Adult social care

[Louisetopaz21]

I work as a senior practitioner within adult social care and I am a signatory for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Oh no nothing worse than having to repeat the same story over. I feel your pain. Just to clarify are you talking about the hospital staff not communicating with the hospital social work team. My knowledge on discharges is that they don't get involved until someone is fit for discharge than they will complete their assessments x

Thank you anxiety is a horrible thing to suffer from x

Sounds like you were a great support for your aunt. Court of protection timescales can be frustrating long, waiting for orders to come through so I hear you. Glad you found adult social care good, resources are certainly scarce sadly x

That must have been so frustrating for you and I am sorry the hospital didn't refer your to adult services to support your discharge from home. Under the Care Act 2014 you have entitlement to an assessment to identify any needs or at least offered you support, guidance or signposting from the age of 18. Please do go back to them and if you are fobbed off ask to speak to the manager or submit a formal complaint. X

Thank you for the advice. Does this still apply if he lives at home? Hes 16 tomorrow, do i need to contact them immediately?

Thank you. Also, I ring Adult Social Care who tell me one thing, but social workers visiting tell me another. It seems like bad communication.
Thank you for everything you do. I really couldn't do your job x

Does he have an allocated social worker in children's social care. I would be asking because the Mental Capacity Act 2005 applies to people from the age of 16, however they should have really gone to the Court before this if he is restricted to get authorisation. You sound like a good advocate for your son and I would push for it. Yes it does apply in his own home in the community and anyone under the age of 18 it needs to go to court to authorise. The local authority also mmiwn as the supervisory body can only authorise anyone who is in hospital or a care home over the age of 18 x

Communication is certainly an issue throughout the system. Awww thank you I love being a social worker, came from being a carer when i was 17 and seeing people so mistreated and being homeless myself at the age of 17. I hope your family member makes a recovery, and you take care of yourself too xx

What would happen to my youngest when dh and I die or can't look after ourselves. He is 11 years old, autistic with the same emotional capabilities as a 3 year old.

What a big worry,we always worry about our children no matter what age they are and their future. You sound like you are doing an amazing advocating for your son, from one mum to another. Are children's services involved now? This would help me give you the correct information x

Thank you, it's just about making sure they live in comfort and dignity whatever time is left - but I do need help!
❤️

Absolutely 💯 x

He doesnt have a social worker. We home educate and haven't had an ehcp review in 3 years so we are very much out of the loop. Would you just contact them ASAP? Will this cause issues? Thanks again for the help.

I home educate my 14 year old she has a diagnosis of autism but is high functioning. It is your call if you feel you need support as a family, I don't know what support children's can offer as I don't work in that area. I want to offer you reassurance whatever you decide is right for your family, from the age of 18 you can refer into adult social care for a needs assessment and look at future planning. The local authority have a duty so try not to worry x

I am a retired adult services SW. I actually left early to pursue a freelance creative career as my job had ceased to respect professional skills and we had simply become financial gatekeepers for the LA. We assessed people till it was coming out of their ears knowing thst the chances of the getting the funding for the care they needed was zilch.
My late OH needed help from SSD in the last few years and I watched it all still happening just the same. At least the SW was honest (I knew her) and said Carer Assessments had no point at all ... a box was ticked but they were ignored in the decisions.
How do you deal with people's needs not being met and the emphasis solely on saving the LA money? I felt I had no integrity left. People hoped they would be helped and we knew they would not.

Hello fellow social worker, I completely get you care management always felt like a conveyer belt. I am no longer front facing but more in a strategic role. Resources are so low and it can feel heartbreaking that there is nothing to give and that there is high challenge to requesting funding. I just grab hold of that I am making a difference hopefully but can feel we are gatekeepers at times x

I concluded that the only difference I was making was dashing people's hopes and increasing their distress.
I could not longer square this with my conscience, nor justify taking a salary for doing this.
There was a crunch moment with parents who had just lost their young AC in an accident and who also needed to ask for help with a young adult sibling who was very severely disabled. The department would not accept that they were too distraught to cope with the normal lengthy assessment process of endless forms/signatures at that moment and that care should be funded on my assessment of the situation to give them time to grieve. I had to put them through more misery. No way was I going to continue to work for the department.
Everyone was trying to move upstairs to a strategic role because working on the ground was too grim. We were automata and no longer professionals. But I was clear that I did not want to be part of any strategy where humanity had been quashed.
Assessments had become the means of limiting care and help, not the gateway to it. Limited resources and limited imagination ruled.
I ran a published research project into hospital discharge for elderly people which threw up some helpful strategies which the LA had said they would fund, but then refused to do so because they (like most government/LA agencies) could not grasp the concept of long term thinking.
I left and devoted my time to my new career of helping those with disadvantages in their lives via musical and artistic projects.

