Shadow Minister for Social Justice, Mark Isherwood MS, yesterday called for a Welsh Government Statement on shocking claims that Autistic children were abused at a children's home in Wales.
Four former employees at Ty Croyton in Cardiff, a residential home and specialist school for children with needs associated with autism, have this week alleged that children at the home were restrained and locked up unnecessarily.
In Wednesday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood, who has long championed the needs of Autistic people and their families, said the allegations are “symptomatic of so much of the casework that I have on behalf of Autistic constituents and/or their families“ and called for the Welsh Government “to tackle this endemic and deep-rooted problem”.
He said:
“According to the reports, whistleblowers state that children were punished for engaging in autistic behaviour and the health and safety of staff and children were absolutely shocking, and young people were mismanaged, so behaved in challenging ways which led to them being locked away.
“But this is symptomatic of so much of the casework that I have on behalf of Autistic constituents and/or their families, where highly paid people in power, so-called experts, fail to understand their autism, fail to identify their communication, sensory and processing needs in order to communicate with them in an effective, respectful way, pushing them into crisis and then punishing them for not responding in a neurotypical or predominantly neurotypical way, affecting their care, their social care, their health services, access to housing, and many other things.
“How on earth are we finally going to tackle this endemic and deep-rooted problem raised so often through the Cross-Party Autism Group in previous Senedd terms, without putting in place statutory duties for local authorities and health boards, and giving autism and neuro-developmental conditions in Wales a statutory identity at last? “
The Deputy Minister for Social Services agreed that the behaviour described by the whistleblowers is “not acceptable” but failed to answer Mr Isherwood’s question.
Speaking outside the meeting, Mr Isherwood said: “In failing to answer my question, the Deputy Minister gave warning that this new Labour Welsh Government suffers from the same old ‘cloth ears’ as its predecessors.”