Here we go AGAIN: 10 minutes of tumbleweed and then Haringey SEND tried to cancel the engagement meeting!
- By Brian Leveson
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- 02 Apr, 2021
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What makes for a hostile environment in a parent engagement meeting? Not heeding the recommendations of the AMAZE Report; not sharing papers and agendas; banning councillors; not keeping parents personal data private; trying to cancel a meeting after keeping parents waiting for 10 minutes; not following Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2015); unnecessary belittling comments from staff... Here we go AGAIN with Haringey SEND department
Here we go again... The AMAZE Report gave Haringey SEND department a road map towards better coproduction with parents
In March 2021, parents were invited to an engagement meeting about the recommissioning of Overnight Respite as part of Haringey's Short Breaks offer. Haringey's Overnight Respite Centre, Haslemere. has been closed since 2017. See our blog: Whatever happened to Haslemere? (difficultparent.com)
Yet it seems, based on the actions that we have witnessed, the behaviours we have experienced and what has been publicly commented by representatives for the department, that Haringey SEND firmly believe that the failure to bring about effective co-production when working with parents is entirely because of the SEND parents, the failure of the parent carer forum in Haringey and everybody else but the Haringey SEND department.
Do Haringey SEND department really believe the mantra "Haringey SEND are not as bad as they are commented to be" ?
Are all the commentator wrong? Comments made by Mr Justice Hayden, by other professionals at the School's Forum, by the Local Government Ombudsman, by the AMAZE report, by the SEND parents at the SEND Transport event, by SEND parents feedback to SENDIASS and most of all, by those dreadful Difficult Parents - who are they to blog about their experiences! How dare they! How dare they!
And ifHaringey SEND department believe that, thenHaringey SEND department are going to focus all their efforts on the parts of the AMAZE report that are critical of parents, which is exactly what they have been doing and not reflect at all on whatHaringey SEND department need to do to improve by working through the 'easy wins' in the recommendations made by the AMAZE report
Link to AMAZE report recommendations for Haringey professionals (difficultparent.com)
Yet it seems, based on the actions that we have witnessed, the behaviours we have experienced and what has been publicly commented by representatives for the department, that Haringey SEND firmly believe that the failure to bring about effective co-production when working with parents is entirely because of the SEND parents, the failure of the parent carer forum in Haringey and everybody else but the Haringey SEND department.
Do Haringey SEND department really believe the mantra "Haringey SEND are not as bad as they are commented to be" ?
Are all the commentator wrong? Comments made by Mr Justice Hayden, by other professionals at the School's Forum, by the Local Government Ombudsman, by the AMAZE report, by the SEND parents at the SEND Transport event, by SEND parents feedback to SENDIASS and most of all, by those dreadful Difficult Parents - who are they to blog about their experiences! How dare they! How dare they!
And ifHaringey SEND department believe that, thenHaringey SEND department are going to focus all their efforts on the parts of the AMAZE report that are critical of parents, which is exactly what they have been doing and not reflect at all on whatHaringey SEND department need to do to improve by working through the 'easy wins' in the recommendations made by the AMAZE report
Link to AMAZE report recommendations for Haringey professionals (difficultparent.com)
Haringey SEND are still ignoring the recommendations of the AMAZE report - the really really easy stuff (that related to professionals, not parents)
Having raised concerns in a previous blog about how rushed the consultation for the recommissioning of the SENDIASS service was, the expectation was that the Haringey SEND department would have accepted the challenges made in that blog and addressed the concerns raised.
Link: Were Haringey parents misled in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) recommissioning "consultation"? (difficultparent.com)
This was not the case, and the recommendations from the AMAZE report relating to engagement meetings with parents continue to be ignored.
The AMAZE Report recommends that:
Link: Were Haringey parents misled in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) recommissioning "consultation"? (difficultparent.com)
This was not the case, and the recommendations from the AMAZE report relating to engagement meetings with parents continue to be ignored.
