Completely ignored by social care

Judithb

I have a 24 year old son who is non-verbal autistic with learning disabilities and wondered has anybody heard anything from social care during the lockdown period. It strikes me that we have been completely ignored, nobody has rung us to ask how we are and how he is coping with the situation. I realise that there is nothing they can do about the predicament we currently find ourselves in but my son is vulnerable and nobody seems to care about him

Ails

@Judithb and welcome to the Community.  It's nice to meet you.  I'm really sorry to hear that you have been ignored by social care during the lock-down period and can appreciate how upsetting this must be for you and how worried you are about your son.  I think everything at the moment has been impacted by the current Coronavirus situation and there are no face to face appointments or home visits for people.  Maybe if you give the duty social worker a call and express your concern that nobody has even phoned you with regards to your son then maybe they could provide you with regular phone calls until home visits are set up again.  Just a thought.  It maybe worthwhile mentioning this to your GP also so he is aware of the situation and can make sure that social care have more contact with you too.

There are members of the forum also who have children with Autism and members who have Autism themselves so you may find it helpful to chat to other parents with children with Autism on here for support too.  I'm also including a link to the National Autistic Society website who would also be able to support your son and you and provide you with advice/information also, if you want to have a look -

https://www.autism.org.uk/

Please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on and chat to us anytime also as there will always be someone on here to listen.  We are here to support both of you and if we can do anything at all to help you then please just say.  All the best. 

Adrian_Scope

Hello @Judithb. How are you and your son getting on? 

Cress

I have a 37 year old with autisim, learning difficulties and epilepsy.
He has no support by choice, but got in touch to find out if there was anything they could offer..originally told he may be able to go on a cookery course and maybe some respite through adult placement in the coming September. 

Now been told that none of these services will be available until some time in 2021...

By which time he'll no doubt change his mind again.
It beggars belief ...you're just supposed to get on with it...my son just does not understand.

Hope you manage to get some help for your son.
Best wishes x

Topkitten

I don't know if it's any worse now than usual but I've had 25 referrals to Social Care in the last 2 years and all have been ignored. The referrals were from ambulance crews, police doing safety checks, A&E and even 1 from my GP (who do almost nothing for me).

Hope things improve for you.

TK

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Judithb, how are you doing today?

cupcake88

Can I ask what social Care is ? I’m under a mental health team and usually a nurse and a support worker would look after me but I just have a nurse who can’t really do much because of covid which is a real shame I’m really sorry that no one had at least contacted you . 

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community I am really sorry to heat about lack of contact from social care, and I hope they get in touch soon. Do you have any specific person who deals with your sons case or is it just a random 

I would have thought with the relaxation of lockdown the services would solon be up and running good luck hope you hear something soon

forgoodnesssake

I think your situation is all too common.  I am on a number of FB groups for parents of disabled children/adults and the majority of us have had little or no contact from either a social worker (local authority social care) or the health authority (those of us who have NHS continuing health care provision) over the last few months.  It is a national scandal.

Judithb

Thank you for your comments. We eventually did hear from social care, but only after we had contacted our local councillor and MP. 

Chloe_Alumni

I'm really glad you heard something eventually @Judithb!