A Christmas Nightmare

For years, Dawn and Richard Kelso had fought to keep their only son Steven, 10, at home. They had long been advised to institutionalize the boy, who has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, needs a ventilator to breathe and suffers from seizures. But aided by a team of nurses, the couple provided the round-the-clock care Steven needed. Still, the strain of medical crises can take its toll. Says Susanmarie Trout, a friend of the Kelsos and herself the mother of a severely disabled teenager: "You're always walking a thin line between being able to cope and losing it."

The Kelsos apparently lost it. The day after Christmas, they left their home in the Philadelphia suburb of Exton, Pa., and took Steven in his wheelchair, with his toys, diapers and medical supplies, to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in nearby Wilmington, Del. They demanded that Steven, a frequent patient there for years, be admitted, and then, while the receptionist went to get a nurse, the two drove off, leaving their son behind with a note saying they could no longer care for him.

The Kelsos are pleading not guilty to charges of abandonment, a misdemeanor. But affluence turned their predicament into loud headlines. Richard, 62, is president and ceo of the PQ Corp., a major specialty-chemical company, and serves on a prestigious Philadelphia business council; Dawn, 45, is an activist for disabled-children’s causes and for three years has been a member of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council, an advisory group to the state welfare department. News stories noted that the couple drove away from the police station, where they were charged, in separate BMWs.

It remains a mystery why the Kelsos left Steven at the hospital instead of seeking help or placing him in an institution, especially since they were well informed about services. They reportedly couldn’t get nursing care over the holidays and had to sleep in shifts to care for their only child. "My sense is that what she and her husband did was the product of a lot of stress," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Paul O’Hanlon, chairman of the disabilities council. "She had spent years fighting to keep Steven at home but felt the system wasn't really backing her up."

As they await a March 7 trial, the Kelsos are forbidden to have any contact with their son while authorities try to line up a suitable long-term placement. The hospital has been deluged with calls offering sympathy and support, as well as some from other parents of severely handicapped children urging that the Kelsos not be judged too harshly. Steven is medically stable, says hospital spokeswoman Terri Greenley, "but we'll keep him here to make sure he gets whatever he needs, whether it's medical care or a smile and a hug."