IPSEA demands moratorium on Children and families Bill

[inappropriatelyemployed]

Will anyone else be brave enough to stand with them?

See here

The two on the chat didn't really want to know, did they?

It was a disappointing response and billed on twitter very much as if they were telling us how it was going to work when I don't see they had any greater knowledge really save to repeat what the Government's intentions are.

I had hoped for a neutral statement of their own position on behalf of the organisations they represent. This doesn't seem to be possible and these organisations seem keen on getting lost in the detail of 'intentions' while overlooking (a) what is actually happening in practice, generally and through the pilots and (b) the likely consequence of these reforms.

I agree with Hothead - it is not just money but culture but I think the two have become inseparable so the need to protect budgets, leads to unlawful practices which then take on a life of their own.

You can't get away from the fact that any legal reform needs a very clear evidence base to ensure it is actually going to work. The problem with many charities is that, early on, for the best of intentions doubtless, they bet their shirts on this and started taking money to implement the reforms themselves. This leaves them in difficulty in demanding that the process be stopped for breathing space. They are actually part of the process.

Things like SENDirect are still unexplained as is failing to take a tougher line on unlawful practices and saying parents can take these matters up themselves.

Again, I just think of Nye Bevan and the NHS 'I stuffed their mouths with gold'

It's truly admirable what they have done. Even if no-one listens. Now my dd is in school I have been considering which charity to volunteer for recently and the decision has now been made.

Star you tweeted SNJ are saying stop the bill, is this true?

I agree about IPSEA. Very important to take a stand.

A standing ovation for IPSEA.

As for most of the other Big Charity names - I'm at the point where I honestly feel they should be stripped of their charitable status for their behaviour over these reforms.

If they have no principles and just want their piece of the cash pie then they should have the decency to say so publicly. As it is the welfare of the children they exist to support and protect has been placed at the bottom of too many priority piles. Hypocrites is too polite a term to use for all the vague, woolly fence sitting nonsense they have been publishing recently.

The more clear accountability there is introduced into a system that consumes a significant proportion of public funds then the better the outcomes for the children the funds are designed to help, and the better taxpayers money is safeguarded from embezzlement & fraud. A clear opportunity to tackle the corruption that permeates the UK SN system is in danger of being lost forever.

I must say I fully agree with them. The Bill is really astonishingly badly thought through, and the imperative seems to be simply to be able to say they're doing something rather than actually thinking through what is needed to improve education for children with SEN. The government is playing politics with the futures of some of the most vulnerable people in the country.

www.specialneedsjungle.com/join-jane-campaign-sen-bill/

here IE. Not sure they're shouting loudly about it but they have said it.

Mm, it says "Jane is now calling on parents and carers of children and young people with SEN/Disabilities to join her campaign to make the government stop the rush through parliament of the Children and Families Bill in its present form because its provisions are woefully inadequate."

The draft letter doesn't say that though.

As it stands the legislation is just really badly written and unclear - not fit for purpose. It looks as if it were written by the bottom set of a GCSE class on a Friday afternoon the day of the latest playstation game release.

CDC have just tweeted this letter which Timpson has sent to the Guardian

He says "The draft Code reflects best practice and provides a good basis for schools to start to prepare"

I don't see one organisation that shares that view about the COP. Yet this is tweeted with no hint of a view from the CDC.

These consortia should "piss or get off the pot", as my nan would say, rather than just pump put the Government's agenda and then tweet about how brilliantly they answered questions on MN.

The whole thing is a charade and quite frankly explains why things were so bad in the first place.

Let's face it, the charities never did all that much to challenge the systems before. They'd support individual families yes but ime the support always came with the myth that the system was fair and the assumption that LAs would adhere to the law, and they would undermine parents suggestions that all was not right, defending the system as it was supposed to be rather than how it really was.

When I sat in the House of Commons listening to the representations from the various charities, LAs and schools about how bad things were I never heard anyone ask why it had got so bad or why.

Whose fault was it?

