Help transitioning from child to adult services. — Scope | Disability forum
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Help transitioning from child to adult services.

EClarke07
EClarke07 Community member Posts: 4 Listener
I am new to this as my brother has recently gone from being supported by childrens services to becoming an adult. He is still in education but this will soon stop and we are unsure what the future will look like for him. Hoping to find support and guidance from this group 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    HI and welcome,

    I'm one of the community champions here on scope and i'm here to help and advise others.

    When my daughter reached 18 then children's services transferred her to the adult services. This could be the same for your brother but the parents will need to speak to children's services for more information and they will advise them correctly based on your local councils criteria.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Jay1969
    Jay1969 Community member Posts: 23 Connected
    I think children services support stops when anyone reaches the age of 16-18 depending on circumstances. I’m sure your brother will continue getting support but from some other organization rather than children services.
    I think the best people to enquire about this is the children services who’ll point you in the right direction if your brother is deemed to need continued support..
    Hope that helps...
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    Children's services stop when you reach 18 and not 16.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • EClarke07
    EClarke07 Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Yes I know childrens services stop and they have. We are undergoing an assessment from adults but they had scrambled a basic assessment from childrens to get our current support to continue as he has carers for an hr morning and evening. 
    But we sat with new social worker for over 3 1/2hrs talking through needs and they say its got to be needs rather than wants.
    Plus we are so confused about financial support as they want his benefits to go into his account so they can see what its spent on but he doesn't have capacity to understand this so it has always gone into my mums. But now we are being told to do power of attoney but again hit a barriers because of his mental capacity and ability to sign power of attorney and so we just go round in circles. I can't speak for him and he can't do it for himself. Mum and I support him together as she is 76yrs and I will support if anything was to happen to her. X
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    Has he been assessed as lacking mental capacity? You can't say someone lacks this if they haven't been assessed first.
    My daughter doesn't understand things either and doesn't understand money and finds it impossible to made decisions for herself but she hasn't been assessed as lacking capacity so i can't say whether she does or doesn't.

    Power of attorney would be possible if he's not been assessed as lacking mental capacity.

    With financial support i'm assuming you mean personal budget? if so then yes when you reach adulthood they do a financial assessment to determine what if anything you need to pay towards the care/support you receive.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    @EClarke07 - Welcome to the community & thank you for joining. I'm sure Poppy's advice will be helpful as regards your brother. There's also some information here on Scope that will confirm what she's said. See: https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/planning-transition-to-adult-care-services/

  • EClarke07
    EClarke07 Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Thank you all very much. It just feels like brick walls with trying to get any help with anything and everyone questioning why. And a bit of us doesn't actually know what support will best help as life is changing for him as he finishes school. We don't know what employment if any he may be able to do? 
    But thank u for this support x
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    You’re welcome. I know the criteria for children and adults is different and it’s likely not just a straight forward transfer to adult care. Have they done an assessment on his needs? Are they refusing the support or have they said he needs support? Difficult to advise here really without knowing all the details.

    For the mental capacity then you will need to have an assessment for that and I know the criteria for this is strict. 
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Ails
    Ails Community member Posts: 2,256 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi EClarke07 and welcome to the Community.  It is nice to meet you.  You have been given some excellent advice above so I don't really have anything to add other than I wish you and your family the best of luck in getting the appropriate support for your brother.  Please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on and if there is anything at all you need help/support with then please just let us know.  All the best.  :smile:
    Winner of the Scope New Volunteer Award 2019.   :)
  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
    Welcome to the community @EClarke07, how are things going?

    I am moving your post into the main section of the forum so more people can see it. :)
    Scope

  • EClarke07
    EClarke07 Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Well social worker has cancelled 2 visits to meet my brother this week so we suggest she tries to see him at school now. But we don't like that she might be doing her assessment on just what we have said and she hasn't even met him. 
    We also seem to be so confused as to what to do about power of attorney. As our solicitor has advised that a independant social worker can assess him for mental capacity and with support to understand he might be able to concent to it however this is going to cost a fortune as she then needs to come back to witness it all too and solicitor fees. Now as far as my brother is concerned my mum is his appointee and has a seperate account that is for him and gets his benefits but account is in her name as we can't get him his own account without power of attorney. He has no interest really in money and even when we enough him to do small amounts of paying for this he just looks to us and covers his ears as he isn't interested. But we wondered wheather anyone else has ever been in this position and wheather it is necessary as its going to cost us over £1000 in total. He seems to sit borderline on capacity levels as he can understand things that are of relevance and interest to him. Sorry I hope this makes some sense. Any help is very much appreciated. X
  • anisty
    anisty Community member Posts: 354 Pioneering
    I am an appointee for my son who has learning difficulties and autism but i havent gone down the power of attorney route. He lives at home with us.

    With his bank account, i was able to open one with HSBC. It seemed to be the only bank willing to help and i went into the branch with my son. We were able to open a joint account in my name and his.

    There is no overdraft limit on the account so it cant go overdrawn. His benefits are paid there. Because my name is on the account, i can deal with any issues that arise. My son has a cash card but no contactless feature. 

    It is noted that he has learning difficulties. What i was unaware of is that they cant stop him setting up online payments. He has no concept of money at all. He thought he was rich and, unbeknown to me, started to get amazon prime, sky free trial etc but didnt understand that the free part was limited. We dont even have sky!! He just clicked free everything.

    I saw this on the statement and was able to go into the branch and get the whole lot stopped. That was a few years ago. He has now gone to the other extreme of spending very little. The statement is very amusing as it just says greggs, dominoes, wh smith. Greggs, dominoes wh smith. Over and over again!


