Kent County Council - Children placed in Kendall House Children's Home Gravesend

S Smith (Account suspended) made this Freedom of Information request to Kent County Council

The request was partially successful.

From: S Smith (Account suspended)

7 March 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please confirm how many children Kent County Council placed in
Kendall house Children's Home Gravesend ?

How much money was paid as a result and to whom?

Yours faithfully,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

9 March 2009

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will endeavour
to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later than 6th April
2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/229 - in any
communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Jemila Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Officer, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 - Fax: 01622 694383
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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Kent County Council

25 March 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

We have searched the records we hold and can find only 6 girls being
placed in Kendall House Children's Home during the period 1976 - 1986. We
have no finance records dating back to this period as it is standard
practice to keep information on the last 6 years of expenditure only.

I hope this satisfies your request. If you have a query with the
information provided, please contact me on 01622 696692. However, if you
are unhappy with this response, please follow our complaints process;
details can be found at this link
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/09/229.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

30 March 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please list ages of the 6 girls and for what period they remained
in Kendall house Children's Home, along with any further
information held.

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

1 April 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will
endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 30 April 2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for
providing the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/346 - in
any communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

There were 5 girls placed by Wandsworth between 1981 and 1984 and a dss report states Wandsworth were prodominant users of Kendall House.

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

Kent girls placed in Kendall House between 1981 and 1984 were min 4

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

Finance

I will be able to give you details on what Kent paid between 1981- 1983 for one girl based on records in files however the cost for placements went up in 1983. Will get back to shortly with information

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Samantha Carter left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

samanthacarter3@googlemail.com

Dear Sirs.
I was in Kendall House Children's Home when I was about 14. I do remember Teresa Cooper very well. Like her I was sedated a number of times. Sometimes injected, held down and crushing the tablets and forcing me to swallow.
I'd like to talk to Teresa.
My name was Sonia Margaret Chilton. I've had to change my name for other reasons

Sam Carter (Sonia Margaret Chilton)

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

Hi Sonia

You can contact Teresa direct on www.no2abuse.com :-)

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Angela Goddard left an annotation ( 8 April 2009)

I was at Kendall house and placed there by Wandsworth social services in 1983 and know Teresa I was also drugged.

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

9 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am sure you are aware that under the Freedom of Information Act
Kent County Council should have replied by now, can you please give
an indication, as to how long your response will be delayed?

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

14 April 2009

Dear S Smith

As you can see from my colleague's acknowledgement to your 30th March
email, we have until 30th April 2009 at the latest to provide you with the
information you have requested or, the reasons why we cannot comply with
your request.

As information about the ages of the girls placed in Kendall House was
information that you had not asked for before, this is therefore a NEW
request for information and we have 20-working days from date of
receipt to respond to you.

For further information about the Freedom of Information Act, how the Act
works, your rights and how to submit requests for information, please see
the Information Commissioner's website

[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

Best regards

Caroline Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Coordinator, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 221652 - Fax: 01622 694383
[2]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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Kent County Council

22 April 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

Here are the ages of the girls and the period they remained in Kendall
House:

Age 14 - from 1981 - 1983

Age 14 - from 1984 - 1985

Age 16 - from 1984 - 1985

Age 13 - from 1980 - 1985

Age 14 - from 1984 - 1986

Age 13 - from 1984 - 1985.

I hope this satisfies your request. If you have a query with the
information provided, please contact me on 01622 696692. However, if you
are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied with
legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
s/complaints-procedure.htm#foi on our website. Please quote reference
FOI/09/346.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner's website
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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S Davis (Account suspended) left an annotation (23 April 2009)

Oh my god!, it is absolutely shocking what happened to those poor girls - WWW.no2abuse

Has Kent County Council who placed these children and supposedly sent them there to be protected, carried out an inquiry, as to why they were viciously abused ?

Were the MP.s made aware and if so did they do anything?

