carer's obligations

CC is right, if you are concerned about the welfare of any child then you should report it to Social Services. You are not obliged to do this but you are entitled to do so. SS are, in turn, obliged to investigate reasonable concerns. Parents/guardians are prosecuted for neglect and in the end a court must decide, with the aid of expert witnesses etc, what is reasonable in the circumstances.

There are also obligations on the state to provide reasonable assistance for children with special educational needs. EHC plans have replaced "Statements" in England and you can consult the IPSEA website for more details about that.

The word "reasonable" has no hard and fast definition, it must depend on the prospect of harm and the prospect of benefits as judged by experts and the court that hears the case.

If you have difficulty in making your point to the LA, e.g. in case you were autistic yourself, then enlisting the assistance of an advocate may help the process run more smoothly. There are advocacy services described elsewhere on the NAS website.

There is no legal definition of what a parent, guardian or carer should or shouldn't do for a child. This is more an area of socialy acceptable 'standards' - part of the unwritten rules, if you will.

Consider this for a moment. Mary Hare Grammar school is a school for hearing impaired children. It is a school rule that sign language may not be used - all children in the school must use other means to understand in an aural world, because that's where they'll be living in their future. They have various means of achieving this, and their web page is informative.

Each child, therefore, is not having their impaired hearing taken into account during lessons. A child autistic not having their impairment taken into account during lessons would, and does, lead to arguments between schools and parents. The 'Mary Hare' approach, then, would be quite contentious for many.

ANY concerns about the treatment of a 'disabled' child should be expressed to Social Services in a clear way, because they have the responsibility, on behalf of society, for ensuring children's safety and welfare, The bottom line is, is the child suffering a detriment, and to what degree?

As Longman says, child autistics have very little access to meaningful services. So do adults, but staying with the children for a moment, I must say this:-

There are many ways of causing 'stress and anxiety' in autistic people, and only the individual can tell you what their experience is. Autism is such a wide spectrum that we find each individual's impairments and experiences vary. We often mention this fact. Our children probably suffer in ways that we cannot guess at even though we have some insight, but this is neither a given, nor is it easily quantified.

By it's very nature as an isolating 'condition', autism means that these things happen in the real world. What is probably most important to a child autistic is that they have safe places and people that they can retreat to, and be comforted by. Please appreciate that this is my personal view.

If you have genuine concerns for the child, you should express them to Social Services and leave them to look into the matter. They do play the 'confidentiality' card, even parents whose children are subject to Social Services can be kept firmly out of the information loop, so they won't necessarily discuss their finding with you. Even if they have serious concerns, they'll often refuse to discuss them or what they're doing about it.

Should they remove the child from its' carers, the most they're likely to say is that they're acting in the best interests of the child. Under the 'Children Act' only 'professionals' are legaly obliged to report any child welfare concerns, there is no such obligation on the general public.

If you have concerns, you should report them to Social Services, but only they have the duty to decide whether or not there is any foundation for them so you must express them clearly, and be prepared to accept, or get involved in a long argument about, their findings and actions, I'm afraid.

hi, I'm talking about someone who knows the child is autistic but is refusing services offered to them that could benefit the child with coping with anxiety and stress, also that the child is struggling in school but the carer is refusing to get the child statemented for any support the child may need. Are they obliged by law to do these things or is it a case of neglect and irresponsibility if they don't and disregard any long term effects this could have on the child. They aren't the actual parents of the child but they have a guardianship order and the child is in their custody but I believe they are neglecting the child in several ways medically including in regards to autism, hypermobility and a history of epilepsy. I'm certainly not picking on someone whom is struggling with an autistic child, I'm concerned that someone simply refuses to take the child's autism etc into account and about the long term effect that can have. 

You mean there are services in your area they can access? Or refuse?

Read the posts on this forum. Numerous parents struggling to get any kind of meaningful support. I may be misreading your intentions but are you picking on someone who is struggling with an autistic child in the current situation with service cut backs, long waits etc.

This is really not a situation where you go up to a help desk, ask for the services and it is all handed to you on a plate. It is a living nightmare for many parents.