attorney

[Sallyyana]

Does anyone have any advice on becoming attorney for health and welfare. I have a 23yr old son who lacks capacity. Is this something i should have ?

[Eeviee]

hi there. Yes I would suggest it is something you should have. Even if you don’t need it immediately you may do so in the future and it takes some time to get. It covers things like where your son would live and all aspects of his healthcare. You can do it yourself. You don’t need a solicitor as they will charge a lot for what is effectively form filling especially if you have other family members who can act as deputies as well. Good luck

[Sallyyana in reply to Eeviee]

Thank you

[Eeviee in reply to Sallyyana]

To be clear when a person has never had capacity they cannot create an “attorney “ as in a power of attorney. I was talking about being a deputy under the court of protection which is the correct term in these circumstances. It creates a legal responsibility which MUST be recognised by any body caring for our children. I appreciate that many commentators here say it is not needed for them “ at the moment” but that is the reason to get it done. Things always change and we as parents get older. We need to make provision for our children and the earlier we put it in place the better. My son’s brother is a deputy fir him as well as us parents. In the future we can also bring in other family members more easily as the deputyship has already been established.

[BenjiB]

My son is 24 and lacks capacity. He lives in a residential setting. We don’t have deputyship. So far we haven’t felt it was needed . We are fully involved in his day to day life and any decisions regarding health have been made with our input. I’m fully aware this could change but so far we haven’t felt it necessary. If you do a search there are quite a few posts with lots of good advice on the subject.

[Sallyyana in reply to BenjiB]

Thanks

I didn’t think I would need it.

As yes best interest meetings would allow a decision to be made. It’s just that the care manager suggested to me following a meeting as myself and husband didn’t want our son to have anymore covid boosters and she said the local authority once they had the figures of all clients could enforce it

[1946timmy in reply to Sallyyana]

my son lacks capacity is about to move into supported living so far we are ok with me being his appointee for his finances. No one is forcing him to have another Covid booster .

[BenjiB in reply to Sallyyana]

yes we had that issue. The initial first two made him so ill. He was at a residential college at the time. I also know my son and know that there is no way in hell he’d let someone jab him. It’s bad enough brushing his teeth. So I know he was probably tricked or his arm held. When he moved to the new residential house I said I didn’t want him to have anymore and the manager said unless he willingly held his arm out no one would be holding him to do it and they’d take that as his refusal as he’s non verbal. So thankfully he’s had no more. Unfortunately though when it comes to some health decisions, even if you have deputyship, you can still be over ruled if it’s felt to be in his best interests. Also the application is regularly unsuccessful. We were asked by our solicitor when going through an education tribunal if we wanted them to do it but at that point we’d already spent over £30k on the appeal and couldn’t spend any more. You can do it yourself though.

[TPrider]

All info would be at the office of public guardian. Lacking capacity means a person cannot be given power of attorney, you can though effectively be made guardian. It is a lot of responsibility though with a multitude of checks and balances.

Sadly, with many authorities, it means not a lot. Social Service departments don't like being led by attorney's or guardians, they resist. Though I suspect they cannot do it in this case, with my daughter they just declare she has capacity when they want her to make 'their' decision. Once they do that with their secret assessments that only they are at, I am out of the equation completely and then, when they need me to do something they don't want to do, suddenly, she doesn't have capacity to do that so I am expected to do it.

I've a massive complaint going through the ombudsman right now for the neglect and abuse we have received as a family from social services. BUT ... get the legal status anyway. Even if everything goes OK now they can rapidly change. Care Homes get sold or new management take over and everything stable suddenly isn't.