It is. I am still suffering terribly to be honest. I just can't get my head around how I am going to navigate the future / old age alone.

Sorry to hear this. Did you try mindfulness? Might be worth getting some therapy to make peace and hel reduce your intrusive thoughts x

What may the future hold for a severely autistic child, non verbal and violent? Lives at home currently but may get to the stage as the child gets older, taller, stronger etc where the parents can’t keep themselves safe from the child. Do secure residential facilities for children / young adults with a similar presentation exist? What will happen when child hits puberty / has periods etc to help maintain self care? Child is also in nappies still at aged 8

Are children's social care involved? I hear you about the violence my daughter went through a phase and nearly broke me. There are not alot of placement for children though it isn't my area of expertise but i know they do often get placed out of area and will often try to avoid this route putting pressure on parents to cope. I know that if her periods distress her the GP can look at an implant in her arm. As she approaches adulthood she will be entitled to a needs assessment and potentially transitioning into an appropriate placement. Yvonne Newbold has a support group on Facebook with parents experiencing similar situations. However if you can confirm children's services are involved I can explain transitions to adult services. You are doing a good job but it won't feel that at times x

Do I need a DoLs or power of attorney for my dd and how do I get it?

My dd is 19, with complex needs, autism and communication difficulties, she attends a SEN placement but will be leaving education in the summer. We have a social worker through adult services but I find it hard to communicate with them. My dd may have to go into supported living at some point. She does have some capacity, can make choices but doesn’t always understand the implications of her choices, she doesn’t really get ‘outcomes’. She’s often selectively mute and lacks understanding of language so often answers ‘yes’ when she doesn’t understand what’s being asked of her. She would refuse any medical intervention unless she was in a lot of pain.

I get confused as to what DoL’s means as well as Power of attorney. Do I need both?

I am sorry your social worker isn't communicating with you or being transparent. It is difficult navigating adult social systems. I will try to explain so sounds like your daughter cam make simple decisions like what she wants to eat but big decisions she is unable to understand or weigh up. Lpa is around someone being able to make decisons on behalf of your daughter but you have to have capacity to make someone your lpa. Therefore it would not be appropriate to apply for (I am making some assumptions so feel free to correct me). However you could apply for deputyship which goes through the court of protection to authorise . There are two types of deputyships one for finances and the other for health and welfare. You can either do this yourself Google COP deputyship and you can download the forms but you would need to pay for a private social worker or assessor to complete a mental capacity assessments which you would need to submit to court. You can also go through a solicitor to apply but obviously will cost their fees too. A deputyship for health and welfare is more harder to get authorised by the court. If you apply for the finances one you can sign the tenancy agreement when she moves into supported living and manage her money. A DoLS is for people living on a care home or hospital, a COP DoL is for people living on the community such as with family or in supported living and needs an application to court. So basically the criteria is can they consent to their care, accommodation and treatment? Are they free to leave? And are the under constant supervision? If yes they meet the acid test and should either have a DoL or DoLS authorisation which will authorise any restrictions in place and ensure that they are necessary, proportionate and least restrictive. That is the most simple explanation. You can ask the social worker for an independent mental capacity advocate to support your daughter if there are any decisions that need to be made and they are usually really good. I hope it helps but feel free to ask for clarification as sometimes I can overexplain xx

The DoLS is the social workers responsibility x

Thank you. I am having issues as the social worker has told me to put dd on the housing list to secure supported living. The housing association/council are saying I can’t do this for dd unless I have power of attorney or a court order/deputyship? Social worker is say the housing association are wrong, housing association are saying the social worker is wrong so at the moment dd isn’t in the housing list and social worker is saying they can’t move forward with supported living until she is.

yes, dd can make simple choices such as deciding what she wants to eat, what activity she wants to do etc.. but has no idea about money/finances and can’t go anywhere in her own (poor safety awareness), if someone asked her to get in their car she would happily get in.