why are carers in group 6?

[Tacono1]

I have been really surprised by the inclusion of carers in group 6 as we have been told the list is driven by medical risk but surely this is delaying getting the vaccine to those in greater medical need. It also seems odd that if caring responsibilities are to be taken into account, caring for a child especially as a lone parent isn’t considered equally crucial.
I’m in group 6 due to congenital heart disease so will hopefully be called soon although my GP is just starting group 5. I also have a history of hospitalisation with pneumonia and lung infections. I’m also a parent( lone as their father died) to 2 children. I have basically shielded as much as I can mainly out of concern for my children and what would happen if I was to become seriously ill or worse.
There must be many in my situation but without clinical vulnerabilities. It seems strange that it is not taken into account in the same way as being a carer to an adult. Mainly though I accept that the list needs to be driven by medical risk which is why I have been surprised by the inclusion before all cv have been vaccinated.

@Tacono1

I understand that carers do a huge and important job. I do find it odd that some are comparing temporary breaks in care, which I understand are traumatic, with the real risk of children being left without parents permanently.

What do you mean?

Not being sarcastic, I genuinely don't know

Because a lot of us care for our disabled children who depend on us !

@purplebagladylovesgin
I know that services are stretched. I have worked for years in a specialist school and also have a brother with ASD. We have had emergency situations but have not seen anything like that and that is with one of the most notoriously stretched councils in the country. There is a bank of emergency foster carers and they do react quickly. My friend is working in a respite centre and while provision is thin for day to day support , they can and do provide care in emergency situations for families.

@firesidetartan
The risk to clinically vulnerable parents. I think everyone on this thread is essential to someone in different ways. Some are also at heightened clinical risk of serious illness or death too.

Lots of the criteria have changed after taking into account more recent research. Things like ethnicity and deprivation are important risk factored as is obesity. A friend of mine who is in her 40s has been called for her vaccination due to her obesity.

Lets just hope that the vaccination programme continues swiftly. I hope all the clinically vulnerable are vaccinated asap and then the rest of the population.

No I meant the temporary breaks in cars

I meant a break in care while a carer is sick. I had to check then that I didn’t write car!
Hopefully yes it will continue swiftly and all of us can sleep a bit easier.

"It also seems odd that if caring responsibilities are to be taken into account, caring for a child especially as a lone parent isn’t considered equally crucial."

Worst case scenario the child can go to a foster parent. For children with disabilities there may be no where for them to go.

It's not just about a break in care, it's about taking COVID back to a vulnerable person.

They are the same band as a clinically vulnerable person. They don't take your space in the queue, you will still get called in group 6.

@cansu

It is practical. A carer gets covid and becomes seriously ill means that a vulnerable person needs social care. It isn't that hard to understand.

Yes this is it

My husband and I are registered as carers for our autistic son but I am also in group 6 on clinical grounds as well

@Spikeyball
Unfortunately (as it’s not a scenario you would want for any child) many disabled children are placed with foster carers. Foster carers deal with all scenarios including very challenging care needs.

Some disabled children's needs are too great for foster carers. My teenager's being one of them.

@Spikeyball.
I think you would be surprised at the skill levels. I say that with experience with ASD at all levels of the spectrum and also time spent in specialist behavioural units. We had extremely high staff to children ratios and many were going home to a fostering situation.
Anyway, it is not a situation anyone wants for their child, temporarily or permanently.

[quote Tacono1]@Spikeyball
Unfortunately (as it’s not a scenario you would want for any child) many disabled children are placed with foster carers. Foster carers deal with all scenarios including very challenging care needs.[/quote]
I think you’re vastly underestimating how much some unpaid carers do tbh...

I don’t think I am. I really don’t know how some managed as I would be mentally and physically exhausted after 8 hours. The carers were in many cases foster carers though. I absolutely know the huge debt society has to parents who take on this role ( my own mum has). My only question was in terms of parity with people who are at actual clinical risk of severe disease or death. It’s fine though! We will all be vaccinated soon hopefully.

If childrens services are saying that a child's needs are too great for foster care in a parent were ill situation, then I believe them.

“I really don’t know how some managed as I would be mentally and physically exhausted after 8 hours.”

That’s not what I mean - I’ve known a few parents who literally can’t get care for their child, not respite or overnight (because they need 24 hour care) or emergency care... because the child’s medical needs are so great that there just isn’t anyone ever available to do it.

ASDs are (and I say this having a DC with one) fairly straightforward - it’s personal care and dealing with behaviours. Challenging of course, but with other disabilities unpaid carers are having to do things that local authorities wouldn’t ever let a foster carer do without professional qualifications.

Apart from this thread and discussion @Spikeyball, if they have told you that, it is concerning. Children’s services absolutely have an obligation to provide care and would in an emergency situation. It’s extremely expensive in some cases though and unscrupulous councils know that most parents would keep going somehow rather than force their hand to put it bluntly.
It must be scary to be told that.

Yes they would have to find somewhere but it wouldn't be foster care and it wouldn't be local.

You seem quite bitter about this OP.
To me it makes sense to vaccinate carers.

I'd be more frustrated with the 'NHS' and 'social care workers' who've had the vaccine despite WFH since March.

I have been vaccinated.

Ds is 11. He has spent the last year shielding. Obviously due to his age he can’t be vaccinated yet.

As well as being autistic he has a long list of complex conditions. Thankfully my Mum is trained in most of those conditions so can help with some respite in normal times. But Ds has been diagnosed with a new condition during lockdown, one that requires training in both day to day management and emergency protocol - only I have been able to be trained due to lockdown.

Now don’t get me wrong I have a lot of respect for foster carers especially those able to take on children with additional needs but the OP can’t think this is better for the child than their parents having the vaccine and therefore reducing the risk of them becoming ill and the risk of them passing something to their child and making them ill?

Sometimes only a regular carer can spot the signs that a serious illness is brewing in the person they care for. Sometimes only a regular carer knows how to get someone to cooperate for medical procedures (e.g. blood tests). Also currently, during the pandemic, there are major problems with hospitals denying appropriate care to people with learning disabilities, and inappropriately applying DNR notices. They need their regular carer as an advocate.

Having their regular carer around to look after them could a be life or death issue for some people with disabilities.

As parent carers we often have to explain to other involved professionals what his behaviour means because they don't recognise when eg he is in pain. We have had battles getting medical needs acknowledged because everything is dismissed as being part of autism and learning disability. He is not allowed to go to respite because even with multiple staff support they can't meet his needs and he is by no means the only child in that position.

I wonder if the OP has the same thoughts about social care workers because some carers have the same 'job'.