A CHILDREN’S home is not doing enough to protect vulnerable children, an Ofsted report has revealed.

St Katherine’s Way in Birchwood was visited by unannounced Ofsted inspectors in December who subsequently found various areas of concern at the council-owned home.

The government watchdog decided that St Katherines, which houses children aged between 11 and 17 with emotional and behavioural problems, was providing an ‘inadequate’ service with key services deemed ‘not good enough’.

Whilst front line staff were commended for aspects of their work including their response to bullying and having good knowledge of the young people they work with, Ofsted found that some children pose a risk to themselves.

This is because plans to reduce such risk are not always effective and individual assessments are not comprehensive.

Alarmingly, visitors to St Katherines are not always logged and staff do not regularly attend refresher training on child protection.

Records are not kept up to date to show how high level risks are reduced and there is no evidence that staff talk to children about the consequences of unacceptable behaviour.

Ofsted also criticised the amount of agency workers employed at the home by the council.

Children there see a ‘considerable number’ of part-time staff. The inspection team said that this ‘does not promote continuity in their care or assist them in forming meaningful attachments with adults’.

The parent borough council were also slammed for management of their home.

Monitoring visits are ‘irregular’, according to Ofsted, with comments afterwards ‘brief’ and some sections are ‘not reviewed at all’.

MP Helen Jones said that children are still being ‘let down’.

“The local authority continues to fail our most vulnerable children,” she said.

“They have learnt no lessons from their previous failures and young people most in need of care and support are being let down.”

Labour cllr Colin Froggatt agreed with the verdict. He said: “A children’s home is supposed to protect children and if they’re not then what are they taking them in for?”

Gill Rigg, head of safeguarding at the council, said: “It will take time to deliver sustained improvements but we would like to reassure everyone that a huge amount of hard work has been done to ensure that young people are safe and provided with high quality care.

“These inspections are undertaken twice yearly and we very much hope that returning inspectors will see the tangible signs of real progress at their next inspection.”