in control first phase report 2003-2005

46Celia’storyA social worker tells Celia’s storyCelia was diagnosed with Asperger’sSyndrome at the age of 15 but shereceived very little help from children’sservices. She is now 20.Celia was originally in residential school.But things weren’t going well. Therewere no night staff and Celia roamedthe building, knocking on others’ doors,bullying and attacking other students.She was very unhappy. She was not understood.Her needs were not met.In 2004 she was given notice becauseof her behaviour. I made an emergencyplacement at an in-house residentialcare home but Celia continued to bullyother residents.She did not like to be seen as someonewith a learning disability or live withdisabled people. Sometimes she attackedstaff. She also started to showsigns of bulimia. She was controlling.She was obsessive about bathrooms andabout others’ behaviour.Eventually things became so bad thatshe was given notice to quit – her secondtime. Her parents found a ‘specialist’residential care home for peoplewith autism. I had reservations, butthere was no suitable alternative and soshe moved in.It was a 4-bed house in the community.It was registered and linked to the mainresidential home. Food and day carewere provided centrally. To all intentsand purposes it was just another institution.Not surprisingly, Celia hated it. Thoughshe had constant 1:1 support, she nevereven went out to local shops. Her behaviourdeteriorated. She was desperateto visit her parents every weekendand took every opportunity to go outand leave the house.This ‘specialist’ home was soon callingme in for talks about Celia’s behaviour.I felt sure that another notice to quitewasn’t far away.Celia’s mum was talking to me over acoffee one day after yet another difficultmeeting when she said, ‘I am verydissatisfied with what is being provided.It’s a waste of money. It’s doing her nogood at all. If you gave me the moneyI would do it myself. ’She was awarethat there was a lot of work involved,but said ‘anything would be better thanwhat Celia gets now’. This is how Celiagot involved with in Control.I stressed that it was Celia who was tobe in control and not her parents. Therewas help available with things like employmentadvice and payroll from thelocal Centre for Independent Living. Imade a referral to Circles of Support tomake sure Celia was fully involved.Celia wanted to live in her own placein the town centre. Shared ownershipwas considered but, in the end, Celia’sparents put down a deposit on a flat.As soon as the residential home heardCelia was thinking of in Control, theygave her 3 months notice!The flat was bought and an advocateworked hard with Celia to write asupport plan. Celia got an allocationof £60k a year. This was much morecost-effective than the specialist home,which was about £ 100k. But would thenew arrangement work?Celia’s parents arranged housing benefit,DLA and recruited a team to supportCelia. They decorated the flat with Celiaand got everything in place for her tomove in during July 2005.On her second day in her own place, Celiatold her support worker she wantedto go to a local open-air pop concert.On her third day she went out for a pubA report on in Control’s first phase 2003-2005