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Liabilty and Autism

sevenofnine

Hi all, I have a 10 year old son with ASD, ADHD and learning difficulties. He attends a specialist ASD school. This school operates a policy where the parents are liable to pay for any damage to property that he does and he can also be reported to the police for any physical violence. I refused to sign the form stating that I understand this. I've been looking into the law and am shocked to find that this would be upheld. However the school would be put under the microscope within a court of law. I do not understand why his medical conditions would not be taken into consideration and the fact that whilst in a volatile state where he loses control he relies on adult supervision. I have joined NAS and am considering taking out public liabilty insurance but I understand that this would be void in school since they already have insurance. I've reached a point where I feel that if I am going to made responsible and accountable for my son's actions whilst he is not in my care then I may as well home educate. He will be shielded from any repercussions due to the actions caused by his medical conditions. I was hoping to find him in an environment where adults behave like adults and take responsibilty and just do their jobs. It seems that everything that occurs in school the fallout lands on the parents and child. As a nurse of ten years Iooking after patients with various conditions I have been on the receiving end of physical violence. Dumping this on the relatives or calling the police would never have been an option. I fail to understand how a child with a number of medical conditions which effect his brain can be held so accountable whilst in the care of a specialist provision. I would apreciate any advice regarding the best course of action should we find ourselves in such a position of going to court or dealing with the police. I always like to be prepared.

Kind regards and thank you for reading.

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Comments

Blue Frog

Hi @sevenofnine I'm sure one of the advisors will be along very soon to offer some advice, but I have never ever heard of a situation like that. It is absolutely dreadful and really cannot be right!! I hope you get something sorted out soon x

Hippo_Rugby

sounds like massive duty of care failings to me! There will also be the issue of Criminal Responsibility and your child's ability to understand what they are doing is wrong! I would seek legal advice and write a letter to your educational authority to confirm the situation in writing! When you ask them to put it in writing things often change!..

I found this https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4503818/

Hope it helps.

Philip

Talk about being stuck between a rock & a hard place

howiemailer

It seems your son may have a history of causing damage to property or hurting someone when he is confused, distressed or anxious. As this is part of his condition it makes no sense that you should be liable. I assume that his place is funded by the LEA. So this would seem to be an issue between the school as providers and the LEA as commissioners of the service. Most ASD providers would expect additional damage and build this into their fee structure. If you can get any support from ASD specialists to identify that his problems with emotional regulation are an aspect of his ASD this would assist your case. I would expect a specialist ASD school to have made reasonable provision for the greater likelihood of damage in their fee structure.

ScopeHelpline

Hello sevenofnine ,

Really sorry for the delay in responding to your post.

We have not heard of this situation before, and can understand your concern about signing such a form. If you haven't already sought specialist legal advice you can contact the Child Law advice service http://childlawadvice.org.uk/clas/contact-child-law-advice/ tel. 0300 3305485 for guidance.

Best Wishes,

Scope helpline

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