Mother bugs son’s cuddly toy to catch out care home staff

Four staff at a Cynon Valley care home have been disciplined after being caught using inappropriate language in front of Christine Mayor’s vulnerable teenage son
A mother bugged her son’s cuddly toy to catch out carers she thought were swearing in front of him.

Four care home staff have now been disciplined for using inappropriate language in front of the vulnerable teen.

Christine Anne Mayor, of the Cynon Valley, stuffed a small recording device into her 15-year-old son’s cuddly toy which captured the carers directing remarks at the teen.

Following a lengthy investigation and formal hearing by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Children’s Services, the employees have been given formal warnings – but have been allowed to remain in their posts.

Single mum Christine, who has twice recovered from cervical cancer, said her severely autistic son, Kyle Thomas, had been visiting the Nantgwyn centre for four years.

The teenager spent around four nights a month at the Aberdare home to give his mum a much-needed break.

But Christine decided to take matters into her own hands when she heard her disabled boy spouting abusive language in her presence.

She said: “Kyle cannot talk properly and he suffers with Echolalia, which means he repeats a lot of things people say.

“I knew he was getting these words from somewhere, so I decided to take matters into my own hands in October last year.

“I bought a recording device from Amazon and put it inside the head of Kyle’s Waybuloo toy.

“When I brought it home and listened to the recording, I nearly had a heart attack.

“What I heard was completely inappropriate language and I was not happy with the tone of their voices.

“I felt that the way they spoke to him was really horrible.”

An initial investigation was launched by South Wales Police, who handed the matter to social services.

A lengthy transcript was made of the recording.

“I knew I could get into trouble for what I did,” said Christine.

“But as my son cannot talk properly, he couldn’t tell me what was wrong – I felt like I needed to be his voice.

“He would curl up into the brace position whenever we tried to drop him off at the home, and he’d always back away from the door.

“It could have been happening for years. I put my trust in these people and they’ve let me down.”

After making the recording, Christine removed Kyle from the home and alerted the authorities.

He is now happily receiving respite care at another home.

In a letter sent on June 27 to Christine by Tony Young, the director of Children’s Services, he confirmed a series of interviews were conducted with several members of staff, followed by a formal hearing.

He stated: “Disciplinary action has been taken in respect of four members of staff from Nantgwyn.

“These members of staff will continue to work at Nantgwyn subject to the formal warnings that they have received given the findings of the disciplinary hearing.

“Clearly, the dialogue that appears to have taken place and which was captured by the recordings you provided for our investigation, was wholly inappropriate in the context of a children’s respite facility.

“Much of the subject matter, tone and choice of language used was simply unacceptable and represented a clear and serious breach of discipline.

“The disciplinary hearing