Dear Supporters, 

My deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported our case so far and for your kind generosity, which has supported in paying the significant legal costs that has built up. 

We are keeping everything crossed and holding on to ‘hope’ for our appeal to be granted.

However, I have had to make a decision to discharge the law firm acting for me, due to not being able to afford the costs, and have since been representing myself.

Therefore this page has now closed.

Thank you again, and please keep us in your thoughts in hope we can move forward and seek better outcome and future for my loving little sister.

Best Wishes. 

Thank You to everyone who has supported our Campaign so far, and the generous donations made. Your words of support and contribution has meant so much to us and the funds so far has contributed towards my legal expenses. 

I am in the process of bringing an appeal against a recent judgment and a harsh Court decision, that may result in a hearing (which in my legal teams’ view was conducted very unfairly) being re-listed. I am being represented by solicitors and a barrister, to seek a better outcome for my sister who has severe Learning Disability and lacks Mental Capacity.

My sister has been confined to a care home, her access to the community is very limited, her contact with me (her only close relative and social contact) has been cut back and significant restrictions have been imposed on me designed to silence me as far as possible. The quality of care my sister is receiving could be much better, and I am very concerned she is being endangered but have no means at all to voice these concerns to the care home. 

Why do we need your support.  

1) The Local Authority have done all they can to try and deflect attention away from shortcomings in the provision of care to my sister by making accusations against me and trying to silence me. At the recent Court hearing, the Judge imposed their ‘Contract of Expectations’ harsh restrictions (9-page document, with over 50 points), not taken in my sisters Best Interest, and heavily restricting contact with me and minimising transparency in her care. Some examples of these restrictions;  

• It prevents me from speaking to my sister’s health professionals, or emergency services should there be a medical concern. In fact, the contract states I must step away and not ask questions, and hand over to the Care Home, even if my sister is out with me (yet the Care Home say that if she is out with me, they are not responsible for my sisters care). They also state, that if my sister becomes severely unwell, that it gives me no rights to visit her nor call and ask how she is, my sister is also deprived from having emotional support from me. - A recent concern, whilst my sister was out, I noticed an unusual bleeding, that I felt needed attention, I called the Care Home to seek advice, who allowed me to contact 111. In short, this caused further worries as I was unable to provide answers about her current health, as the parties have withheld information, the Care staff also said, they were not responsible of my sister whilst she was out. The medical team wanted my sister to be brought in to be checked, and ensure there were no other concerns, however the local authority does not allow me to communicate in her Best Interest. I was reassured my sister would have been checked. Later I learnt this decision had changed by the Care Home, giving no reassurance of the cause. - This also caused concern why my sister who relies on care and support, does not have the same access for medical as any other person can. The home also ignored to provide me an update following day, where I had no way of finding out how my sister was, nor my sister would have known of my contact, leaving myself feeling distressed.
• There have been several medication errors, which have been acknowledged by the safeguarding team but I was ignored by the local authority’s legal team when I reported these and further restrictions on my ability to report these errors were imposed on me at the recent hearing. However, there have been two Safeguarding concerns upheld. The Local Authority have shown no interest or have acknowledged concerns properly. Another example of an incident; - Whilst we were out with our friend, we noticed epilepsy medication missing, when we eventually got this, I realised incorrect tablets were given, despite raising this with the home knowing my sister has been on these medication for a very long time. I felt worried, being unheard and was put in a position to administer incorrect medication, leaving me scared and powerless to be able to voice and safeguard my sister. I knew for questioning this the local authority would seek to impose further restrictions. I learnt the following day that I was correct about the medication being incorrect, however Local Authority did not comment.
  
  
• Harsh penalties will be imposed on me if I am found to be in breach of the contract and given the carers’ history for making false or exaggerated claims against me, this leaves me in a vulnerable position and a very dangerous one for my disabled sisters’ future and our family life. 

2) I am fighting for our Human Rights - Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life). My sister and I share a very close bond, and I am her only social contact. There are many contact restrictions imposed, that places significant interference to our rights, such as;

• Physical Contact: Outing is only permitted for up to6hrs, once a week, for which I must give 9-days’ notice. if there is bad weather, the home will only allow me in the Care Home (that is meant to be my sister’s home) for only up to 3hrs, (they may also ask me to leave). A second visit may be permitted for only up to 4hrs, again with 9-days’ notice, without giving flexibility or consideration to my personal or work life or my sister’s well-being, who doesn’t get regular fresh air or has much to look forward to as I am her only social contact.
• Facetime calls: reduced and restricted to only 3 times a week, at a set time convenient to the care home but not to me as I do not always get home from work in time for it. The Local Authority also added, my sister is not allowed to have a drink of anything whilst speaking to me on Facetime, which she has always enjoyed and part of her social experience and does not understand why she can no longer have a cup of tea and enjoy a conversation.
• Any other contacts including Welfare contact: My sister is no longer supported in sending videos or meaningful pictures via her personal iPad, nor supported to respond to messages. If my sister is unwell, I am not allowed to call nor see my sister, to provide her emotional support, leaving my sister without any understanding why her contact has been severely restricted, and her support is no longer there.

3) The Local Authority brought these court proceedings, and legal costs have risen an astonishing £100,000 with further costs to incur. 

• This has become overwhelming, and confusing where little has been achieved so far where the Local Authority have had a stronger footing bringing these proceedings and have been privileged to accessing unlimited legal support through our public funding, and use of their power in reducing my sister’s care, removing her seizure mat and ignoring medication errors which is placing her at risk, and in stifling my voice and not making any effort to hear my sister’s, we require intervention from the Court in order to improve my sister’s care. All that has been achieved is further damage to our precious time together.

