'Serious failings' of Evenwood children's home

A GOVERNMENT watchdog has rated a children’s home in Evenwood as “inadequate” in all areas due to “serious failures” – including some staff being taken on without criminal checks.
Fairfield House, off Evenwood Lane, was inspected in November by Ofsted, which revealed that “the overall experiences and progress of children and young people living in the home are inadequate”. Inspectors ruled that “children and young people are not protected”.
The report said there were poor recruitment practices in place at the home, which is run by a private provider.
The registered provider had allowed some staff to start working there without a valid criminal record check so had failed “to ensure that the children and young people are not looked after by unsuitable adults”.
Verbal references instead of written references had also been accepted for staff working at the home and not all previous employers were contacted for staff who had previously worked with children or vulnerable adults.
Inspectors felt that this “potentially put children and young people at risk”.
The home offers care and accommodation for children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Since it was registered with Ofsted in 2013, inspection judgements have always been “good.” At the last interim inspection in February 2016, the home had “sustained effectiveness”.
Despite this, the report from November’s visit detailed how “not all staff are adequately trained”. Some of the care staff had not attained a relevant level three childcare qualification within required timescales.
Privacy of the young people at the home was highlighted as being potentially “compromised”. This was due to confidential files not being locked away. The inspection also revealed staffing arrangements at night-time were “hazardous”. Nevertheless, the report stated that staff were “genuinely interested” in the wellbeing of the young people and “strive to nurture positive relationships with them”.
The report also made note of how children at the home have achieved “very good outcomes” as a result of one-to-one work with staff.
Inspectors felt that children at the home “are supported to achieve in their education and their health needs are met.”
It was also said that “there are some very good examples of when the staff have directly influenced meaningful changes to children’s and young people’s lives through direct work that provides good, individualised support”.
The report also said that “the registered manager and staff team work well with other professionals to support children and young people,” with positive feedback given by social workers and independent reviewing staff.
Comments were also made about the children’s positive attitude towards the home with references being made by them to “my home” and the staff being “my family”.
The owner of the children’s home did not wish to comment on the report.