The AMAZE Report recommends that:
- Meeting dates to be agreed in advance and PCF reps involved in agenda setting.
- Minutes, agenda items and other relevant documents should be shared at least one week prior to the meeting, to allow parent carers time to prepare.
- Professionals to plan ahead for consultations and engagement opportunities, with an ideal minimum of three weeks' notice for meetings and six for consultations.
But there has been no advanced notice: Rushed consultations and engagement meetings; no publicly available papers and agendas
Parents were given no say about who could attend the meeting and when we asked for support from an advocate, we ended up getting Councillor Brabazon BANNED
We do not have an easy relationship with the Haringey SEND department, which we recognise.
So, we asked for an independent supporter, Councillor Brabazon wanted to come along, HealthWatch offered support.
These requests from Parents were ignored by the Haringey SEND department, and Councillor Brabazon was banned.
The AMAZE report recommended that "Parents should be involved from the outset to help determine what type of engagement activity would be most effective".
So, we asked for an independent supporter, Councillor Brabazon wanted to come along, HealthWatch offered support.
These requests from Parents were ignored by the Haringey SEND department, and Councillor Brabazon was banned.
The AMAZE report recommended that "Parents should be involved from the outset to help determine what type of engagement activity would be most effective".
Haringey SEND were seemingly unaware of their duties regarding data protection, creating a hostile and intimidating environment from the outset.
The approach taken by the Haringey SEND department, not following the recommendations of the AMAZE Report that they had commissioned and paid for and accepted the findings of, seemed to be be building a hostile environment from the outset and many emails were exchanged before some
of the issues were clarified - see below the issues that were raised:
Did the department make enough effort to keep parents personal data safe - to fined a solution, we just GOOGLED IT!
Keeping peoples personal data private on Teams really was not a difficult problem to solve at all.It just needed to be Googled
This leads to concerns that when the statement about data sharing was made and the challenged, on more than one occasion, no real effort was taken to address the issue, see the screenshot below.
Did the Haringey SEND department report themselves to the Information Commissioners Office?
Other SEND parents who attended coproduction meetings have wrongly consented to having their personal data shared with others when it was wholly unnecessary and not properly researched and considered by the Haringey SEND departments, even when challenged.After all that kerfuffle about papers, invitees, personal data, it was time for the meetings
Welcome, not welcome
Haringey INSIST every one is welcome - but are they though?
- What Welcoming behaviours are Haringey SEND department adopting to make people feel welcome
- Ice-breakers?
- Not wasting people time?
- Setting out clear expectations at the start of the meeting?
- Not belittling people or telling them off in the meetings?
- Not trying to end meetings because no one else turned up?
- Ensuring parents are not over-whelming out-numbered by professionals?
- Allowing parents to bring along supporters?
An email from the Children's Service states the 'intention' to "always be open and welcoming..."
Introductions from everyone, except the only parent in the room
So, we were the only parents who attended the meetings about Overnight Respite.
So that we could both attend the meetings about Overnight Respite, we split our time, cancelled our own meetings, shuffled our calendars and rearranged appointments so that we could both attend, one meeting each.
At the top of the meeting there were introductions. In the first meeting this was everybody, but in the second meeting the only parent in the virtual room was excluded from the introductions.
So that we could both attend the meetings about Overnight Respite, we split our time, cancelled our own meetings, shuffled our calendars and rearranged appointments so that we could both attend, one meeting each.
At the top of the meeting there were introductions. In the first meeting this was everybody, but in the second meeting the only parent in the virtual room was excluded from the introductions.
10 minutes of tumble weed...
So, because we were the only parent in the room, twice, (two different meetings) we were made to wait, 10 minutes, on both occasions, in the hope that someone else would turn up. This meant 10 minutes of uncomfortable silence on both occasions, which the professionals made no effort to break.
...and no ice-breaker (presumably because they did not want to break that lovely cold frosty atmosphere they had created)
Faced with this hostile environment, we, the solo parents in attendance, tried some ice-breakers - with variable responses.
