Fix It Sheffield City Council Needs to Prove they Are Sorry Today Sheffield City Council issued a statement to the Press in regard to this petition and forthcoming Protest March. They have as yet not had the courtesy to communicate this statement position with Sparkle Sheffield or to the Named Organiser of the forthcoming Protest March Chrissy Meleady MBE, to enable them to share this with parents/carers, families and supporters. The gist of the statement issued from the Director of Children’s and Young People’s Services, Ms Jayne Ludlam, to the BBC which was partially reported on the BBC yesterday morning on the Toby Foster show was that Sheffield City Council had been trying to make improvements, with how they do assessments and getting the right services for Disabled children in Sheffield and that they wanted to continue trying to make improvements. They said that they TRULY REGRETTED not getting it right in the past and that they recognised that they are still not getting it right all the time. They also wrongfully presented that they had offered to meet with Sparkle Sheffield to discuss the concerns and how they might make progress inferring that Sparkle Sheffield had declined to meet with the Council but they failed to say that Sparkle Sheffield had already previously met with the Council and had detailed to Sheffield City Council extensively, the parents/carers and families concerns, as well as Sparkle Sheffield’s concerns, nor did they mention at all that the Equalities and Human Rights Children’s Advocate Chrissy Meleady MBE had over longevity been putting in writing and verbally to the Council the very serious enduring and escalating concerns, along with complaints. To add to this, yesterday evening on the BBC Look North programme, the Council’s other senior Directorate representative Ms Dawn Walton the Director responsible for Special Educational Needs in Sheffield City Council said in her statement on behalf of the Council, that the Council: - ‘regretted the situation many children find themselves in ‘and that: - ‘Parents definitely would get an apology where we have not processed their assessment as quickly as we should have ‘ Parents/carers have been in touch to say that they found the above proffered positions to be evasive, in its avoidance of including the waft of failings and abuses and its selection to focus only upon presenting the abuses as merely being ‘administrative/procedural ones’. They asked that it be pointed out that the fact is that it is not only the situation that children are in that should be regretted but the full failings of Sheffield City Council that should be acknowledged, apologised for amended which had forced the children and their families into this ‘situation’ of their being abused in the first place. While reference was made by Ms Walton to there being a willingness by the Council to apologise to parents for delays in processing EHCP assessments by Sheffield City Council , it is the case that the concerns expressed in our petition and informing the forthcoming Protest March relate not only to the Council delaying processing assessments but the Council’s refusal to:- even assess Disabled children for an EHCP, their lying to parents/carers about the children’s rights and entitlements to an EHCP in order to block the children from having one, the Council’s wrongful use of the My Plan that the Council have been wrongfully saying is of more value and holds more status than an EHCP, the fact that children have been getting subjected to unofficial enforced exclusions and being forced to miss school, by way of them being put on part time schooling, children being forced out of school due to schools not meeting their SEND needs and requirements, children who have been failed and therefore ill-treated, reacting to the extent that they have been self-harming themselves, parents/carers and advocates being ignored, bypassed or alternatively spoken to and addressed in disrespectful ways by Council personnel, the diminutions in resources, funding and staffing losses to Special Schools, IR Units, Behaviour Support Units the denials of families’ realities of their lived experiences over longevity of their having been abused by the Council The above are just a few of the examples of failings and breaches that Sheffield City Council failed to give due regard to and redress to in their BBC stated ‘regret’ today, instead bypassing the extent of and the realities of the failings, breaches and the hurts and harms done. Parents/carers are identifying that it is also remiss of Sheffield City Council not only not to have identified that Sparkle Sheffield and the organiser of the Protest March had already met with Sheffield City Council well ahead of the launch of the petition, but that this meeting proved to be of no avail to having the concerns and complaints accepted properly and taken on board but indeed they were remiss to innot mentioning that Sheffield City Council had been invited by the Protest March Named Organiser to speak to the attendees of the March, take questions, and to hear comments and complaints from parents/carers at the