Our latest Open Meeting was held online via Zoom on Saturday 24th April 2021.
The meeting was on the subject of self-advocacy, entitled ‘Are We Being Heard?’
Our two speakers were Maurice Collins of Reserve Power and solicitor Cate Searle. Maurice and Cate had been due to speak to us at our cancelled 2020 meeting, so we were thrilled they agreed to attend this digital meeting instead.
Read the notes from this meeting here
Meeting topic summary: Are We Being Heard?
Any family with a learning disabled relative will have wondered and, in many cases, worried about who will take care of them when they are gone. Who will speak for them when they need to be heard? And even while we are still here, does Deputyship and/or Lasting Power of Attorney really guarantee that we will be heard when important decisions about our relatives are being made?
In 1997 a group of 10 families got together to create a new concept which came to be known as ‘Reserve Power’. Advocates, by getting to know the families, are able to provide support, friendship and advocacy which can carry on when parents or siblings are no longer there. ‘Reserve Power’ was featured in Claire Bolderson’s documentary ‘On Whose Authority?‘ for Radio 4’s File on Four, broadcast in June 2019.
In the same documentary, solicitor Cate Searle described how so many families spend time and money making Deputyship applications which are either refused or do not deliver the hoped-for authority.
In our Open Meeting we heard more about ‘Reserve Power’ and how it might serve as a model for the future. We also talked about about how best practice Health and Welfare decisions can ensure that our vulnerable relative’s voice is heard.
Our speakers
Maurice Collins, who had already formed the charity ‘Kith & Kids’, was the driving force in setting up ‘Reserve Power’. The father of a learning disabled daughter, he used his business skills for this and for associated charities. He contributed to the File on Four documentary.
Cate Searle: Prior to training as a solicitor, Cate’s first degree was in Developmental Psychology and she worked in the fields of Health and Social Care for ten years. She has practised in Community Care Law since 1999. Her specialisms include Mental Capacity, and Health and Welfare issues including Court of Protection litigation.
