lorryw Report post Posted January 2, 2006 I am so cheesed off with the nonsense my local social services department has decided is an apprpiate care package for my son that I am considering seeing my local MP. She is new in the post and I have seen through our local paper that she has involvement with several AS involved charities. Has anyone had any dealings with MPs and has it helped? My local social services department need a huge wake up call. They will find themselves swamped with young adults with AS in the next few years and the services to help just dont exist. Loraine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rainbow queen Report post Posted January 2, 2006 HI i asked my mp to help me with the council and my housing situation ,as i was getting no where and it involved the welfare of my son. he did help alot in fact id say it was him who pushed the council the most i have just moved house and dont think it would of happened without his help i wrote letters to him explaining everything and he kept me in touch of everything going on so i would say its worth a try i myself will consider writing to him again over any future problems i often think i will if i dont get a good enough result from the health professionals dealing with my son as he hasnt got a clear dx yet and they seem to drag there feet. im holding out for now as hes got various appointments coming up and im waiting to see how they go-but in all ive not been happy with the way they have dealt with my son. so i say yes do it -if you can Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bothered Report post Posted January 2, 2006 I am so cheesed off with the nonsense my local social services department has decided is an apprpiate care package for my son that I am considering seeing my local MP. She is new in the post and I have seen through our local paper that she has involvement with several AS involved charities. Has anyone had any dealings with MPs and has it helped? My local social services department need a huge wake up call. They will find themselves swamped with young adults with AS in the next few years and the services to help just dont exist. Loraine Hi there, I am stunned and yet not surprised to find my own story repeated in so many peoples own lives. Its our story and it is high time we all did something about it before our stories become our childrens tragedy. MP's I guess as we expect all to treat our children as individuals so it is only fair to say that MP's are individuals so there is no telling how one will behave based on another. But, I contacted my MP early in 2005. He sent a reply which was sympathetic and assured me he would follow this through. When I wrote to him I was pretty down and sent quite a personal letter. What he did was to forward my letter to the Director of Childrens Services to ask for an explanation and action. The Director of Children Services oversees, Social Services, Edcuation, Special Needs Department, Education Welfare. He did reply to the MP with a summary basically of what these departments told him had happened or what they had done. Needless to say these details were not only inaccurate but confirmed to me that all were backing each other up and building a wall of some sort which was about protecting themselves. The MP then passed these on to me. I wrote back to him and responded highlighting to him all the inaccuracies. He then wrote to the Director again. Director then wrote backto MP again with similar fabricated details. We then went through the process again. At this point I had sought private help with assessments and a solicitor. At this point my son was out of school, signed off as unable to cope with mainstream until appropriate placement was found. We were still struggling to obtain home tuition. When the MP received my next letter telling him what he was being told was inaccurate and that it was time someone looked at my sons situation and not file notes as the two did not make sence !! I then received a phone call from the MP secretary asking me if I wanted him to take this further and persue this. I said I did. So he wrote again. A reply then came back with the Director of Childrens Services claiming that he could not respond any further with the MP as he had already stated what the situation was and that in any event because the childs mother had taken legal action he was no longer at liberty to discuss this. He also stated that because the childs mother had taken matters to tribunal there was no role for the services until after the hearing. (wildly inaccurate if not illegal) The MP replied to me and told me he hoped that I did well at the tribunal for my son. When the legal bundle arrived that was presented at the hearing my rather personal letters were included to the MP and provided as evidence against me at the tribunal. So I would advise that it seems the MP seems to act as a post box more than anything else and when things did not seem to happen there was no interest or fighting instinct for one of his constituants. Our MP is in our paper every week, opening things, running in races, being governor at our local school and claims he is a champion for the underdog and the vulnerable. He has a good reputation, is a family man and has experienced near tragedy in his personal life in the last two years. For our family he has been of no real benefit. However I do remember one point that feathers were certainly rather ruffled when certain people knew he was asking questions. But in reality the only thing that that seemed to do was encourage more attendees at meetings and give all the impression they needed to be very careful to cover themselves. So............... be careful what you say as your letters could just be copied to anyone think of it as an extra pressure to the professionals (so called) most of these people at the end of the day all work together and seem to have more interest in keeping things hunky dory between themselves and are unlikely to truly back you against people they have to continue working with. For example, our MP meets with the Director every six weeks to generally discuss things. I cannot imagine he would really ever push things with him for one child. Unfortunately the world is just not like that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Hi Loraine Do it! This is the advice that we are now giving to parents go to your MP they are elected to serve 'us'. We know that many are a waste of space but some are not and there is only one way to find out. I really do believe that if parents started to do this on mass then they would have to listen. We worked out in our area alone that if all of the parents who had contacted us about educational issues had also gone to see our MP's they would have had about 30 plus parents knocking at their doors last year. Now if you have this many annual bells must start to ring saying something is not right. There should also be someone within your Council that you can approach, if you have not already done so. Someone should hold the Portfolio for Social Services and there will also be a scrutiny committee who overseas the work of SS. You will also have a Chief Exec who would have to take any complaint seriously. Maybe a letter to these people with your MP copied in. That way the MP will know that you are serious about this. If you want to go this way pm me and I will do my best to help you. Carole Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lorryw Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Thanks for the replies, Carole, I will pm you, I really have no idea about the pecking order in Social Services in out area or how the system works. I currently know of 7 parents with youngsters aged 16-19 who have no idea what will happen next. I would love to form some kind of pressure group to persuade (?) SS to have some AS specific daycare services and suitably trained staff. They are currently pushing parents to have Direct Payment schemes so that parents have to find carers on an individual basis. Or the local unit within a local 6th form College which just isnt geared towards the needs of these youngsters. They are all short term make and mend solutions. Loraine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 I am in the same area as you lorryw. I did contact my MP (not yours) five years ago, when the LEA were doing everything they could to avoid sending my son to the school he needed (even though they coudl not find a school to name themselves). I had done everything by the book, and teh LEA had just suggested I look at a school in N Yorks. I wrote a letter outlining everything that had gone on. and the MP wrote to the Director of Ed, asking what was now happening. He replied with some inaccuracies, and basically did not answer the question - so the MP wrote back asking again. I then got a letter from the LEA saying they woudl approach the school I had suggested. I believe that they could not justify their actions to the Mp, so they gave in - it certainly caused quite a stir in the ed dept! If you do write, do not tell the dept you are going to - they will not have time to cover their backs! If your Mp is O***n, several parents wrote to him a few years ago about education, and I also wrote to him. As I was not one of his constituents he coudl not act on my behalf, but my letter was really just to show the size of the problem. I think Ed is easier to challenge as there are some "rules"/duties. SS do not have such a duty - they provide services to fit their funds, which in our area are very limited. However, I know exactly what you are saying. My son is 16 with AS, and my decisions about 16+ are based on the fact that we will get no help from SS. There are some 16+ specialist colleges - if we all push for them, the dept will soon improve their services! One is just 20 miles away from you. Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
katkin Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Hi again Karen, our mp is not the one you think I think! It is a lady and she has just been made the shadow minister for education and she does seem to have an interest in ASDs. Love Kat Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phasmid Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Hi Lorry, I'm certain Carole will steer you in the right direction. But, yes we have approached our MP (and more than once) and yes, he has helped out too. It is amazing what effect a letter from them can do for you. Go for it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hev Report post Posted January 2, 2006 steve was off school nearly 2 years as my lea were useless,i got in touch with my mp as a last resort really and almost right away steve was offered a place at the school i wanted so i would say contact the mp,in my case it really did work Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
