please help my 8 year old son with cerebral palsy (I'm not asking for money!)

[kakamg]

hi my name is karla griffiths and my son has severe cerebral palsy and other complex health problems, he lives in a nursing home where i placed him in 2008, social services do not agree with this and are continually hunting for foster carers as it is a cheaper option, the people they bring in are not experienced or qualified enough let alone equipped for the job. in short my son needs the 24 hour MEDICAL care and attention he currently receives.

please read this and if you support this cause please sign the petition and pass on to your friends.
the more people, the more impact we will have against an extremely flawed system.

please follow the link to

Keep Miles Griffiths In Footprints.

many thanks for taking the time to read this i will answer any questions you may have.

Karla xx

I feel that Karla and her family gave made the right choice for Miles after long and difficult consideration. I have signed the petition.

I have signed as well.

DD is in a residential school (for a different condition) and I know what a painful decision it must have been. We also had to fight very hard to get her placed there. I don't consider it to be 'sending her away' as it's often described. She is happier there than she would be in a local school (where staff never understood her needs) and she is still very much part of the family. In some ways it could be seen as more selfish to have kept her at home, as she gets better opportunities at school and the opportunities for my other children would also be more limited.

sunalwaysshines i'm in the same position with my ds. He is at residential school and comes home once a fortnight and for holidays. It isnt an easy decision to make and i had to fight to get him there but it was worth it in the end!!

I have no direct experience of your situation, OP, and as such, I don't feel qualified to pass comment, but it sounds very difficult and my heart goes out to you. However, I don't feel able to sign your petition. Sorry.

ps - have a new name, am an established (ish) poster.

I read the history and think it's dreadful that your son's health and happiness are now at stake. I tried to sign the petition however it took me to a paypal site and I couldn't get out of it. Shame. Good luck.

Sorry, I feel unable to sign your petition too.

sorry if my post offended, I posted in anger, rather than slowly iynwim.
but this is mn and people don't always agree.

Riven, I'd presume he goes to a local special school during the day and then comes back to the nursing home for overnight care.

Maybe the OP prefers this option as it keeps him local to the family, whereas residential schools are soemtimes furter away?

Anyway, a I siad I'm making alot of presumptions/guesses there.

I've looked at the link and think there isn't that much information on there about his needs and why they could only be met in a nursing home, so I haven't signed BUT I would never judged the OP either as I don't know the full picture and I do know families that have decided after much heartache to go down the residential school route.

I trust that the OP is doing the best for her son and her family and as I am in no way qualified to question that I have signed.

Mamatomany - were you able to sign without the paypal bit coming up? I've tried twice and can't get out of that. Might be my browner I s'pose?

Yes it took me to the paypal donation page after i'd filled out my name, email and comment.

Sorry, as an ex-foster carer, who received specialist training in caring for children with disabilities, I am unable to sign your petition. Just because you are unable to meet your son's needs at home (and as his dad "lives and works away from home" then of course this is virtually impossible), this doesn't actually mean that his needs can't be met in a family home. Ultimately, I think children should be looked after in family homes, not institutions.

I want to reassure you that the foster family will get
1/ Lots of respite care. Either from another foster family, or yourselves (if you feel able to have him sometimes) or hopefully from Footprints for continuity.
2/ A lot of money for looking after him. Probably enough for one or both of them to give up work completely; the foster care will become their job instead. (Needless to say, parent carers should be getting more money, but sadly don't get enough.)
3/ Highly specialised training. The Panel won't allow the placement unless they see what training has happened.

And yet CHECKMATE Social Services felt they could offer none of that to the OP so you can see why they would be bitter and highly skeptical that Social Services would offer that to the foster family.

OP I think you need to check the petition programming (or whatever) as none of today's signatures are showing up and as said above I couldn't sign.

My signature is on their from this morning!!!

their there.

My signature shows also. There is a box to tick to say you want your name shown, otherwise it says 'Anonymous'. You can escape out of the paypal donation page and the signature is still valid.

how can it be right that a foster carer can get so much help and yet parents can't??? that's awful :(

perhaps if the help was available then children like Miles would be able to stay with their families, which I am sure his parents would want if they had the right support to do so.

it's so sad on so many levels

No legal advice, couldn't find a solicitor in the area prepared to help!!! so if you could point me in the right direction, we'd be really grateful!
Thanks
Karla x

I can't sign the petition wihtout making a "donation".

Sorry, I'd be happy to sign, but not donate.

to all the people i seem to have offended, I WOULD HAVE MILES HOME TOMORROW IF IT WAS POSSIBLE BUT IT IS NOT:
*our house cannot be adapted
*i cannot turn a child every half hour throughout the night each and every night
*there isn't appropriate social services respite available to us
*we do not have the money for my husband to give up work
*social services offered 9 hours a week direct payments
while i agree a child is for life not just Xmas, please feel free to judge when you are in my FULL situation.
Karla

@ checkmate

how unfair is it that we cannot afford to give up my husband's income yet foster families seem to have plenty of money given to them. Sorry just cements my opinions that these people do it for the money not for the love.

Why is it asking for donation? I only want signatures not peoples hard earned money, will look into that, please nobody give any money as i have absolutely no idea where it would go!
Karla x