LA forcing my ASD son to move residential placement named on EHCP, injunction, tribunal, Judicial Review?

[mummy1970abc]

My 17yo son (ASD and complex SEMH) has an EHCP that was updated in spring this year. It has a dual registration placement listed in section I. He’s a section 20 kid. He goes to a mainstream college that stated that they could not meet unless the (at the time current) residential SEN placement took over the aspects of the EHCP that they could not fulfil. This dual registration has worked really well.

The LA then sent notice (last week) to the residential part saying that he will no longer be attending as of the start of August… 4 weeks time..
They have given us no reason, just that they will no longer fund that placement. They want to put him in alternative accommodation where he can transition to adulthood in a supported environment. Which is exactly the support he is currently getting.
The residential setting is an independent therapeutic Sen school and home.

He is at the end of his 1st year of a 2 year course and will therefore be leaving both places in 11 months and then going to uni. This battle has been going on since Jan of this year and has caused a significant decline in his mental health. He has a history of ASD induced psychosis caused by an increase in anxiety.

I have notified the LA that they are breaching section 42 of C&F Act.. but they don’t care and are doing this anyway. I am being fobbed off with delays to the tier 2 complaint. I have raised it with the LGSCO who are waiting to see what happens.. I have contacted our councillors and MP.

We have an EHCP meeting on Monday as reports were not available at the review meeting from Ed psych etc. and these are needed to make changes to the support and outcomes section. I know that the LA will use this as an opportunity to change section I.

And when they do we will go to tribunal.

I asked them whether going to tribunal would put a hold on their changes and make them adhere to the current EHCP - and they said “no” they will push ahead with their changes.

So in 4 weeks time, my son, with no explanation will be forced to move, possibly to live on his own, they have no intention of listening to his wishes documented in the EHCP meeting as they have already served notice.

None of the professionals involved want this move to go ahead. But the LA have made the decision to do it anyway..

Please give me your thoughts and advice - please be kind - I am at my wits end.

Is there any part of the EHCP that won't be fulfilled by moving him to the new setting? I presume the LA is unhappy about paying full fees for a school that he isn't using in its entirety, as well as fees for sixth form.

The final after the AR was released in March, bizarrely, this is where they updated it to include the dual registration.. before that it named the Sen residential school only. The (independent) Sen school could no longer provide an academic sixth form so he was dual registered with a local college. So he continues to board and gets all of the non-academic ehcp content from the original school and gets academic input only from the college. Over the past year the school has split its school in two.. boarding is now a care home and the school is non-residential.
still owned by the same company and if you look at their website etc - it still refers to itself as being a residential special needs school.

we accepted the amended EHCP and we all agreed that an early review was needed so that we could get the relevant sections updated once we had received input from SaLT, Ot and Ed Psych. These updates hadn’t happened since he was 12.. so it needed a big overhaul.

That meeting is due tomorrow. And this is where the LA will then try and change the placement.

Bearing in mind they have already served notice to the school - they have no intention of listening to his wishes. Frustratingly, everyone is on board with him staying at the school. But it is clear from the conversations we have had that those not directly involved and higher up, want to stop paying.

If the company has split its provisions (my DD goes to the school arm of a similar company) then it may be that the school can't be named as his provision because they don't provide the accommodation & services he needs. How will they provide the non-academic content (other than accommodation) if he is moved?

They have made no reference to how those needs will be met, bearing in mind the college have already said that they can’t meet need alone.

What reason are the LA giving?

Absolutely none. Their original wish was that he follows the child leaving care pathway and goes through the process of semi-independent living. The residential placement has all of that in place and can/will/are delivering it already.
But there have been no reasons given for moving him - as in a failure of provision or safe guarding concerns.. or any other potential reason

Thank you - it’s giving me some hope that a JR will work.
hopefully, like 97% or whether the figure is, the LA will back down in receiving the pre-action protocol letter.

