Handicapped youngster removed from school

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BONNYVILLE - Quentin Watchmaker, a seven-year-old mentally handicapped Kehewin boy afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome, has been removed from the Duclos School special education class here by his mother following allegations of child abuse.

The boy was in the news late last year when he was removed from a foster home after it was discovered his sleeping quarters were in a makeshift pen under the homes' basement stairs.

Kehewin Chief Gordon Gadwa said the boy's mother removed him from the school following an investigation by social services into the allegations of bruises on Quentin's body.

"The boy's condition is such that he gets hurt very easily, and bruises are just a part of his life," Gadwa explained.

Duclos School Principal Ed Wittchen said Quentin is hyperactive, with a vocabulary of 0-3 words, and his personal records indicate he had severe health complications the first year of his life. He had been enrolled in the school program with four other children also with varying degrees of mental handicap. Each child, Wittchen said, is assigned a teacher to work with him on a one-to-one basis.

Chief Gadwa said he didn't want social services to be able to downgrade the reserve school program for special education. Rather than try to confine the boy with walls and cages, he was developing a plan to have a therapist work with Quentin in his home.

Linda Hall, social services communications officer, said "anytime allegations arise about possible child abuse, we must step in. The new Child Welfare Act clearly states any time a professional or individual person has reason to believe there is a case of child abuse or neglect, he has a responsibility to report it. In this case, we received an anonymous telephone call." (Those who report child abuse are not required to give their name.) A social worker was dispatched to look at the child, she said, a medical examine was done, "we concluded our investigation and we're satisfied there was no abuse."