvement in November 2021 and April 2022.

In a statement, Children and Adolescents Placement Provisions Ltd said maintenance of its homes is “regularly under review”.

It said it felt some of the points in the report were inaccurate but that it was “looking into this”.

“Whilst we acknowledge there is work to do, we have already implemented strategies that have overturned some of the concerns which have been highlighted in the report. As with many children’s services we undoubtedly have experienced some challenges in what is a particularly pressurised area of expertise,” it added.