    Anyway joint account might be the answer?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    EClarke07 said:
    Well social worker has cancelled 2 visits to meet my brother this week so we suggest she tries to see him at school now. But we don't like that she might be doing her assessment on just what we have said and she hasn't even met him. 
    We also seem to be so confused as to what to do about power of attorney. As our solicitor has advised that a independant social worker can assess him for mental capacity and with support to understand he might be able to concent to it however this is going to cost a fortune as she then needs to come back to witness it all too and solicitor fees. Now as far as my brother is concerned my mum is his appointee and has a seperate account that is for him and gets his benefits but account is in her name as we can't get him his own account without power of attorney. He has no interest really in money and even when we enough him to do small amounts of paying for this he just looks to us and covers his ears as he isn't interested. But we wondered wheather anyone else has ever been in this position and wheather it is necessary as its going to cost us over £1000 in total. He seems to sit borderline on capacity levels as he can understand things that are of relevance and interest to him. Sorry I hope this makes some sense. Any help is very much appreciated. X

    You don't need power of attorney to set up a bank account for him, i'm not sure why you would think that you do.  My daughter has her own bank account in her own name, which is what she wanted. She told me it made her feel "bigger" and this was her own words. I couldn't deny her this, so i went with her to my bank, took her ID with me and spoke on her behalf. I told them she has a learning disability and Autism, which was noted on her account.

    I keep control of her bank, her benefits go into my bank account and i transfer certain amounts to her during the month. Anything left over at the end of the 4 weeks gets put into a savings account for her. I manage her account through the app and any problems i ring on her behalf, which i've been allowed to do because she can't used the phone.

    She has no understanding of money, she can't even count the change in her purse. She once told me that if she had a £1000 she would be able to buy a house and a computer.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anisty
    anisty Community member Posts: 354 Pioneering
    @poppy123456 your daughter sounds similar to my son! He has promised to fly him and his siblings out to florida! (This is on his dla money lol)

    Just thought it worth adding that the benefit for me and my son of having the joint account is that, once a child hits the age of 16yrs, if the account is in their sole name, then the bank will only speak to them and not the parent.

    Therefore if the account runs into trouble or they lose a cash card and dont have the ability to cancel the card and order a new one, it can be really difficult as you will not be able to sort that out for them. All statements and letters will come to their name only.

    I particularly wanted a bank with a high st presence for my son so there is somewhere to go in and speak face to face. He would not be safe to manage internet banking.

    Just a few pitfalls (as i would see them in relation to my own son) to be wary of if you go down the sole account in their name route.

    It sounds as if your bank  @poppy123456 will speak to you if their is a problem with your daughter's account but that is not an easy thing to organise with most banks as i found. Confidentiality prevents banks usually speaking with anyone but the account holder.

    I tried out a few branches in our town (before they started closing them all!) And found hsbc the most receptive and willing to help us. Fortunately they are still on the high st where we live. Just now, anyway.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    @anisty yes indeed, they do sound similar. I always say to myself if i didn't laugh, i'd cry.

    My daughter is 19 now and i've never had a problem ringing the bank if there's an issue. Although we do live quite close to the bank and we both bank with the same one. The only problem with having a joint account is that i claim means tested benefits so having a bank with her would mean that the money in that bank would be counted as savings for my means tested benefits.

    Although she has no where near the amount of savings needed before benefits are affected but you never know what will happen in the future. Having her own bank account means that it's solely her money and not mine.

    I also think that she's entitled to have something that's hers in her own right and her money is hers not mine. I try to treat her as "grown up" as possible and tell her that she has to pay for her own things if she wants something. Although if i transferred all of her PIP at once then she'd spend it all in one go lol.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anisty
    anisty Community member Posts: 354 Pioneering
    edited February 2020
    Ah yes, I see what you mean @poppy123456.  My son's account is his own account in that i dont touch money in there but i can speak to the bank if there is a problem and i do look at the paper bank statements each month just to keep an eye. He knows i do this and is happy for me to look at his statements and make sure the account is in good order. 

     When i became his appointee, i didnt want the money mixed up in our household money (as it was when he was under 16) so that, if dwp ever came asking what the dla money had been used for, there was a very clear record on the bank statement that it had all been used directly for and by my son. I take my appointee role very seriously!

    As i mentioned earlier, he has now gone to the frugal extreme of buying the same 3 items each week. A pizza from dominoes on mondays when he goes to the support group with his friend. A greggs sausage roll and a bottle of oasis juice from wh smith on tuesdays. And sometimes some sweets from sainsbury if his brother takes him up there. 

    If he wants to buy anything, it will be computer games but he remains frugal since we told him he hasnt got enough money to be spending very large amounts. So he has gone to tiny purchases computer related of 3 pounds very occasionally!  He has no concept at all of money value. His clothes will come from that account but he prefers to wear the same things each day so getting him to buy anything at all is quite a job.

    One of his difficultues is in initiation of tasks. Unlike many people with ASD, he is very passive. He doesnt have angry outbursts or meltdowns and never has. He is very content with his limited routines. I think this is the learning difficulty part. He lives very much in the moment so he doesnt really have insight into his limitations and what he might want to do at a future date.


    Anyway apologies for taking this thread way off topic!! I will stop now. 




  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @anisty, it's completely okay! I'm glad you've been able to find common ground. Your children both sound like my brother who also has ASD.
    Scope

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