Parents of disabled children-Special needs forum support group

i just need to pick the brains of anyone who gets this.

Can i be forced to take direct payments instead of the respite i was getting?
until may i was getting 3 1/2 nights a month (42 a year) then a new manager took over the respite unit (situated on the ground floor of the social services offices) and decided to change things, it started off with Matt climbing on a shed roof, he had been doing this for a couple of years when ignored but they refused to move the shed and had number locks fitted on the doors to keep him in but one of these doors didnt work so he got out. they wanted him to go to bed at 9pm and he didnt so he got out onto shed.
since then we had a meeting in september where they decided it wasnt just the shed it was the lack of sleep he needed ( i know he doesnt need sleep!!! thats why i need respite) and he wouldnt interact with the younger children (he is autistic) and they would look into other places out of the area.
had another meeting beginning of this month where they showed they hadnt even looked into other places and wanted me to accept 16hours a month respite which wouldnt even pay for one nights respite if i could find anywhere that takes his age. i told them unless they gave me the equivelent amount of hours i wouldnt take direct payments as at the moment all i am getting is two 4 hour outings with outreach and s/s want me to use 8 hours of the direct payments to pay for a worker named innis that doesnt work with outreach to replace one of the outreach workers as they insist on 2:1 when taking matt out, but if i arrange for someone to take him out i wouldnt have enough payments to do anything with unless i agreed to them taking him out alone.

so to get back to my original question, i have had a letter from outreach saying that this innis will be accompanying the outreach worker on the outings from february. i dont know where the funding for this comes from as he doesnt work for outreach and when it was mentioned to me i was told i would be paying for him through direct payments.
as i havent agreed to take direct payments can they apply for them on my behalf without my permission? as they think if i have this they dont have to find matt anywhere for respite. i have had a core assessment done and it says nothing has changed and we still need overnight respite for my health as much as matt getting out.

i have tried calling outreach and social worker but looks like they all on holiday till next week.
hope this makes sense
corinne

(12-30-2009 02:08 PM)corinne Wrote: [ -> ]i just need to pick the brains of anyone who gets this.

Can i be forced to take direct payments instead of the respite i was getting?
until may i was getting 3 1/2 nights a month (42 a year) then a new manager took over the respite unit (situated on the ground floor of the social services offices) and decided to change things, it started off with Matt climbing on a shed roof, he had been doing this for a couple of years when ignored but they refused to move the shed and had number locks fitted on the doors to keep him in but one of these doors didnt work so he got out. they wanted him to go to bed at 9pm and he didnt so he got out onto shed.
since then we had a meeting in september where they decided it wasnt just the shed it was the lack of sleep he needed ( i know he doesnt need sleep!!! thats why i need respite) and he wouldnt interact with the younger children (he is autistic) and they would look into other places out of the area.
had another meeting beginning of this month where they showed they hadnt even looked into other places and wanted me to accept 16hours a month respite which wouldnt even pay for one nights respite if i could find anywhere that takes his age. i told them unless they gave me the equivelent amount of hours i wouldnt take direct payments as at the moment all i am getting is two 4 hour outings with outreach and s/s want me to use 8 hours of the direct payments to pay for a worker named innis that doesnt work with outreach to replace one of the outreach workers as they insist on 2:1 when taking matt out, but if i arrange for someone to take him out i wouldnt have enough payments to do anything with unless i agreed to them taking him out alone.

so to get back to my original question, i have had a letter from outreach saying that this innis will be accompanying the outreach worker on the outings from february. i dont know where the funding for this comes from as he doesnt work for outreach and when it was mentioned to me i was told i would be paying for him through direct payments.
as i havent agreed to take direct payments can they apply for them on my behalf without my permission? as they think if i have this they dont have to find matt anywhere for respite. i have had a core assessment done and it says nothing has changed and we still need overnight respite for my health as much as matt getting out.

i have tried calling outreach and social worker but looks like they all on holiday till next week.
hope this makes sense
corinne

I cant answer your question directly as i don't get mine yet, but i just wanted to say that i get resbite at the moment which is 3 hours a week which is paid for by the "aiming high fund" through social services children with disability team. I recently applied for direct payments with our social worker i have never heard of them doing it without your permission ( but i can't swear by it) she did an assesment and asked what we felt we needed with direct payments and how we would use the payments etc and she told me that if direct payments was passed then that would have to be used to pay for his origonal resbite he gets now so that has to be taken into account.
hope that helps
ddsaps

[/quote]
I cant answer your question directly as i don't get mine yet, but i just wanted to say that i get resbite at the moment which is 3 hours a week which is paid for by the "aiming high fund" through social services children with disability team. I recently applied for direct payments with our social worker i have never heard of them doing it without your permission ( but i can't swear by it) she did an assesment and asked what we felt we needed with direct payments and how we would use the payments etc and she told me that if direct payments was passed then that would have to be used to pay for his origonal resbite he gets now so that has to be taken into account.
hope that helps
ddsaps
[/quote]

if the direct payments i was offered was anywhere near the respite i was receiving until they decided they couldnt cope with him i would have accepted it but 16hrs of minimum wage (after i have paid tax and national insurance) wont even cover one evening/overnight stay. i was told they might be able to stretch to me dropping him off after tea and collecting him first thing but dont know how that will help when the nearest unit is a 40mile round trip if i can get him in there otherwise its wales!!! he was being dropped off from school on a friday and collected to go to school on monday morning by school transport and we had a whole weekend once a month so i worried that they forcing the issue by hiring the young man to take him out with outreach and then saying oh u have to pay for him.

just a though, the aiming high fund is not supposed to be instead of respite its an extra funding from the government as matt is going away with them at easter for 3 days and did have 4 outings (canoeing and sailing)in the big hols funded by this, its run by the outreach teams and crossroads As far as i know someone on here might know more as i dont know where my info pack is as not used it since sept.
thanks
corinne

As far as i am aware the local council cannot force you to take direct payments.
But they can make it impossible for you not too.....
I.e they could withdraw your current provision which in turn would force you to use direct payments.
But as i am aware they cannot force you to use direct payments.

(12-30-2009 07:39 PM)Daniel Wrote: [ -> ]As far as i am aware the local council cannot force you to take direct payments.
But they can make it impossible for you not too.....
I.e they could withdraw your current provision which in turn would force you to use direct payments.
But as i am aware they cannot force you to use direct payments.

Daniel they withdrew that in May when they took away my overnight respite all they can take off me now is the outreach where i have to get up early on a saturday morning to make matt a packed lunch and drag him out of bed to go for a 3 hour hike and a hour round trip. not sure if either us or matt would miss that anywhere near as much as the weekend a month we were getting
sorry sounding a bit sarky there just had a couple of nights of matt beintg awake till gone 3 and mark having to get up at 7 for work to appreciate a 4 hour outing.
taking him to chester for the day on saturday as he loves riding round on the buses, start off with lunch in beer garden eeekk hope it doesnt snow, then he gets but from elesmere port to chester (with dad and uncle)then stands around for a while taking pics of buses until he knows i am on my way with car and he then goes for a few bus rides lol he even has a blog written by dad and photo's by him and i get a couple of hours shopping time
corinne