appealing against family fund decision has anyone done?

[mrshess]

Has anyone appealed against decision? I emailed and never heard anything and then emailed to say did they get my email and i still havent heard anything and i cant get through to them on the phone so just wondering whether anyone else has appealed and how?

is it your first one? if so has to be done on paper and takes 4 months!

Umm, on what grounds would you appeal? They are a charity so can choose who they target, and they can decide whether a request is a good use of their resources.

devientenigma I won't shoot you for asking for extra, but I will be a bit miffed that you have down-rated GDD in the process of your post. My DD has GDD, and I can assure you that it is every bit as devastating as any other SN. I didn't think we did competitive on here.

Hi Lougle, the point I was trying to make was the child in the senario with gdd has no medical history of severe illness or is life threatening unlike my son who I was trying to protect from the elements and couldn't due to needing a footmuff, hood and raincover, with £50 to buy it!!
No competiton meant!!
I also have 2 older sons with GDD, so do also have an insight.
HTH x

But the other mother wasn't trying to protect her child from the elements . As I say, I have no issue with you asking for a reconsideration, but it isn't fair to say that her child having 'GDD' was part of the issue, when your child had 'DS, heart condition, lung problems...etc, etc.' Family fund isn't about assessing the child's SN for worthiness, DLA does that.

GDD is, IMO, an awful, awful 'label' to have. It makes everything the child struggles with sound trivial and minor, implying that the child will catch up. It just isn't so.

GDD is my DD's 'label' (amongst others) - she is at special school. There are many, many children with DS, who are able to cope with MS school. I have a friend with a child who has 'GDD'. He is 5 and can't sit unsupported, walk at all without support under the armpits, speak, control his arms or hands, etc. He is still deemed to have 'GDD', because they can't find another label to replace it with

As I say. Nothing against you asking for more - I think I would also do so, the likelihood is that the person awarding didn't realise that Mac Major accessories are £££ and thought 'footmuff', £50 should do it.

But please don't trivialise GDD.

Like I said before I am not trivialising GDD!!
I have 2 sons with GDD who have attended special school since being small.
My son with DS is also special school. He is 10 year old and functions at 18mnth to 2 yo.
The sentence "there are many, many children with DS, who are able to cope with MS school." now indicates to me that you are trivialising DS!!

What did you apply for and have they given you a decision yet? Or a reason they declined it? They are a charity, and I know they've changd their criteria twice this year.

DE, I think your post is just badly worded. I don't think the FF see one disability as more important (don't think that is the word I'm looking for) and treat every child the same. It's like saying X got loads even though her sone only has aspergers, whereas I only got a slide even though m son has full blown autism.

I thought that you couldn't apply to the family fund with a income over 28k?

I am always a bit confused by the F, I have always got the lowest limit of money, and never (apart from 1st time) got money for more than one thing.

We're £5 over {tearing hair out emoticon required]

I've never really understood why the money has to be adminstered through a charity, they say their funding comes from the govt so why not do it through a grant (at least with a govt organisation you can usually appeal etc).

Anyway, I learnt from reading forums that the first grant is always going to be the highest, so it's best to ask for the most expensive things in the first year (eg driving lessons). And it's worth asking for as much as you need and explain how important they are (so they can prioritise if they decide not to award them all). If you only requested something that was going to cost £50, there's no point complaining if they only award you £50! Probably if you'd asked for more things you would have got them.

Devientenigma, I'm not here for an argument. I wasn't trivialising DS. Like all other SN, the range of the DS spectrum is huge. I was just stating the fact that there are lots of children with DS who cope very well in a MS setting, and lots of children with GDD who need Special School (and vice versa).

I don't think the diagnosis is the deciding factor for Family Fund, it is the impact that the assistance will offer. If they didn't quite 'get' the importance of the footmuff and accessories for the mac major, and thought it was just 'nice bits' rather than essential, then they would only award a low amount for it. The decision makers are human.