Care Act Assessment concerns - son lives at home

[Mum2Mobi]

My son is in his late twenties, has SLD, visual impairment, epilepsy, and some ongoing health issues. His behaviour can be challenging. He has always lived at home with us. I am his Deputy for his property and financial affairs because I am trying to purchase a house for him through the HOLD scheme. As a result of Covid and some apparent management and staffing issues, he was not moved from the 'Preparing for Adulthood' social work team to Adult Services until this year. He has had little/no input from the council for several years since November 2020 other than continuation and monitoring of his Direct Payments which cover 34 hours care a week.

Nearly two years ago I had asked for Adult Social Care to review my son's support plan and give some indication of what support they would provide if he is in his own home.

Last March a temporary social worker from the Preparing for Adulthood Team visited many times and did a new Care Act Assessment. She said that he was to be transferred to an area adult team and they would look at his support plan.

He now has a new social worker in the area team. I have asked her for a copy of his Care Assessment which was done last year. She said she would have to ask her manager and I have heard nothing more.

Nothing has changed since last March regarding my son's needs. However she says she is reviewing his care assessment. She has now asked us to write a seven day diary detailing all the care, support, and prompting we and his PA's provide hour by hour, 24 hours a day.

Two questions:

(1) Can they refuse to provide us with a copy of my son's Care Act Assessment and support plan?

(2) Is it reasonable of them to ask for this hour-by hour diary? It feels harassing. It is not a person-centred approach. It is not strength-based. She has not explained why she wants it. Have any other parent carers been asked for something like this?

[CoyoteU]

Given that they have not explained what the issue is with showing you the assessment or explained why you are doing the diary yes it is not right for you to be doing this but I am really not sure what options you have left considering that they won't talk to you either.

[49Twister]

When they are an adult they are viewed completely different. Do you have Deputyship for health and well-being if you have you should be allowed. It all centres around any capacity your son has. They are regarded as having full capacity unless assessed as not having capacity. I found this out in the last few years. My son was in supported living for 10 years and pretty much regarded as having full capacity, even though I complained numerous times telling them he hasn't. Eventually he was assessed and he doesn’t have capacity for a lot of things. I would have thought you should be provided with a copy of his care plan as you were probably involved in making it. Ring them up and ask them why you haven't received one for a start, it could be that they have forgotten as communication isn't the best with their work load. Also you'd like to know why you need this diary? It's all extra work for yourself, don't be afraid to ask questions. I have Power of Attorney for my son’s Finances and Health and well being as he understands I look after his finances ( we don’t have property) and anything regarding health matters is discussed through me. If I was you I would definitely apply for Deputyship or POA for health and well-being for your son, depending on his level of capacity for this.

[Creamcrackers20]

Of course you should be provided with a care plan and asked if you agree that all is correct, it very often is flawed with wrong descriptions and you are entitled to demand they put that right. The daily diary well .... that's preposterous but do you know what .... I would do it just for the hell of it, and IF they can be bothered reading it they MAY then think how the hell is this Mum coping.

34 hours a week is a joke.

[Bookbaby6851]

From what I can see you're entitled to contribute to the assessment, agree the assessment and have a copy. Please see attached link

scie.org.uk/assessment-and-...

[Hope2222]

As social care are not cooperating I suggest you commission an Independent Social Worker. It will save a lot of stress in the long run. Be guided by the Independent Social Worker as to how to proceed. Try Vanessa Evans and her mobile number is 07554 992560 or

advancedcca.co.uk/about-us/...

[49Twister in reply to Hope2222]

I presume their is a cost involved regarding an independent social worker.

[Hope2222 in reply to 49Twister]

Yes

[natalievbailey in reply to Hope2222]

I agree I have had all social workers that have masses of issues and do not help at all in a very poor area in Buckinghamshire. People who don't help at all and take the piss.

[Chocolate-heals-all]

Hi Mobi’s Mum! What you write seems very familiar. Social workers with huge case loads and poor training. The point about the diary is that she can present that as written evidence of your son’s support requirements. A detailed care plan is central to getting appropriate support in any kind of care setting be it so-called independent living or so-called residential care or even support in any kind of day centre. So I would write it. But also write a separate document, not a diary but a “week in the life of…” which goes into detail explaining why you put in each tiny bit of support and also what happens if the support is absent. That’s also written evidence. Eventually the sw will submit the new care plan to a panel for approval.

All of these structures are theoretically in place to protect our vulnerable loved ones and to provide financial control. In practice they act as a bottleneck to stop people getting the care they need, because the local authorities are skint. Meanwhile central government are spending huge amounts of money on road expansions and vanity projects.

My son doesn’t have this. His care plan is both imprecise and inaccurate. Again, I asked to see the document that was sent to settings who were invited to “bid” for having my son in their settings as a resident (nobody has bud) but got no reply. My son currently gets dp for six hours a week but we can only spend it on the very narrow range of items that were named in the care plan. We end up not spending it because it’s really hard commissioning care that fits those guidelines. Then they claw it back every so often.

[Mum2Mobi]

Thanks for the replies. Update: I now have a copy of the assessment which was completed last March. It's very comprehensive and outlines my son's needs well. As nothing has changed I find it difficult to understand why the new social worker is asking for a diary.

I have asked his P. A.'s to write the diaries for their shifts and have said I will pay them an extra hour to cover the time it takes. I have done mine for all the hours at home and it was very time consuming, also not always possible to do it every hour, also not sure what to include. My partner has not done his and says he thinks it's wrong. The whole thing must be about 40 pages long so far.

Yes, good idea to include a letter outlining the likely consequences of not supporting/prompting/modifying and some of the context. We have set up our lives around his needs so that much of what we do (and as importantly, what we make sure we don't do) is so much part of our lives and some so nuanced that it is not documented in the diary. But some of it is in the existing assessment.

We don't have funds for an independent social worker, so that's not something we will pursue atm. But thank you everyone for your thoughts.