A mother’s plea for help

A MOTHER struggling to cope alone with her two autistic sons has made an emotional appeal for help through the JEP.
Pipsie Richardson (39) fears that if Health and Social Services do not give her more support she will be forced to put her severely autistic son James into care.
The dental nurse from St Lawrence said that she was feeling like a prisoner in her own home. James (8) is severely autistic and has no sense of fear. His older brother Charles (12) suffers from mild Asperger’s syndrome and has become a carer for his younger brother, who regularly self-harms, lashes out, bites and attacks his family.
Mrs Richardson said: ‘The last thing I want to do is put James into care, but I need more help.’ She is ‘sick and tired of broken promises’ by Health and Social Services and is devastated that the budget for the already ‘underfunded and overresourced’ psychology ser-vice has been slashed (from thisisguernsey)

this is disgusting.hssd in both islands needs to get their act together.people with disabilities wont go away.there is not enough respite care available in guernsey .i have no idea what it is like in jersey .maybe somebody from the other island could let us know.i am hoping to have a meeting in the near future with HSSD in guernsey re the lack of respite care and future proposals for this service.at the moment there are only 2 beds for adults and 4 beds for children available to all the people with learning disabilities in guernsey.this service is so badly underfunded.the staff do what they can with what resources are available to them.
caring for somebody with disabilities is very tiring for the parents.respite breaks are needed on a regular basis so that parents can spend time with each other doing things that they enjoy and in some cases to spend time with other children doing things with them that can be put on a back burner when you are caring for somebody with disabilities in the community

Is there the call for full time respite care in Guernsey then Thistle? I do not know and you appear to have more of an idea that I do. I am sure that other members of the forum would appreciate your insight on the size of the problem if you would be so good as to share your experiences with us?

yes dell there is a need for respite care to be available evry day and night.for those of you who don't know our daughter is 29 years old has downs syndrome and is also somewhere on the autistic spectrum.caring for a person with learning disabilities who needs everything done for them is very tiring for parents and family life can suffer.regular respite care is needed and should be provided.as i have said in my previous post there are very few beds available for adults and children to use.parents caring for their adult or child in the community saves the states of guernsey somewhere in the region of £80,000 per person cared for .
almost 5 years ago adult disability services were given the task of providing respite care services for people aged over 19 years old and children and young peoples services to provide respite up to school leaving age of 19 years old.it was felt that it was no longer appropriate for the children and adults to share the same respite centre.adult disability services still rely on the goodwill of the childrens service to provide adult respite in one unit.
the staff at the unit are some of the most wonderful people i have had the pleasure of knowing.they try to give everybody who asks for respite as much as is humanly possible with the one unit available.
i have been in touch with 42 of our deputies and have had some replies.i am hopeful that something will be sorted out in the near future.some of you may ask are there that many people with learning disabilities in guernsey,my reply to you would be yes.unfortunately i don't have any numbers to quote but look at it this way.pupils fron le rondin school,le murier school,st martins community centre for adults with disabilities nearly all have a right to be able to access respite care.then we have preschool children that have to be mixed into the equation. so please explain to me why we dont have the resources in hssd budget to provide this much needed service on a full time basis

dell i could go on and on.i will leave it there for now.what i wont do is let it lie.below is a copy of nthe email i sent to the deputies



To whom it may
concern

Whilst I totally agree with the building or buying of
new residential care units to replace the Oberlands I feel that the needs of
parents caring for their adult or child with learning disabilities in the
community are once again being sidestepped.

At present there are 6 respite care beds available for
the use of very many adults and children.These are at the Croft. I know the
staff does a sterling job with the time and space that is available to them. The
love and care given by the staff at the Croft is superb. They do all they can to
cover regular requests, holiday needs and emergencies. They also run a play
scheme for children from le maurier during school holiday time.


After the 2004 elections the service was supposed to be
split into two one run by adult disabilities and one by children and young
peoples services. It was decided that it was no longer appropriate for adults
and children with learning disabilities to share the same respite facility. We
are now almost 5 years down the line and still the two groups share the same
respite service.

There are lots more adults and children who need to use
the respite service than places available. Personally my respite has been cut
from 1 weekend in every 2 to 1 weekend in every three. I am unsure how long this
will be for but is certainly for the foreseeable
future.

Caring for an adult who needs everything done for
them is tiring for a young parent never mind a parent coming up to 59 years
old.

I would like to know what is going to be done to
facilitate more respite care for our adults and children bearing in mind that we
parents who care for our family member out in the community saves the States of
Guernsey in the region of £80,000 per annum.What would happen if we as parents
all said enough is enough we can't go on any more and all decided to ask for
residential care for our adult or child.

Maybe it is time for the Board Of
Health to meet with parents and ask us the people who know what is needed for
the future of respite care needs in Guernsey.

bump

It's a very sad fact but the facilities for people with learning disabilities / mental health problems etc are quite frankly appalling in this affluent island. Time after time, year after year, noises are made about improving the situation, but what actually happens? Nothing, or next to nothing anyway. The way this island prioritises spending is disgusting, not to mention the woeful inefficiencies in project management. Overspends on virtually everything (in some cases astronomical) nearly £30million pounds on a Royal Court building (the chief reason for which was vanity) junkets all over the world for politicians and their cronies, the list goes on and on. I believe that if things carry on the way they are going it will not be too much longer before the States will have to deal with some very angry people, both collectively and individually. I've had to stop myself from laying into States members (verbally) a couple of times recently when I've seen them in public, but it won't be too much longer before the occasion arises when I can't hold back from telling them exactly what I think of them, in very plain language! Perhaps if more of us did that they'd actually realise how frustrated and angry a lot of people in this island are.

A island with no compassion

A island full of greed


Sums Guernsey Up


Good luck Thistle with your efforts and dont ever give up,keep knocking on that door maybe one day someone will start to listen.

thank you CDJ.

with you there, technophobe, on the heckling. The fact is that people that care about these things tend to be polite and educated.

An island is an inanimate object!!!! It is not greedy, nor is it devoid of compassion - it is the system that is these things - not to be confused with the island itself!!! and that is why I am happy to say 'Goodbye Sarnia Cherie - Hello Australia'

thank you all for your support in this xxxx

Behind you 150% my lovely friend xxxxxxx

thank you my friend .will keep battling on this one.maybe troy or one of our other jersey users could find out what respite care is available in the other island .please feel free to pm me if you feel that is more suitable.thank you

I am afraid we are going to have a long wait ,it took a day and a half to debate a no brainer like paid parking with members waffling on about irrelevant crap. As has been said in a previous post this has been raised several times and nothing done , Should we just give up and let the States pay i the region of £80.000 per annum for residential care for our Daughter ? i would never let this happen as we love her and enjoy her being here with her family , but we do need break now and again just to be Abel to do things together even simple things like shopping.With Thistle fighting for this god help who-ever tries to fob her off.