Church of England Investigates Abuse Claims at Former Gravesend Home Kendall House for "Emotionally Disturbed" Girls

By Heloise Wood
This is Kent
January 9, 2015

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11714976.Church_of_England_investigates_abuse_claims_at_former_Gravesend_children_s_home/

An investigation into abuse claims at a Gravesend children's home has been launched today (Jan 9) by the Church of England.

The Bishop of Rochester James Langstaff will head the review into Kendall House in Pelham Road and is appealing for former residents to share their stories.

News Shopper spoke to a former abuse victim Teresa Cooper in 2010 who said she still "wakes up screaming" as a result of the abuse she described at the home.

A spokeswoman for the Bishop of Rochester said: "Over a several years, a number of former residents have raised concerns about how they were treated during the time they were living at Kendall House.

"There has at different times been coverage of these concerns in the national media.

"On behalf of the two dioceses concerned, the Bishop of Rochester has decided to initiate an independent review in connection with the management and systems which operated at Kendall House, in particular during the period from 1950 to 1986."

The Bishop of Rochester said: “It is my hope that this Review will be of help in pastoral and other ways to all those who have concerns about Kendall House, and will also make clear any outstanding lessons which the Church of England and others need to learn."

Mother-of-three Ms Cooper spent 18 years trying to expose the sexual and physical abuse her and other girls suffered in the 1970s and 1980s at the home.