Parents urge council to not cut travel funding for SEND pupils, but will Havering Councillors listen?
A petition calling on Havering Council to not cut funding to travel for pupil with special educational needs has now reached over 400 signatures. The petition was launched last year by Ruth Kettle-Frisby who is a frequent contributor to the Havering Daily and a local campaigner.
Ruth and many other parents across Havering are terrified about the decision that will be made tomorrow (Wednesday 17 January) at the full council meeting-if the council vote on the impending cut backs and the repercussions it will have to so many families right across the borough.
Parents are appealing to councillors to not turn their backs on these children, stating that they cannot fight these battle themselves and are relying on councillors to please do the right thing.
Alongside the petition, a letter was written to Havering’s Leader of the Council Councillor Ray Morgon, urging him and his councillors to please listen to local parents. The letter also states six resolutions for the New Year that parents are hoping the council will adhere to and protect children’s rights.
These children cannot speak for themselves and their parents have been fighting non stop since the proposed cutbacks were revealed. It has left parents extremely anxious, worried and upset about the possible consequences these cuts would have on their children’s daily lives.
Please see Ruth’s letter below.
Dear Cllr Morgon,
We parents and carers of disabled and young people in Havering are terrified about what will happen on January 17th at Full Council. As experts in what our children need, we speak out honestly about the proposals to cut school transport for disabled children and young people, for they are ableist and indefensible.
Along with our supporters in the borough and beyond, we appeal to your better natures in our petition explaining our position:
Our children can’t fight these proposals themselves, so we are relying on you to do the right thing because they do not deserve this.
For no less than the rights and safety of our children, in no uncertain terms we desperately require the cabinet to reject its proposals to make budget cuts impacting school transport provision for children and young people in Havering.
We have come up with Six Resolutions for the New Year, and we sincerely hope the council will honour its legal and ethical duties to protect our children’s rights:
1. Don’t approve budget cuts with unlawful and unethical consequences for the most vulnerable human beings in our community.
If you do nothing else this year, please listen to us as we call on you unequivocally to reject the proposals that impact disabled children travelling to school.
Parents and carers of disabled children have heartbreakingly difficult and inequitable lives; full of uncertainty, anxiety, stigma and utter exhaustion with a severe lack of resources and time. Please do not force us to get lawyers involved to make you honour your obligations to our children.
2. Remember that every child matters and reject the implementation of unlawful, unethical blanket policies when considering Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs for assessments and plans.
3. Include professional reports in EHC plans to protect children’s rights, with the explicit purpose of honouring the bespoke costed prescriptions contained in these reports for the benefit of each child.
4. Reform the current punitive model of addressing the reality that some children don’t cope well in current school systems.
Protect parents and carers who are vulnerable:listen to them about their children’s needs and do not send them on humiliating parenting courses. When disabled children struggle to cope in schools, this is often because the school systems themselves are failing them. As parents and carers,we do our best for our children under pressurised, stigmatised circumstances. It isn’t our fault when children do not fit into schooling underpinned by pragmatically utilitarian values that favour the majority who are non-disabled.
5. Given that the council has reduced its respite provision from commissioning six providers to just two, act with transparency and share the sums saved through this 66% reduction in respite provision.
Many of us benefit from robust, reliable services. In some cases, personal budgets for respite care have meant that a lot of precious time and energy is being wasted looking for suitable respite care, only to find that most activities require parent attendance. This, of course, negates the point of respite.
Finally, and this is CRUCIAL:
6. When making any assessment for disabled children and young people to access services they need to participate and thrive in an ableist society, do so based on the NEEDS OF EACH CHILD, not the local authority budget.
Services for disabled people are for people, not revenue.
Yours faithfully,
Ruth Kettle-Frisby
On behalf of parents and carers of disabled children and young people in Havering
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