I'm writing on the behalf of the parent group of the ILS: the Bridge Integrated Learning Space. Our children are teenagers between 11-19 years old, with very complex needs. They all have a diagnosis of severe to profound learning disabilities, autism and often have additional complex medical and mental health needs. We are their main carers and wish to raise our desperate need for overnight short breaks and emergency respite for our children.

Currently there are no contingency options for emergency crisis care for us in Islington. The lack of any residential overnight respite options leaves families in a strenuous situation, which compounds with our physical and mental health under our day-to-day circumstances; this has been magnified by the effects of COVID. Respite will allow us to take a short break from caring for our children, and gives us time to look after ourselves to ensure that we don't become worn out to the point where we can no longer cope.

Our children are adults with the mental age of a toddler; most of them are non-verbal and require our full attention at all times. When our children are faced with changes, they become unsettled and communicate their distress through physically, mentally and sensory challenging behaviors. They can become extremely vulnerable and volatile, resulting in them hurting themselves sometimes, as well as us. To prevent this from happening we have to constantly be vigilant - something that we cannot do whilst exhausted. Unfortunately, because of the lack of local respite, parents who cannot cope often have their children put into crisis care where they can be misunderstood and mishandled; this is our greatest concern.

The school that our children attend has a facility built specifically for the purpose of overnight respite, and it is hard to understand why this building is sitting obsolete while we are desperate for help. Could the ILS living space not be used as it was intended, staffed and managed by people who know and love our children? It seems like the ideal place. Our lives could fall into crisis without this overnight respite care; is this not a greater burden on the health and welfare system in comparison to opening a facility that is already there?

Please sign this petition to bring our pressing issue to the attention of the local government. COVID is tipping us over the edge with siblings being at home, periods of school closure, finance struggles, new rules that our children cannot understand and our loss of support systems. We wonder how much it will cost when we break down?