Disabled Facilities Grant

mummytofour

Are my chances zero? I have a child with special needs and am in receipt of DLA middle rate care and low rate mobility for him. I live in a 4 bed house and we have 5 children. The bedrooms are divided like this.
1) Dh and I
2) DD 11
3) DS 9,2 and 4
4) SEN son

It is becoming harder for my 9 yr old to share with his little brothers as he is getting older etc. Not impossible but bear in mind my SEN son was supposed to share with my 9 yr old. However since we moved here 3 yrs ago things have changed with my SEN sons health and its better for the family he has his own space.

We own our house on a mortgage, what would the chances of getting some help towards some internal building work that would allow us a 5 th bedroom? I just feel so sorry for my 9 yr old, he is such a good boy and he keeps having to sacrifice things including his bedroom :-(



Many thanks

louloututu

Hi mummytofour
i can only talk about the area in which I live and the mandatory part of the DFG (Disabled facilities Grant). The Mandatory part is what a local authority MUST provide an assessment for and a solution to. There is also a discretionary part to the grant and different authorities use this differently.

So, a local authority (LA) will provide an assessment by an Occupational Therapist for access to essential facilities for the person with a disability. This means toiletting, sleeping, washing and cooking facilities. They also need to make sure that the environment is safe for the person with a disability (for children this can also include siblings if the childs disability has an effect on their behaviour ie challenging behaviour)

How the LA provide this access and safety is very dependent on the persons disability and the layout, structure and usage of their home/property.

In your case, your son has access to sleeping facilities (a bedroom) my authority would then deem that the issue that you have is not one linked to disability but one of overcrowding therefore not eligible for a DFG.

Having said that, I know nothing about you and your family and your sons disability and there could be reasons that would make him eligible therefore I would contact your local council and ask for an assessment by an Occupational Therapist.

I hope this helps

madhouse

When we qualified for the disabled facility grant it was to seperate our 2 children and give my son a space of his own. A friend qualified on the grounds that her son's bedroom was too small for his needs(social and sensory). Another friend qualified because her son needed a groundfloor room for physical needs.

I was told it was all about the child's needs to qualify and not the other members of the families. So consider if the size of room he has is enough for his requirements.

Good Luck

mummytofour

We would be fine if my SEN son could share. When we moved here we chose the house as the rooms could be shared accordingly older 2 boys, younger 2 boys and dd. Since then DS has be given a diagnoses and his behaviour has become more challenging.

I wonder if this was to be put across differently if more help would be avalibe.

Supposing DS with special needs was sharing, then I could perhaps have a stronger case as I could argue that he needs his own room, which he does.

Thanks for the help guys, I think I will find out about an OT assessment.

Lorne

As an OT your current circumstances wouldn't be suitable for a grant in the LA I work for as the child with the needs is suitably housed, it would be seen more as overcrowding and therefore you wouldn't qualify. Your local authority will have an OT dept (normally accessed through social work) so I'd get in touch with them for an assessment. The OT will be able to give you more info seeing the layout of your property.

hilstep2000

I got one for my inside stairlift, now I'm getting one for an outside one. I think it depnds on your local council. east Sussex is pretty generous.

D&DD

Hi mummytofour I hope you manage to get something sorted out.
re OT I wouldn't hold your breath *sorry Lorne* but I have 2 disabled kids 1 with Autism,1 just had a spinal op for curvature and bedbound..he left hospital in August and isn't even classed as an urgent case to be assessed so we have to wait until January...They also have to share a bedroom at the top (3 storey townhouse) which isn't ideal.
Don't mean to sound depressing but wanted to warn you about the waiting times...:o
HTH
D XX

Broken_hearted

We keep getting turned down so have no family living space as DH sleeps in the living room. its hard because I have nowhere to go for time alone.

mummytofour

hilstep2000 wrote: »

I got one for my inside stairlift, now I'm getting one for an outside one. I think it depnds on your local council. east Sussex is pretty generous.

Dame I am in West Sussex!

D&DD

Mspig re the garden I asked various sources but the general concensus with charities/funding seems to be its not essential like a washing machine etc is..Only thing I can think of is to approach a firm that does the tiles and ask if they can do a discount due to your circumstances??
We ended up having to pay out close to £3k to make our (council house) garden safe :eek: and we did all the labour we could ourselves.
I know how you feel with 2 kids with such different needs...
D XX

mummytofour

mspig wrote: »

We had an assessment for a downstairs toilet, as my autistc 5 year old also have mobility problems and finds it difficult to get upstairs - they did the assessment then came out to see me to say NO we don't put in downstairs toilets until the child has turned 9 until then you can have a commode( my son won't even go near the thing, and its also where do you put it)

We also asked for our garden to be done in special rubber floor as my 3 year old who was born without an immune system can't play outside because of risk of infection, and they came did the assessment then came back and said No we don't do gardens, but someone i know in another council area had her garden done last year because her son has the same illness as mine, its really annoying.

So not fair is it? These kids have enough things in life against them and all we want to do is make their lives as easy as we can