Why A Blog About Cyngor #Gwynedd Council ?

I feel it is time for a recap of the events that led to this blog being created.

The 2010 Independent Investigation - with all points upheld - was highly critical of Gwynedd SS and their management team in their treatment of an autistic child. But the recommendations of the Report were not acted upon and the child and family were ignored.

Our local MP, Liz Savile Roberts was contacted for help but her very good friend at the council, Marian Parry Hughes, intervened and Liz then ignored our request for a meeting to provide her with our evidence. Liz has continued to ignore our correspondence.

At the time, the child was on a CIN plan managed by a social worker whose attitude beggared belief, culminating in the social worker not bothering to turn up for a review of the child's case. A meeting that he, himself, had organised with parents and a teacher, letting them all down and wasting everybody's time.

A complaint was raised about his behaviour and that of the Head of Services. To say it was dealt with badly is an understatement and a Stage 2 complaint repeatedly refused. (The Ombudsman has since recommended that ALL officers involved in the complaint be given re-training in the Statutory Complaints procedure)

So I began to blog the story of how Gwynedd Council have behaved.

I have been careful to name only those officers who have behaved badly and deliberately not named one manager whom, I believe, had her arm twisted by more senior managers to misrepresent the Investigation of the censoring and mishandling of personal information and the Council's own data breach.

Gwynedd Adult services were recently lambasted by the Ombudsman for how they treated a young, autistic man. This case was only brought to the Ombudsman's attention because the Complaints department had refused to accept their complaint, also.
 
If those named would like the right to reply they have only to contact me. I am also willing to consider and/or publish their version of events if they so wish.

I would also like to thank those who have supported the family in our attempt to access services for 'high functioning' autistics and those children that continue to fall between the gaps in services.

Cyngor #Gwynedd Breaching Human Rights Of The Disabled.

Gwynedd council's Care and Scrutiny Committee held a meeting last week, 13th September, mainly to receive the adult and children's Reports presented by the departments.

The recorded meeting can be found here - both in Welsh and English.
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/372242

The last 30 minutes of the meeting are the most passionate where councillors appear to challenge officers presenting the Report on the lack of support and services for those with 'high functioning' autism and my thanks to all those councillors who challenged the officers and their Reports. We are grateful.

How many times have councillors heard officers say the same thing - things are progressing, things are in the pipeline, blah blah blah - for how many years ?

I urge the councillors not to fall for the emotional blackmail of the officers saying that other disabled children would miss out and receive a poorer service if children with Autism without a Learning Disability were supported.

It is the politics of fear and quite depressing to hear these comments from senior managers in the 'care' field.

We believe that ALL children with issues whether physical or neurodevelopmental are important.

The 2018 Ombudsman for Wales Investigation Report  into our complaint against Gwynedd council makes reference to Grants being available to the council and so how can the Departments use money now as an excuse ?

Gwynedd is a large county with a small population. There can not be that many children with Autism who are considered 'high functioning' with needs.
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There was back slapping a plenty and much praise for the recently published  Inspection Report by the Care Inspectorate for Wales (CIW).

But I was hoping for the Care Scrutiny Committee to raise the issues of the other Reports that have recently been published, too.

From the Independent Investigation presented to the council in October, 2017, which was so very critical of the Children and Family Department.

The Ombudsman for Wales Report in April, 2018 highlighting Maladministration and service failure by the Children and Family Support Department covered the period between 2010 until 2016.

There is also the June, 2018 Report of the Data Breach and the Children and Family Department's mishandling of personal information - see previous post.

The Ombudsman is currently investigating the council for undue interference in a 'Independent' Investigation and has been given evidence of very poor behaviour by council officers and senior managers.

And has anyone sighted the Ombudsman's Report dated 4th July, 2018 ?
http://www.lukeclements.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ombudsman-Gwynedd-Council-report-201700388.pdf

In point 69 of that report the Ombudsman for Wales writes -

"69. - In my view, these failings not only caused Mr A a significant injustice but also impacted upon Article 8 of his Human Rights.

 However, I have decided that the finding I have made of maladministration is so clear and so serious that to consider the human rights issues further would add little value to my analysis or to the outcome.I have therefore decided to say no more about that."

The Ombudsman also kindly provides a description of Autism for Gwynedd's Service officers and managers and other comments highlight issues within Gwynedd Council relating to ASD.

