£2m Cardiff children’s care home has been abandoned following damning report

A children’s care home opened just over two years ago by Cardiff council at a cost of almost £2m has been permanently shut after it was deemed “not suitable for purpose”.
The closure of Thornhill Road Children’s Home in Rhiwbina was branded a “staggering waste of public money” by a union representing council staff.

The Labour administration running the council yesterday said it was “determined to get to the bottom” of the situation and referred it to the Audit Committee for a full review.

The £1.92m home was opened in May 2011 by the previous Liberal Democrat/Plaid Cymru administration to care for up to eight children, aged 11 to 18, at any one time.

The purpose-built home shut in December 2011, just seven months after its opening, following a damning report by the Care and Social Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

The watchdog found staff felt “overwhelmed” and “let down” by their managers and authorities were alerted to “significant incidents” related to the children.

Attempts over the past year to reopen the home, which included first advertising for a new manager and later looking to outsource the home’s operation, failed.

A council spokeswoman yesterday said: “The new administration is determined to get to the bottom of the situation regarding Thornhill Road Children’s Home and the matter has been formally referred to the Audit Committee for a full review.

“It appears that the design and layout of the home is not conducive to delivering the type of residential experience Cardiff wishes to offer its looked after children.

“Questions therefore need to be answered about how a brand-new, purpose-built facility is not suitable for the purpose for which it was built and whether the council will be able to recover any of its costs.

“In the meantime we are actively considering the long term use of the building and how best it can be used to benefit children and young people.”

Unison Cardiff branch secretary Linda Webb-Thornton said: “This project has been a staggering waste of public money and has been a complete disaster from the start.

“How a purpose made building can designed, built and found to be unsuitable for its intended use is completely beyond me.”

She said in the 20 months since the home shut, children needing access to the specialist services had suffered. Ms Webb-Thornton said it was direct consequence of poor decision-making by senior management at the time.

“Our members are understandably extremely shocked and concerned about their jobs, especially given that even more cuts to children’s services in Cardiff are in the offing,” she said.

The 20 staff who had worked at Thornhill Road are currently working elsewhere within the service.

Following the home’s closure, some of the children were placed in care outside of the Welsh capital at a cost of about £40,000 a year.

Llandaff’s Liberal Democrat councillor Kirsty Davies, who was cabinet member for children’s services in the previous coalition, said apart from a problem with the staircase she wasn’t aware of any other design issues.

The council spokeswoman added that the home’s closure was “completely unconnected” to budget cuts Cardiff is facing.

“While the children’s home has not housed any children or young people since the end of 2011 it has remained open as a facility and has been used to the benefit of looked-after children on a day- to-day basis,” she said.