Truth Attempted: Gross Misconduct

Yesterday was my birthday. Today I wrote an article for the Daily Mail. Here it is:

Children’s Care Home is in tatters

They’ve dismissed the staff member who swore at a 17 year old. They’ve kept the staff member who lied to the kids, faked illness and sabotaged the rest of his team.

Greg Corcoran has looked after children with learning disabilities for 5 years. But now he’s been dismissed from his unit for swearing at a 17 year old. Meanwhile, Dan Cooke, who has worked in care for less than a year, is returning to work after abusing the children and faking chest pains to get time off.

‘The Care Home is in tatters!’ says Harri Burch, Greg’s best friend and co-worker, ‘They’ve got rid of a man who genuinely cared about the kids, and they’ve let back in a liar and an abuser who is a threat to all vulnerable people.’

The children at Langley House in Cornwall have Asperger Syndrome and are cared for by the Devon and Cornwall Autistic Community Trust. These children can be very unstable and inflict frequent verbal and physical abuse on their staff. Greg has worked hard with these kids, enduring ridicule and injury and preparing them for the time when they leave care on their 18^th birthdays.

Yet all of his efforts were ruined when the selfish Dan Cooke joined the team. This man has done everything possible to turn the kids against the rest of the staff. Dan told the kids that they could only trust him, and he told them personal secrets about the other staff members. He took the kids out, buying them food and drink and encouraging them to shout at members of the public and misbehave.

Of course, Dan got away with this. He seemed to cover his tracks well and nothing could ever be proved by co-workers or upper management. When the rest of the staff began to criticize him he stopped turning up for work. He said he had chest pains. One of his co-workers saw him in the pub the next day.

‘He was smiling and chatting away to his friends,’ says Nicola Clifton, key worker at the unit with Greg, ‘I asked him if he was alright and he pretended not to know what I was talking about.’

The Unit struggled to cover Dan’s shifts and undo the damage he had done to the children. Greg worked especially hard with the oldest child in the unit, a 17 year old who is set to leave care in June of this year.

But while Dan got away with his abuse, Greg wasn’t so lucky. When the 17 year old threatened to attack him whilst out shopping, Greg refused to back down. He squared up to the abusive teenager and warned him of the consequences of assault. He told him “you’ll throw your whole f*cking life away if you do this!” The 17 year old backed down, and Greg apologised to the other people in the shop. But when the incident got reported Greg was suspended indefinitely, and then dismissed 3 weeks later.

The kid he swore at is leaving care in 3 months and is going out to live and fend for himself on his own. But until then, he is still classed as a child by the authorities, so swearing at him is considered gross misconduct. Greg was fired for moving outside the “agreed framework” for that child.

‘The reason I moved outside the framework,’ says Greg, ‘is because [the child] is about to leave the framework! In three months he will enter the real world, and he still thinks he can threaten people in public and get away with it. If I had to break protocol to show him some real-life consequences, then losing my job was worth it. I love that kid and I want him to learn. If I had the chance I’d do it again.’

The 17 year old’s behaviour has improved a lot since that day. He is learning independent skills and planning forward to the day he leaves care. But all that could be ruined now that his keyworker, Greg, has been dismissed for gross misconduct and the poisonous Dan Cooke returns to continue his abuse.

‘He’s leaving care in 3 months, and they’re bringing back a man who lies to him, turns him against others, encourages his aggression and contradicts the rest of the staff,’ says Greg. ‘They’ve taken away the one who cares, and brought back the man who consistently abused him.’

Langley House has been put under special measures for the duration of the investigation. Greg’s co-workers are in uproar and the children are confused. One man’s attempt to teach a teenager about real life has led to disciplinary action that has crippled a once thriving care home.