"A lifelong developmental disability which affects a person’s social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour. The characteristics of ASD vary, with some people finding it hard to understand other people’s emotions and some with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour".

"....The Council’s available ASD information, including its strategic plan for ASD services, particularly services for those with high functioning ASD, are limited....."

"Additionally, the Council’s failure to ensure that its officers receive appropriate ASD training and have an ASD strategy in place places not only Mr A, but other service users in its area at risk of having services cut or stopped because the reviewing officers do not understand the effects of ASD or there is nothing suitable available."

 

There appears to be a pattern of behaviour within Gwynedd council to see the disabled and the most vulnerable as 'low hanging fruit' and to deny and remove support in an attempt to save money. 

In our case the boy is soon to be a man, but social workers have already told us that he will not be eligible for support from adult services (even before an assessment by adult services) and that there are no services for 'Vulnerable Adults' or autistic adults (or children) in this area.

  

And where is the Children and Family's Annual Complaint handling Report ?

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council.

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Gwynedd Council Stage 2 Complaint - 8 Months Today.

Today marks 8 (eight) calendar months since a stage 2 complaint was raised against Cyngor Gwynedd council on the advice of the Ombudsman for Wales.

Two months were lost due to the original Independent Investigator meeting with an accident and so was unable to continue.

Six months then in a process that should, according to the council's own Statutory Policy, be completed in 25 working days.

#Gwynedd council were handed the Independent Investigator's Report at the end of October.

So where is the Report ?

Complaint Against Gwynedd Council - 6 Of 6.

The customer care and complaints department at Cyngor Gwynedd council continue to remain silent in regard to our complaint first raised in May, last year on the advice of the Ombudsman for Wales.

So this is the sixth and final point of our Stage 2 complaint  -

Despite repeated requests, (complainants) have never been offered a carers assessment by social services.

And our desired outcome -

The complainants seek a Carers Assessment to be undertaken and completed by Gwynedd County Council.

I am reminded that we had to ask Sian Gwenllian, #Plaid_Cymru AM for Arfon for help in getting the Children and Family department to respond to our request for a carer's assessment, last year.
It took Marian Parry Hughes, Department Head of Children and Family services three months to respond to the AM....

"...we had responded to the family's lawyer, by letter from Sharron Carter, Senior Operational Manager, dated March 27th setting out the reasons for not offering a carer's assessment to (Mother)"

The solicitor states this letter was never received.
More detail on this from an earlier post -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/gwynedd-department-head-finally.html

This child has a diagnosis of Autism, PDA and the council itself has made reference to the childs 'complex needs'.

Marian Parry Hughes goes on -

"This response was sent following consultation with our legal department. Consideration was given to the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2000 when considering our response...

 ...(childs) needs does not make him eligible to receive a care and support plan, and (...) did not reach the cirteria to be considered as a disabled child/young person under the Equality Act. Therefore, since the Act specifies that a carer's assessment is offered to carers of a disabled adult or child, we were not in a position to assess (mother) as a carer..."
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 Where is the Independent Report ?

 




                                   













 

                                                   

Do Gwynedd Council Play The Blame Game Too ?

I include this article on the blog to highlight the problems SEND parents face in other areas of England and Wales.
It mirrors some of the problems I have experienced with my dealings with Cyngor Gwynedd Council and the Children and Family Support (?) department.


Recently on SNJ's Facebook page, someone accused us of being too hard on local authorities who were 'trying their best'. Actually, I know first hand that many, many people working in LAs really are working diligently and with very large caseloads. I would encourage parents who have had a good experience to tell us about it, so we can herald good practice.

However - there's always a however, unfortunately - too often parents are still being told the wrong information or LAs are not playing by the rules (i.e, the law). Too many in SEND and in social care departments are still behaving as if the Children and Families Act was just a bad dream, best ignored. This is very perplexing to me as the law is clear to read and to follow, so what's happening to make compliance a bonus rather than the minimum expected?

Recently, I heard about something happening to a number of families regarding attempts to get social care help, that needs to be highlighted. Hopefully those who ARE doing good work in LAs can make sure it doesn't happen in their departments.

Nathan Davies of solicitors HCB, has written to explain what, in his experience, has been happening.

Threatened with care proceedings after asking for support...

