Respite for special needs children

Solarball10

Hope this is the right forum! Basically my little brother is 12 and has Down's Syndrome - and one of the services offered to my parents is called "Respite" -which takes him a few evenings every couple of weeks to give them a break. There is also an overnight stay option if they ever wanted to get away for a short break - now they are going to a wedding soon, and the max they would be away is 1 night - my mum looked into it, and she was refused - the reason being that my brother is "too difficult" to handle!

I'm disgusted at this. This is a service provided by people who are TRAINED to deal with kids like my brother, and while I admit myself that he CAN be difficult at times (spits a lot, throws things sometimes) he is not unmanageable.

I've told my mum she should complain about this to someone higher up, but she's reluctant, saying she's afraid that they'll stop taking him for evenings as well...

What do you think?

madser

You definately should complain about that, they should be tackling his behaviour and giving your mother a break, I mean if he was no bother why would she want respite in the first place:rolleyes:

barbiegirl

Where aree you based as this can have a lot to do with the respite offered.

Rev Hellfire

As Barbie stated the services available vary greatly from area to area.

It may simply be that they do not have the trained staff for an overnight stay or they may have other higher priority commits.

I'd be careful about cutting your nose to spite your face, especially if you are dependant on this service.

Additionally I'd have thought the disability forum would be a better source for information, though things move glacier like there.

Solarball10

Based in East Galway...

I know that they do offer overnight stays, because they took a girl that goes to my brother's school before..

So I really don't think they should be offering services they can't provide :mad:

Nevyn

They may have had a change in staff or staffing levels, why not find out.

Solarball10

Thaedydal wrote: »

They may have had a change in staff or staffing levels, why not find out.

This shouldn't have anything to do with it - all staff should be trained to deal with mentally challenged children, there's very few of them who are very easy to look after!

When they refused my mum, that's the only reason she was given - he's too "difficult."

My auntie is going to mind him, so there's no problem that way - it just p!sses me off so much - what about people who don't have other relatives/friends to fall back on?

madser

ozzyoh wrote: »

This shouldn't have anything to do with it - all staff should be trained to deal with mentally challenged children, there's very few of them who are very easy to look after!

When they refused my mum, that's the only reason she was given - he's too "difficult." hey just have so much demand and with all the cut backs they are coming up with reasons to cut back yours IMO.

These staff are all trained to look after challanging behaviour, don't let it go or the situation will get worse, what happens when your aunt cant step in.

Their trying to cut respite everwhere at the mo:mad:

barbiegirl

My sister works with the KARE organisation in Kildare County and I know there has been a total freeze in recruitment, filling open positions and funding. This is affecting everywhere where the organisation is under the Health Boards. They are all trained in dealing with challenged people, who can be at times very difficult, especially if they are having difficulty communicating what they want and getting frustrated.
Before you start shouting it may be worth paying a visit into the manager of of the respite centre, don't go in all guns, but ready to listen. Explain the need for respite in the future, it is a great service when it can be availed of, and ask what behaviour in particular is a problem in order that both the family and centre can work together to solve it. You need to work with these people not against.