Adult Care - Problems

[bigonetwothreefour]

Hello forum,

Quick intro. Our daughter is 19 years old. She has some quite complex learning difficulties and her mental health has deteriorated badly over the last 5 years. She has had to live in care facilities for the last 3 years or so because her care needs have been so great.

Recently, social services have instigated a move from one facility (which was mostly aimed at under-18s) to another geared towards adult care. Unfortunately the move has been handled very badly. Our daughter has found the process very upsetting (she hates changes to routine & finds it very difficult to deal with uncertainty) and she has shown some pretty extreme behaviour since the move.

The new care facility has given a month's notice that they are ending the arrangement. They think it's in her best interests to be moved again (by social services) to a more secure placement (perhaps a hospital?) where she can be reassessed and stabilised; and that they might agree to have her back afterwards if that goes ok.

We have doubts about this. We worry that more moving around & disruption will make our daughter's state of mind much worse. We would favour keeping her at the new place for a longer period of time - giving her a chance to get used to the new surroundings, make friends, for the care staff to get to know her better, etc. - we think she would be happier, and that her behaviour would settle down. I concede of course that these judgements are very difficult to make.

If we wanted to try to mount some kind of legal challenge, what could be done? Does anyone have any experience with these situations, or knowledge of any similar legal cases in the past?

Thank you.
A.

Do you have guardianship via a court? If not, that’s the first thing to sort out so you legally have a say. This will only happen if your daughter is deemed to lack capacity. Your best bet is contacting a specialist lawyer. If you’re in Scotland, I could recommend one, but if not, contact Mencap’s legal dept for advice. Good luck.

Thank you. No court guardianship, no. Shall do a bit of research...

South of the border I'm afraid!

Is the current care facility privately run (even if funded by SS)? If so, you can't force them to allow your daughter to stay, nor can a court.

Do her current care needs require more support than the facility can offer, for instance does she need 1 to 1 care? Is she disrupting the care/ environment for other residents?

It's a really difficult situation, especially for your daughter who understandably wants continuity and certainty.

Thanks. Yes it's a privately run facility (but picked by SS and funded by them or some other part of the state coffers, yes).

Care needs are v high at the moment - it's pretty much round the clock one to one stuff to make sure she doesn't self-harm, damage property, put herself in danger, etc. and also she has been attacking the care staff when distressed - pulling hair, biting, etc.

Can't comment on the impact on other residents though. Not aware of any problems on that front. She has only been there a very short while and I live 300 miles away so I haven't visited yet (I plan to in the next 2 weeks, all being well).

I suggest you talk to a firm of solicitors, with a franchise for legal aid in community care law, on DD’s behalf. It sounds like SS did not reassess DD’s needs properly, before moving her - and her needs are not being met! They may have been more concerned with saving money, than what she needed?

I have an adult DD with complex learning difficulties and at times challenging behaviour. Where she lives has a Positive Behaviour Support team, including a clinical psychologist, social workers and a visiting consultant psychiatrist. There are also learning disability/MH nurses, among other professionals onsite.

Firms I know of, in this field with a franchise for legal aid in community care, are

Simpson Millar
Irwin Mitchell
John Ford

You can fill in the forms for Deputyship yourself, as they are available online, although there are court fees to pay. Iirc, a firm of solicitors would charge somewhere around £4,000 plus VAT to do joint Deputyship for you and DD’s father. If DD only has benefits, it’s probably not worth getting Finance Deputyship, but you could seek it for Health and Welfare?

All on hold for now. She was arrested this morning! Trying to find out what's going on.