http://breakfasttree.com/letter-to-our-mp-re-nhs-children-services-asd-pda
I’m
publishing a Blog Safe version of a letter I wrote to our local MP
following the Child Protection order placed on my Children.
I feel
that even though this is a brief encounter with the reality of what we
as a family have gone through in recent months, it perfectly summarises
the injustice of this case, the way the local authorities are in cahoots
and the blatant nepotism that occurs within small-town Local
Authority/NHS teams and the ‘Higher Powers’ they believe they hold.
I love this opening statement by
Lydia Lunch in her autobiographical book
‘Paradoxia’
But, in this instance, I feel I still need to
protect my beautiful little family from more shit.
Not
sure how this is going to work…I’m taking out names and replacing them
with professional titles. I am definitely not doing this to protect the
people who caused us harm. I will be getting to them in due course,
don’t worry. Where I talk of the children, I will talk of The Boy and
Toddle (bearing in mind this whole thing only came about because of the
lack of diagnosis for the Boy and Toddle is only affected by the
ridiculous accusations of is parents being accused on FII, so in turn is
clearly afflicted too.)
I will however state to print that the teams I am referring to are:
Redditch and Bromsgrove Child Development Team Worcestershire County Council Children’s Services Redditch Early Help Hub
Our
MP has been really helpful, and I met with her about this issue. She
didn’t rush me, she let me take as long as i needed and she listened to
what I said. Regardless of the Political Party, and how some of their
decisions impact on our lives personally, I actually like her quite a
lot. She did contact the services on my behalf adding weight to my
complaint, but having had a very lame reply from Children’s Services,
and still being stuck on Child Protection after a postponed Conference
Review, I need to chase this up.
Letter Begins:
Dear Our Local MP
I
have asked to meet with you regarding a Section 47 Child Protection
Order that my children have been placed on. This is due to the so-called
“significant emotional harm” that I have been inflicting on them. They
have claimed that I am guilty of Fabrication and Induction of Illness
(previously referred to Munchausen’s by Proxy). This has devastated me
and my partner and the allegations are far from true. I am sure this is
an obvious thing to say but the very fact is that we have proof to
disprove this NHS/Social Services allegation and it is being disregarded
by Social Services Manager without thorough investigation.
Firstly,
the referral to Social Services was made by an Occupational Therapist
we had been in contact with regarding my son’s behavioural and sensory
difficulties. The Child Development Team claimed that The Boy was a
normal 3 year old boy and they were not seeing the difficulties
described at home. The strategy meeting held by Social Services was only
attended by NHS ‘professionals’ and Early help hub representative who
we had never met and no one who was able to defend our corner in our
absence. They were all singing from the same hymn sheet as they all work
in the same team, none of whom are experts in ASD/PDA. The team had
previously decided that:
Quote CDT Meeting 4/11/15 – All
“ All agree that The Boy does not meet the criteria for Autistic Spectrum Disorder including PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance). Presentation: Significant anxiety issues. No developmental difficulties. Mild expressive language delay and delay in attention skills.”
There
are many issues with this and i have placed a complaint against the NHS
staff involved with PALS, as they have clearly highlighted the areas of
difficulty that The Boy presents, but have not attributed them to the
very condition that we felt prevalent.
Autism Spectrum Disorder/Pathological Demand Avoidance.
There are many instances that the ‘professionals’ have misplaced the
blame for The Boy’s difficulties and we have had to defend our parenting
and motives. I have evidence that the NHS have been seeing the
difficulties and the symptoms they described themselves are perfectly
befitting of an ASD/PDA diagnosis. But PDA variant is rarely diagnosed
and less prominent than both Aspergers, and what is now called ‘Classic
Autism’. The team work to a fixed criteria and have aligned The Boy’s
difficulties with parenting and particularly my own mental health
condition.
The final NHS ‘diagnosis’ of The Boy
not meeting
the criteria should in fact be discredited as i understand it it is not
NICE Compliant as there was no present Consultant for The Boy and no
Psychologist present at the the CDT meeting where the decision was made.
