Tuesday 8 April 2014

Story Twenty Four - "Friends"

One story sums up for me, the social care teams' dismissive attitude to Steven's normal home life.

When they submitted their papers for court, the social worker's manager (in the social worker's absence) wrote a paragraph about the council's "care plan" for Steven. This covered their plan to move Steven, under section, to a hospital in Wales and included the proposal that his contact with me, could be via "a webcam facility".

In the next paragraph, he turned his attention on me:

"Mr Neary senior has been wholly un-cooperative with our plan. Instead he has chosen to focus on the loss Steven will experience of his family, his support workers and his 'friends'".

When I read this statement, I went ballistic but sobbed myself senseless as well. Note that the word friends is in inverted commas.

Steven Neary has FRIENDS? Ha Ha!

It was so mocking and contemptuous that I made Amanda, our barrister, promise that she would slaughter him over it if she got him into the witness box.

In one sentence, it tells us everything we need to know about the social care team's attitude to family and friends. But more importantly, their view about the person they are charged with the care of. By inserting inverted commas around friends, he revealed the belief that the idea that Steven might have friendships that he values, as laughable.

Vile.

#107days #justiceforLB

3 comments:

  1. No wonder you sobbed. What a mindless lack of respect.

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  2. I'm getting the impression that this place was being run a lot like a long stay boarding kennel.

    It is as though these inmates are just widgets to be housed and walked and groomed once a week. Feeding? well we''l serve meals up, but if they don't like them or don't eat them, well whatever. After all it is not as if these people are actually humans is it?

    It seems to be assumed that if someone has learning difficulties or mental health issues - then their ability to think and feel, and to have wants and desires and especially the ability to make their own choices just disappears.

    They seem to be treated like a pet - but with fewer rights.

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  3. Animal welfare charities provide better care for pets than this. At least animal friends get rehomed together. Apparently learning different people are regarded as something less than human or animal. This only proves that these people know nothing about the unfortunate people they take charge of!

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