Day four of seven days

From the land which is going to Get it Right for Every Child until they are eighteen:

"We used to live happily in Fife, Scotland with Tianze, but in May 2014 when Tianze was 16 years old ,he was moved to a hospital in Middlesbrough, England, over 200 miles away from home to have an assessment. It was only supposed to be for maximum 6 week assessment?" [Two years later he is still in the system.]

Read about Tianze https://theatuscandal.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/imagining-home/

What is the explanation ?

 

As reported recently in the Islington Gazette in connection with the mother whose autistic son is now trapped in an assessment and treatment unit (ATU) in Colchester, the NHS England spokesman gave the standard response: `Every case is different and patients` needs are often extremely complex...`

In other words, it is as if to say, do not criticise us because we are well meaning people facing extraordinary challenges.

So it was liberating to read Chris Hatton`s blogpost who is an academic at the Centre for Disability Research, Lancaster University:

"While ‘complexity’ seems to be a term to ward off questioning (it’s too complicated for the likes of you to understand), it seems to me more like an admission from professionals that they don’t really understand what’s happening in terms of professionally-derived frameworks for understanding ‘behaviour’ – these frameworks alone are clearly inadequate for helping people."

"And for all the complexities that may be on show (I think it’s a fair bet that putting anyone, me included, into an inpatient unit would result in some complexity of behaviour), people in inpatient units and families seem to talk about what people want out of life in ways that don’t seem terribly complicated to me - a nice place to live, being with people you love and who love you, having a meaning to your life, and so on."

A clear exposition from an academic and well worth a read.
http://chrishatton.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/the-complexity-complex.html