I
have also since found out that in the NICE guidelines, it is the duty
of the NHS professionals to feed this ‘diagnosis/or lack of’ in person
to the family. Instead, the meeting went ahead, with an Early Help
Worker present, who then was the person, who whilst i was arguing our
case on the phone with her, was insisting that The Boy DOES NOT have
anything wrong with him. That is what and how i was told, and a good few
weeks later did we get the minutes in the post from the CDT meeting
telling me the NHS position on diagnosis.
Secondly, the
Social Services accepted a referral, not investigating that the person
who is responsible for deciding a case of Fabrication/infliction (FII),
the Paediatric Consultant, was in fact Dr H.A, the only Consultant in
Redditch & Bromsgrove, someone who i have previously made a personal
and professional complaint about. Who we now know is also the
Safeguarding Manager. I would have thought that this Consultant could
not have been able to make an informed and impartial decision about
whether or not to make a complaint to Social Services and should have
referred to an equally senior manager?
Thirdly, and most
importantly, The Social Services are now trying to discredit Private
Assessments and subsequent diagnosis that The Boy does in fact have
High Functioning Autism, PDA variant
that were made by two highly respected experts in the field of ASD/PDA.
Social Services are accepting NHS opinion over Private simply because
it contradicts their initial accusations.
I have shared the very
thorough reports with Social Services and they are trying to say they
hold little/or no weight as they, in their words “have two conflicting
medical opinions”. My argument is that they don’t. The NHS opinion is
not Expert, and it is not (as far as i can tell) NICE compliant. They
have ignored the root cause of The Boy’s anxiety without expertly
investigating PDA symptoms and totally forgotten about the sensory,
speech & social delay issues they themselves highlighted.
The
Social Services report for the first Conference on 17th December, is a
disgusting, discriminating accusation of FII. They have torn apart every
facet of my personality to try and make it fit an FII case. The report
focuses on Fabrication, and the “gain” i get from this, but the
Conference focussed on the anxiety of The Boy, and that it was Inflicted
on him. I am yet to see which is the most prominent issue they are
following as i do not believe both can co-exist. If i were fabricating
it, there is no evidence that i am “gaining” anything from this. And it
is not possible to “induce/inflict” ASD on anyone. They have included my
One Year old son in this who they have never encountered, and who has
no difficulties. The Social Services are not medical and they are
relying on the NHS opinion and taking their word.
And why? We
have disproved the allegation of Fabrication. But the social services
are unwilling to accept this, making our next conference on 17th March,
essentially the same meeting as before, the NHS will all have their vote
when none have been involved for months and we’ll still be accused of
FII.
The Social Services have been lacking in communication with
us, they have not done what they said they would, they have
misinterpreted things we have audio recordings of, it goes on.
Questions to you:
- Your opinion on Private Assessments and Diagnosis?
is it worth less than NHS? When the Government are trying to push for
privatisation of services, why, when we do go Private and call in very
expert opinions, does it hold less weight with a Local Government Team
such as Social Services?
- At a Child Protection Conference why
does every individual involved in the CDT get a single vote and not a
Team vote? e.g. if 2 staff from The Boy’s nursery attend the CP
Conference they get only one vote, likewise if two Homestart staff
attend, they would only get one vote. So why is it acceptable that the
NHS get several votes when they work together on the same diagnosis?
- A
CP Conference Chair that is supposed to be impartial but is actually an
ex-social worker working for the very same county council that are
taking section 47 action against us?
- The assumption of guilt
within the first Report, Conference and following Child Protection Plan.
The recommendations were put in place to actually prohibit us from
clearing our name and getting the correct diagnosis in order to help The
Boy’s wellbeing.
Letter Ends.
So, i don’t know why i
need to post this, i just feel that if i start posting all the
correspondence that relate to this insane case, maybe i’ll feel that i
have some online account rather than just my massive and ever expanding
folders and living inside my own head with the burden of the injustice.
