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11. 1965: A Traumatic Separation
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11 1965: A Traumatic Separation The child’s sob in the silence curses deeper than the strong man in his wrath. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children” Patrick bad again. Mama not show happy. Patrick run from her. Smash lamp all on floor. Mama try grab. Patrick hit Mama, kick with feet. Mama suitcase put in car. Mama cry. Jeanne cry, too. Tell goodbye. Mama say go store buy toy. This not toy place. NO, MAMA, NO! PATRICK WANT GO HOME! At the court hearing, June McCullough reported to the judge that five-year-old Patrick was “severely hyperactive, had temper tantrums, and was beyond her control.” Her description was solidly backed by medical opinions, along with records from various agencies she’d consulted and from Tinker Bell Nursery. As a result, Patrick was declared a ward of the state. This made him eligible for placement as a residential patient at the Maryland Institute for Children. 64 Crying all the way, June McCullough drove Patrick to the institute, located on the grounds of Rosewood State Hospital in Owings Mills, Maryland. Rosewood, situated some thirteen miles north of Baltimore, was founded in 1897 as the Asylum and Training School for the Feebleminded of the State of Maryland and was the first facility of its type in the state. At that time, admission to the institution was for children age seven to seventeen with IQs in the 30 to 55 range who were classified as mentally retarded and were considered to be at least trainable. As medical and psychological knowledge about mental retardation expanded, admission opened up to children under age six. In 1912 the institution’s name was changed to Rosewood Training School. By 1961, in keeping with the era’s political correctness, the name had been changed again to Rosewood State Hospital. Over time, the criteria for admission changed, and Rosewood accepted those with IQs as high as 70 or 75. While Patrick clearly did not fall into the classification of retarded , frequent exceptions were made in cases where no other placement seemed feasible. At the time Patrick was institutionalized, Rosewood’s twenty-seven patient buildings housed more than 2,500 children and adults. Its 700-acre campus included a school, staff residences, a hospital to serve the patients’ medical needs, maintenance facilities, administrative offices, and a working farm that employed the older inmates. Like many hospitals for mentally challenged individuals, throughout its history Rosewood had experienced a number of difficulties, often leading to unfavorable, and even sensationalized , publicity. As recently as 2000, a thirty-year-old inpatient who was deaf died at Rosewood while being restrained by several staff members. The report of the investigation of his death by Maryland’s Office on Health Care Quality described Rosewood’s care as “cursory, at best.” Deadly Charm 65 [50.17.63.57] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 16:47 GMT) 66 McCay Vernon and Marie Vernon It is not entirely clear whether Patrick was admitted to this institution as a ward of the state after being misdiagnosed as retarded or found to be simply uncontrollable; there may have been some other diagnosis. What is known is that, with little or no understanding of what was happening to him or why, a very angry and upset little boy was removed from the only family he had ever known and placed in a totally unfamiliar institutional environment. For five-year-old Patrick, the separation was terrifying and irreversibly traumatic. Place all strange. Not nice. Bad people move mouths say things Patrick don’t know. Man try pull Patrick away Mama. Patrick hit man, no let go. Now Mama she goodbye. I say no no. Take Patrick, Kick, scream. This bad place. Bad people hold Patrick tight. No get to Mama. MAMA DON’T LEAVE! Patrick be good! Want go home! . . . GO HOME! . . . GO HOME! For June McCullough, abandoning her son to the care of strangers was a heart-wrenching experience. The separation from Patrick was particularly devastating, as he clung so tightly to her when she was leaving Rosewood that he left scratch marks on her neck. She departed the institution sobbing uncontrollably, her son’s pathetic cries ringing in her ears, a sound indelibly embedded in her memory. Even knowing that what she had done was for the good of Patrick and her entire family, she still felt overwhelmed with grief and guilt. The severity of the separation’s impact for both Patrick and his mother was so great...