Teresa Cooper is a British author, speaker, and
children's rights
Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors. campaigner against family injustice and
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...
.
Activism
Cooper is known for her eighteen-year campaign fighting for the justice and exposure of one of the most horrific abuses against children in Local Authority and
Church of England's care. She was one of the girls drugged, sexually abused and imprisoned in a small room for over 163 days while in care at the
Kendall House children's home in
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, in the 1970s and 1980s. The Kendall House records indicate daily administration of drugs in overdose form, both orally and by intra-muscular injections; sexual infections while incarcerated in the small room inside Kendall House, a large extensive list of psychotropic drugs and drugs for Parkinson's disease—all administered by force. Cooper's Kendall House records also include placebo and tests including urine, blood samples and swabs. Cooper relates that the girls she was with in the home have now had children of their own with birth defects, and that these defects are a direct result of being drugged while at Kendall House.
The story was first revisited in a national newspaper by Adrian Butler of the ''
Sunday Mirror
The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...
'' in January 2009.
The story has been covered by
Sally Gillen
Sally or Sallie may refer to:
People and characters
Persons
* Sally (name), a female given name, and list of notable people with the name; a diminutive of Sarah.
* , French influencer and activist
* Axis Sally, the name given to female radio pr ...
in 2007 reporter at Communitycare Magazine, Review by Liz Davies is senior lecturer children and families social work, at London Metropolitan University and blog by Sally Gillen.
Cooper first took her case to Parliament with her then-MP
Neil Gerrard
Neil Francis Gerrard (born 3 July 1942) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Walthamstow from 1992 until 2010.
Early life
Gerrard was born in Farnworth, England, and educated at Manchester Grammar Scho ...
in 1994.
Cooper has since received a "substantial out of court settlement" in regard to her civil case against the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
.
Church of England Pays Out After Child Sex and Drug Abuse Scandal - Press Release
/ref>
Bibliography
* ''Trust No One'' (2007)
See also
* Anglican Communion sexual abuse cases
References
External links
Transcript of 1980 documentary covering the drugging of children in care and Kendall House Gravesend Kent
* 1994 Parliament debate
Sedation 'birth defect risk' - The BBC, April 2009
Living with the legacy of care
Sedation link' to birth defects
CofE accused of care cover up
Forced drugging LWT Factual documentary about Kendall House including Sir George Young. Aired in 1980 prior to Teresa Cooper being placed in Kendall House
BBC Radio full interview including MP Tim Loughton
Eric Pickles' abuse victim comment sparks row 2013
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714135309/http://www.brentwoodgazette.co.uk/Eric-Pickles-Adjust-medication-remark-meant/story-19874361-detail/story.html ERIC Pickles has refused to apologise to a victim of childhood abuse]
Confidential Police Email Deliberately leaked To Press by Tory Minister Eric Pickles Office
'In whose best interest' by Prof Laurie Taylor 1979/1980 on Kendall House and the misuse of drugs on children in care
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Teresa
Anti-psychiatry activists
Living people
Children's rights activists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Church of England