March. Nor to date has Sheffield City Council taken up this reasonable and cooperative offer. Instead, Sheffield City Council has only sought to say they are open for individual families to speak to them of their concerns if and when they want to come forward. They made no reference to the multitude of concerns and complaints also, already evidently shared by named parents/carers, family members on this website either and present to be seeking a route of not wanting to engage in the collective parental/carer concerns and complaints levied with them by Sparkle Sheffield and the Children’s Advocate- a case of shooting the messengers? Parents /cares are asking In addition, in the Statements issued by Sheffield City Council in the am and in the afternoon of yesterday parents/carers also noted the failings to identify that there were other instances previously the concerns and complaints were conveyed to them, over longevity as the Minutes below show that the Council had previously identified they were not meeting their legal obligations and duties and had promised change would be forthcoming. They reneged upon this and the promised change and its extent was not forthcoming and indeed things got worse, hence the Petition and Protest March. While acknowledging Sheffield City Council’s ‘regret’, this does not preclude parents/carers from wanting action to immediately identify what has and is going wrong. As the CEO of Sparkle Sheffield said: - ‘We want the Council to fix it, we want concrete evidence of change, as the Council have expressed regret to others before, promised change only to renege on this in order to purse their internal agenda if being resource led rather than needs led. Parents/carers are not accepting of this.’ Parents/carers will hold Sheffield City Council to account and despite Sheffield City Council communicating with organisers to pull off the protests, parents/carers refuse to do so on the basis of this issuing of ‘regret’. This Petition and Protest March will prevail, at the request of parents/carers. The rationale for this is to demonstrate to the Sheffield City Council, that actions speak louder than words, and it is action that parents/carers want, not Council staff on behalf of the Council, cherry picking where to lay the Council’s expression of regret, this time on administrative/processing failings when in fact it is far more than that but acknowledgement of the whole bag of failings, hurts and harms caused and very importantly to hear how Sheffield City Council will fix and when they will fix it. Solutions are required as parents/carers want to make it clear, given all that has gone before and endured into this present, they do not trust Sheffield City Council to keep to their word, given the fact they have broken their word too many times before to Disabled children and their families and in doing so proceeded to break the law and most importantly and shockingly of all, to harm Disabled children and their families. These abuses can be seen in the Petition rationales and Protest March specifications to. Therefore, to reiterate once more to Sheffield City Council – words and promises as the parents/carers identify have proven to be cheap and therefore parents/carers are calling upon Sheffield City Council to prove their regret and to ----- FIX IT! and if they cannot FIX IT! themselves, then others must be brought in who can FIX IT because our Disabled children and families will not be allowed to suffer any more, due to your failings and continual failed promises. nor will their key representative groups or advocates be allowed to be ill-treated as they have been either, in their seeking to stop the abuses and represent the children and families in Sheffield to Sheffield City Council. The petition prevails and we call upon everyone to secure others through your networks to sign up to this protest for the sake of Disabled children and families in Sheffield and to come out on the 9th September 2017 to March in not only protest but to hold Sheffield City Council to account and to show Sheffield City Council that our Disabled children and families have had ENOUGH and we are standing up and collectively to say so and to call for extension in the regret, so the Council are not let off the hook claiming their failings were merely administrative ones, proof of the regret and concrete change. This petition and Protest March is about also saving our Special Schools, our IR Units, our Behaviour Support Units, and all of the services we have. It is about calling for the reinstatement of the Gifted and Talented monies for Special Educational Needs and for the reinstatement of the staff SEND services, including schools, have lost in this city to. The petition and Protest March is challenging the Sheffield City Council’s drive to force forward their resource led rather than needs led agenda and desire, which is harmful to Disabled children and their families. It is harmful to every Special School and to those providing Specialist support and to mainstream schools all of whom are already underfunded and over stretched. Your solidarity is so greatly appreciated