Hi everyone I Could really do with help and advice about supported living my daughter is being put into it and dont know where to start

[JandD123]

Supported living

[JandD123]

My daughter has complex needs and challenging behaviour and her residential placement is breaking down and the authorities are talking about placing her into support living and I am feel this not right for her as she has a very low capacity of understanding and is very vulnerable but can I refuse .I would appreciate any help or advice please to where I stand.

[Sallyyana in reply to JandD123]

Hi sorry to hear things are breaking down. My son was in residential first as I thought supported living wasn’t right for him. I soon realised residential wasn’t right for him. My son is now in supported living and how wrong I was to think supported living would not meet his needs. He is fully supported and has amazing opportunities he is always out and goes to great places and has numerous holidays. He is so happy. Hope this helps😊

[FELTSPAR in reply to Sallyyana]

Hi Sallyana,

May I ask, who is proving this service for your son?

[JandD123 in reply to FELTSPAR]

Thank you for that I gives me some comfort do you know who his provider was. As at the minute I am looking at the provider IBC and I am told that it will probably areas in Nottinghamshire areas .

[JandD123 in reply to JandD123]

I'm also finding the whole process quite scary as I am worried if I make the wrong decisions the impact it will have on my daughter and her future as this will be her 7th placement and I want it to be her forever home.

[White25 in reply to Sallyyana]

which provider are you with for your child, I am interested please.

[Steve__ in reply to JandD123]

Good luck! If there is as not yet been a best interests meeting (the time where stuff is decided), I'd suggest getting lots of advice on how to get the best out of that well in advance. I'm not an expert, but maybe Mencap or other online sources can provide. Some (?!) Authorities prefer SL on cost grounds, so I'd personally want to know their care-based reasons, other possible solutions not needing SL, and if the named SL provider is solid and respected...

You might need to clarify in advance exactly when the best interests meeting will be... It's not always well clarified in advance... LAs very in their willingness to be transparent.

Reference to the Care Act can sometimes help... The start spells out duty to provide wellbeing on certain criteria.

If there's a cqc review/rating for a provider, that's worth a close read!

Wishing you the best with this.

Steve

[BenjiB]

when we were looking for my son we were put in touch with the placement team at our local council. I gave them a list of important things. One of those things was it had to be residential and not supported living. I didn’t want the faff of having to get appointeeship to sign the lease and worrying about paying bills etc.

Yes 100% you should be involved in choosing the right placement for your child. I rejected loads of the ones I was sent to consider.

[JandD123 in reply to BenjiB]

Thank you I will look into this further as I have been referred at the minute to a signpost scriber service and they are look at trying to put me in touch with the service power for advocacy.

[jollyfarmer in reply to JandD123]

Hi all,I'm in a similar position with this. S Care do not put parents/ carers in touch with the LA's placement team. How do you get signposted to a subscriber service to get in touch with service providers please ? I have asked SC for an advocate but no response. Would welcome any suggestions !

[JandD123 in reply to jollyfarmer]

Hi It was my Gp that referred me

I didn't even know about them and what they could help with.

[jollyfarmer in reply to JandD123]

Ok, thank you

[Mybestfriends in reply to jollyfarmer]

Dorset Advocacy, or ask Gp. We are seeing if our adult Son can live independently again, but if he has troubles eg neighbours because of Meltdowns that he has, noise shouting of course ASDc, Schizophrenia , DD, D, ADHD. He is going to be noisey. Then we will also be looking to move him into Supported. Will want an Advocate then ourselves.

[BenjiB in reply to jollyfarmer]

I was in contact with the placement team throughout the whole process. Maybe it varies from LA to LA. They phoned and we had a long conversation about what we did and didn’t want. Once we’d chosen a placement and assessment had been carried out they even advocated for us as the placement is super expensive over £5k per week.

We did originally find a placement ourselves which fell through last minute which is when the placement team became involved. I just googled and found places I liked the look of. I then followed up with an email and phone all and if suitable I arranged visits myself.

[jollyfarmer in reply to BenjiB]

Hi, Thanks for responding, It must be that it varies from LA to LA ! I will ask again to speak to the placement team

[MontyCat]

Hi, I think it is true that services (and effectiveness) varies from local authority to local authority. We had a rather negative experience with my daughter (significant learning disability and poor communication/self-advocacy skills, so very vulnerable). I felt that certain "professionals" were working to their own agenda (convenience over care) and, despite initial assurances that nothing is set in stone, it was a struggle to extricate her. I would strongly advise that you trust your own judgement above those of people who do not know your child, ask as many questions as you feel you need to and don't be afraid to tackle sensitive issues or worry that your questions will be derided - you are advocating for them and you need to feel sure the choice of placement is right. Be wary of advocacy services that are foisted on you - make sure they are seeking your child's views and not playing to another agenda. Visit places, talk to staff and if possible people living their or their family members. We can never be sure we have made the right decision, and your child may actually have preferences you don't support, but we can only strive to make the "best fit". Good luck.

[JandD123 in reply to MontyCat]

Can I ask sorry what is the placement team and is this part of the local authorities?

[BenjiB in reply to JandD123]

the placement team will send out a pen picture of your young person to all those places that have vacancies. In our case we said we want residential, preferably near a beach and not on a road. These details were then used to narrow the search. When the team got a reply that they could meet need the team sent the details onto us and if we felt it was a possibility we visited.

[MontyCat]

I have no idea. We were involved with the Social Services Transition Team. Perhaps other LA's have different team structures within their Adult Social Care department?

[Maurice_Mencap Partner]

Hi JandD123 , thanks for your message - I can see the community have been really responsive with replying - thank you everyone! I hope you've found the responses helpful.

If you require further support, the advisers on our Learning Disability Helpline would be happy to help. You can reach them on 0808 808 1111 or on [e-mail].

[JandD123 in reply to Maurice_Mencap]

Hi MauriceThank you I will get in touch