Friday 10 April 2009

Sedation link to birth defects - Kendall House Abuse (BBC Newsnight)

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/09/01.htm

Hundreds of girls heavily sedated in UK care homes during the 1970s and 1980s may be at risk of having children with birth defects, the BBC has found.
Radio 4's Today found 10 ex-residents of a children's home run by the Church of England in Gravesend, Kent, have had children with a birth defect.
They were given massive doses of tranquilisers and other drugs while being restrained as teenagers.
The Diocese of Rochester says it will co-operate with any future inquiry.
One childcare expert said hundreds of children may have been drugged in the care system across the UK throughout the 70s and 80s, potentially subjecting them to the same health risks as those learnt about by the BBC.
Mike Lindsay, national co-ordinator for the Children's Rights Alliance for England, said: "Using drugs to control the behaviour of children was perfectly acceptable as far as their own professional understanding at that time went."
The Kendall House home in Gravesend was run by the Church of England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but the site is no longer a children's home.
In a statement issued through the Church of England, the diocese said it was unable to discuss individual circumstances for legal reasons.

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