Leader: Time to end a village’s misery
Pensioners cowering indoors, police running around trying to trace missing children, and local crime – that was the picture painted by fed-up residents at a public meeting called last night to bring to a head a furore about a care home for vulnerable children.
Pensioners cowering indoors, police running around trying to trace missing children, and local crime – that was the picture painted by fed-up residents at a public meeting called last night to bring to a head a furore about a care home for vulnerable children.
It was a tale of woe.
People living in Adforton, near Leintwardine, have a list of complaints and worries about the Mill House Care Home on Paytoe Lane which, on their account, has visited a decade of misery on them.
Police must be getting fed up too. Since 2005 there have been 72 missing persons inquiries related to children absconding from Mill House, including nine in the first seven months of this year, each costing the force £25,000.
In what should be a pleasant, tranquil rural area, over seven in every 10 calls made to the police by people in Adforton parish relate in some way to the care home.
Credit is due to the home operators for facing up to the criticism. The boss flew in from Belfast to hear what angry villagers were saying.
What is abundantly clear is that this home has long outlived any welcome it may have had.
You can see the logic that would have been applied in placing the home there. Not too many people about, and a pleasant rural setting which might be beneficial, nay inspirational, for the children.
Things have not worked out like that.
Perhaps an underlying problem is they find the countryside boring and want action.
Perhaps the problems would have occurred wherever this home was placed.
The ball is now firmly in the court of the home’s bosses.
Unless things dramatically improve, the only measure they will be able to take to show they are truly good neighbours is to move on, and give the long-suffering folk of Adforton a deserved break.
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Comments for: "Leader: Time to end a village’s misery"
bob dobbs
Read: We don't want these kids in our pleasant village.
NIMBYS
Ken Adams
Read: You do not have an argument other than people must put up with bad behaviour so you fall back on empty insulting rhetoric! Of course they do not want their village ruined by this project, who would.
bob dobbs
but these people would be happy if the bad behaviour was moved out of their rural idil, that way the house prices will stay high.
Send 'em to town. etc. etc.
NIMBY's pure and simple.
Ken Adams
Why should these people have to put up with such a situation which is not of their making when the bad behaviour is caused by the the children imported into the village from towns. But a better question is why you believe no one is entitled to live a in a peaceful village.
Sounds very much like envy on your part.
bob dobbs
Why would it be envy? I'm more than happy where I am thank you.
The question is simple; "where are we to put these troubled individuals?"
The answer from the people of Adforton is "anywhere but here".
That, in a nutshell is NIMBYism.
Ken Adams
You are using NIMBYISM as an insult and to close down debate about a local problem. These people, the social services and the police have a problem with this home, just shouting NIMBY does not address their problems, you are saying shut up you have no rights, because imported feral children’s rights trump yours.
You are saying a private company can make a profit by devaluing others homes and creating a crime wave, fear and unrest where there was none before.
Your envy is clear when you say they are only only objecting in order to to retain the value of their property. Your envy is telling people who had no part in creating the problems that because they choose to live in the countryside they must be forced to cower behind their doors in fear from imported problems.
JOHN JONES
bob dobbs. Thank you. I will put your name forward to have the children re-allocated to your street, or better still next door.
bob dobbs
Ken,
I raise your accusation of NIMBYISM as an insult to your accusation of my perceived envy of some tiny village no one has heard of? Quite why I'd be envious of what is a 'nightmare' place to live in is beyond me.
It's frankly pathetic, my point is that these villagers care more about the value of their property than the lives of vulnerable young people.
Instead of seeking to rectify the problem, they simply wish it to move elsewhere, this is NIMBYISM, plain and simple - it's not an insult, it's a fact.
Yours
'Envious' Bob. ;-)
Ken Adams
It is not in the remit of local villagers to “rectify” a problem created by a private company, all they can do is to demand that the company rectify the problem these imported youngsters are creating in their village. If that means moving the unit so be it, but it is not the unit which offends it is the problems caused by some of the residents of the unit.
Neither you, these “young people with behaviour problems” or the home owners seem to care much about the lives of the villagers. Yet you insult them with the charge of NIMBYISM when after ten years they have the courage to speak out about the problems in the local press.
Colin.Dodd.
I sincerely hope the owners of this place are brought to book over this, after all, were it an industrial enterprise blighting the area with dust, smoke or fumes, they would be legally responsible to address the problem.
