• About

Who By Fire

~ High ordeals and common trials

Who By Fire

Monthly Archives: Mar 2017

Taking Liberties.

21 Tue Mar 2017

Posted by Kara Chrome in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adult LD services, care in the community, Deprivation of Liberty, DoLS, independent living, Mental Capacity Act

I can’t pretend to be a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) aficionada. But a little research reading reveals that the current ‘acid test’, in England and Wales, for assaying whether a person is subject to a Deprivation of Liberty is: if the person is ‘subject to continuous supervision and control and not free to leave’, she or he is deprived of her or his liberty and therefore needs the Safeguards applied, to ensure that the Deprivation and any restrictions or restraints used to enforce it are in the person’s Best Interests.

If a person lives in a care home or hospital, the Local Authority is responsible for checking that the Deprivation is in the person’s Best Interests and authorising it accordingly (a ‘Standard Authorisation’), but if they live in some other place – supported living, Shared Lives houses, children’s homes and residential schools, or even their own home – and are ‘subject to continuous supervision and control and not free to leave’, then any Deprivation of Liberty (and associated restrictions or restraints) has to be scrutinised and authorised by the Court of Protection.

Deprivation of Liberty was one of the lynchpin issues in Hillingdon v Neary.  Steven Neary was placed in an ATU; he was under (theoretically) continuous supervision and control and he was not free to leave the Unit; on the occasions when he managed in practice to elude the ‘supervision’ and escape the control, he was sought and brought back by main force.  Besides the physical restriction of being kept behind a (mostly) locked door and not being allowed to pursue his normal activities, Steven was also subjected to pharmaceutical restraint in the form of high doses of Risperidone.

Since he has been living in his own home, with a round-the-clock support team consisting of his father, Mark, plus a number of paid support workers, Steven has been able to direct his own life.  He decides where he wants to go and when; if he expresses a wish to do something out of routine, his support team facilitates that, whether it’s an unscheduled trip to the shops or dropping in on a family member.  If he wants some time to himself, his supporter(s) will go into a different part of the house, respecting his need for space and privacy while still being available should he need their presence. He is also no longer subject to pharmaceutical restraint, having been weaned off the Risperidone because of the terrible damage it was causing to his physical health.

So while Steven is still subject to continuous supervision, it is questionable whether he is, any longer, subjected to ‘control’.  He is the one in control, his decision-making is supported in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act provisions and his right to make unwise decisions is respected.  He is also arguably ‘free to leave’, even though he would still, in leaving, be subject to continuous supervision, as his support person would go with him to ensure his safety and that of people he may encounter outside the house.

However, the Local Authority has a duty to assess people who ‘may be’ deprived of their liberty, so Steven’s new Social Worker is coming round to do a ‘Community DoL’ assessment on Thursday.

I can’t see that Steven is being deprived of his liberty, but I think there is someone in Steven’s setup who, in practical effect, is being deprived of liberty.  Not, as I say, Steven – he is supervised, but he has a measure of control, and if he wishes to leave, his team enables, rather than preventing, his leaving.  Not the support workers, who have freely entered into a contract to provide services to Steven at certain times in return for remuneration, and who are at liberty to leave and seek alternative work should they so choose.

No, the person who is deprived of freedom is Steven’s father, Mark.  How does officialdom manage this?  By exploiting the fact that Mark loves Steven, while denying Mark’s family relationship to Steven: Mark is classified officially as Steven’s ‘live-in carer’.

When our neighbour across the road developed Alzheimer’s, her nearest relatives – a nephew and niece-in-law – organised live-in-carers for her.  They were called ‘Caring Companions’; they came via a regulated provider; they did two-week turn-about stints with a mandatory two hours off in the afternoon of every day; they were generously paid; and they got the other two weeks a month entirely to themselves, with absolutely no further duties.