AFTER 10 MINUTES OF TUMBLEDWEED THEN THEY TRIED TO CANCEL THE MEETING!
So, after 10 minutes of tumbleweed and no-one else turning up, Haringey SEND department suggested cancelling the meeting,
Uncomfortable comments
Haringey SEND Department did not start the meeting with anything like 'standard agenda items' or 'housekeeping' - as recommended by the AMAZE Report and normal meeting etiquette. This would have been helpful, as there was uncomfortable interactions in both meetings for solo parents faced with virtual rooms filled with professionals.
"There we go" again...
As I started to speak, this is what I heard from manager within Haringey SEND responsible for statutory assessments.
I've never met this person before.
But I knew the name from my complaint when I tried to get the revised Direct Payments Policy during the first lockdown.
Haringey are shamelessly unapologetic - but we have we finally found the changes to Haringey SEND Direct Payments Policy in response to Covid-19 (difficultparent.com)
I've never met this person before.
But I knew the name from my complaint when I tried to get the revised Direct Payments Policy during the first lockdown.
Haringey are shamelessly unapologetic - but we have we finally found the changes to Haringey SEND Direct Payments Policy in response to Covid-19 (difficultparent.com)
And an uncalled for 'telling off'
And apparently parents should not mention any names when a parent recounts their experiences: so mid-flow when recounting the issues getting Direct Payments and the obstructive behaviour experienced, there was an abrupt and insensitive interruption and a telling off - we must not
mention anyone's name.
But there was not a 'ground rule' set out to be agreed upon at the start of the meetings, and might have been a good use of the 10 minutes of tumbleweed silence.
But there was not a 'ground rule' set out to be agreed upon at the start of the meetings, and might have been a good use of the 10 minutes of tumbleweed silence.
This was supposed to be a meeting about Overnight Respite
Getting Overnight respite:
So, in a story of management incompetence, three Child in Need referrals from 3 different hospitals around London, umpteen hospital admissions, a presentation of the case to the London Safeguarding Board, three social workers, one who disappeared after completing the family assessment over a period of 6 months and in a process that took the best part of a year and ended, after three cancelled Child In Need meetings which Haringey SEND cancelled, and some very unpleasant and threatening behaviour from a senior manager in the Haringey SEND team, there was an arbitrary awarded some Direct Payments with seemingly no clear and transparent systems, no need to go to 'panel' no management alerts about a Child in Need and no clear systems and sources of information.
Haringey SEND department seem desperate for everything to be dismissed and diminished as a "communication issue" rather than a "lack of rigour in social work practice"
So, Haringey SEND department summarised this process as 'communication issues' in their feedback.
Do Haringey SEND know how to get to GOOD?
In 2016, parents who were asked to audit Haslemere, the currently closed building that houses Haringey's Respite Facility, found a bed that was more like a cage.
At the time, parents fed back that the bed-cage was unacceptable; but strongly got the impression that the service did not understand why the bed-cage and other issues were not acceptable and were not capable of getting beyond that.
When this issue was raise at the recent meetings, the concern that parents had not been listened to was dismissed because the facility has been closed since 2016 and anyway the professional now leading the meeting had got rid of the bed, because the professional did not like it, not because parents had raised this as an issue more that 5 years ago.
Haringey SEND department seemingly completely missed the point - PARENTS WERE NOT LISTENED TO AND DISMISSED - and Haringey SEND are not 'rescuing us' by getting rid of the bed now, because they don't like it - so that's ok then; this behaviour reinforced the paradigm of an unequal relationship where parents are not listened to, another finding of the AMAZE report which appears to be overlooked (because it does not relate to parents?)
At the time, parents fed back that the bed-cage was unacceptable; but strongly got the impression that the service did not understand why the bed-cage and other issues were not acceptable and were not capable of getting beyond that.
When this issue was raise at the recent meetings, the concern that parents had not been listened to was dismissed because the facility has been closed since 2016 and anyway the professional now leading the meeting had got rid of the bed, because the professional did not like it, not because parents had raised this as an issue more that 5 years ago.
