Post by brillbilly on May 25, 2015 6:28:02 GMT 10
This is a petition set up to try and help bring Chris home. Please read, sign then share far and wide. We need to shame authorities into doing the right thing for Chris, once a for all!
My 22 year-old son Chris is a wonderful person. He has severe autism and a learning disability but to us he is just Chris - funny, lively, handsome.
Like any other young man his age he has never-ending energy - he wants exciting things to do, action, to be with his brother, Luke. But unlike most other young men, Chris has been living in a secure hospital since 2011. We kept trying to make plans for Chris when he was at school but we were never listened to. We were told there was nowhere for him to go, so he was sent to an assessment and treatment unit run by Calderstones NHS Trust, aged 19.
Just out of school, a young man with his life ahead of him, Chris was sent to a secure unit many miles from us, his family. All because the local council failed to work with us to plan for his future. The result is a life lost. Forgotten by everyone but us, his family, loving him, doing everything we can to get him out.
Chris spent his 21st birthday in the unit and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons: we found out he had suffered the most appalling physical and emotional abuse from carers at the unit. Chris doesn’t use words and he is very vulnerable. To hear this had happened was unbearable. And he is still there. We haven’t been able to get him out.
I watched the Winterbourne View abuse scandal unfold on TV. It is chilling that places like this still exist., and it fills me with terror that my son remains isolated and totally alone in one of these units. A place where he has been abused, where we have seen him dangerously restrained face down by 7 members of staff and where he has received multiple unexplained injuries. I fear for his safety everyday.
Calderstones NHS Trust has so much power and control over the unit and recently they have made it so we can’t see Chris. It has been 6 months since I have seen him and held him. For Chris this is so traumatic, he just won’t understand why we are not there. And his self-injuring will keep getting worse and worse the longer he is forced to live like this. As his mother my heart is broken. I know if Chris had a voice he would say he wants to be with us right now.
We know Chris could be supported to live in the community. We know there are organisations that can give my son the right care and the right housing. They have said they will happily work with Chris and us to provide a safe and stimulating environment for him - and it would cost far less than the astronomical amount currently being spent. But the professionals do not want to know.
While professionals in Wigan and at Calderstones NHS Trust refuse to listen to us, Chris remains trapped. Luke and I feel we are losing him, mentally and physically. We want him back close to us so we can love, care and protect him.
Please, help me bring my son home #BringChrisHome
www.change.org/p/peter-harrison-head-of-service-bri…
My 22 year-old son Chris is a wonderful person. He has severe autism and a learning disability but to us he is just Chris - funny, lively, handsome.
Like any other young man his age he has never-ending energy - he wants exciting things to do, action, to be with his brother, Luke. But unlike most other young men, Chris has been living in a secure hospital since 2011. We kept trying to make plans for Chris when he was at school but we were never listened to. We were told there was nowhere for him to go, so he was sent to an assessment and treatment unit run by Calderstones NHS Trust, aged 19.
Just out of school, a young man with his life ahead of him, Chris was sent to a secure unit many miles from us, his family. All because the local council failed to work with us to plan for his future. The result is a life lost. Forgotten by everyone but us, his family, loving him, doing everything we can to get him out.
Chris spent his 21st birthday in the unit and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons: we found out he had suffered the most appalling physical and emotional abuse from carers at the unit. Chris doesn’t use words and he is very vulnerable. To hear this had happened was unbearable. And he is still there. We haven’t been able to get him out.
I watched the Winterbourne View abuse scandal unfold on TV. It is chilling that places like this still exist., and it fills me with terror that my son remains isolated and totally alone in one of these units. A place where he has been abused, where we have seen him dangerously restrained face down by 7 members of staff and where he has received multiple unexplained injuries. I fear for his safety everyday.
Calderstones NHS Trust has so much power and control over the unit and recently they have made it so we can’t see Chris. It has been 6 months since I have seen him and held him. For Chris this is so traumatic, he just won’t understand why we are not there. And his self-injuring will keep getting worse and worse the longer he is forced to live like this. As his mother my heart is broken. I know if Chris had a voice he would say he wants to be with us right now.
We know Chris could be supported to live in the community. We know there are organisations that can give my son the right care and the right housing. They have said they will happily work with Chris and us to provide a safe and stimulating environment for him - and it would cost far less than the astronomical amount currently being spent. But the professionals do not want to know.
While professionals in Wigan and at Calderstones NHS Trust refuse to listen to us, Chris remains trapped. Luke and I feel we are losing him, mentally and physically. We want him back close to us so we can love, care and protect him.
Please, help me bring my son home #BringChrisHome
www.change.org/p/peter-harrison-head-of-service-bri…