Mark, on the other hand, has to be available to Steven at all times when the paid support workers are not present.  He can’t nip out when the notion takes him, if that would leave Steven unattended. There is no provision for short-notice respite to cover illness, for a regular daily break, or even for a block of sleep once in every twenty-four hours.  In addition, Mark is obliged to do a great deal of real administrative work – 115 hours last year, or more than 3 full-time working weeks in 37.5 hours-per-week Local Authority terms – and carry the responsibility of being an employer, all for a financial reward of £0.  He can’t choose whether to support Steven without jeopardising Steven’s liberty and entire way of life.  His liberty to choose when he will support Steven is also curtailed by a social care budget that won’t stretch to the actual costs of providing Steven with appropriate, least restrictive care.

In my view, Mark is, in practical terms, deprived of liberty.  He’s a prisoner of conscience.

On World Social Work Day, that’s a discomfiting thought.

Silly.

18 Sat Mar 2017

Posted by Kara Chrome in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

appropriate vocabulary, Special Needs Education, true stories

Been reading H.E. Marshall’s Our Island Story with G, in an attempt to supply some sort of chronological framework for the chunks of historical knowledge that G has acquired in school, but has trouble situating in their wider context.  The book, which originally belonged to one of my grandmothers, is a product of unashamed Empire and is hence more than slightly cringeworthy in places, but it has some cracking good stories in it, and is written in short chapters at a level that G can follow without getting bored.

I want G to be able to think critically about ‘facts’ presented (in almost-post-Brexit Britain, an idea of the jingoistic Edwardian nonsense to which some Brexiteers seem to be harking back, can only be a useful addition to the critical-thought armoury), so we’ve been reading a chapter and then discussing it.  We decided, for instance, that the explanation for Stonehenge (that Merlin magicked the stones into position) was not very believable, and we went and did some looking-up to find out how the place is thought actually to have been built.

Today’s chapter was about King Alfred learning to read as a boy; how books, still handwritten on parchment (cue research into and discussion of differences between paper and parchment), were rare and hugely valuable; how Alfred and his brothers competed to be the first to master reading; and how Alfred loved reading ever afterwards.  The chapter is illustrated by a vaguely Pre-Raphaelitish colour plate of an adult Alfred reading what appears to be a blank broadsheet newspaper.  He has a white sheet crumpled in his hand and more on the table in front of him, while other sheets spill off his lap to lie, unheeded, on the floor.

G contemplated it.

“The story said writing was bound in books.  That’s not a book.”

“You’re right, it’s not.”

“That looks like paper, not parshmin.”

“Top-notch observation, G.”

“And books were ‘spensive, so people took care of them.  He’s not taking care.”

“Again, my lovely, can’t fault your logic.”

G stared at the plate for a bit longer.

“Someone’s done silly drawing.”

*****

*****

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • Aug 2022
  • May 2022
  • Dec 2021
  • Nov 2021
  • Mar 2021
  • Oct 2020
  • Mar 2020
  • Nov 2019
  • Jun 2019
  • May 2019
  • Apr 2019
  • Mar 2019
  • Feb 2019
  • Dec 2018
  • Aug 2018
  • Jun 2018
  • Apr 2018
  • Feb 2018
  • Jan 2018
  • Dec 2017
  • Oct 2017
  • Sep 2017
  • Aug 2017
  • Jul 2017
  • Jun 2017
  • May 2017
  • Mar 2017
  • Nov 2016
  • Oct 2016
  • Sep 2016
  • Aug 2016
  • Jun 2016
  • May 2016
  • Apr 2016
  • Mar 2016
  • Dec 2015
  • Oct 2015
  • Sep 2015
  • Aug 2015
  • Jul 2015
  • Jun 2015
  • May 2015
  • Apr 2015
  • Mar 2015
  • Feb 2015
  • Jan 2015
  • Dec 2014
  • Nov 2014
  • Oct 2014
  • Sep 2014
  • Aug 2014
  • Jul 2014
  • Jun 2014
  • May 2014
  • Apr 2014
  • Mar 2014

Categories

  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Who By Fire
    • Join 52 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Who By Fire
    • Customise
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...