The parents of a disabled teenager have forced a local authority to give them overnight respite after warning they were at crisis point.
The family took the case to the High Court. The Court ruled Hackney Council acted unlawfully by failing to provide for the 13-year-old girl’s social care needs.
Lawyer Alex Rook said the decision to deny the family of a 13-year-old disabled girl overnight respite was irrational
Overnight respite two nights a week
The council has now agreed to provide the child’s family with two nights per week of overnight respite. Meanwhile, the council will complete a new assessment.
The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is described as “significantly disabled”. She lives at home most of the week with her parents and her brother.
She has a diagnosis of Williams Syndrome. This is a rare and complex genetic condition that affects just one in 18,000 people. Symptoms include heart problems, developmental delay and poor thinking skills.
But children can also show marked verbal skills and be friendly with adults, as well as having an affinity for music.
Failure of council’s assessment
The family’s lawyer was Alex Rook. He said the parents had “consistently stated that they are at crisis point”.
He added that Hackney’s assessment “simply failed to properly grapple with that reality”.
Rook, of law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney, said he hoped the council would now “properly engage with the family in order to meet their needs”.
The family’s legal team argued that Hackney failed to complete a social care assessment and consider whether to provide overnight respite.
They accused Hackney of making an “irrational and unlawful care planning decision”.
No action plan in place
The High Court ruled that while the council had recorded the family’s needs, it had unlawfully failed to put an action plan in place to deal with them.
The law firm said the ruling is important for “future decisions by local authorities in relation to the needs of disabled children”.
Caroline Woodley is the Mayor of Hackney. She told Autism Eye: “We would like to apologise to the child and their family following this judgement. We are in the process of re-assessing this family in light of the child and family’s evolving needs and the recent judgment. We are committed to working with them to ensure the child’s needs are fully met.”
She added: “Hackney Council’s children’s service provides care support to over 300 disabled children in the borough, with varying complexities of need. We always endeavour to work with families and communities in order to respond as best we can to their individual circumstances. We will reflect on the learning from this judgement to help us continue to develop our practice.”
Related:
- Families denied ‘vital’ respite care
- Warning to councils to provide transport
- Caravans may replace respite centres
- Families win fight for respite care
- Parents fight council’s respite cuts
- Social workers ‘beg’ for respite
- Family take action over respite closure
Published: 15 December 2023