• This has left us at a very disadvantage and heart-breaking situation, where we have no other support unless we manage to find legal funding to support us in bringing these issues forward before the Court. 

4) Any one of us with a vulnerable loved one in a care home could easily have a judgement like this imposed on them by a local authority, should you show interest in your loved one’s life, have a firm opinion on what is in best interests, raise Safeguarding concerns, or advocate for better care and our loved ones’ disability rights.

We understand how tough things are for all of us right now, so I am deeply grateful for any support you can continue to give to seek a better outcome for my vulnerable sister.

Please help us get access to justice by sharing our Campaign Link and our story. #JusticeWeCare

You can read in more details and what this means for us both below;

The entirety of the contract agreement is designed to place significant restrictions on my time with my sister and to distance me from all aspects of her care. In effect, it stifles my voice and that of my sister. I am restricted to sending the care home one e-mail per week to ask questions about my sister’s health and they are not obligated to respond fully, I am not allowed to ask the carers questions, they will not allow me to visit unless I give 9 days’ notice (and they can cancel at no notice without reasons). 

At the last hearing in March 2023, I had to represent myself as I could not afford to fund counsel’s fees, and consequently I felt bullied and scared by the other parties and did not have enough of a voice at the hearing. Despite attempting to adjourn the hearing 3 times this was rejected, where all parties being aware the significant impact it has been having on me, the parties ignored this showing no care or compassion to a person’s mental well-being.

Human Rights Article 8 – the ‘right to respect for private and family life’ has been undermined by the other parties and not upheld by the Court, and I am very concerned and scared why this has happened, and why my sister’s own wishes, feelings and needs have not been properly explored by the solicitors instructed to represent her (who also has incurred significant costs without even having met her). I worry without support my sisters’ physical needs and mental health will deteriorate, she is left unsupervised at times due to her care hours being reduced, and alone whilst at risk of seizures that could be dangerous and life threatening (without her understanding). She is being deprived of social contact, regular fresh air, and access to the community ALL the while I am kept away, and she is left alone in the care home with reduced hours. I have seen her happiness and mental well-being deteriorate during this very difficult period, however Local Authority have ignored to listen. 

Recently, a professional family carer advocate, supported emailing the care home requesting whether it would be possible for me to support my sister out for a tea and fresh air, as we learnt she had not been out for a week, and had been indoors, the Care Home rejected this, sharing it was breaching the contract, which I found very harsh that no one is thinking of her Best Interest or her Well-Being. This heavily restricts my sister’s ability to have choice, and choose to see me, to maintain regular contact that she loves. This means my sister’s quality of life is heavily impacted.

My sister has shown distress, displaying several deep scratches over this last year, with a recent one being very concerning, however for being a concerned sister and wanting to know what had happened, Local Authority responded with ‘It evokes a reason, why a Contract Agreement is needed’ completing ignoring and showing any empathy nor understanding how distressed my sister must have been, and how a severe scratch would be concerning to see without transparency. My sister has also expressed not wanting to return, by showing signs of upset and becoming agitated after outings, however Local Authority have ignored to comment nor work in her Best Interest. The Contract only directs me to raising concerns to the Local Authority and the Care Home, who can choose to ignore and not fully respond. This also isolate concerns from speaking to external agencies such as Care Quality Commissioners. 

My sister has had legal representation for the last 12 months, and the solicitors were asked by the Judge to be my sister’s voice. As my sister lacks capacity, their role is to provide an insight into her needs and wishes, however their input to date has been minimal, they have shown no significant interest in the concerns raised over my sister’s care, including safeguarding concerns or any questions on the heavily restricted contract imposed limiting contact between us. 

My sister’s care

Since my sister was evicted from the previous home, she was moved to a residential home in August 2022, where we hoped to have been a fresh start. However, after being bullied out of being my sisters Health and Welfare, I was alienated from discussions about my sister’s care and excluded from updates on her health. The new carers I believe were influenced by the other parties to keep me away from my sisters’ health and well-being. The new home promised person-centred care, and, in their literature, they state the importance and value of family involvement “Family relationship really matter to the people we work with, and their involvement makes a huge difference to the quality of support we can build”, however their treatment of me has been in direct contrast to this.

During these last 8 months, my sister has spent a considerable amount of time alone in her room, where my sister’s support hours continue to be reduced and despite requesting for my sister’s seizure mat to be reinstated, this has been ignored. She went without physiotherapy for a very long period, and I was warned by her Physio previously (when health professionals were able to communicate with me) that her mobility in the long run would be impeded if support was not actively given.

Prior to these proceedings starting, I had an excellent relationship with health professionals and carers who respected the care and love I have for my sister. This also included reports from Deprivation of Liberty Assessors, and Court of Protection officer during annual reviews, whose professional feedback were they can see how loved and cared my sister was and had no concerns about the duties I carried out for the Best Interests of my sister. 

Since the hearing, some funds have come in from the Crowd Funding page which has enabled me to re-engage with my solicitors, and they have helped me bring an appeal which is waiting to be heard.

If the appeal succeeds, we may be able to turn the dial in these proceedings and have the care home and the other parties to focus on my sister’s health and welfare, instead of using the proceedings to try and sabotage my involvement in her life. I only want to enter a constructive dialogue and focus on what is in my sister’s best interests, and not simply do what is most convenient for the care home and Local Authority. It may also lead to a much better outcome for my sister who currently has a very poor quality of life. 

These proceedings are under a ‘Transparency Order’ which means we must remain anonymised, specifically my sister who is a protected party. Please can I kindly ask that our names are not shared on any social media posts, however we are counting on everyone’s support, please share our Crowd Justice link on social media platforms or with your contacts. #JusticeWeCare

Help me stay in this fight to ensure that the voices of families like mine are heard for our Disabled loved ones, and that we get justice.