Family's distress as artwork and furniture dumped at adult day centre
Harborne Day Centre is one of four that Birmingham City Council are closing
Families and carers of residents at Harborne Adult Day Centre in Birmingham have shared their distress as they find artwork and furniture thrown in the bin.
They arrived last Wednesday (29th Jan) to find artwork and furniture in a skip months ahead of the day centre's planned closure.
Harborne Adult Day Centre is one of four set to close by Birmingham City Council as part of cuts to support the council's strapped finances.
The other day centres affected are Beeches GOLDD, Harborne, Fairway, and Heartlands. They will close their door for the last time on the 31st March.
How do the families feel?
Jean Cross' brother, Robert Mason, has been attending Harborne Adult Day Centre for 43 years.
He is non-verbal and paralysed down one side. He also suffers with epilepsy and autism.
Jean said finding the artwork and furniture thrown in a skip made her feel worthless: "You might as well throw the service users and the carers on top of the skip.
"They may have learning disabilities, but they are still human beings. It is our family.
"It is distressing because some of the service users know what is going on. One lady thinks that she is having to go to another centre because she has done something wrong, " she said.
What do Birmingham City Council say about what happened at Harborne Adult Day Centre?
A spokesperson from Birmingham City Council said:
"It was never the Council's intention to upset users of Harborne Day Centre and it is regrettable that steps were taken to remove artwork and some furnishings at this stage in the process of assimilating users into new centres.
"We apologise for any distress caused to those still visiting the centre while their support packages are transferred to a new one.
"We can appreciate how upsetting these changes to the environment will have been and we are reflecting on the impact of these actions and listening to service users to ensure we do better going forward in this process," a spokesperson said.