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?

I believe you.

Outrageous. Op you have every right to be horrified.

I'm so sorry that happened.

Make a complaint, and not just to the school. Take it higher.

That is disgraceful and it makes me worry about what else they are doing.

Read again

Sorry, but as a teacher in a special school I don’t think I have insurance to wipe kids’ bums if they need it; it’s just part of my job for which I am DBS checked.

Shutting him in a toilet is absolutely horrific and yes, I would be complaining very loudly. Poor boy 😔

I've worked with adults with learning disabilities for 8 years - undertaking personal care daily. Never been asked to have any injections other than flu or covid. Never heard any colleagues talk of having injections of this type either.

Myself and my colleagues regularly help with toilet accidents. I have no idea how you could run a scheme for children with disabilities and not be able to help with toilet accidents. If a consent form is needed then all the parents/guardians should be asked to sign one.

I used to work on a play scheme for children with SEND when I was young (during uni vacations). Is it possible that these people are just young/untrained? If so, then the charity needs to look very hard at how they recruit and train their staff. The way they handled your poor son today is abusive. And as for the 1:1 that you’re paying extra for…..!! 😱

If they are young and untrained then it's the providers fault and potentially need shutting down. They shouldn't let children be locked up and treated like that under their care! That's not on!

FFS this kind of thing is why even in 2023 we are still not caring properly for disabled children. You have every sympathy OP. Those caring were not adequately caring, full stop.

I would complain and get this changed so it doesn’t happen again to other kids. I’d look into better care if possible, though I know it’s quite rare to find good schemes.

Do you mean legal expenses insurance (as you say you were a foster carer?)

These people are employees of a charity from what OP said. As an employer the charity will have employer’s liability insurance (a legal requirement) and almost certainly public liability insurance. They will be covered for claims made against them by a parent. There is no specific insurance that you need as an employer or employee to be able to carry out basic personal care. There may be company policies but that’s a different matter.

This was not routine personal care, but an emergency. As PPs have said, in this situation I would not hide behind “lack of insurance” as a reason not to help a disabled child. If a parent wants to sue me for helping their severely disabled child who’s had a toilet accident, bring it on, let them stand in court and say I should have left him distressed and soiled with faeces.

It is not the parents that allegations are possibly a threat from, but the child in decades to come making allegations of historical abuse, that the insurance is mostly for.

I wonder if these people were volunteers?

I am also quite alarmed at the number of people who are saying they are undertaking this type of work without the relevant immunisations, this should definitely not be happening. Hepitisis is a very real threat, and I have known a volunteer die after contracting it through a first aid situation, it is also very possible to contract it through this type of personal care. It certainly used to be compulsory, and even if it isn't now, workplaces should be offering it to all staff. In some places, TB immunisations are also recommended, I have been in close contact with TB several times, and called into hospital for checks. I have been immunised against TB too, but still get called in for checking if a child ( or adult- but it has never been an adult, only a child) that I have been in close contact with is diagnosed with TB

Holiday clubs are registered with Ofsted arent they? I would complain there, leaving your child semi baked and effectively imprisoned is completely unacceptable. I wam livid for you

I don't even have children, but I'm appalled at the way your son has been treated. I wouldn't be taking him back, and I would be lodging a strong complaint. They have no right to be running a SEND playgroup if this is how they treat their vulnerable charges. I hope your wee boy is okay now (and you).

This must have been a terrible experience for you and your DS, OP. I suggest you contact the safeguarding lead at the charity as well as the local authority.
As well as raising this issue with the charity, I'd also ask about their policy around when they provide support for a child and when a child needs to be accompanied by their own 1:1 as that arrangement also seems odd.

The HepB vaccination used to be a thing decades ago, when I first worked in special ed. But it was never compulsory. It was offered (and I didn't have it as my GP advised against it due to my medical history).

It's not a thing any more as far as I'm aware. With normal hygiene the risk of getting it by carrying it personal care is very very low (again according to my GP)

This is absolutely awful. I'm heartbroken for your son. I'm so sorry. I'd absolutely raise a formal complaint

I hope you report them.

Every time I reflect on it I get frustrated by another point - but I cant help thinking a bathroom is the least safe space to be locked in without adult supervision? Full container of soap, possibly antibac gel, bowl of water in toilet, hot tap, sanitary waste bin, other bins. I'd be absolutely raging.

This is unreasonable restraint which is a form of abuse and you should contact the police. I would not send him back again

It’s entirely possible they were untrained and inexperienced as clearly they have created a risk greater than the risk they were trying to avoid. Sadly this is the reality of a lot of care and support services at the moment.

•or certainly they do not seem to have recognised that what they were doing was very wrong and potentially harmful. So someone in authority needs to have a look at this before they do something worse.

Thankyou for everyone's thoughts and responses.

I hate confrontation! But sat down last night and sent an email advising I felt DS has been treated with a lack of dignity and respect and I would like to find out from the playschemes organizer what transpired in that 45 minutes as well as to see their protocol for emergency personal care.

I also enquired about what insurance it is the staff would need!

Needless to say I've advised he will not be returning to the playschemes next holidays, as clearly they are not set up or equipped for his disability.

Today I'm just feeling fed up, there is so few options available for DS in the holidays and this is yet one more place that is for disabled children, but not DS type of disabled (many places have refused to take him before)

He's meant to get 6.5 hours a week respite, plus 8 hours a week in the holidays plus 16 days in the summer holidays.

But good luck finding anywhere that will take him 😭

I think this would be classified as enforced seclusion. Have a Google.

Well done OP for sending the email. I would also report to Ofsted.
I suspect the playworkers weren't trained or paid to deal with such incidents, which again is fine if someone else on site is. Like a pp says, it isn't fair on employees to ask them to deal with bio hazards if they didnt sign up for that. That doesn't make what happened ok, this is a play scheme specifically for disabled children - if anything it makes it worse because it means it is the provider and management who are at fault rather than untrained minimum wage workers.
At the very least they should all know what to do in this scenario (who to summon) and someone should be on call in one of the rooms and available to be there within 5 minutes.
That this is a play scheme for disabled children and they are charging £25 an hour per child plus the 1:1 is truly awful. If they are indeed using minimum wage untrained playworkers AND need you to provide the 1:1 then where is the money going?

It's madness that they say they're set up for children with disabilities but can't support a young boy with a little accident.
Surely a lot of the children there would need much more personal care than that.

I would also write to your local disability team and any other local charity to highlight the lack of available holiday schemes for your child that are sufficient quality.

I’ve heard similar stories, there are way too many ‘providers’ setting up for disability provision, including schools I’m afraid to say, that put it together on the hoof without any good disability quality ‘check marks’. I don’t even know if there is such a thing, but we desperately need it. Ofsted are not disability focused enough but they could be. We need minimum standards before people can even call themselves provision.

Having a toileting accident, or perhaps a behaviour incident, or lack of communication skills from staff for those who are non verbal etc - the ability to deal with these compassionately and effectively are minimums but I don’t think most places have half a clue. Disability is not just about ‘acceptance words’ it’s actually having trained staff and quality of care.

@JudgeRudy that post is an absolute joke. It’s a holiday club SPECIFICALLY FOR DISABLED CHILDREN. What is WRONG with you?