To think he should have a responsible adult?

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An incident happened at my family member's supported accomodation involving him being assaulted by a staff member.

Police are coming today and his house are telling him he can't have a family member with him it needs to be a staff member and it is a private matter. He has LD and serious mental illness and is very easily lead.

I don't think this is right and want to be with him. Help!

Just go! Screw what they're saying, if the police are going it's not really a private matter. Go and support!

Who is responsible for the running of the home?

Does your relative have capacity?

Have you rung the out of hours adults services duty team? I would speak to them.

In your shoes I wouldn't be fobbed off.

Hopefully the police will have some procedures around speaking to vulnerable people and having an appropriate adult with them.

That sounds absolutely wrong and surely a conflict of interest. I don’t know the legal ins and outs but for want of a better phase, who has legal responsibility for them. Wouldn’t it be next of kin?
I would be tempted to be there when police arrive and get them to document that you weren’t allowed to accompany them.

Appropriate adult. Maybe that is what I am thinking of. Do they have a social worker. Could you call the duty social desk?

A private company runs the house. The manager is awful and tries to sweep everything under the carpet. I have already raised a complaint against this employee that has completely been ignored.

He has capacity in some situations.

I just spoke to adult social care, thank you. They confirmed he can have his next of kin present and it is inappropriate of the house to tell him he can't and insist they are present.

That's terrible. You should take this further.

I hope your family member is OK - it must have been incredibly distressing for them.

Good for you for advocating 🤛

Yes, sorry appropriate adult is what I meant. He wants me present and staff have said no. When police arrive he will tell them he wants me present and if the staff try and intervene we will tell them to speak to adult social care.

This happened with my friends nan when she was in a care home with dementia. The home was shocking and ended up being closed down.

Stand firm and insist on being there. The care home staff have no right to tell you that you can't.

It was. It was awful. Luckily I was actually on the phone with him at the time and heard the whole thing.

Definitely go, it isn't their decision, it is the Police's. I would have serious concerns about them saying this after an incident with a member of staff.

But surely the police can't interview him without someone present?

I would want heads to roll if someone told me that I wasn't allowed to be with a vulnerable adult if a member of their staff had assaulted them within my hearing.

In fact once this is dealt with I'd be looking at talking to the press.

Police have called to say they aren't coming due to an emergency.

I'm thinking of now phoning the police and asking for the interview to happen at the station to take the house staff completely out of it. They were threatening to make me leave and saying I was upsetting my family member by insisting on being present!

With reference to your previous post and this from upthread,

"A private company runs the house. The manager is awful and tries to sweep everything under the carpet. I have already raised a complaint against this employee that has completely been ignored."

I am so pleased you are advocating for your family member, YOU ARE RIGHT, carry on doing what you are doing and as soon as this dreadful situation is over, please find a more caring and compassionate place for him/her to live.

Then when he/she is safe, report this place to anyone who can swoop in and find out the truth and take action.

I'd get onto the CQC too and report this incident.

They cant if he's being accused of something. Sadly being a witness - which is what a victim of crime is, is somewhat different, though you'd hope the police would want him to have someone with him.

I think it would be a good idea to get him to a police station to make a complaint of a crime against him, but it may need to be someone other than you in the interview with him, if you were a witness on the phone when the assault took place. That bit will be the police's call. Very good luck.

(I had to take action after seeing an elderly resident in a sheltered scheme punched and shoved into his flat by the scheme manager. Some people are the lowest of the low.)

I am worried that the house are going to try and turn it around onto him doing something wrong as he got upset with the staff member goading and laughing at him.

I have spoken to the police now and they are going to get back to me to arrange for him to go into the station.

I don't mind not being in the interview as long as someone is that isn't a member of staff at the house. Obviously I want to give a statement too.

There are 2 members of staff here. One has told me she would do exactly the same as me. The other seems to have taken it very personally. She stormed out when I explained what we were going to do. Then came back and said I was making other residents feel uncomfortable and upsetting my family member. I have only spoken about it to my family member in private and to the staff in private. The next thing the staff member had obviously reported back to the manager because she came in while I was still speaking to the other staff member and told her the manager said they had to do a 'handover'!

I think it is very sensible to ask for the Police to interview your relative out of the home where it happened. In your place i would be worried that they are either going to put pressure on him or simply embarrass him out of making the accusation. I would also be reporting this to the CQC and anyone else I could think of.

So sorry this happened to them and good luck.

Thank you

Yes, this is exactly it. He is very easily lead/presurised. After the last incident the staff member convinced my family member I was 'making a fuss over nothing.' He wanted me to withdraw my complaint. I had to spend a lot of time explaining to him why I wasn't going to withdraw the complaint.

This time the manager told him I couldn't be present for the interview and a staff member had to be with him. He always thinks he has to do exactly what the manager says. I have to remind him that he doesn't and explain why it is a conflict of interest. I'd explained all this yesterday and then he had them in his ear again this morning and I had to deal with it all again. He also worries if he complains they will kick him out which he doesn't want as he likes it there. He gets on well with the other residents and most of the staff are really nice. Residents and staff both dislike this manager.

You can report the manager to adult social services,

You're doing the right thing taking him to the station instead, it can be completely unbiased then. Please tell the officers how concerned you are about the manager, they should be making safeguarding referrals just off the back of the incident but if you tell them everything from previous, they can add that on too.

I'd assume you can't be the appropriate adult to support him during interview, as you're also a witness

But, it shouldn't be staff, as in this instance, they're not impartial

Yes, I think I'm going to have to.