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation (27 April 2009)

I can now confirm that at least 3 girls were placed at Kendall House before 1981 by Kent

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation (27 April 2009)

The financial records should still exist as Kent paid for the girls.

How many children born at Kendall House were adopted?

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

27 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you please confirm whether or not in actual fact, further girls
were placed in Kendall House Children's home by Kent County Council
prior to 1981 ?

And also clarify if any of these girls gave birth and if this is
the case, what happened to their babies?

i.e. were they adopted

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

27 April 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will
endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 27th May 2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for
providing the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/464 - in
any communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 1 May 2009)

I can confirm that at least one girl was placed by kent authority in kendall house PRIOR to 1981 and the SS started planning the adoption when the girl was only 8 weeks pregnant. I hope this is of some help.

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation ( 1 May 2009)

I can also confirm there was more than the one girl placed in KH by KCC prior to 1981

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

4 May 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

In particular how many babies born to girls placed in Kendall House
Children's Home, were adopted out by KCC between 1960 and 1986 ?

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

4 May 2009

Thank you for your email. I am out of the office until Tuesday 5 May. If
your request is urgent please contact one of the following:

Sandra Town, KASS Information Governance Co-ordinator on ext 1790
Andrew Swan, CMY Information Governance Officer on ext 1621
Caroline Dodge, CED Access to Information Co-ordinator on ext 1652
Pauline Banks, E&R Information Governance Officer on ext 6915.

If you are sending a Freedom of Information request, please forward your
email to: [Kent County Council request email].

If you are sending a request for access to your personal data, please
forward your email to: [email address].

Otherwise, I will deal with your enquiry as soon as I can on my return.
Thank you.

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

21 May 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please confirm when a response can be expected.

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

21 May 2009

Thank you for your email. I am out of the office until Tuesday 26 May.
If your request is urgent please contact Debbie Percival (am only) on ext
6357 or contact one of the following:

Sandra Town, KASS Information Governance Co-ordinator on ext 1790
Andrew Swan, CMY Information Governance Officer on ext 1621
Pauline Banks, E&R Information Governance Co-ordinator on ext 6915
Caroline Dodge, CED Access to Information Co-ordinator on ext 1652.

If you are sending a Freedom of Information request, please forward your
email to: [Kent County Council request email].

If you are sending a request for access to your personal data, please
forward your email to: [email address].

Otherwise, I will deal with your enquiry as soon as I can on my return.
Thank you.

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Kent County Council

22 May 2009

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your email please find below a copy of our acknowledgment.

Regards

Debbie Percival
Access to Records Officer
Room 2.35 Sessions House
Maidstone
Kent ME14 1XQ
01622 696357 (VPN 7000 6357)
[email address]

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will
endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 27th May 2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for
providing the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/464 - in
any communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate Kent County Council Room
2.35, Sessions House Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Kent County Council

26 May 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Information prior to 1981 is not held on our central computer system, therefore we would need to check our manual index files to see if further girls were placed at Kendall House by KCC prior to 1981. This would be a huge task and we estimate that this would exceed the £450 cost limit (equivalent to 18 hours work at the £25 hourly rate set by the Ministry of Justice). Therefore under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we are not obliged to comply with your request and are exercising our right to refuse to deal.

We hold a list of girls who were at Kendall House between 1976 and 1986, this list also shows which LA placed them there. The reason we hold this list is because we store the Kendall House records on behalf of the Church in Society who own the records. Therefore, after checking the records relating to the girls placed in Kendall House by KCC, we can find no evidence that there were any babies born to the girls whilst in our care at the home.

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints process; details can be found at this link http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ... on our website. Please quote reference FOI/09/464.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the Information Commissioner's website http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Teresa Cooper left an annotation (27 May 2009)

At least two children were born between 1976 and 1981 and were born to Kendall House girls whilst residents in KH (one was was placed at KH by a Kent LA) and on the birth certificate it states the address is 46 pelham road and born at Gravesend Hospital.

I hope this is of some help

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Kent County Council only: