DLA (child) Renewal

Indie_Kid

She may be expected to be able to do some self care once she reaches a certain age.

Have you requested a statement of reasons? This is more detailed and gives an extra 14 days to appeal.

It may be worth visiting her GP and asking them for a letter to explain her needs. Depending on your daughter's situation, it would be worth getting her medical records (which cost £10, I do believe) if there's anything relevant in there about the needs she has.

Don't bother asking for a reconsideration. It happens as part of an appeal. You might as well just ask for an appeal.

lisa4995

She can do some things on her own but with supervision as she struggles at times but I was led to believe that DLA was awarded if it impacted on her daily life rather than if she did it herself or not she is too young to claim PIP obviously so DLA is her only option and it does really impact on her daily life

Indie_Kid

Yes, to claim DLA you have to demonstrate that something can't be done without assistance. In the case of a child, they must have more care and /or mobility needs than someone the same age or the same needs as a younger child.

lisa4995

Thank you for clearing that up Indie kid, although I am still confident that an appeal needs to be made as there is a lot she can't do on her own and her mobility needs really are much much more than anyone her own age, in fact they are more than my 3 year olds.

bloolagoon

Indie_Kid wrote: »

She may be expected to be able to do some self care once she reaches a certain age.

Have you requested a statement of reasons? This is more detailed and gives an extra 14 days to appeal.

It may be worth visiting her GP and asking them for a letter to explain her needs. Depending on your daughter's situation, it would be worth getting her medical records (which cost £10, I do believe) if there's anything relevant in there about the needs she has.

Don't bother asking for a reconsideration. It happens as part of an appeal. You might as well just ask for an appeal.

I can't imagine many adults doing much if not any of the treatments above. They need 2 people (adult or child).

If you find an 11 year old who can strip a bed, wash it and themselves even without mobility issues send them to my house as turning down their beds is problematic

LocoLoco

Gosh, this is terrible, we had similar with my son's most recent claim although that was a few years ago now.


I would try an organisation such as Contact A Family for help with the appeal as it's all very stressful (as you know!). There also might be a charity that they can refer you to for help with your daughter's transport costs whilst your claim is being reassessed.


I've not dealt with this sort of thing for a while now so I'm out of date with the way things work but check your options out (if Contact a Family can't help then try the CAB for alternatives, most areas have some sort of welfare rights person that can advise. There's also the Benefits and Work forum, you do have to pay to become a member but they're very good and worth the money).


We went for a reconsideration and won the care element on that, then went to appeal for the mobility, which we didn't win but I knew it was going to be a push as my son didn't quite tick all the boxes. But definitely pull all of your information together and get the appeal started asap (and yes, a statement of reasons is a big help as you can often just provide evidence to show their reasons aren't relevant in your case).


You will get all your benefits refunded once you win but that doesn't help much in the meantime, I know.


If you've got the energy after all that it's probably worth putting a complaint in and writing to your MP; whether he or she will be much use is another matter.


It's a horrible situation; doing this to disabled kids just sickens me so I hope you are able to resolve the matter soon.

Indie_Kid

Are you keeping a diary of everything you need to do for your daughter?

lisa4995

You're right bloolagoon anything in the night we need to do not only because of her age and short stature but also because of her dislocated hips she becomes very stiff and sore and unbalanced, she does try and do some stuff alone like insert her catheter but she does need supervision as she sometimes struggles and an adult has to take over so she also has a one on one teaching assistant at school with her.

Thank you locoloco you are right it is very very stressful my head is physically hurting and the nightmare it is going to cause doesn't bear thinking about.

Indie kid I don't keep a diary I never felt the need to but to be honest what I do for her on a daily basis doesn't really alter an example of a good day would be

physically help her get out of bed and wait till she is steady
supervise her doing he catheter in the bathroom
put a stool at the sink ad support her while she washes and brushes her teeth (she is wobbly in a morning)
change and clean her colostomy
help her getting her clothes on
brush and put her hair up
give her her morning medications and dietary supplements
drive her to school and carry her bags in
collect her from school
give her her afternoon medications
supervise her catheter and do a washout (washout on wed and sun)
check and change her colostomy if needed
give tea and encourage her to eat (very poor appetite and lack of interest in food making her underweight, takes approx 45 mins for a small meal with constant encouragement)
catheter again
bath as she is too unsteady to do herself
night time meds and supplements
catheter and colostomy
stay up till approx midnight to change her nappy
wake about 4am change nappy or bedding and possibly shower her wake her at 7am and start again

lisa4995

well we have been to hospital for an appointment today and the nephrologist amd urologist is very happy to write a letter for my daughter he was shocked that they never contacted him to start with, although after todays appointment they have found more problems so I guess that at least will only support our claim. back in next saturday for MRI so I guess we will see what that throws up

LocoLoco

lisa4995 wrote: »

well we have been to hospital for an appointment today and the nephrologist amd urologist is very happy to write a letter for my daughter he was shocked that they never contacted him to start with, although after todays appointment they have found more problems so I guess that at least will only support our claim. back in next saturday for MRI so I guess we will see what that throws up

Good luck, if people are writing letters for you get them to send you a copy as I've found in the past these things have a habit of getting 'lost' and the whole process is delayed further. Hope this is resolved for you soon.