The pollution in this case is much worse, they should be ordered to take immediate measures.
Ed
Spot on Bob, NIMBYS! What a horrible bunch of people.
Too poor to live in your village.
So where do they want these poor kids moved too? Can't these children experience living in a peaceful village for a small part of their lives?
Colin.Dodd.
How about having them next door to you, with all the trouble that goes with them. Have you people not read the report?
Ken Adams
That is perhaps the point it is no longer a peacfull village.
Rob, Telford
"Too poor to live in your village" - is that the real motivation for your comment? You obviously know more about the people of Adforton than I do - I haven't got a clue about the standards of living of everyone (or anyone) in the village.
What I do know is that Keys Childcare describes itself as the largest provider of residential facilities for children with "challenging behaviour" in the UK. This description may well include children who are vulnerable, but also those whose behaviour is violent and or criminal.
Given that the average cost of a place in one of these homes is now in the region of £200,000 a year surely the least the company can do is prevent the children in their care being a threat to either themselves or local residents.
I suggest that you deal with that chip on your shoulder before it causes you and others any more unnecessary grief.
Get A Life
Yep! NIMBYS again. Why don't they try and involve them in their community then? They may even take interest in the village and its people, make some benches or painting etc, don't avoid and push away people you don't understand - Get involved and Get A Life
Zz94
Yes too easy to nock those at the bottom of the ladder rather than chase the white collar crims that can afford top-class barristers ripping you're pension fund apart.
Nick SEMPER
You could not be further from the truth. The Police and Social Services role in all this is to put the children first - and if they are not safe and settled, then that has a knock on effect on everyone. Any failing placement fails everyone: the placing authority, the carers themselves, the community who are adversely affected, the public services who try to resolve a very difficult situation - and the children themselves. And when public services are over-engaged in dealing with one particular and recurrent problem, they can't give as good a level of service to every other member of society who is equally deserving. It has nothing to do with pensions, I can assure you all.
zz94
missed the k.
Lottie
It would be better if these children had been able to access help much earlier. It is so hard to get any sensible help for children like these until it is way too late. We now know that abuse and neglect (which is probably the reason they're there) causes physical changes in the brain and those changes cause their behaviour. These children deserve better!
zz94
missed the k. Note must sleep.
Shropshirelad
Where to move them? Simple... Telford. Built as a sink town for the Midlands overspill a few more oiks won't make any difference. Those who say this is NIMBYism true but I reckon if you could afford to live in a nice place you wouldn't want the area spoilt by oiks. Those that think they should stay and be able to bring the area down are simply envious. Sorry but the truth is hard to hear. Work hard, have nice thinks, seek to preserve them.
appleguy
wow. What a nice person you must be.
max
Congratulations! You've won today's Gross Over-generalisation of the Day Award. I'd love to know in which Shropshire village pub you honed your obviously well-researched and provable knowledge of Telford Development Corporation's planning and housing policies. Yes, up to a point you're vaguely correct, but that was 30 years ago. 'Thinks' have moved on.
Stokey
The question is wthout the aforementined 'celebrity' would this have even appeared on the Stars radar?
If in doubt try and get the backing of somebody off the tv.
Katherine de Gama
By chance I know two people who resigned from professional jobs at that place because they felt the management to be so appalling. I don't think the villagers are nimbys.
robert
I live next door to a home where young people with extremely complex problems are housed.
The place is run very well and any issues arising, such as noise, are dealt with immediately.
In this case, rather than have a go at those who are already amongst the most vulnerable in our society, I would demand that the private enterprise that houses them gets its act together.
The care of such children demands knowledge and skill, as well as love and commitment. Are the staff well trained, managed and remunerated? Is supervision adequate? Are the children engaged in positive activities?
More and more services for vulnerable people are in the hands of large private companies who only work for profit and employ poorly motivated agency staff. Why not question this business model rather than hit at those who have been hit so many times they expect nothing from life?
I would suggest that those who call these young people names, volunteer for a week in a home and get to know some of their stories. What's the purpose of having " nice things" when empathy is missing?
Katherine de Gama
Robert, I entirely agree. Btw I grew up in a very pretty village where some of the young people were a nuisance. Sensible people treated them with kindness and respect and were rewarded with the same. Those who didn't got abuse. There's a lesson in that.
