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Drugs given to care home girls 'caused birth defects'
Ed Harris7 Apr 2009
TEN girls who were heavily sedated while in a care home during the Seventies and Eighties went on to have children with a range of birth defects.
The teenagers were restrained with huge doses of tranquillisers and other drugs at Kendall House, run by the Church of England in Gravesend, Kent, according to Radio 4's Today programme.
It is feared hundreds of other girls who were in care homes during the same period and suffered the same mistreatment may also be at risk of having children with birth defects.
According to files from Kendall House, which is no longer a care home, girls were given huge doses of a number of drugs over a long period.
Former resident Teresa Cooper's eldest son was born with respiratory difficulties, her second son is blind and has learning difficulties, and her daughter was born with a cleft palate and short lower jaw.
Ms Cooper, who left the home in 1984 at 16, was given medication at least 1,248 times in 32 months, including tranquillisers, anti-depressants, and up to 10 times the recommended dose of Valium. Nine other former residents have also had children with birth defects.
In a statement issued through the Church of England, the Diocese of Rochester said it was unable to discuss individual circumstances for legal reasons but would co-operate with any future inquiry.
Reader views (7)
Teresa Cooper and others have been bravely fighting for years to get these atrocities exposed.Glad the media are helping that process now........at last.And what few readers will know is that people like Teresa have been threatened and cruelly ridiculed over the years simply because they were trying to expose some of the corrupt practices our so called care homes followed. And to Michael and his inane comment about them needing drugs to restrain them. The overwhelming majority of children in 'care' are there not because they were troublesome but because the parents and carers bringing them up were troublesome. Heard of Baby P? Who killed him? It wasn't social workers, doctors or the police. It was his carers and I for one would not let my kids go anywhere near the likes of Michael.
- Pete Saunders, London, UK, 07/04/2009 16:35
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I'm not surprised at all about this.
Disgraceful.
- V., London, UK, 07/04/2009 15:23
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One has to ask why they were given drugs. Just maybe it was to prevent violent aggresive behaviour to others?
- Michael, London, 07/04/2009 13:58
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The Church, CoE, RC etc. should never be allowed near - children period.
Their history of child abuse is disgusting. The lawsuits against the RC church in the US are still continuing, damages so far exceed $2bn. Number of children abused runs to 100k+, and all in the name of the Holy Father - truly nauseating.
- Undercover Elephant, London, UK, 07/04/2009 13:14
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Giving a cocktails of mind altering drugs to mentally ill people is shame enough, but giving them to children in care is even worse.
The potential of these drugs is mind blowing (excuse the pun) I would say that at least one drug in the cocktail is a Phenothiazine, Neuroleptic. Added to a cocktail it raises the potential for danger. The Phenothiazine is the element that takes the substance accross the Blood Brain Barrier. The substances that are carried accross the BBB do not have the ability to select a task (eg: calm this individual down. These substances will dull down every neurotransmitter and could cause dreadful dammage, sometimes, death being the best outcome.
It is well documented that young people and older people can be left with serious dammage from these substances.
Why? Because we cannot quantify the neurotransmitters in any brain and further, we can not tell the exact quality. By the time Parkinsons Disease becomes a question, you will have lost over 70% of your Neurotransmitters. Give thses drugs to the older person and you could have anything from Parkinsonism to Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.
So, I am sad for these women, but it should bring about the bigger question: why are we still using these drugs?
Why are low dose Phenothiazines available over the counter?
- Maria, London, 07/04/2009 12:48
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Administering excessive doses of drugs to teenagers under care is shocking in two respects: it a clear breach of trust and also clear evidence of the home's failure to effectively help these vulnerable young people. It is even more tragic that the effects have struck so deeply in the next generation.
- Inanna, London, 07/04/2009 11:16
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Sounds like a touch of claim-itis setting in also. Must have been some pary there with all those free drugs. Im sure there was even more abuse than just druging. The world has been crazy for a long time now. If it is linked to the drugs which I doubt, then the church should pay for all those kids care and maybe some holidays to disney for the whole extended family. That will stop them doing it again. 
- Mike Mc, Bangor, 07/04/2009 10:07
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