Parents Charged in Disabled Son’s Abandonment

In the four days since a successful Pennsylvania business executive and his wife left their disabled son in a Delaware hospital, little has become clear. They had cared for the boy’s needs with love and concern throughout the 10 years of his life, according to friends and relatives, and money did not seem to be a major concern.

Yet Sunday, after days spent caring for the sick boy without the nursing help that usually came daily, something changed. Richard Kelso, 62, chief executive officer of a $500-million-a-year chemical manufacturer, and Dawn Kelso, 45, an advocate for the disabled, brought dark-haired Steven into the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., as they had for treatment many times before. This time, Steven had no appointment scheduled. They left him with boxes of belongings and a note stating that they could no longer care for him.

The Kelsos turned themselves in Monday after being contacted by police and were released from jail Tuesday on unsecured bond. They have been charged with two counts each of abandonment and conspiracy, misdemeanors that are punishable by up to a year in jail, according to a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Justice. Both Kelsos pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The couple have not commented and their attorneys have not taken calls.

The case is drawing national attention, with the outrage of some countered by sensitivity from those who say this was not the typical tale of child abandonment.

“At least let’s give the family credit for taking the child to a safe place,” said Pat Benvenuto, director of children’s services for the United Cerebral Palsy Assn. of Philadelphia.

At the couple’s house in a middle-class neighborhood of Exton, Pa., Steven--who has cerebral palsy and other disorders--usually had nursing care 24 hours a day, according to those who knew the family. But in recent days, a relative said, the Kelsos could not secure at-home help and had alternated staying up through the night to treat their only child.

“The nursing company told [Dawn] that they couldn’t furnish any nurses through Christmas and there was some kind of misunderstanding there,” said Glover Crouch, Dawn Kelso’s uncle.

Their care apparently reached its end Sunday at 10:45 a.m., when Dawn Kelso wheeled Steven into the Wilmington hospital, where he was often treated, and asked that he be admitted.

When an attendant left to get a nurse, Kelso left, according to court documents. She left Steven with boxes that contained toys, clothing and food, the documents say. She left a note that “generally talked about Steven’s medications, what his favorite toys are, what he liked to do,” according to New Castle County police spokesman Lt. Vincent Kowal. The note also stated, court documents say, “that she could no longer care for her child.”

Steven is now in the custody of Delaware’s division of family services.

Many who know the family defended what they called an act of last resort by loving parents.

“No one does anything like that when they’re rational,” said Crouch, 74, who lives in New York City.

Neighbor Pat Mastricola says the Kelsos are private people who appeared to care for their son. They built a ramp off the back deck for him, she said, and took him trick-or-treating in his wheelchair on Halloween.

They were “very private people,” she said. “I think most neighbors assumed that [was] because they had their hands full with the little guy. . . . He did not appear at all neglected.”

Crouch said this was a first marriage for Dawn Kelso and that the couple had been married about 10 years. Richard has at least one other child.

Dawn Kelso had had two miscarriages and a child who died in infancy before she had Steven, who was born about four months early, Crouch said. These abnormal circumstances kept him in the hospital for about 18 months after birth and left him with seizure disorders and difficulty breathing. He could not speak and is virtually always on a respirator.

Steven’s care involved diapering him and cleaning his tracheotomy and nasal passages, Crouch said.

Benvenuto said that there is not enough funding or support services for families with disabled children. She added that she has known other families who relinquished their disabled children.

But Trish Hearn, spokeswoman for Delaware’s division of family services, said the circumstances of the Kelso’s drop-off were “very unusual.” Typical child abandonment cases involve parents leaving a child alone at home for some time.

Interviews with those who know the Kelsos reveal them to be a successful family who nevertheless felt the strain of their child’s problems.

During his frequent travels for PQ Corp. in Valley Forge, Pa., Richard Kelso often communicated with Steven by telephone because the boy could recognize voices and respond by laughing, Crouch said.

Crouch said he had never heard Dawn Kelso complain of financial difficulties. Their single-family home was recently assessed at $183,180, and police said the Kelsos own two BMWs. But on court documents not long after Dawn Kelso turned herself in, when asked for her employment, she wrote, “Don’t have enough nursing hrs [sic] to work.”

What is clear is her seeming devotion to a cause inspired by her son. Dawn Kelso was appointed in 1997 by Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas J. Ridge to serve on the state Developmental Disabilities Council, a 20-member board responsible for advising the state Department of Public Welfare on ways to better serve the disabled.

She was a “very strong fighter and advocate not only for her child but for other children as well,” said Susanmarie Trout, who met Kelso at Temple University.

Delaware’s division of family services and Chester County, Pa., Children and Youth Services are investigating the abandonment charges and will likely make a recommendation to Delaware Family Court within 45 days. Hearn said the agencies may suggest that Steven is returned to his parents or placed with relatives or in foster care.

For the time being, however, Steven will remain at the hospital where his parents left him.