Swansea teenager benefits from special care package

A Swansea 14-year-old is being given the chance to enjoy as normal a teenage life as possible thanks to a drive at Swansea Council to better meet individual needs.

Amy from Llansamlet has a complex and very painful disability which means she has to use a wheelchair.

But just like girls her own age she wants to socialise, go shopping, head out to the cinema and be a little bit independent of her parents.

Swansea Council has supported her and her family to access services and has provided a Direct Payment care package which is enabling her to get help tailored around her own needs.

Direct Payments are a different, more flexible way of delivering social care services.

And with Direct Payments clients like Amy and her mum, who is also disabled and receives this type of payment, can choose who provides their care and when they receive the care.

Swansea Council Social Services provide a payment directly to the client providing they are eligible to receive services so that they can arrange and purchase their own support with help from the local authority.

It has enabled Amy's family to spend the money to arrange for care provision best suited to her lifestyle. The family use appropriate care agencies and employ carers directly.

Her carers not only assist her with things like getting to and from hospital, physiotherapy or hydrotherapy but they are also enabling her to have as normal a teenage life as possible which includes taking her out with friends her own age for lunch or going to youth club or the cinema.

The carers share the same interests and are young and this means Amy feels she can be herself and talk about things like make-up, music, boys and other things teenage girls think of.

Amy said: "My disability means I get good days and very bad days. I have a lot of pain all of the time and I use a wheelchair. My mum has a complicated disability as well which means that she finds it hard doing what other parents do, so my poor dad is very busy.

"I am like most 14-year-olds except I need a bit more help to make things happen for me which is why Direct Payments are great for me.

"I meet one of my friends in a wheelchair who also has Direct Payments and we go out for lunch or into town or the cinema and, because our carers are young we share the same interests, we look just like any other group of friends on a trip to town.

"Don't get me wrong I love my Mum and Dad. They are amazing, funny and really young but I like doing my own thing and having my own space as well. Direct Payments let me do that."

Mum Caroline said: "In many ways Amy is just like any teenage girl but her disability means that instead of just having to work out which mascara she wants to wear to the cinema she needs to think through how she is going to get there, who will take her, how will she be able to manage the toilet and her medication during the trip and so on.

"Direct Payments has meant that none of these things are a barrier anymore and Amy is a happier and more fulfilled young person for that."

Cllr Nick Tregoning, Swansea Council's Cabinet Member for Social Services, said: "Direct Payments is just one of the ways the local authority is helping work towards meeting individual needs and it's part of a move to ensure that provision is more flexible.

"In Amy's case it is being made to work to give her the quality of life she deserves but we're also developing a range of additional, flexible services to better meet the needs of people for whom Direct Payments aren't the best fit."

If you think you may be eligible for a Direct Payment package and already receive support from Social Services then speak to your social worker or care manager for more information. Direct Payments are based on assessed need.

If you think you have the skills to be a carer working for and with young people like Amy and families in a similar situation then you should contact the Shaw Trust on 01792 325 343.