***Urgent Legal Help Needed***

[Bsh693]

I'm desperate for how to get legal help for my son who has complex learning disabilities having been failed by Section 117 Aftercare which has resulted in him being caught up in the judicial system all through lack of correct care & support , I have been fighting the system for years & currently exhausted in what to do now , I need a contact number of someone that can help me fight the local government authority which pay for Section 117 Aftercare out of area to where my son was living ,

With Thanks in advance Bsh693

[Jofisher]

I’m so sorry your going though such an awful situation. Have you spoken to Mencap helpline have you tried getting him an Independent mental capacity advocate. Or have you tried getting a consultant social worker.

[LDAutie]

hi Bsh693, like jo i can recomend mencaps helpline-except i use there email service, you send them a message explaining everything and you will likely then get hooked up with a specialist who works for the helpine team, but it takes up to 10 days to get an answer-ive had this help before from them.

ive been on a 117 myself having been sectioned and living in a learning disability hospital before, and the social services CLDT owe your son the correct support-they shoud be doing a 117 meeting at least once every six months to make sure hes getting the right support and if not-why not and sort the lot out.

like jo said about advocacy it is something i recomend to.i found using an advocate very helpful,if your in manchester i can help you with the name of the main oen you can be refered to,and it got me listened to but i onlty got acess to a advocate because my parents were/are both suffering from advanced cancer and werent allowed to support me at the time as that woud be seen as me not needing an advocate,....however they were allowed to be part of the meeting (just not get involved). it helped that i knew my advocate very well as she also works for mencap (she used to run the mencap LGBT group i went to) but if theyre anything like in manchester these voluntary advocacy services will not help you if you as his mum involve yourself in the meeting (Ie talk duering it).

im sorry you are both having this awful treatment, sounds similar to myself and so many people i have lived with or still know.my social worker left two yearsish ago and has never been replaced since-im completely in the wrong enviroment,every day is a living nightmare for me here apart from when its a certain member of staff as they understand complex autism and LD very well.

depending on whether your son is able to interact or not,i do recomend getting your son remote counseling with a specialist LD and/or ASD service to help him cope in the time being (counsiling not CBT which is what CLDTs usauly only offer and usualy they only offer to support the three main problems when so many of us have severe complex needs and often need someone to listen to us and help us process whats going on rather than therapy) ,this had helped me a lot while waiting to get my needs met,im non verbal classic autistic with mild learning disability and i dont know who by but i was refered to 'respect for all' last year-theyre a manchester only based counseling charity for learning disabled kids, teens, adults (as you know many of us also have autism,but they also work with autism with no learning disability and pre diagnosed autistics) part of getting the funding for it is that you were found to be to complex needs for the CLDT therapist.

i comunicated over zoom threw my laptop camera with proloquo2go on my AAC device/my ipad and because of my high needs and communication difficulties i was given the most experienced counsilor, extra time each sesion and prescribed two full courses of sesions instead of one course like their fully verbal and higher functioning clients will get,if you can find a special service like this they are really worth a try for mental support while fighting the social services). i apologise for my long post i have had severe epilepsy since a toddler which has destroyed my short term memory so i waffle alot without realising. i do hope you get this sorted soon!

[learner01]

Cascaidr.org.uk are a charity that might be able to help or advise you. They are expert in legal matters to do with care.

[scarybikerpmf]

I am using a specialist solicitor (used by Mencap for training seminars) - it might be worth giving them a call to see if they can help. Renaissance Legal in Brighton. 01273 610611 Their website is: renaissancelegal.co.uk Good luck!

[Head_cook]

Irwin Mitchell’s specialists in disabilities. To apply for legal aid you have to have £3000 to get it for free, anything above that you make a % contribution depending on how much you have . They do all this. Good luck