Boy locked in hospital now in care
A boy once sedated and locked in a hospital room because there was nowhere for him to go has been reintegrated into care.
But the Children’s Commissioner says his concern has ‘‘not changed one centimetre’’ on the country’s lack of specialist children’s facilities.
The Christchurch teenager, who has Down syndrome and cannot be named for legal reasons, spent a total of about two months locked in a room at Princess Margaret Hospital earlier this year.
He was in its child, adolescent and family (CAF) inpatient unit, where he was given melatonin to help him sleep and risperidone, an antipsychotic drug.
The boy stayed in the unit twice over the course of five months due to a string of violent episodes and the lack of a suitable home.
One of those stays was for nearly two months from late March while options for his care were assessed, former caregiver Carol de Schot said.
The now-defunct Child, Youth and Family had ‘‘failed’’ the boy, she said, shortly after he was admitted. Since his release, he returned to de Schot and her husband, Leo, with a view to transitioning to Christchurch disability care facility Brackenridge.
The couple had ‘‘pulled the plug’’ on several attempts of getting him a place at Brackenridge, again due to violent outbursts and ‘‘what they call miscommunications’’, Carol de Schot said.
That included one instance where the boy would not have known any of the people charged with his care. The Press visited the de Schots’ home in July, on the first night of another of the boy’s attempted returns to the facility.
The de Schots received a phone call to say he would be returned to their care that evening, as he had ‘‘just attacked someone’’, Carol de Schot said at the time.
The violence was a side of the boy the de Schots had never witnessed first-hand.
‘‘I’ve seen him be stubborn, but not actually violent and hitting people,’’ Carol de Schot said.
‘‘We’re talking children as well. He never used to hurt children.’’
At the end of August, the boy again returned to Brackenridge.
‘‘They can’t be ringing us up anymore and saying ‘Come pick him up, it’s too hard’. That’s where we’re at, at the moment,’’ Leo de Schot said.
The boy recently had a ‘‘meltdown’’ and smashed a window, but the couple’s hopes for him at Brackenridge were improving.
‘‘Finally now they’re actually taking on board [our advice] and saying ‘Thanks for giving us that information’,’’ he said.
‘‘They’re starting to get it and they’ve got a really good lady who runs [the boy’s] house.’’
In 2013, Brackenridge was investigated by the Government three times after its sole GP publicly resigned and two residents died of pneumonia.
Its senior leadership team had since been overhauled. Current chief executive Pip Stewart began at the facility in 2014. Three other general managers came on board in 2016, according to its website.
Stewart would not comment on the boy’s care or the facility in general. A Brackenridge spokesman said Stewart ‘‘didn’t want to comment or provide any information about services beyond what is public information on the website’’.
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft was unable to comment on Brackenridge specifically, but said the country still lacked focused and specialist facilities for children.
‘‘But I would say I’m glad, in principle, that a community-based professional service has now been made available [for the boy] … that’s got to be a step forward.’’
Becroft said there was greater recognition across Government ministries that a ‘‘siloed approach’’ to children’s wellbeing was no longer acceptable.
‘‘What has been provided historically hasn’t been sufficient, it’s not been good enough, and it remains, I think, somewhat of an indictment on the system.
‘‘I think we should be judged as a community and the degree of our civilisation should be judged by the way we treat those children who are considered the most marginalised, with the most challenging behaviours.’’
Carol de Schot said the boy’s progress at Brackenridge would be ensured ‘‘with the support of the de Schots’’.
"Finally now they're actually taking on board [our advice]." Leo de Schot