Why, it was the fault of the people in that room of course. It was them that had let things deteriorate the way the had. It was them that had jumped into bed with 'intentions' rather than 'outcomes', as they continue to do so.

It feels like you are swimming in cement at the best of times but with 'advocate' organisations like this, it feels like they are just helping the cement to harden.

Not a question, not a word of protest or some investment into research. Why not put forward a picture of the system as it should be rather than prattle on about a couple of tweaks or rights to appeal when the whole thing is rotten and dysfunctional to the core.

The suggestion that parents police LAs use of EHCPS summed it all up to me. Don't ask us to do anything or make a stand or police this for you. Not us, wIth our campaign and policy and research and communication directors and officers and other staff teams etc etc etc. Parents can do it themselves. Because we got bollocks all else to do with our time clearly.

its now been posted onto facebook the letter - I have commented but no response yet = maybe we should all start commenting on facebook as well. the LA are already telling schools it will be even harder to get EHCP come next sept - this is an LA who already has a blanket policy of not being able to get a statement unless 6 years behind - what hope do our children have - they had little hope before but now - well its dire - thank god (and cant believe im really saying this) ive applied for a statement now under the current system

CDC should cease to exist as they refuse to advocate for those they purport to represent.

If they got out of the way then perhaps parental voices might be heard by those in the corridors of power. As it is CDC are doing a very effective job of gatekeeping.

BJK this is the awful thing, I think we may look back in this system and think we were lucky! I fear things will only get worse.

But it can't be just us who are hearing LAs talk of reducing the number of kids on statements in the transfer to EHCPs. Other organisations 'in the field' must know this unless they really do spend all their time in Government meetings.

It also annoys me that they have published guides to the new system for health providers and SENCOs and schools but not parents. Seriously, where are their priorities?

I also can't tell them all apart when they are tweeting or in practice: Council for Disabled Children, Every Disabled Child Matters, Special Educational Needs Consortium, National Parent Partnership Network. They all tweet each other's stuff and their logos are very similar. How much Government money is spent on these organisations?

BJK this is the awful thing, I think we may look back in this system and think we were lucky! I fear things will only get worse.

But it can't be just us who are hearing LAs talk of reducing the number of kids on statements in the transfer to EHCPs. Other organisations 'in the field' must know this unless they really do spend all their time in Government meetings.

It also annoys me that they have published guides to the new system for health providers and SENCOs and schools but not parents. Seriously, where are their priorities?

I also can't tell them all apart when they are tweeting or in practice: Council for Disabled Children, Every Disabled Child Matters, Special Educational Needs Consortium, National Parent Partnership Network. They all tweet each other's stuff and their logos are very similar. How much Government money is spent on these organisations?

BJK this is the awful thing, I think we may look back in this system and think we were lucky! I fear things will only get worse.

But it can't be just us who are hearing LAs talk of reducing the number of kids on statements in the transfer to EHCPs. Other organisations 'in the field' must know this unless they really do spend all their time in Government meetings.

It also annoys me that they have published guides to the new system for health providers and SENCOs and schools but not parents. Seriously, where are their priorities?

I also can't tell them all apart when they are tweeting or in practice: Council for Disabled Children, Every Disabled Child Matters, Special Educational Needs Consortium, National Parent Partnership Network. They all tweet each other's stuff and their logos are very similar. How much Government money is spent on these organisations?

Blimey - didn't mean to say that three times!!

so good you said it thrice

Head teachers aren't being kept informed either. I asked our pathfinder lead why my HT wasn't up to speed with changes, and the response was HTs get sent too much stuff to read, and so they didn't want to bother them with extra reading on what are just trials/proposals.

So if parents and teachers alike are being excluded from the process and denied a voice the odds of it suiting neither group of key stakeholders or our poor children are pretty much zero then.

I can only compare it to asking a bunch of Russian speaking ice cream makers to redesign the forth bridge using mandarin labour while ensuring that none of them ever get access to a civil or structural engineer.