Melly,
Christopher is 27 and has always lived with me.He isn't autistic so was allowed to choose where he lives when his mum left.Owen is 25,and attends day-care,Eliot is 20 and attends college.
Eliot had a year and a half where he wasn't allowed to see me or Christopher (his mum claimed he'd non-verbally indicated he never wanted to see me again).So on 225 occasions,I picked Owen up-i.e. three times a week-and left Eliot behind,staring through the window at Owen and me returning home,which was five minutes away.He'll never know that that wasn't my choice.He was 12 years and a couple of months old when his mum died.For a year he was lodged at a 48-hour respite centre.He has not slept at home in 11 years.
The college is very good.It's in Stoke,but not run by Stoke council.They've been walking to the Co-op with Eliot for a year now,but staff at the bungalow won't do the same with him,only going to fields and parks.We've never had a O.T. here at home,though I met one at the bungalow last week.Did I mention that he's sometimes incontinent at night,but staff have the large bedroom with the en suite toilet? Eliot has been cheated and mistreated for most of his life.As noted elsewhere,he's allowed home with his family 12 hours a week,which equals 26 days a year.And I can almost see the place he's sleeping in tonight from this window...
Christopher is 27 and has always lived with me.He isn't autistic so was allowed to choose where he lives when his mum left.Owen is 25,and attends day-care,Eliot is 20 and attends college.
Eliot had a year and a half where he wasn't allowed to see me or Christopher (his mum claimed he'd non-verbally indicated he never wanted to see me again).So on 225 occasions,I picked Owen up-i.e. three times a week-and left Eliot behind,staring through the window at Owen and me returning home,which was five minutes away.He'll never know that that wasn't my choice.He was 12 years and a couple of months old when his mum died.For a year he was lodged at a 48-hour respite centre.He has not slept at home in 11 years.
The college is very good.It's in Stoke,but not run by Stoke council.They've been walking to the Co-op with Eliot for a year now,but staff at the bungalow won't do the same with him,only going to fields and parks.We've never had a O.T. here at home,though I met one at the bungalow last week.Did I mention that he's sometimes incontinent at night,but staff have the large bedroom with the en suite toilet? Eliot has been cheated and mistreated for most of his life.As noted elsewhere,he's allowed home with his family 12 hours a week,which equals 26 days a year.And I can almost see the place he's sleeping in tonight from this window...