respite

[jollypig]

does anyone know of any schemes short stay breaks for disabled children , we are in south yorkshire and im struggling to find something suitable for dd

[chris54]

Iv looked but not found.

I'm struggling just to find someone to do day respite.

Just been let down by some one yet again. Ill find someone who seem all enthusiastic untill they realise what is involved then they drop out.

 

Your LA probably have some thing they could offer, but if you like us, we are not considered sufficiently in need to get anything. We don't get passed the telephone conversation with SS.

 

Not much help I'm afraid, Just to let you know your not the only one.

 

We do access 2 Shortbreaks schemes, one is a mobile cinema once a month and horse riding once a fortnight in the summer. But we have to stay with son so not much of a break is it.

[JeanneA]

Have you tried Mencap? They are very good in a lot of areas, they give respite to children with special needs.

[jollypig]

thanks for the replies , i guess im going to just have to keep looking !

[jollypig]

well we have had a break through , scope [funded by aiming higher]do a youth group on Saturdays 1-4pm , we went along today and hannah loved it .

[JeanneA]

Hi jollypig so pleased to hear you found somewhere suitable for your child to go to and she enjoyed it thats great. It will do her good to mix with others and it will give you a much needed break. :-)

[Sazale]

Jollypig, have you seen this one

http://www.ilsahdc.org.uk/

Molly has accessed 12 weeks of it and she chose the open minds theatre company which do arts & music. She's on the waiting list for another block. They will collect them on community transport too. I'm going to look in to the scope one.

[jollypig]

Jollypig, have you seen this one

http://www.ilsahdc.org.uk/

Molly has accessed 12 weeks of it and she chose the open minds theatre company which do arts & music. She's on the waiting list for another block. They will collect them on community transport too. I'm going to look in to the scope one.

 

 

thanks for posting that hannah loves swimming so im going to take her to as many of the sessions as i can, although hannah said she loved the scope event she is refusing to go back ?? no particular reason as to why.

[Sazale]

I'm sorry to hear that she won't go back. I'm going to take Molly to the St Anne's one as she also loves swimming (not baths though lol)!

[jollypig]

im planning to take Hannah to the st Anne's one also ,see you there !

[Sally44]

Just noticed this and it sounds like you have found out about Aiming High.

 

A lead professional should recommend your child for it, and then usually someone from SS visits and recommends a certain number of hours per year support.

 

My son gets a key worker who takes him out once a week to go to places like the cinema.

 

You can also try phoning Social Services and asking about respite and ask them to carry out an assessment of your child and of you as a carer. If you get nowhere ask them where you send a complaint to, and send in a complaint. If nothing is resolved after the complaint you can lodge a complaint with the Local Governments Ombudsman for them to investigate.

 

As far as I have been told by SS they only provide support for children/adults with learning disabilities. The NAS and the National Centre for Independent Living have both told me this is an illegal blanket policy [sounds like the SEN process all over again!], and gave me the wording of a letter to send to the head of SS.

 

Your local authority is ultimately responsible because SS is funded by them.

 

So it is worth putting in a complaint, because if you want to involve the LGO they do need documented evidence that you have communicated with them via letter and have lodged a complaint.

 

I am hoping to access Direct Payments for my son so that I can buy in support for him to do the things he wants to do. There is no way he could do them unsupported.

[Sally44]

Jollypig, have you seen this one

http://www.ilsahdc.org.uk/

Molly has accessed 12 weeks of it and she chose the open minds theatre company which do arts & music. She's on the waiting list for another block. They will collect them on community transport too. I'm going to look in to the scope one.

 

This is another scheme funding again by Aiming High.

 

By law, the Government has to fund Short Breaks. This funding is shared out between the LA's. The short break funding is called Aiming High, and different authorities put together different short break schemes.

 

Our LA gives a number of hours funding to each child and gives the parents a list of care providers for them to contact. Then your child is given a key worker who works 1:1 with your child.

[Sazale]

It sounds like your LA is better than ours, Sally44! I'm about to complain about soial services refusal to assess. There statement of purpose clearly states:

 

Children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder

Referrals will be accepted where the child’s autistic spectrum disorder seriously affects their developmental progress or their ability to access education, normal family life or where the condition significantly interferes with everyday activity. The young person’s autistic spectrum disorder will usually also be associated with severe learning and communication difficulties.

 

My daughter meets the criteria but the key wording that I'm going to focus on is that it says USUALLY not that it has to be and it says learning DIFFICULTIES not disabilities!

 

My dd has accessed the aiming high but her provision has come to an end for now and is back on a waiting list as the provision is or 6 weeks only. You don't go through soial services for that, I arranged it myself as no one told me about it!

 

im planning to take Hannah to the st Anne's one also ,see you there !

 

Will be nice to meet you after our virtual chats!

[trekster]

Can you get direct payments to pay for respite care?

[chris54]

Direct payment is were you are given the money to buy the care your self insted of it being provided by the council.

So if it was decided that you need respite care then it could be by direct payment. The hard bit is getting the council, SS, to agree you need the respite in the first place.

Edited May 3, 2012 by chris54

[asdinit]

M has respite through direct payment. We were told that it's now called 'short breaks' as apparently it was decided that 'respite' insinuated that carers wanted to off load those in their care!

 

I applied to the Disabled Childrens Team at Social Services for the council to come and do an assessment on M which they did. They had to do an initial assessment first to see if M qualified for short breaks which they said he did, then someone else came round and did the core assessment to decide how much short break M should have. We were given 4 hours a week through direct payment and fortunately one of M's teachers at school said they would be happy to do it for us (she is, without a shadow of doubt, my angel x). We had a review after 6 months to make sure all was OK and was then given an extra 3 hours a week during school holidays (3 x 13 weeks for the year). It has been a life saver for us - it's such a shame you are struggling with even getting the assessment in the first place let alone actually being provided with any.

[chris54]

I think one problems now is that the term "Short Breaks" is now being use to describe totally different things, even within the same council. We go to a short break scheme, it is a mobile cinema. There are also various sports activities going on which also go under the name of short break. Also youth clubs of various kinds.

 

The government has given councils a "Short break" fund it seem to use as they think fit. Most of the events funded under short breaks, round here at least, are in fact subsidised and run by various charities, and for most there is a charge to use.

 

Its getting the council to do the assessment in the first place which is the big problem. Despite the fact that it says on our own councils web site that we are entitled to ask for an assessment. It seems that asking and getting are to different things. I have tried different routes to SS, (Letters, email, banging on the door) but all you get is referred back to the same phone number, and when you phone they enter your details and up pops that you have asked for an assessment before and been turned away, so unless your situation has taken a nose dive, you don't get anywhere.

 

I just get fed up repeatedly being told how much there is out there when in fact there is very little that is any use to us.