Eight-year battle finally ends as Autism centre open
JIM AND PATRICIA ADAMS FINALLY HAVE ‘PEACE OF MIND’ AFTER LONG-AWAITED RESIDENTIAL CENTRE OPENS
IT has been a long road for Jim and Patricia Adams, but in recent weeks their long-held dream came through and their 29-year old son, James, moved into a residential centre for adults with Autism at Dromavalla, Ballyseedy, Tralee.
The same residential centre has been the subject of an ongoing campaign as it took more than eight years for its doors to be finally opened.
The Tralee family have been campaigning for more than 20 years for a residential centre for adults with Autism, and in the past six years since the Tralee facility was constructed have been campaigning to ensure that the centre opened its doors.
Beset by problems, the centre was built by the Irish Society for Autism, but the service provider was unable to open the facility. The sod was turned on the project in 2012, and in 2014 the €1.3m state-of-the-art facility was completed but never opened.
The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle provided substantial funding to the project, which was a recipient of proceeds in 2009, 2011, and 2013. This, along with a housing grant from Kerry County Council, helped construct the facility.
It was with great disappointment that the facility lay unused and was falling into a state of disrepair. However, earlier this year Resilience Care took over the centre, and now four adults with Autism are living full-time at the centre. James Adams is the fourth resident, and he moved in just over three weeks ago.
“We are delighted that the facility is open. We have been campaigning for over 20 years. We started when James was very young as we wanted to have a place where he could live when we couldn’t look after him. Our long-term goal was residential care for him,” Jim said.
It was a long road to get the centre opened, but now James and other young adults have a place to call home and a place where they can be looked after.
“We haven’t been able to visit him because of COVID-19, but the organisation have been great at communicating with us. It is a new life for him and he is settling in,” Jim said.
Resilience Care is a private service provider for adults and children with disabilities, and it provides services for the HSE and already runs a number of residential centres in Kerry as well as providing outreach and day care in the disability sector in the county.
Head of Commercial with the service, Ed O’Brien, explained that they opened the centre in January and have four residents living there now. They rent the building from the Irish Society for Autism and provide the residential service on behalf of the HSE.
He said that, once they came on board, all the organisations involved worked towards ensuring that, at last, the state-of-the art facility could be opened.
Jim says that the opening of the centre gives him and all those who campaigned and fundraised for the centre ‘peace of mind’, and he looks forward to James and the others young adults living at the centre going on to enjoy happy lives in their new home.