Both sides of the fence

Well this week i`ve heard views from both sides of the fence !!
I had brunch at the beginning of the week with two friends ,one who`s son left education this year and the other who`s son is on the transition journey.
All though my friends son`s care package has now "settled Down " and she is some what happier at the moment, she said how it had been the worst 12 months of her life .. the stress and tribulations that the whole process had caused her and her family whilst caring for a severely disabled child was immeasurable.
My other friend is just embarking on the Transition journey and even though already only 2 years in is finding the whole process stressful on the whole family.
The one thing they both have in common is that they are finding that using Direct Payments gives them such flexibility in how and when they arrange for personal assistants to come into the home and share some of the day -to-day care routine.But both find this has good and bad points with relation to them being an employer and responsibilities that this entails like hire and firing staff ,the paper work side of wages and time sheets..so you need to be able to do simple book keeping skills so this may not suit everyone , but it is my understanding that your local council or disability living centre would be able to help with this.
Then later in the week I met up with an employee of the councils education department, and was pleased to hear from her that things are better than they have been in previous years and that Transition is an area that the authorities are trying hard to address ,so in these times of small budgets and cut backs this is encouraging.

Reebok Stadium

Date For Your Diary...
On Thursday this week ,that's 24th November 2011, There is an exhibition called "Kidz up North" being held at the Reebok Stadium at Bolton.
It is free entry and is host to lots of company's with information from mobility equipment to toys to funding ,so something for everyone.
The exhibition is open from 9.30am - 4.30pm ..see you there :)
For more information visit www.kidzupnorth.co.uk

Children in Need

Last night I watched the "Children in Need Rocks Manchester " on the T.V. It is absolutely fantastic that celebrities will give their time and talent to help raise much needed money to help fund much needed support to families of children with disabilities or hardship.Most of the services we have become to depend on and love would not be able to function or exist without such support .. THANK YOU Sir Terry Wogan for starting this most worthwhile cause and long may the public keep it close to their hearts as I do... xx

Continuing Care

A few days ago I was asked for advice about continuing care.
This subject has lots of grey areas ,it can vary from council to council what packages are available and what criteria has to be met by service users.
Packages and criteria can vary from England and what you can expect to receive in Wales or Scotland so you need to check what your area and council would be willing to provide it is not the same across the board.
Even though Ageuk is associated with elderly members of the community, I have found an informative website www.ageuk.org.uk when you go onto the website on the left hand side look for "LA assessment for community care services" which will take you to a PDF 337KB this has a lot of information relating to continuing care, the information should apply to any adult person over the age of 18 years.
Your local Social Services are responsible for an assessment of your needs which will look at Community care services, Respite ,Day care.
Your Local Authority has the power to give people control of services to suite their individual needs via Direct Payments.

11-11-11

Well I think today my focus is on Remembrance Day.
We should reflect on all those who gave the ultimate price,those who lost their lives not only for their country but to give us today the freedom that we enjoy and the freedom of speech that we can have our say in matters that affect our lives .

Someone to ask

Last night I attended our local church for the "All Souls Service" ,this is held every year to remember family,loved ones and friends ... the faithful departed.The service took a path which interested me , it went as this .....The minister recited this tale of a mother whose child was ill and dyeing,she was asking everyone in her village what medicine could save her precious child and her answer was always ...none !! until she asked one person who said " that is simple ,ground mustard seed ... but you must get the seed from a house which has not been touched by the sad passing of a loved one ".So the mother set off and soon found that everyone she asked had lost a partner , spouse ,parent , child or loved one ...... there was too be no medicine and the child died.In her sadness though she knew that there were others who too had lost and she found comfort from those.But there was a vital lesson to be learnt and it was this .... that you are not alone in the pain and this got me thinking about all situations in life "you are not alone " !!!
And this is what I am trying to achieve by writing this blog that no matter how hard or hopeless the situation seems you do not have to cope alone , someone will have faced this challenge before and there will always be someone to ask for advice, and as my blog progresses this is what I hope to achieve.

Back to Transition Matters

What prompted me to start this blog was the conversation with a  friend whose child had left full time Special Needs Education this summer, and when the children went back to school in September, not all the adult services that would care for ,support and help this young person to live as much as possible an independent life with their family were in place.
Transition starts when the pupil in special education is 14 years of age ,the idea being that by the time they reach 19 years of age and move into adult services that all the relavent needs are in place.When we were in this situation 7 years ago ,things were not fully in place then and it seems the situation has not improved.
But today I have been speaking to a friend whose son is 16 years old and they have not yet had a Transition Meeting at all ,parents and carers can not ask for help with something they are not aware of.It is a most stressful time and the tendancie to want to" bury your head in the sand" is very real ... but the reality is that this state of "Transition " has to be addressed ... it will not go away ... and to leave it is the worst thing that you can do because the 19th birthday will come around sooner than you will believe and things need to be in place ,you need to go through your options ,see what is available in your area and it will vary from council to council.
I hope by putting my experience out there that it will in some way inspire parents /carers to find out and look what is available to the most precious person in your life :)