Parents and Council Working Together to Find Solutions for Foxgloves
Friday 15th October
2010
On Friday 8th October a meeting was
held between the parents of children who use the Foxgloves respite
facilities, Cllr David Sawyer, Portfolio Holder for Children’s
Services and Council Officers. The meeting followed the start of a
consultation process to consider how respite services could be
provided differently in the future for children with complex and
challenging needs. Each family has been offered the opportunity to
meet with Council Officers to discuss their individual family
needs.
Cllr David Sawyer said: “It was a really
positive and constructive meeting and I hope that many of the
worries of the parents were laid to rest. One of the positives to
come out of this is that both sides will improve communication with
each other and the Council will look to involve parents more in the
decisions about their children’s support. We have established a
parent / officer working group to put forward suggestions and
consider a wide range of options; this is what ‘empowering
communities’ is all about, enabling families to re-design services
to meet the needs of local people.
“There has been much said about what might
happen to Foxgloves and the impact on the families that use it and
sadly some of it hasn’t been factually accurate. As a Council we
have many difficult decisions to take at the moment but some things
are clear:
· The individual
care for each of the children is what is of utmost importance, as
well as the support for their families
· The focus of this
consultation is to make sure that all the children, and their
families, get the continuing support that they need, clearly this
has to be within an agreed resource allocation
· The continuing
service will be developed with the parents and staff considering a
whole range of different packages of support based on the
individual needs of each family
David Cavanagh, Organiser of the Save the
Foxgloves Campaign, said after the meeting: “We are delighted the
council has expressed its 100% commitment to ongoing overnight
respite care. We are pleased that the council has decided to
develop services within the borough learning from the experience of
the families, and also by enlisting aid from professionals with
decades of expertise in the complex range of learning and physical
disabilities experienced by the children attending Foxgloves.
“We are delighted also that conversations are
being had with Central Bedfordshire to resolve the issue of parents
from that area who have experienced much deserved long term support
and respite from Foxgloves, and that the council are committed to
creating a better system of support for families and young adults
approaching or within the Transition process”.
“We are satisfied that the council is sincere
in it’s proposal to first consult with parents before potentially
dramatic shifts in care or policy are published digitally or in
print. The parents, for their part, are happy to take part in the
consultation process and assist in steering borough policy towards
a greener, more economic, sustainable - which makes the very best
of those invaluable human assets already in its employ - and above
all, fit for purpose solution to the present and future care
requirements of the severely learning disabled and their
parents/carers within the area.”
Cllr Sawyer concluded: “Throughout this
process each family will have dedicated time to discuss their
individual situation and nothing will happen to Foxgloves until we
are mutually satisfied with the provision for each child and their
family.”
“It has become clear, even at this early stage
in the consultation, that there will be some children for whom
overnight respite care is likely to be the only answer. We will
make sure that when this is known to be the case then there will be
appropriate respite care made available for all Bedford Borough
users of Foxgloves.”
“This change is driven by a need to find
savings but is focused on a need to protect the vulnerable in our
community and to provide the best possible outcomes.”