To think this cannot be right?

[Coppercreek1]

DS is 9 years old and has severe autism, he attends a special school and in the holidays he occasionally attends a SEND play scheme, where I pay for a 1 on 1 to help him.

It was noted when he started going that he needs promoting to use the toilet, but otherwise rarely needs assistance, I was assured this was ok.

I dropped him off this morning, 1.5 hours later I get a phone call that DS has had a poo accident, and that they had tried to encourage him to clean himself up but no one there is insured to help him so I needed to come and clean him up, I advised I was 25 or so minutes away but that I would get there ASAP.

On arrival, I found a staff member holding the door to the disabled toilet shut as my son banged the door from the other side, so they shut him in the bathroom alone the entire time.

He had made a good attempt to clean himself up but he is non verbal and disabled! He had a small smear on his hands and feet and the tiniest bit on his butt.

I immediately cleaned and helped him dress and was just in such shock I just walked out with him and took him home.

Is this normal routine for a playscheme that is aimed at disabled children?! While their policies state they do not offer routine personal care nowhere does it state that in an emergency they won't step in for the well-being of the child.

He has attended this scheme in the summer holidays and Christmas holidays and earlier in the Easter holidays and they have never had to provide personal care so clearly they knew it was a one off, bit of a bad belly?!

Surely common sense should prevail and couple of baby wipes could have sorted it without locking a naked child in a toilet for 40 minutes rather than help him.

Surely they should have someone on sight insured Incase of emergencies like this.

wIBU to complain?

You need to ask to see their policy on personal care and toileting.

Absolutely complain. How would they know if he was banging on the door, or head butting it? If he went quiet, what would they have done? It's completely unacceptable.

I've worked in SENd care and education for decades.

I've never heard of needing insurance to help support a dependent child with personal care.

What exactly do they need to insure against? If they are concerned about safeguarding then have 2 people present.

What I'm more concerned about is holding the door shit on him where they couldn't see him. Look up seclusion.

They would need a care plan if they were to clean him up. I’ve done it for children in the past but now it needs, in my school anyway, to be a signed document to say that the parent is happy.
So I think they were right not to clean him. However holding him in the toilet like that is not on.

as a foster care and can confirm they would need legal insurance, and they would need it for life, if you are doing personal care for a disabled child, you are required to be insured for the full life time of that child, as it is possible for allegations to be made 10 or 20 or 50 years down the line

You also need hepatitis B immunisations

The thing is it's not a regular care thing, normally he goes, does his business and wipes but struggled as he had soiled himself so obviously a bit more difficult to clean.im unaware of that was the situation with the door the entire time but it certainly was when I walked through the door.

I've not heard of insurance to help with personal care either? His one to one was just sat at a table not even with him.

Your poor little boy, I'd be so so angry.

If they run a play scheme for disabled kids you should be able to assume that they have the necessary insurance to help them as necessary. Toilet accidents can't be unusual?

Shutting him in there sounds cruel, I would not be happy.

And while he very rarely requires assistance other than promoting, they were aware before he attended that he does occasionally need assistance, in instances like today where it could not have been foreseen.

Regardless of being able to wipe his arse, surely someone coukd have helped him wipe his hands, feet and face, from where he had tried to clean himself up.

Even if they couldn't clean him up, they should have encouraged him to stay calm while waiting for you. They locked a vulnerable child in a room alone, it's a huge safeguarding issue. You should find out if they have a board of directors, or governers and make a complaint. I hope somebody reads this thread that knows the right avenue to go down! How horrible for you both!

If you are paying for the 1to1 then that 1to1 needs to be able to provide personal care that's horrific. I'm a sen parent and if someone locked ny child in a bathroom I'd be making formal complaints that's disgusting

They trapped him inside the toilet by holding the door shut, after he’d had an accident? If that’s what they were doing while you were there, it makes you wondered what they did when you weren’t there.

It’s inhumane.

My son is autistic and non verbal and I’d be absolutely livid if this happened. Definitely ask to see this personal care and insurance whatever they are saying I suspect it’s rubbish and I’d be worried leaving him there again .

Absolutely this. This is the main issue for me. Wtf were they thinking?!

I have a non verbal ds and would also be angry and devastated. I would be launching a strong complaint in regard to this incident.

This.

My son is very similar in terms of needs and I would be absolutely furious! Your poor son!

I would have gone mental at them to be honest. That's inhumane!

If it’s a safeguarding issue, why not have 2 members of staff to help him to clean up?

When I was Guider, taking many girls with physical & developmental disabilities away on residentials, I’d definitely grab a (DBS cleared) helper & dig in to help if there was a toileting accident.

As designated first aider, I’d make sure I’d talk to parents about specific toileting requirements before the activities (the older girls would prefer they cleaned up without help if possible mostly, the younger ones would need more hands on assistance).

I would definitely ask the activity leader what their toileting policy is, but for me, I simply wouldn’t leave a distressed child in a toilet alone. It’s almost barbaric. Just help clean up the accident, calmly, then back to the fun stuff!

The responses here are an absolute breath of fresh air compared to the usual types of responses when autism is involved.

That’s awful. I suspect they’re using insurance as an excuse. What insurance do they think they need and under what circumstances would it pay out?

Your poor boy. This is actually so sad. I could just imagine how he felt locked in there for so long.

Definitely complain! What kind of people would do something like this?

When you say no one is "insured" to help him, what does that mean? Can someone explain this?

Regarding insurance i honestly dont know?

Do childminders, nursery workers, special school workers, nurses etc require special insurance to assist in personal care.

Tbf my neurotypical daughter had an accident at school in year 1 (poo accident) and a Teacher and tA helped her clean herself up... Do they have special insurance

I'm thankful I'm not the only one who thinks it wasnt OK, I honestly cried the whole way home, we've had many instances in his life of him being treated as 'less than' because he is non verbal and has a low understanding level.

This is a SEND specialist playscheme, it costs £100 for 4 hours plus I pay extra separately for his 1 to 1 for 5 hours (so half hour travel each way plus 4 hours)

Seems a case of like many things, they are for disabled children, but not his kind of disabled 😔

As a ta in a special school, I've never heard such rubbish about 'insurance' being needed.

We assist with toileting, change nappies, clean up poop accidents daily & other than being DBS checked and having personal care plans signed by parents, we don't have some special insurance.

In private nurseries they change nappies and clean up accidents too and are only DBS checked.

It sounds more like laziness and they didn't want to do it. I've seen plenty of that in my time working.

As others have said, if they were content to show they had trapped in the bathroom when you arrived then I wouldn't send him back, with an email explaining why.

No, but they do need specific training in safeguarding and moving/manual handling. Intimate care is touchy territory if nobody is trained or responsible for carrying out these physical duties. Therefore, I think they probably did the right thing. However, there's no doubt this would have caused him distress being locked away on his own, so in that sense, I think they did wrong. Two people should have gone in there to sit with him, kerping him calm until you arrived. Either way, I think it warrants a complaint as he hasn't been treated professionally or respectfully.