North Highland parents of disabled children campaign for respite services
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Two far north residents who both have children with autism have joined forces to campaign for the restoration of Highland Council-run respite care services in the area.
Leslie Sharp, from Rogart, and Elizabeth Jones, from Thurso, are lobbying Highland councillors and political leaders including constituency MP Jamie Stone and MSP Maree Todd.
Ms Jones has set up a group called ‘Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign’ and has launched a petition ‘Bring back respite care services for Caithness and Sutherland,’ which earlier this week had 407 signatures.
She said: “Through my new group, I have formed a collaboration with Leslie and we are now teaming up in a joint effort to fight for respite care services across the whole of Caithness and Sutherland.”
Ms Jones been unable to access overnight respite care since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic led to the closure in March 2020 of the local authority run Thor House in Thurso.
Highland Council has since changed the use of the house from a disability centre to a chidren’s residential home.
A motion to reopen Thor House for respite care for children, put forward by Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss at this month’s meeting of the full Highland Council, was rejected by 33 votes to 29.
Mr Sharp has previously told the Northern Times: “The lack of services for learning disabled children in Sutherland is astonishing.
“Everyone in Caithness and Sutherland is cut off from accessing respite provision and the Highland Council’s failure to supply this for the north is a disgrace.”
The two campaigners have both separately been told by a Highland Council officer over the last two years that a “two bed provision is being looked at”, but they say there is “no evidence of any movement towards this goal,” and that in any case the authority has no suitable building for this purpose.
Ms Jones said that an official complaint she made to Highland Council regarding the withdrawal of respite care services has been “partially upheld”.
Highland Council has previously said that a review of provision for children and young people with disabilities was being undertaken and that an alternative for parents in Sutherland was Orchard House in Inverness.
The council has also said that Self-Directed Support (SDS) is available to parents to employ someone to care for a child, but Ms Jones said SDS did not work in the far north because of the lack of carers and suitable premises available.
Her petition is at: www.change.org/p/bring-back-respite-services-for-caithness-sutherland
