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!

Oh really? I'll speak to them about that when they ring.

If I can't be the appropriate adult, that's fine. I will tell them when they ring that I was a witness.

Do they have people available to be the appropriate adult? As we don't really have anyone else in the family to do it.

I'm not sure exactly how many residents witnessed the incident. But my family member said one of the other men saw the staff member threatening him with a broom. I didn't know that actually happened as obviously I couldn't see and he dropped his phone and it went dead when this happened. I phoned the police but they wouldn't do anything as I didn't actually know if anyone had got hurt 😞

I'm not sure if the appropriate adult service supports victims, to be sure I would ring the custody officer and victim support for their advice on who can support him during his interview, is there cctv at the home

Ok, I'll make sure to ask about that. No there isn't CCTV.

If the police say that you can't be with your family member due to you being a witness, it is definitely worth asking about their appropriate adult service. As a PP said, the service is really for vulnerable adults or young people being accused of a crime, but they do sometimes blur the boundaries a bit. I volunteer as an appropriate adult and I was once asked if I would be with a vulnerable adult victim for similar reasons. I was happy to do it.

UPDATE
I just wanted to give an update. After I spoke to the police yesterday to arrange for my family member to see them at the station the manager interfered again and arranged for them to come to the house and again told my family member the police had said he couldn't have his next of kin present and had to have staff members there. He phoned me up in a panic about it but believing every word of the manager! So I had to rearrange to take him to the station this afternoon so that the manager had no more chance to try and coerce him, which was really inconvenient to me. I am so angry! My family member has given his statement which was witnessed by me. The police officer has said he will talk to the staff member next and see if any other residents are willing to give a statement. He did warn us often people don't want to. He told me to keep all my notes as he may need to speak to me again.

Now I need to plan my next move. Exhausted with it already (just recovering from a nasty illness - I need this right now like a hole in the head.) I want to completely bypass the manager and staff if possible. There is a number for 'general enquires' on the website so I thought I'd ring that. But I need to plan what to say - so much going around in my head!

1. There is the previous formal complaint from 3 months ago that I've had no response to (same member of staff)
2. There is the complaint for the assault.
3. Then the complaint against the manager and 1 staff member for coercion/lying.
4. I'd like a meeting asap to reassure my family member that the staff member will not be working at his house again (the police officer told us he has now been suspended but he doesn't know for how long.) Family member then told the police (he'd not told me this) that the staff member was due to come back into work the next night and only didn't because he told another member of staff how uncomfortable he felt and that member of staff volunteered to stay for the night.

I also want to let his CPN know what has happened. Anything else I should be doing? I just want to get this right for him as it's so unfair. I did speak to one of the decent members of staff (which is most of them) about him moving on from there and he was very helpful.

Have you reported the incident to Adult Social Care at your local authority? I know you said you spoke to them out of hours, but I'd be ringing your relative's social worker tomorrow (and emailing them also) and ask what they're planning on doing about it.

I'm presuming they have placed your relative there.

No, I haven't actually reported the incident to them but yes, I need to do that and report the previous incident too. He doesn't have a social worker. His placement is paid for by the council, though.

Yes, was just about to say CQC.

That's great he got to speak with the police. I don't know if the home will tell you the outcome of any disciplinary, is it a council run house or private. Who did the other complaint go to, adult safeguarding, cqc and the police need to be aware of any assault. It might be better not to have any discussions with other members of staff, stories change or get mixed up. If any of the staff are registered professionals like social worker or nurse you can report them to their governing bodies. If nothing changes would you consider moving to a different house.

I think it needs reporting as a safeguarding concern to the council. He's a vulnerable adult and it's clear that an adult in authority is attempting to manipulate the situation. You are protecting him but that doesn't stop it being a risk.

It's private. The last complaint went to the manager of the house. I've informed CQC, the assault has been reported to the police. I'm going to ring adult social care and his CPN today.

And no, there are no registered professionals. We are just looking to speed up him leaving there now. The idea was always to eventually transition to a supported flat. The trouble is they are harder to come by. But I'll be pushing for that to be moved forward.

Yes, I will report it.