Church Review of "Drugged Children's" Home

BBC News
January 9, 2015

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-30740201

The Church of England is to carry out a review of one of its former homes in Gravesend, where it is claimed children were forcibly drugged.

It follows a 2009 BBC investigation which found a former resident had been given drugs more than 1,200 times, at Kendall House, in the 1980s.

In 2009, Teresa Cooper told Radio 4 the feeling of being injected as a teenager was "like [your body] is just dying".

The Bishop of Rochester has set up an independent review into the home.

In a statement, the Right Reverend James Langstaff, said: "Over a number of years, a number of former residents have raised concerns about how they were treated during the time they were living at Kendall House."

He said he hoped the review would "make clear any outstanding lessons which the Church of England and others need to learn".

'Birth defects'

Ms Cooper said she was given major tranquilisers, anti-depressants and drugs to counteract side-effects while in the children's home.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme in 2009, Ms Cooper said: "It is the worst fear you can ever ever experience as a child."

The programme found 10 ex-residents of the Church of England home had gone on to have children with birth defects after being forcibly given cocktails of drugs including tranquilisers, during the 1970s and 80s.

Ms Cooper left the home at the age of 16 in 1984.

In 2010 she agreed an out-of-court settlement with the Church of England, which did not accept liability.