It is common, in my experience, for parents of children with autism to feel that concerns expressed to local authority professionals are often discarded, or that there is a distinct lack of understanding of the condition itself. This leads to disputes and disagreements between the parties. These issues tend to arise once parents have realised that they cannot continue without extra support or an alternative placement be sourced for their son or daughter. The request being made is often the trigger point for intervention in some form by the authority; usually via its social services department.
The prevalence of social services intervention has steadily risen in recent times. In practice, the possibility of it being initiated by the authority remains on the increase, despite this being a highly controversial, and often inappropriate, tactic.

Your word against theirs

The problem parents in this position face is that it is often their word against that of school staff or local authority professionals and  that is never a good starting position. The root issue however, is the aforementioned lack of understanding of the condition itself.  Those on the high-functioning end of spectrum often present very differently across a variety of settings. The fact that a child presents as very shy and reserved in school and then explodes into one exhibiting challenging behaviour at home, is very hard for some professionals to fathom and can lead to them questioning parenting ability.
Parents struggling to cope and requiring additional support in the family home, are often deterred by the threat of intense scrutiny and criticism by social services. The possibility of raising child protection issues or launching even care proceedings (in extreme cases) are tools local authorities are increasingly using, especially during these times of austerity and public sector cuts. But cuts can in no way be an excuse for such unnecessarily heavy-handed approaches being employed.

Nathan Davies

Professional guidelines

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) has guidelines relating to standards of conduct, performance and ethics each registrant must uphold (this includes social workers). One of the pillars of practice is for the professional to ‘work within the limits of their knowledge and skills’. Given this, it is fundamental to ensure that each professional is appropriately trained and/or knowledgeable to a reasonable degree in autism to discharge their duties to the child and family appropriately.
If this is not done, one cannot expect a proper assessment of their social care needs to be undertaken; thereby polluting the entire process. Without such understanding of the condition, the HCPC guidelines specify that the matter should be referred to another practitioner if what the chid needs would be beyond the scope of their practice but this is rarely, if ever, done. It cannot be emphasised enough how important this is, especially when it is a requirement for each HCPC registrant to ‘promote and protect the interests of service users and carers’.
Below are some anonymised case examples which show how these strategies are being used by local authorities throughout the UK:

Case Study 1:

This concerned parents in England of a child with high-functioning ASD. Given her high-achievements at school, the child had attended mainstream school well into her teenage life (without an EHCP). Even when concerns were raised over challenging behaviour in the home as a result of her inability to cope at school, these were immediately treated as the parents over-exaggerating the child’s difficulties, even after they had secured a diagnosis for her from a multi-disciplinary team in the private sector.
The local authority, when requested to assess her additional learning needs, took action; they proceeded with social services intervention, a flawed and malicious assessment and subsequently placed the child on the Child Protection Register.  After seeking legal advice, the family challenged the authority, ultimately leading to a retraction. The child has now been issued with an EHCP with the SEN Tribunal agreeing that a specialist ASD placement be named.

Case Study 2:

This related to a family in South Wales, who again experienced great difficulties with their local authority.  The child had a diagnosis of Pathological Demand Avoidance but the parents had been unsuccessful in securing a specialist placement for their son via the Tribunal process, with the assistance of an advocate.
Given the extreme levels of aggressive behaviour in the home environment (and his inability access a school at all), it was imperative for the authority to accommodate the child, pursuant to section 20 of the Children Act 1989. The authority did so, but thereafter sought to target the family with a variety of unfounded allegations, unlawful s.47 investigations and blame for the child’s behaviour was attributed to perceived ‘bad parenting’, a manifestly unreasonable position to hold.
These issues were appropriately resolved in the parents' favour, who were issued with a comprehensive and unreserved apology from the director of social services. The child now attends a suitable local provision and is thriving.

We need to be aware...

Unfortunately, scenarios such as the above are becoming more common and intimidation of parents who are simply trying to get help for their child is often difficult for many to comprehend. Parents being penalised or vilified for seeking support for their disabled child is not right in any society, yet it appears that in 21^st century Britain this is perfectly acceptable in some LAs. Awareness of this issue being made known to the public can only help parents in similar situations.

Nathan Davies, Education Law Solicitor

 https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/social-care-tactics-send-problem-parents/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork