I know it has been awhile since I have posted something but I have not had the mood to write anything positive. In the past month Tam has had a week off school with a bad cold (remember them?), a week off school for half term and a couple of weeks at school. In the meantime I have been waiting to hear about a decision about Tam returning to respite.
First I will explain that six months ago, October 2021, Tam had an incident on an outing while in respite. That incident ended up with one person hurt and the police being called. Tam was handcuffed. Since then Tam has not been back to respite.
So this week I got the answer. Tam is excluded from respite overnight stays. What now?
Ignoring school, Tam has not had a break away from me or interaction with any other support system for six months. I have not had a break for six months. The fact that a decision took six months has ended up wasting a lot of time that could have been spent looking for another provision. There are many reasons that it has taken 6 months but none of them are helpful, none of them should have taken six months. Most of the reasons are bureaucratic and some are inaction by the parties involved.
A further part that really annoys me is that Tam has been at the respite centre for a long time now. This is the first incident and without going into the details it was not his fault. Basically they put Tam into a situation that he was going to react to. Not just one input that was going to be difficult for him but many inputs. A failing in the care that should have been provided. The many other visits he has had have been reported as him doing well and having a great stay.
So back to that question, what now? Well a search is on for other respite providers. The process is probably going to take several months and possibly longer. In the meantime me and Tam have to work our way through each day.
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