Me and DS2 disagree. WWYD?

[nothinginthefridge]

Can I have some yay's and nay's on whether I should help son to claim?

DS2 (12) left my house in his taxi provided by LA to his secondary school. Whilst waiting for school to start, he climbed on a small wall with some railings on top (within school grounds) fell, and impaled his arm on the railings.

DS2 spent 2 days in hospital and needed an operation.

My very mischievous helpful friends told DS2 to claim with a no win no fee solicitor. He has therefore spent the last week filling out online forms requesting a call back about his injury. (have had to ignore the phone for the last week ) He went into overdrive when he learned one would give him an IPAD if his claim was accepted!!

I have tried to explain to my friends about the different sort of relationship that you have with a school when your child has a statement, but as we know they often don't understand.

Trouble is this played into his hands. PPI claims and no win no fee claims are his special interest and have been for some time (he is obsessed with the adverts)

I have said no to a claim. I need to work closely with school due to his SEN and I don't want any bad feeling between us. I understand that it will be the insurers but still, on the whole, I don't really approve of the claiming mentality. I would be happy with an e-mail from the school assuring me that this could not happen to another child and that it had been referred to the governor with H&S responsibility.

DS2 has said that I should help him with a claim, and given that we try to allow our children to express themselves and allow there wishes where appropriate should I give in? WWYD??

I think you need to explain the difference to ds about negligence and being a bloody idiot and climbing where he shouldn't have been, tbh.

Unless he is a child that is statements ft 1-1 in and out of school, and the TA should have been supervising him.

And I would be extremely pissed off with my 'friends' that are teaching a 12yo with additional needs to use ambulance chasing lawyers when it was his own bloody fault.

Is his ft TA or LSA supposed to meet him from the taxi and escort him into the building at whatever time it arrives?

If he isn't capable of getting out of the taxi and wa
King into the school without putting himself in danger, you need to arrange a meeting with the ht and the second and his form tutor to discuss additional supervision. And get his 1-1 time bumped up on his AR.

Ht and senco. And if this iPad autocorrects anything else I am launching it.

Actually, I'm really pissed at this.

Don't your 'friend's thinks that a valuable lesson in personal safety is of more use to a child with sn than teaching him that everything is someone else's fault?

In terms of life skills, I know which I'd deem more useful to a nearly teen with sn.

Thanks mad. I think I sometimes don't trust my judgement sometimes when I have a DS who is constantly badgering me, or at least my willpower wanes a bit!

I would say no to this.

If he's still keen on this when he's 18 then he can go ahead with it then. (IIRC the statute of limitations with these things works differently when it's a child involved, and the clock starts ticking when they reach 18.)

I'd have slightly more sympathy for his argument if his aim was to seek some form of justice rather than a new ipad and some money.

I do think though that your friends need to keep their noses out of the whole business. They may mean well but they really aren't helping.

Unless he should have been supervised then I wouldn't allow this. It sounds like he did something dangerous and should learn his lesson about this rather than thinking about how he can claim money. I also agree about keeping a good relationship with school.

I think his main focus is the money tbh.... but he has spoken about what if's quite a lot. What if it was his neck or chest. What if he had fallen from the other side. What if someone else does it.

I had forgotten the difference about a child claiming as well. That makes me feel better, I can just tell him he can think about claiming himself when he's older and I'll help him then.

I understand friends need to keep their noses out, but they were there helping out when he had his accident so I think they are thinking of him in their own little way, albeit misguided.

In that case I would help him gather together his evidence (hospital records, photos of the injury, any statements etc) and tell him you'll keep it safe for him until he's 18.

If there really is a case to answer, any money would probably be of more use to him then anyway, and it also means you don't have to worry about bad feeling from the school.

Tell him better to wait cos if he had late complications, a payout now would stop him claiming for more later. Plus any compensation for a child goes to the parent to spend on them as they see fit. I have a feeling it'll work, but have no idea whether it's true or not .

Oh yeah, and the ambulance chasers take a huge wodge of they payout. Even those who say they don't take a percentage will each up a bill with loads of itemised nonsense (I do know that this one is often true, btw).