Jan 17, 2020, Grimsby Telegraph: Youngsters with special needs not getting respite because centre is full of children in care https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/youngsters-special-needs-not-getting-3738095 ...The parents say that they have not had any of the legally required respite for their child in three months A respite centre for special needs children has been cancelling its appointments for the past three months, because it is full of children who have been taken into care. A couple spoke to GrimsbyLive after the legally-required respite care for their severely autistic daughter was cancelled, because there is no room in the centre as it is being used to house children who have been taken into care. They have an Educational Health Care Plan in place, which states that she is required to have one overnight respite session a week, and one weekend session every six weeks. But these have not taken place since the beginning of September. The couple say that they use these respite sessions to spend more one to one time with their son, who has high-functioning autism, while also being able to do things themselves so that they can have a little break…. "But for the past three months, this respite care has not been available to us, and we have had repeated appointments cancelled because the centre is being used to house looked after children…. The mum says that she "had to fight" to get her EHCP in place and originally wanted to send her daughter to a residential school, but the local authority persuaded her from doing so, promising that the respite care would be available to her. She continued: "I had to fight very hard to get the EHCP in place, and only agreed to the final proposal because I was promised that this respite care would be available. "The EHCP is a legally binding document and currently the council are failing their legal duties towards my child….
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