Children at a care home which helps victims of abuse are at risk of harm, the education watchdog has found.
The home, operated by Kendal-based Appletree Treatment Centre Limited was rated as inadequate by Ofsted.
An inspection in March found there were serious and widespread failures which meant vulnerable young people did not have their welfare safeguarded.
The home specialises in helping children aged six to 12 who have suffered severe trauma, neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
It had been rated good at inspections in 2024, 2023 and 2022, with an outstanding rating in 2021.
Inspectors said; “Leaders and managers oversight of safeguarding practice and procedures is ineffective.
“Staff are not always given clear guidance about how to safeguard children in their daily practice. This has placed children at risk of harm.
“When staff and professionals have raised concerns about staff practice or allegations have been made by children, leaders and managers have failed to follow appropriate safeguarding procedures or take suitable action to safeguard children.
“Staff involved in the concerns have continued to work with children. On one occasion, an internal investigation was concluded without speaking to the member of staff who had raised the concern.
“A child informed inspectors that they had been hurt by staff during the use of physical restraint.
“Record samples show that when the child raised concerns following a restraint, these concerns were not explored in sufficient depth.
“During the inspection, the manager began an investigation to review and address the issues raised.”
The report added that on a few occasions, a child said they were hurt by another child in the home, but that their views were not listened to and explored thoroughly.
It added: “On two occasions, staff failed to seek advice from medical professionals following a child’s use of a ligature. This has compromised the child’s health and emotional well-being.
“Furthermore, the child’s risk assessment did not include the action that staff should take to have the child medically assessed following the use of ligatures.”
It said children’s views, concerns and feedback about their experiences were not consistently heard and added: “At times, children’s voices are restricted through the language used by staff in daily practice and during children’s house meeting.”
The report said some bedroom furniture was worn and needed replacing and bedroom walls had damage that required repainting, but that the rest of the home was ‘comforting and welcoming’.
It added that children’s moves into and out of the home were well planned and that children reported they were happy living in the home.
However, the report added: “Staff do not have training in self-injury and harmful sexualised behaviours, to enable them to effectively safeguard children.
“There are also multiple missed opportunities by leaders and managers to share lessons learned with staff following incidents, to improve staff safeguarding practice and children’s experiences of living in the home.”
It said leaders’ oversight of safeguarding records was poor, but that the management team knew the children well and spoke fondly of them.
The inspectors gave the home a list of measures to take out to improve.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has approached Appletree for comment.
