To ask advice about keeping my SN son safe on halloween

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Please could anyone share thoughts on ensuring my son's safety/peace of mind around halloween? The situation is as follows (and please don't "out" me if anyone recognises this):

He lives alone, renting a house I own
Carers visit 3 times a day, for about an hour each time
House is in inner city area (he can't drive, so needs walking access to city)
House has paved front garden area, with a gate from the street
He has learning difficulties and is partially sighted
He copes brilliantly in the house, but likes routine and to know who's visiting

I'm getting a bit worried about folk ringing the door and worrying him by playing unwelcome tricks. Obviously I'll put up a big sign to say no callers and of course there won't be decoration/pumpkins at the front of the house, but sadly this doesn't always work

The carers are going to look out for him of course, and I'll be visiting plenty of times myself, but does anyone have any other ideas about what I should be doing?

Right, I see. Hmm. Tricky one. I think you just have to go round there as much as you can in the couple of days leading to 31st. The weekend is probably the thing to focus on.

Don't put a sign up saying there's a vulnerable person there, surely that's just an advert for people to come and rob him

And where do you live that you get a week of this crap?

Yes, locking the street gate is an excellent idea - I blame myself for not thinking of that. The carers could have a spare easily and it might indeed put callers off in favour of somewhere "easier"

I quite like the suggestion of a bowl of sweets outside too, but round there they'd probably just pinch the lot and we'd be no further forward. It's usually perfectly safe but not the best area - but then, inner city ones often aren't

What about those door bells that have a camera?

It's a midlands city, easyandy101. Forgive me if I'm not more specific than that, but this is already pretty identifying to anyone who knows us

Wonkydonkey44 a doorcam might be a bit problematic with his visual difficulties, but actually it might be worth a try at some other time when I don't have concerns and it wouldn't matter if he didn't use it

I'd take him to a shop selling masks ect and try to get him to understand that they are not real. Try to get him to understand what's behind Halloween if possible - might make it less scary for at least some of the trick and treaters that may turn up in the future.

spreads over more than a week ?

Anyone who turns up a day early (or late) gets sent away here!

Can I ask OP, how do you own a house he is renting, if he is SN, assuming he is on housing benefits?

We were looking at going down this route for similar reasons but were told that housing benefit is not payable to a place owned by a family member

AiryFairy it's actually perfectly possible for Housing Benefit to be paid to a landlord who's family, providing you can show that it wasn't set up just to take advantage of the system - I believe the term is "contrived tenancy" and the Councils do, quite rightly, ask a lot of questions

In DS's case it was perhaps simpler as he previously lived in a 1 bedroom flat owned by the same company who employed the carers. For this they charged £800 a month, exploiting a loophole which allows landlords to charge more when renting to SN tenants on the basis they "have to do more" ... though in fact they did nothing at all apart from shovelling in the cash

Now he's in my house he pays less than half that. so housing benefit saves a fortune, DS gets a much better place to live and I get a modest return on my investment ... something of a win all round, except for the carer/landlord company

Thanks love. I will approach them again - this is great news.

Does he have the space to go into a back room and keep all rooms in the dark at the front of the house?

Hmmmm, could you talk him through it?

Explain that some strange people may knock on his door during the week dressed up but he ddoesnt have to answer.

Sorry to ask again, are there any pitfalls etc, that we should be aware of?

I only really know about providing gas safety certs, which we would want to do nevertheless

I will approach them again - this is great news

If you do, can I suggest you take careful advice first about exactly how to present your case - especially if you're starting from scratch rather than your family member already receiving HB. I believe Shelter are good, though they're very busy and personally I got advice from a charity related to DS's situation. Alternatively feel free to PM me and, while no expert, I'll help if I can

jilldoyoulikeowls yes, DS has a kitchen/diner at the rear of the house he can use, though again it might worry him if he took it as a suggestion he'd got to "hide away". Luckily he uses both vertical blinds and curtains at the front window; there's also a bright streetlight which shines straight on the house, so it's not very easy to see if he has his own lights on anyway

Pay for an over night carer to be there if you want to go to your sisters?

Then they can either go to the door and distribute sweets or support your son to ignore it

AiryFairy there's brilliant advice for all kind of landlord/tenancy issues at www.landlordzone.co.uk It really extensive and even includes all the template documents you'd need

If you mean pitfalls relating to the HB application, though, PM me and I'll offer anything I can as an amateur

Defrack again, it would be hard to phrase this without putting him off opening the door at all, including to the carers. Day to day he manages just fine with the postman, meter readers, etc, but one hulking youth in a scare mask yelling "WAAAAHHH" in his face could well freak him out completely

Thank you x

I just PM'd you, AiryFairy

And can I say a massive thank you to everyone for these great suggestions; I must have been mad not to just ask on here in the first place instead of worrying about it

Cheap giant bag sweeties?