My wife and I have two adopted boys (well one adopted from 7 months, now 11, and his half brother, 4, who's been with us a year and going through the adoption process) , both we believe with FASD. The eldest has a recent diagnosis and the youngest ticks most of the boxes and has an appointment with the paediatrician shortly. We also have a foster son aged 11 in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy.
Family life is , as I'm sure it is for all of us, rather full - some of the therapists describe it as a 'higher level of parenting', whatever that means. One of the things that makes it work is the support we get through the fostering agency and also our foster son's DLA that we are allowed to use flexibly to help with pressure points for us all.
Recently one of our therapists suggested that we ought to be able to get at least the lower level of DLA for at least our eldest, and possibly even the youngest as well. Does anyone have experience in claiming DLA for FASD children? What are the magic elements you need to mention in the claim form? It was rather obvious for our foster son (higher rate DLA), but with FASD I hadn't even thought about it. As I guess many of us know, being able to pay for little bits of support here and there make all the difference.
Thanks for any advice
Written by
legemaine
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We receive DLA for our adopted 6 year old who has a diagnosis of FASD. It is important to detail everything in the application, how the condition affects daily life, interaction with others and ability to be independent, comparing this to what a typical 6 year old is capable of is useful. We had support from our social worker with the form given the complexities of how FASD affects different children.
Higher Level Parenting! I like that! It is just a shame that the Professionals around us all don't 'assist' us a bit more sometimes!
We claim DLA for our twins & can then use it for a few hours baby sitting one day a week so that we can both draw breath! For each answer on the claim form it is important to refer to the guidance booklet & it will give examples of how your answer should go - it is important to include what you may think are silly details that we all take for granted as everyday life. If your children have broken or restful nights put it on the form as you will be entitled to a higher care rate. If your children refuse to walk sometimes / freeze on stairs etc & need encouragement to keep going mention that too as you may be entitled to lower rate mobility too.
Hello we have 2 children diagnosed with FAS and both now receive DLA.
The advice you have been given hear above is great.To add to this when you fill in your Dla application please ensure when you send it off keep a copy and send by pre recorded delivery.In our instance we did not and 15 weeks after sending forms off we found out the DWP said they had not receive them and we then had to do it all again!They would not back date as we had no proof !
Later discussing this with Social workers we soon realised it is not uncommon for applications to be lost there.
Yes one our application forms got lost in the process of going from one desk to another, fortunately they had acknowledged receipt before they lost it! You don't need a diagnosis for DLA just a child who requires more support than a child of their age should need. Send in "evidence" as well from other people involved in your kids lives, especially professionals and they assess then on a case by case basis.
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