Assessing the social care needs of disabled children with autism

Gwynedd Council Fail.: Why Blog About Cyngor #Gwynedd Council ?

I feel it is time for a recap of the events that led to this blog being created.

The 2010 Independent Investigation - with all points upheld - was highly
critical of Gwynedd SS and their management team in their treatment of
an autistic child. But the recommendations of the Report were not acted
upon and the child and family were ignored.

Our local MP, Liz Savile Roberts was contacted for help but her very
good friend at the council, Marian Parry Hughes, intervened and Liz then
ignored our request for a meeting to provide her with our evidence. Liz
has continued to ignore our correspondence.

At the time, the child was on a CIN plan managed by a social worker
whose attitude beggared belief, culminating in the social worker not
bothering to turn up for a review of the child's case. A meeting that
he, himself, had organised with parents and a teacher, letting them all
down and wasting everybody's time.

A complaint was raised about his behaviour and that of the Head of
Services. To say it was dealt with badly is an understatement and a
Stage 2 complaint repeatedly refused. (The Ombudsman has since
recommended that ALL officers involved in the complaint be given
re-training in the Statutory Complaints procedure)

So I began to blog the story of how Gwynedd Council have behaved.

I have been careful to name only those officers who have behaved badly
and deliberately not named one manager whom, I believe, had her arm
twisted by more senior managers to misrepresent the Investigation of the
censoring and mishandling of personal information and the Council's own
data breach.

Gwynedd Adult services were recently lambasted by the Ombudsman for how
they treated a young, autistic man. This case was only brought to the
Ombudsman's attention because the Complaints department had refused to
accept their complaint, also.

  If those named would like the right to reply they have only to contact
me. I am also willing to consider and/or publish their version of events
if they so wish.

I would also like to thank those who have supported the family in our
attempt to access services for 'high functioning' autistics and those
children that continue to fall between the gaps in services.


More - Gwynedd Council Fail.: Why A Blog About Cyngor #Gwynedd Council ?:

Independent Investigation - Gwynedd Council.

It is the week before Christmas and Cyngor Gwynedd customer care(!) send me an email in connection with the Independent report which they have had in their possession for over 7 weeks now.

They tell me the report has - finally - been sent back to the Investigator for questions to be asked and seeking the clarity they said was to be sought weeks ago -

"....I will arrange a meeting the first week in January for the Senior Managers to discuss the report.  

This is the situation as it currently stands, if something does change I will let you know."

We have repeatedly asked for a copy of the report, who the adjudicating officer is in this matter and whether or not the Independent Investigator has upheld our 6 points of complaint.

The council have refused to answer us and when asked who we may contact in order to discuss our concerns in the interest of fairness and transparency, we received the following -

"If you wish to discuss your concerns regarding the Stage 2 investigation, you are welcome to contact the Ombudsman at any point."

 We obviously wanted to discuss our concerns with council officers actually dealing with our complaint and not the Ombudsman - that may come later.

But as the council are aware it was the Ombudsman who first 'suggested' to me to raise the complaint way back in May.

The Ombudsman wrote -

" I have also informed the Council of your intention to submit a complaint and that I expect it to provide you with a full response to your concerns."
 
That was 7 MONTHS ago....

More here -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/

Council accused of failing children with autism #Sheffield #Autism

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Image copyright BBC/sparkle sheffield

Image caption Sparkle Sheffield's campaign includes a video called Stop the Abuse

A council accused of failing disabled children in order to save money has admitted it has made mistakes. 

Campaigners said children with autism and other special educational needs (SEN) are suffering from a lack of support in the classroom. 

Children's charity Sparkle said Sheffield City Council is obstructing parents' efforts to find suitable schools for their children. 

The council said it "truly regrets" its mistakes.

SEN reforms in 2014 saw the introduction of education, health and care (EHC) plans which are legally-binding agreements local authorities must abide by, but which cost them money.

Sparkle, which supports children with autism and their families, said by delaying EHC plans, children are are not being allocated schools in time or are sent to educational settings which do not meet their needs.

The group, which has been running a campaign called "Stop The Abuse", said this causes stress and anxiety, sometimes leads to self-harm and is in effect "abuse". 

Liesje Dusauzay from Sparkle said: "Our children are being left to suffer extreme distress in unsuitable environments without the support they desperately need. 

"This is destroying children's lives and their families lives." 

Sheffield City Council said in a statement: "We are continuing to work hard to bring about improvements in assessing, supporting and implementing the right provision for children. 

"We recognise we have not got this right in the past, and despite improvements we still do not always get it right currently. We truly regret this." 

But solicitor Hayley Mason, who advises parents taking legal action against local authorities, claimed councils around the country are withholding information from parents in order to save money.

She added: "They can save their sorries for themselves quite frankly, because it does parents no good." 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-south-yorkshire-41098051

Services For Autism And PDA Denied Again.

Why do Plaid Cymru run Cyngor Gwynedd Council Social Services Department mark the Disabled box with a NO when assessing a child with “high functioning” #Autism #PDA ?


Elin Walker Jones Plaid Cymru Gwynedd Derwen Plaid Cymru Arfon Plaid Cymru Bangor Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru Pwllheli Hywel Williams AS/MP Liz Saville Roberts AS/MP Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board Carl Sargeant Rebecca Evans AM

Autism Rising.

There are now 61,570 schoolchildren in the state-funded sector that have been recorded as having some kind of autistic spectrum disorder and they make up almost one percent of the entire school population.

Just five years ago, the number of children classified as being autistic was just 39,465 and they accounted for just 0.5 per cent of the school population.

The study of adults was published in two parts, Brugha et al (2009), and The NHS Information Centre, Community and Mental Health Team, Brugha et al (2012). This is the only known prevalence study to have been done of an adult population.

The Government lets down these children and adults by having no statistics on autism in the UK.

Why ?

Because the number is growing...

In America the latest figures are suggesting that 1 in 50 is on the autistic spectrum.

In 2009 the figures were 1 in 110.

What is going on ?