Can someone help me untangle the statementing process? I'm confused.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

dd is 3.5 and has cerebral palsy. I saw the paed in July and said we would like to start the statementing process.

Had a letter today saying they are now collecting reports from professionals involved with dd - they will then go to a panel who will decide whether or not to go ahead with the full statutory assessment process.

Is that standard practice? I was under the impression that as a parent I could request that they start the statutory assessment process but the woman on the phone today told me that I have to wait till the panel have decided to go ahead or not and if I'm not happy I can appeal?

It's so confusing, also she was very vague about timings of all this - wouldn't tell me how long this first stage would take.

Any experts out there who can explain it in very simple language to me? I'm using the excuse that I have a 2 week old baby as to why my brain can't seem to function on even the simplest of levels!

Hi Hangingbelly,

re your comments:-

"Had a letter today saying they are now collecting reports from professionals involved with dd - they will then go to a panel who will decide whether or not to go ahead with the full statutory assessment process.

Is that standard practice? I was under the impression that as a parent I could request that they start the statutory assessment process but the woman on the phone today told me that I have to wait till the panel have decided to go ahead or not and if I'm not happy I can appeal?".

Is this standard practice - yep I'm afraid so. A request for a Statement always goes to Panel first who then decide whether or not to do a Statement. I warn you now, such requests are not readily granted and you may well have a battle on your hands (hence the suggestion to appeal). You must appeal if they say no. Panels in this area meet once a month, it took three panel meetings to get the sods to agree.

A Statement can take six months to set up fully and it can take longer if you disagree with the content etc. Independent organisations like IPSEA www.ipsea.org.uk, SOS:SEN and ACE are helpful when it comes to the minefield that is the statementing process. If you hit a wall with the process (which you may well do) contact one of these organisations. Parent Partnership can be mixed as many of them work in cahoots with the LEA and are thus not fully independent.

Would suggest you post too on the Special Needs: children part of this Special Needs section as it gets far more traffic than this particular forum does. Many of the people who post on there are experienced in the Statementing minefield.