Children's home teen 'sexually assaulted' at hotel

Ofsted inspectors visited the site in May this year

A child was subject to sexual assault and possible drugging by men at a hotel while living at a privately-run children's home, an Ofsted report has found.

The Coventry facility, which cares for children who may have experienced trauma, was inspected by the watchdog in May and rated as "inadequate" overall.

Inspectors said there was "several incidents" of children harming themselves and described how two children had "regular missing-from-home episodes", where they were subject to sexual exploitation.

Dimensions Care, who operates the site, said it accepted the findings and had acted "quickly and robustly" to improve care, including removing the senior operational team.

The home was inspected on 12 and 13 May 2025, when four children were living there.

Ofsted inspectors said it found "serious and widespread failures" that meant children and young people were not protected.

The report said leadership and management at the home "fail to keep children safe" and there were "immediate risks" to the safety and well-being of children living at the home.

Some children at the facility said they'd enjoyed certain relationships with staff, Ofsted added, but they also described the home as "poorly run and chaotic".

One child told inspectors: "We have no rules and boundaries. We run rings around them and do what we want.

"Even when I went missing last night, returned intoxicated and fell asleep on the stairs, no one has addressed this with me, and they never will," they added.

One one occasion, two children left the home late at night and travelled to Birmingham and then to Coventry to access nightclubs.

"On their return to the home the following morning, one child disclosed that they had been taken to a hotel by adult males and were subject to a sexual assault and possible ingestion of drugs unknowingly," the report added.

"The support for these two children following this disclosure was poor."

Inspectors said there was also "significant damage" around the home, including broken door frames, torn flooring, graffiti and overgrown nettles in the garden.

Dimensions Care also runs homes in Telford, Shropshire and Birmingham,

Rob Finney, a board member at the company, said it had worked collaboratively with Ofsted to address the points raised in the report.

"We continue to work with Ofsted in relation to two further Dimensions Care homes which, as a result of the initial findings, were also rated as inadequate," he said.

Mr Finney added: "All four homes were rated good until very recently. We are working at pace to ensure that these two homes are compliant again as soon as possible.

"We're grateful to Ofsted for the robust way in which it has carried out the inspections and we continue to work closely with the regulator as we look to rebuild and make the homes what they once were."

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said it took the safety and well-being of children in care "extremely seriously".

"We have robust arrangements in place to ensure provisions, where our children are placed, are regularly monitored and we respond swiftly to any concerns raised," they said in a statement.

"There are a number of private children's homes in Coventry which are not run by the local authority and have children placed in from various authorities."