Soggy Sue
I worked professionally in liaison with staff there a couple of years ago. I was impressed with the standard of care and caring offered to these young people who have not had the best of starts in life.
As far as I can recall there was no 'village' to speak of in the vicinity, so I am not sure where all these 'villagers' have suddenly appeared from. These young people have to live somewhere and I cannot understand the attitude of those who think any social problems are of no concern to them and should be dealt with by any other community but theres. We can't (and shouldn't be able to) pick and choose who are neighbours are going to be.
Rob, Telford
"Since 2005 there have been 72 missing persons inquiries related to children absconding from Mill House"
" over seven in every 10 calls made to the police by people in Adforton parish relate in some way to the care home"
Doesn't that make you think there might be a problem with the management of the home?
"should be dealt with by any other community but THERES. We can’t (and shouldn’t be able to) pick and choose who ARE neighbours are going to be"
You didn't work that professionally with them did you - I'd love to read a few of your case reports...
eva land
This is not like you Rob, Telford, I usually agree with your posts and nit picking over spelling is not your style.
I have worked in residential childcare and as a 17 year old nursery nurse student (which is quite a while ago unfortunately) I can remember going out with the children and having the most appalling racist comments made to these very sad and abused children in my charge.
One child who had been burned in the past and the skin was now white/pink in that area asked if he was burned all over would he then be white.
A girl in my sons school had been raped when she was 6 years old.
Despite massive attempts to normalise her life and make a better future for her she sadly committed suicide.
Stealing a bottle of malt whisky sounds like the sort of prank you could get living next to a boarding school.
The police get enumerable calls from residents with dementia. It's just part of their job.
There are legal aspects to locking people up so it isn't just a case of depriving the young people of their liberty to suit society.
Rob, Telford
Eva - no one is denying that some of these children may have had extremely troubled backgrounds, but equally some are suggesting that the neighbours' complaints are either trivial or groundless.
Some years ago I had the misfortune to live near to a pair of what their social worker described as "vulnerable little boys" (their victims and the police preferred the term "vicious little psychopaths"). Knowing that they could do pretty much exactly what they liked they made the lives of many of their neighbours an absolute misery, specialising in terrorising the elderly and truly vulnerable.
When one of them broke the arm of another child the response from social services was to allow the guilty party to have his own weekly session at the local youth club, with friends of his choosing.
They were frequently placed in specialist residential care, but this gave neighbours little respite as they would abscond as and when it suited them.
I'm usually a fairly compassionate sort of soul, but sometimes I feel that it is necessary to deprive someone of all or part of their liberty for the sake of the greater good, otherwise you're just replacing one relatively small group of victims with a much larger one.
eva land
We had/have a little tyke like that a couple of roads away no way had he had a deprived or abused background except his parents had divorced.
When we found out his well off circumstances and yet he had stolen around £500 in money, cameras ultimately assaulting my OH we hoped for some justice/compensation but his parents were too smart to attend court.
Education in public schools obviously teaches a lot of useful information.
He has been in prison, so I have heard since turning 18 and the stealing did stop for us, at least but I'm sure that there would be an uproar if his mother was told to move house to suit others in the community.
So it is difficult to define what produces a child/person to have no moral values or conscience and perhaps in towns people are, by the look of it, more tolerant or do not expect special treatment.
Years ago, my son punched another boy at school and unfortunately broke his nose so it was suggested he went to anger management classes. This was until they discovered he had an infected ingrowing toenail and this boy had purposely jumped on it.
Brian
We live next door to similar care home and have similar experience of youngsters absconding and police intervention. We were told Local Authority is not obliged to inform neighbours of such a facilty it continues to be residental dwelling therefore not a buisness. Of course these homes are extremely lucrative enterprise for the faceless owners who reap the financial benefit. The poor hard working employee is the person on the front line dealing with residents/public and home occupants. The staff are always changing no one stays for long. A recent violent incident resulted in all current staff leaving they were rapidly replaced. Fear has become a familiar part of our lives the activities of the care home constantly invade our existence. Involving these young people in local community activities has proved to be unsuccessful. With one exception the development of a gardening project unfortunately the organisors retired and no one continued with it. We have considered moving but when potential buyers learned about the care home they pulled out. Such a shame care homes have a negative reputation but not surprising. It is all down to apathetic management