They only pay for the residential part now.. 6th form is free. Well… as much as it costs the LA for any child to go to 6th form

Thank you for the suggestions. I am in the process of organising the mental health assessments. Apparently a GP can do it too… although he does also have a CAMHs psychiatric consultant.. but getting hold of CAMHs is often quite difficult

I think you need to find out what they are intending as alternative provision - if it's similar to dsd's home then there is nothing to be concerned about - they live as a household with live in carers, hers is all female under 30. Some go to college, others have more profound needs. Two are autistic and they work one to one learning life skills

Thank you - their first suggestion (previous social worker) was a home for kids who are not suitable to be fostered (all section 30?) kids. The current social worker said that that wouldn’t be suitable as my son doesn’t fit the profile and could be subjected to a lot of ongoing antisocial behaviour. And now they are talking about a 1 bed flat or possibly 2 bed.. with another YP. But they haven’t actually found anything yet.
his comment was that “we will just keep him at the current setting until we find somewhere and that could take months.”

And this is causing my son even greater anxiety - because he has no idea where he’s going, when he’s going and what support he’s actually going to get if and when he gets there.

But it also comes back to the point that I believe they are only causing all of this stress to save a bit of money over the next 11 months. After that - he’ll be going to uni.

God, how stressful for your DS and yourself.
Knowing how slow the system is though, I think he will probably be at uni before they source an alternative placement.

OP, we had a very similar situation with our eldest son (who has ASD, complex mental health needs including psychosis). The LA were pushing to move him from a residential placement that was working, to supported accommodation in the community. The primary reason for this was - funding.

In my son's case, after several meetings, including a meeting to see if health and social care would fund jointly, the LA agreed to continue funding.

The LA had no specific alternative placement in mind, and the whole process caused my son a great deal of anguish.

I think, if all parties stress and evidence the need for your son to continue his placement, at least until he transitions to university, there is a good chance the LA will leave things as they are at least for the next few months.

If he is 18 later this year then given we are in July he absolutely should already have been referred to the transitions team for a Care Act Assessment which should happen by 17.5 years.

I wonder if the problem here is children's services probably don't want him in accommodation linked to education as he turns 18 as that means they may have some respinsibility to continue to fund it from the children/ education budget

If he is in supported accommodation not linked to education when he turns 18 then they can probably offload the funding burden on to adult social care in its entirety.

I'd be asking for a transitions social worker from adults services to be involved in any future meetings as well.

Your comment is really encouraging and I really hope my L.A. is as sensible as yours. 🤞
well done for getting the outcome needed for your son.
why is everything so much of a battle?

It’s awful. Thank you for your message and you are probably very right. But I have to get it in black and white from them to calm my son down.. before it trips him over the edge into another episode.

Thank you - I will read up on this

This is in the wrong section OP. Get it moved to the SN section, so that the very knowledgeable SN posters can advise.

Are you sure about this? Is there absolutely no SEP in F?

Were the updated assessments part of a formal reassessment of needs? If so, an assessment via a psychiatrist &/or clinical psychologist could have been part of the reassessment of needs and therefore governed by those timescales.

Is there MH provision in section F?

Sorry - not sure how to do that.. please advise?

The above provision will be available via an independent special 52-week residential school which caters for pupils with a range of special educational needs and dual registered with a Post 16 Generalist College.
Therapies
Occupational Therapy: YP will receive a total of 25 hours input as outlined above.
This provision will be delivered by a qualified occupational therapist with post graduate sensory training and experience working with children/young people with Autism, anxiety and sensory processing difficulties. The need for further therapy input will be discussed prior to the annual review and if appropriate the occupational therapy provision will be revised.
Speech and language Therapy: 7 hours as detailed above

We have a review tomorrow for a full Ed psych, OT and SLT input

Report your own post (on app drag to the left) and ask MN to move it.

Thank you - I will try that

I know you have a review tomorrow, but that is an early review, not updated assessments. Have updated assessment happened and was that part of a formal reassessment of needs.

So DS receives absolutely no SEP whilst on site at the college?