Haringey SEND department seemingly completely missed the point - PARENTS WERE NOT LISTENED TO AND DISMISSED - and Haringey SEND are not 'rescuing us' by getting rid of the bed now, because they don't like it - so that's ok then; this behaviour reinforced the paradigm of an unequal relationship where parents are not listened to, another finding of the AMAZE report which appears to be overlooked (because it does not relate to parents?)
Seemingly did not know their legal duties that relate to the Local Offer
At the meeting, Haringey SEND department told us
This information is not readily available on the Local Offer website, see screenshot below, neither are the criteria for accessing overnight respite, the thresholds for accessing overnight respite and the process for accessing overnight respite.
- there are only 65 families eligible for overnight respite
- Approximately 40 families have accessed some sort of overnight respite over the last 2 years.
- This is in the home and via provision out of borough.
This information is not readily available on the Local Offer website, see screenshot below, neither are the criteria for accessing overnight respite, the thresholds for accessing overnight respite and the process for accessing overnight respite.
Screenshot
In conclusion, Haringey SEND department said "Everyone is welcome", but...
Haringey SEND departmentneed to reflect carefully on all aspects of the behaviour of Haringey SEND department professionals and ask are the Haringey SEND departmentbeing welcoming?
AreHaringey SEND department listening to parents when they say they need dates well in advance?
Are Haringey SEND departmentlistening to parents when they ask for paperwork well in advance?
AreHaringey SEND departmentprotecting parents and families from risk of harm from predators?
AreHaringey SEND departmentallowing parents to bring along advocates and supports or are Haringey SEND departmentinstigating an arbitrary ban, because this is what the professionals within Haringey SEND departmentwant?
Are Haringey SEND department arguing from a position of power against parents, as noted in the AMAZE report, seemingly abusing that position of power and making decisions against the recommendations set out in the AMAZE report for working with parents, a report thatHaringey SEND departmentbought, paid for and accepted?
AreHaringey SEND department listening to parents when they say they need dates well in advance?
Are Haringey SEND departmentlistening to parents when they ask for paperwork well in advance?
AreHaringey SEND departmentprotecting parents and families from risk of harm from predators?
AreHaringey SEND departmentallowing parents to bring along advocates and supports or are Haringey SEND departmentinstigating an arbitrary ban, because this is what the professionals within Haringey SEND departmentwant?
Are Haringey SEND department arguing from a position of power against parents, as noted in the AMAZE report, seemingly abusing that position of power and making decisions against the recommendations set out in the AMAZE report for working with parents, a report thatHaringey SEND departmentbought, paid for and accepted?
If you thought SEND was bad - the NHS is seemingly prepared to throw away money to private companies
About 3 or 4 times a year we get the euphemistic message 'Parents please note we have put a letter in your child's bag' - its a world away from how a child's death was handled in my child's first school
More of a trial by ordeal than a well organised clearly set out administrative process for moving the care of vulnerable young adults from Haringey's Children's Services to Adult Services. We have been failed at every stage of the process.
Never EVER get on the bus without a camera running if you need the priority wheelchair space
The reality of using a London Bus in the teeming rain on a Sunday afternoon is no joke when the parents of a paraplegic person in a wheelchair clash with the self-entitled buggy-pushing parents of toddlers.
At 3pm today I received some barefaced lies from Haringey Council Adult Social Care in response to a photograph I published online yesterday and the media interest it generated
Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.
I am simply asking a question - are we all absolutely certain that the road closure / travel restrictions (commonly know as LTNs) placed on some of the most severely disabled people who are wholly reliant on cars are absolutely necessary
Haringey's road closures exemptions policy for disabled people is not fit for purpose, unduly burdensome and intrusive - it's time to stand up against the pro-LTN lycra-clad cycling bullies
Is the argument for and against exemptions for disabled people in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods really a case of GOOD versus EVIL?
