PIP and capacity for learning disabled young adult

Reasonstobecheerful

Help, I'm struggling. My daughter is 20 and has Autism, learning difficulties and significant problems communicating and understanding language. She has an Ehcp and gets a PIP. I didn't realise I could act as her Appointee until I just googled it. She is an adopted person and has been in our care since early years. Lately she has started experimenting with drugs. She cannot get a job due to her learning disability and we are now very concerned that what PIP money she has is going towards her addiction. I would value any advice on how we can monitor or at least control how her money is being used as she has no other income apart from her disability PIP. We are terrified she is going to damage herself or OD as she just doesn't have the capacity to understand how dangerous taking drugs are and cannot self regulate behaviours. I believe drug dealers are targeting vulnerable young people like her. I am pretty sure her bank will insist they cannot do anything without her permission and I suspect she will not allow me to change how her funding is received. I'm so sad as she told me she feel like an alien and drugs help her to feel normal. Any advice would be appreciated. thank you. :

anisty

https://pcls.org.uk/about/#



Have a listen to podcast number 2 (i think it is) which talks about dwp appointee and guardianship very comprehensively.


Podcasts numbers 1 and 2 are both well worth a listen.


Although this is about the process in Scotland - there is an equivalent process for England and Wales and these podcasts certainly explain the different ways you can best protect your young person.

anisty

Ps - when you open the link, select "latest" and the podcasts are there.

poppy123456

You can ring PIP to ask to become her appointee. She will need to agree to this too and they will want to visit you both at home to put the appointeeship in place.

You say she's not claiming any other benefits. Is she a student?

Reasonstobecheerful

@anisty thank you so much for the link to these podcasts, they are incredibly helpful, although it sounds from Podcast 2 that the financial side of guardianship is hugely painful and requires insurance.. but that's the bit that we are worried about for her. I have to make all her doctors/dentists appointments, everything that manages her needs on a day-to-day basis.. she cannot advocate for herself although is able to go into a shop and buy snacks or food and alcohol she wants.

@poppy123456 She is in a 'Supported Internship' course which is deemed as education, although it includes a morning a week work experience at a local hotel. Unfortunately it is from this course of other young learning disabled people, that she met a young lad who is a drug user who introduced her to the world of drugs and they have been using together after college. It is deeply concerning. I am not getting through to her at all as to the dangers of what she's doing. Ketamine and Cannabis being their drugs of choice. It's terrifying as her parent to stand by and see this happening to her. She is already having bladder problems because of the ket and we have been to see a Urologist who warned her that if she doesn't stop she may lose her bladder entirely. It can also kill. 

anisty

We are going through the guardianship process for our 24yr old son, @Reasonstobecheerful. One thing i thought was really useful to bear in mind mentioned in the podcasts is that capacity is not graded as an all or nothing - to think of it as an A to Z.

Some people will need every single decision A through Z made for them. Others can manage A to X themselves and only need help Y and Z.

Our son is autistic and can make lots of decisions himself. He can go into shops and buy a sandwich or some snacks. He can express loads of choices about what he wants to do - but, like your daughter, he is vulnerable.


I have appointeeship in place for his DWP so we are only applying for welfare powers. The powers we are seeking would be ideal for you in your situation - it will allow us to say who our son can and cannot socialise with, restrict internet use, say where he is to live and many other things.

We must always act in his best interests and encourage his independence, whist keeping him safe.


So there are 2 kinds of powers to apply for - welfare and/or financial. Because it must be the least restrictive option for the young person,  dwp appointee is considered to be working well for us so we are only going for welfare.


If you enter 'guardianship' into the search bar on this forum, you will be able to read about my current journey as well as posts from other parents living in England going through the same.


The application sounds daunting but really isnt if you appoint a solicitor as they do the whole lot for you.


It is acceptable to pay legal fees from the adult's benefits - certainly sounds worth consulting a solicitor to see what you need.

Does she have a social worker?