This is Connor.
Connor was a young man. He needed extra help.
Connor was moved to an Assessment and Treatment Unit.
Connor died there. He was not sick.
We must stop this happening to other people.
Connor’s mum called Connor ‘Laughing Boy’, or LB.
There is a big campaign called #JusticeforLB.
The law did not help Connor.
So we need to change the law.
Parliament have to vote to change the law.
An MP can ask Parliament to change the law.
This is called a Private Members Bill.
We want to write a Private Members Bill.
For now we are calling it #LBBill.
This is in memory of Connor and all the other people who die for no reason.
A dad called Mark took his local council to court. He wanted his son to be able to live at home.
Mark said “if you want to stop someone living at home, you must go to court. You must prove why the person cannot live at home”.
We think that sounds a good idea.
We think it will stop people dying like Connor died.
We want it to be the law.
We want the law to keep people close to home.
We want people to get the support they need where they live.
Every year, a few MPs have their names picked from a hat.
These MPs can tell Parliament about a new law they want.
If other people like their idea, there is a chance it can become a new law.
So:
We want the law to change
We need to agree what to put in the law
Then we need to get MPs to support us
Everyone will need to ask their MP to support #LBBill.
It may not work. But we have to try.
This post was written by Steve Broach and Anne Collis.
LB Bill 
This proposed Bill is a great idea – I have no hesitation in supporting your good work in memory of LB. As an ex chair of IPSEA (who has run successful campaigns that resulted in new laws for families like mine) I am very aware of the power of family networks. We need to get thousands of families that include someone with extra support needs to write to their MP s to support your Bill when it reaches the Commons. I could help make this happen for you. Best wishes and good luck – @ete Crane.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks Pete, really appreciate your support and thanks for your kind offer, we’ll be in touch in due course. Thank you.
LikeLike
Unfortunately Peter the education law is not good enough as learners do not have an absolute right to access mainstream education. shameful in 2014
LikeLike
The problem with this may be two fold.
1 Families , for good reason, are frightened of what might happen, if they are seen, in anyway, to stand up to the state ie LA. Some so badly they cannot put their names to petitions, as real names are required.
2 There may be an insidious ‘divide and rule’ policy being used ie extension of the ‘us and them’, now so prevalent in society, ie promise of preferential treatment for trouble makers, who don’t rock the boat too much.
3. There is huge vested interest ie future income and jobs, in these policies, which need government intervention to change, and the love of money is difficult to fight.
LikeLike
I would be happy to help if I can. I am worried that too many people are being taken far away from their families, as places like STATT are closed and replaced with more distant bigger units. Instead I want to have people supported at or close to home. I am standing as a candidate for Labour against David Cameron next year and have a slightly higher profile as a result. If I can use this to help the campaign please let me know. In the meantime I will contact Andrew Smith MP who is very supportive to make sure he is aware of the bill.
I’m so grateful on behalf of all special families and young dudes for what you are doing.
@duncanenright
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks for the support Duncan, it will be invaluable to our campaign. We’ll be in touch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As a lawyer, I cannot see how these education packages, we have been given in lieu of SEN for the over 16-25, are not in breach of the LA’s statutory duty to Educate our children.
If they are, and this could be easily proven by statements of what they actually contain, then why can we not all bring a class action for breach of statutory duty ??
Are there any lawyers who would be willing to act ??
If the law is broken, as it appears to be here, then it must be fixed, otherwise the LA will find itself permanently sued for damages by families, and their insurance company, if not the publicity, surely will have some effect ??
Would this not be a method of campaign. It certainly would be a method of justice or attempt at, and accountability.
LikeLike
The only future it would appear for all autistic/ mentally disordered adults is rip off skills training, as SEN agreements after 16 no longer exist, to train for supposed independent living, ie encagement away from families to make millions for the encagers.
My daugther is 17, and in three months time we can no longer make any decisions for her, she will be deemed incapable, and removed to a independent living unit- one of many vacant flats in Sheffield.
We will be cut out of her life, so the care is secret and she will be abused, as she was in the 177,000 per annum National Autistic Residential Home we were forced on threat of care orders to send her.
She refused to go back 18 mths ago, after years of abuse one restraint 48 bruises all passed off as self harm,, with a pooh impaction, two rotten teeth, 7 stone having pulled her hair out, suffering post traumatic disorder- repeating the abusive words of her care workers, this was interpretated conveniently by SS and CAMHS, as hearing voices and talking to them, – psychotic symptoms – to send her to an expensive pathway assessment center, where no one escapes without respiridone patch.. Luckily we picked up the pieces and we managed to avoid this.
We have had inadequate support, and all is to try to prove our incapacity so Isabel can be removed, we have been spied on by the agency workers and all is dirty tricks. They want the placement at home to break down.
Please read my blog Living with a severely autistic daughter’, and get the bill to stop the subvertion of independent living , abuse of the disabled, removal from loving families to be used as cashcows and for drug trials . And the targeting of these families by social services and GPs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello finolamoss
Yeap we agree – We tried to campaign against independent living training as part of the SEN offer contact me
I work with the alliance for inclusive education –
LikeLike
How dreadful, and disgracefully your story is repeated many times over in different parts of the country. Families are finding out the hard way, that Local Authorities often lie about important facts sometimes even in court. This will not change until LA’s are truly held accountable to the people they purport to serve, and the people on the end of what I term as ‘Vexatious’ court cases brought by prejudiced LA’s, until the these people, can also acces the legal departments which we pay for from taxation and council taxes.
Whilst the people have to rely on legal aid which is largely manned by trainees who change so often they do not see a case through, meaning new trainees never get up to speed and eat all the legal aid money away.
There is not a level playing field and because we are a minority, even if a significant one, it is always a losing situation when most judges believe that the so called ‘professionals’ always know best.
The resulting pain and suffering is almost to much to bear for those it directly affects and those that but for the grace of God go we.
J. Clarke
Family Carer
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Mrs Clarke,
If you read my arts, which were largely written, because of our injustice at the hands of the state. LA,, particularly ‘Authorised Abuse’ in New Law Journal on googling my name, you will see, it is not just lawyers that are the problem, if you can get legal aid, but the system is stacked agst the family.
That is why care, education and eventually engagement services are so bad, because they are unaccountable. They have a captive, secret consumer, and can make millions- perfect business model .
If you read this art, there is a high ct case at end, where judge actually allowed publication of his judgement, because of the 12 inaccuracies and misrepresentations of the social services team manager on their application for an emergency protection order to remove a child . Which succeeded and then was overturned by him on appeal.
In care courts all is secret, no publishing of judgements, unless gets to CA which is rare.
Court of Protection are same and take over at 18.
John Hemming MP is trying to get the Transparency And Accountability Bill through, to open up these courts.
This has been campaigned for now for nearly 10 years and is long overdue.
This would be a first step in change to a flawed court system.
Get in touch if you want with me about anything on finolamoss @gmail.com
best wishes and thanks for your comment
Finola
LikeLike