I need your help to advise me on how to fight this! And fight it I will.. I am bubbling over with outrage here!
We have been waiting for a while for DS's case to go back to the respite panel at social services in order to get provision for over-night respite again. I say again because we were granted overnight home-based respite with his daycare respite carer (who has him twice a month for 6 hours at at a time) but he didn't sleep for her either and she had to say she couldn't continue to have him overnight. A Child In Need meeting was held (about this and other matters) as it was decided that we definitely need some degree of overnight respite as we are SO sleep deprived (7 years worth!!) and so it would be best provided at a Centre. For this, it would have to go back to panel.
Today, after a 2 month wait, it went back to panel. Our social worker has just phoned with the decision...
It was dismissed! We can't have overnight respite because he's in a mainstream school!!!!
Now the fact that he may not be in a mainstream school longterm is striking me as TOTALLY irrelevent! The inclusion policy states.. (I know it does! I just can't find it online.. can anyone else?) that parents of SN children (and the children themselves where relevent) have the RIGHT to choose where their children are educated. (Dependent on availability of provision, lack of detriment to child and his potatential peers etc etc.. I can't remember the exact wording but I KNOW that's what the gist is! I wrote part of my EXAM on it!) HOW can they say we are NOT ALLOWED to have overnight respite on the basis of where he goes to school?
That's the same as saying he's "not disabled enough". Who drew a line? Where is the yardstick? He is actually considerably disabled, (gets higher rate DLA, mobility AND personal care; needs constant 1-1 attention) but attends a m/s school with flagship inclusion status and despite probably being the most disabled child there, has been coping fine with constant 1-1 support (although the plan is to gradually integrate him into special ed as he gets further towards Y6.. he is Y3 at the moment - until he is actually IN a special school ready for Y7.)
I am not going to swallow this.. for the good of us OR anyone else in this position in the future!
How can they be allowed to make this decison on this basis? You can't have the inclusion policy on the one hand.. and then be making discrimatory decisions based on the "parents rights to choose which education" on the other!
Please give me input! And help! And WHERE online is the wording of the inclusion policy document?