Anyone work in adult SS?

[Dyingflowersagain]

Trying not to turn this into an essay.
Basically, vulnerable adult with mental age of 8yo. Lived with their parent until they passed away 5 years ago. Local council wanted their 3 bed house so badly they, literally, packed the VAs stuff into boxes and left them outside in the rain. (photos, keepsakes, etc). VA was given a council flat completely out of their area and left to their own devices. No carpets, blinds, benefits cut. After 18 months of appeals we regained their benefits.
I am not related to VA but used to, voluntarily, care for them at a church based club.
Myself and DP could not leave her in this situation so she slept on our sitting room floor for 3 months until council agreed to put carpets down etc. Since moving into flat, I have contacted SS on several occasions. VA can't clean, wash clothes, cook, etc.
VA, before lockdown, spent most days in my home. Eating and playing with DC.

During lockdown, VA detests the flat so much that they would wander the streets, visit all local pubs once allowed daily rather than being home.
Finally got SS to take notice after putting a complaint in. Local council paid to deep clean the, absolutely disgusting, flat. SS promised daily carers and a move to supported living.
SS are now saying they can't support VA in current circumstances and don't know when they can. Social worker doesn't know why.
I am, literally, burned out. 5 kids and a degree to deal with. Plus 20+ calls and 10+ texts a day from VA about nothing is ridiculous.
I can't step away because VA will have no one and will, likely hurt themselves.

@Dyingflowersagain

Those suggesting I just walk away, how do I explain that to 5dc who adore VA? Or live with myself if/when they hurt themselves?

Not walk away, but you do need to step back. Stop taking the calls, make it clear every time that you are NOT next of kin, and spend some of the time you get back on pushing for an assessment.

5 DCs is a lot, and this VA is young. Unless you are happy to give this level of support for the long term, increasing as they age, you will need to take some harder steps now.

You also say that your DC adore them, and that speaks volumes about how well you're bringing them up and how this person is clearly lovely and why you want to support them - but coming from a family that frequently 'adopted' people in need, 5 DCs is a lot, they will be getting even less of your attention now, and they may ultimately have some very negative feelings about what this meant for their upbringing, no matter how much they care for this person.

You need to take a long look at your own capacity, the needs of your dependent children, and set boundaries. Then you can push very hard for SS support and more distributed community support via your church or elsewhere.

Contact MP, phone and email councillor with responsibility, escalate to head of adult safeguarding and muse aloud about whether media are aware of shameful state of affairs where vulnerable adult with mental age of 8 is left alone. Thank god you are advocating for this poor young person. I am my sons advocate and I have found being a polite pain in the arse works best.

Have you tried contacting any third sector/charitable organisations? www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/learning-disabilities/help-information/key-organisations

You're likely to find ttey will be able to offer support for you and for the vulnerable adult and to advocate for the vulnerable adult with social services. These are big national organisations but it is likely that their are active local organisations too. Google might identify some for you, or the big national organisations might know of them. Always ask any organisation if they know of other organisations who might be able to help too (it's not a competition for them).

Is there a learning disability team to contact? Was the person under any services before parents died ? If the person does not have capacity / ability to care forself independently this should be assessed.

That's such a difficult position to be in.

Are there any advocacy charities in your area? An organisation like the one linked (in case you happen to be in the Cardiff area) provides support, advice and advocacy to adults with learning disabilities, including representing them in meetings with social services if necessary.

www.advocacymatterswales.co.uk/

Raise a complaint to the local councillor. LA are compelled to reply to a member enquiry promptly (I think it’s 5 days)
Raise a Safeguarding alert, it triggers a mandatory response

The adult has a named SW, contact them
Dear allocated SW,
Regard vulnerable adult, DOB dd/mm/yy
I am writing to raise concerns regard the welfare and inadequate social care for your client Mr VA.I wish to report this as a safeguarding issue under category of organisational or institutional abuse
I habitually support VA who repeatedly presents to my home address as his own accommodation is unsuitable and he cannot tolerate to spend time there. He struggles to undertake daily living tasks. On occasion the police have returned him to my home address when they have found him wandering in the community. VA was identified as suitable for a package of care and a move to supported accommodation, to date this has not happened
VA needs further assessment undertake the care act, please expedite an assessment of his social care needs and a consultation with a learning disabilities doctor to review his medications and health
Additionally, this has placed me under considerable stress and distress arising from supporting VA
I am contactable by x email or y telephone to discuss this further
Yours sincerely
@Dyingflowersagain

Thanks @EspressoDoubleShot that looks great. I'll give it a go. Don't know if it's just a problem in the south as VA has a friend in Leeds who is fully supported by the LA.

Good luck. It’s really difficult for LA, decreasing budget, increasing needs, demands of covid, shortage of appropriate accommodation
As @cansu recommended I am my sons advocate and I have found being a polite pain in the arse works best ⬅️ Yes calm,polite open and persistent will yield results

OP, the bit about the house in the first part of your post sounds absolutely standard (unfortunately) for council housing, they only allow 2 weeks to empty the property and it's standard for the carpets to be removed.

I think you have to be the change here OP, you can't go on like this and it's not going to change unless you do something different. Is there anyone else from the same church group that could help? I think you'll have to start withdrawing from this.

Sorry NRFT but I work in this area, we have a learning disability community team which deals with exactly this sort of scenario and supports the person in question.

I imagine it varies dependent on locality but you can self refer to ours if needs be, or the GP can do it for you, they do come under the 'mental health' team so to speak, in the sense that they all share the same offices. They have been running throughout the whole pandemic, including home visits etc so this is the team that should be helping you.