Police called to children's home after young people barricade themselves in

Police had to be called to a children’s home multiple times after youngsters in the facility barricaded themselves in bathrooms and bedrooms and smashed windows, according to a report from inspectors.
Durham Police HQ.Durham Police HQ.
Durham Police HQ.

In one instance referenced, officers even had to negotiate with a child threatening to jump from a first floor balcony.

The issues at the home in County Durham were raised in a report by education watchdog Ofsted, which also highlighted ‘conduct issues’ among staff, including dangerous driving and leaving vulnerable young people unsupervised.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

According to the inspectors’ findings: “The staff have not always positively managed behaviour.

“As a result, a child and a young person were able to barricade themselves in a bedroom on one occasion and, on a separate occasion, a young person was able to barricade herself in a bathroom.

“The police were called on both occasions to manage the child’s and young person’s behaviour and to reduce the risk of potential harm.

“Staff reported that the child and young person were threatening to jump from an external first floor balcony and had smashed a window.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Ofsted report does not identify the children’s home, which is run by a private provider for children with ‘emotional and/or behavioural difficulties’, other than to say it is in County Durham.

Durham County Council has confirmed the facility is not run by the local authority and is not currently caring for any children from the county.

The surprise ‘monitoring visit’ by inspectors was prompted by a complaint to the watchdog raising concerns over safeguarding and ‘staff conduct issues’.

Assessors found instances of children going missing, of them being allowed ‘unauthorised’ internet access and even one in which a staff member was ‘driving dangerously when transporting a young person’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And in another, a vulnerable child was left unsupervised while two workers at the home had an argument.

The report concluded by saying ‘failings’ by the home’s bosses meant concerns had not been properly addressed or improvements made at the time it was published on April 29.

The home’s most recent full inspection in July, 2019 saw it rated ‘Good’ in all areas by inspectors.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you