Kendall House: Review into drug claim children's home 'stalled'

Teresa Cooper said Kendall House victims were being ignored again

A woman who claims she was forcibly drugged at a church-run children's home in Kent believes a promised review into the facility has stalled.

Teresa Cooper was given major tranquilisers, anti-depressants and other drugs at Kendall House, Gravesend, Kent between 1981 and 1984.

In January, the Bishop of Rochester announced there would be a review of what went on at the home.

Ms Cooper said victims of Kendall House were being failed again.

She said she was informed about the review into Kendall House during a meeting with senior clergy in September 2014 but believed no terms of reference had yet been set and a panel had not been appointed.

"One year and one month is not an acceptable length of time," she said.

"I feel that they are not taking it seriously and we [the victims] have basically been pushed and shoved on a pile and left."

'Ignored again'

She added: "When you're going through this process [trying to get justice] the worst thing you can do to a survivor, who has been ignored that bad, is to ignore them all over again.

"What it does is take you back to the place that they're supposed to be investigating. They have taken me emotionally back to Kendall House."

Teresa Cooper left Kendall House in Gravesend in 1984 when she was aged 16

Former children's minister Tim Loughton MP said he would have expected the church to have set the terms of reference and a panel by now.

"That should have been done months ago and the victims should have been informed all the way through as well."

'Conducted properly'

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

It followed a 2009 BBC investigation that found she had been given drugs more than 1,200 times at Kendall House and 10 ex-residents had gone on to have children with birth defects.

The Diocese of Rochester said the bishop's "genuine concern" was that "any review be conducted thoroughly and properly rather than in haste".

It said former residents had received a letter of apology but it "would not be helpful for the Bishop of Rochester to speculate" on the review's outcome.

Residents of Kendall House in the 1970s and 1980s had received a personal letter of apology from the church