An update on the young homeless mums situation here, reminder here:
The little family spent three weeks in a Travelodge placed far away from London and all support, in a room that her son was able to escape from twice. Once while she was changing his younger brothers nappy and once while she was asleep in the early hours of the morning.
Escapes can take but a few seconds.
Luckily due to the quick actions of herself and staff he was found safetly both times. The rooms in Travelodge have simple twist locks, and for a little person who is determined to get out, they are not safe
She found she had to to resort to barricading the door with the travel cot filled with black sacks of her possessions and her folded buggy against the wishes of the Travelodge as it blocking a fire exit.
Every day she was on the phone to Greenwich Council begging to be rehoused back in London near to her family and us at AIM. Her mental health suffered and the children were distressed.
We sent this letter to Greenwich Council after the first incident:
Dear __________
I am contacting you from Autistic Inclusive Meets, we are an autistic led organisation based in Woolwich SE London.
We have been supporting your client __________and her son ____________date of birth.
As you know, on the 30th of April __________ got out of the the hotel room at the Travelodge you have placed them at temporarily, and went missing for an hour.
The reception staff were very helpful, but you must appreatiate that this was terrifying and extremely distressing for ________.
__________is a non speaking Autistic and ADHD child who has no sense of danger. He does not pre empt consequences, and could easily have got out of the hotel and onto the nearby motorway.
_________ would not be able to ask for help and would not be able to tell anyone his name nor that of his mother.
The locks on the doors in the Travelodge are very simple to open, and if ___________ wished to get out again it would not be hard.
_________ is now placed in an impossible position, she cannot leave the door clear so has to place the provided travel cot in front of it, but is then blocking a fire exit.
As you can appreatiate, this is causing tremendous mental distress on ________, she has depression and anxiety and has been placed almost two hours away from us and her family.
________ can also not leave the room with the two easily or safetly as _________ will attempt to abscond and can be unpredictable in his behaviour. He can become easily overwhelmed by the environment, therefore _______ relies heavily on us, friends and family here in the Greenwich borough.
_______ and her two children need to be here in the Greenwich borough, she desperately needs the support we provide and to be near her grandmother and sister.
Please consider moving her and her two sons back.
Right now she is in a very vulnerable situation. She cannot sleep as she is in constant fight or flight in case __________ gets out of the room again which could lead to him getting fatally injured.
Where they are placed right now is a serious safe guarding risk.
Thank you,
Emma Dalmayne
CEO - Autistic Inclusive Meets
Yesteday she was told she would be rehoused temporarily in a 2 bedroom flat in Dartford and could pick up the keys, myself and my husband AIM Director Owen and my daughter made our way up to her to help her move.
We had a phone call on the way from her, very distressed stating they had made an error and offered the place to someone else.
We went and helped her have a walk with the boys and took them out for a meal. It was horrible leaving them. The room now smelt of damp as her son had flooded the bathroom twice.
Toay we are happy to say that the little family were placed in a 2 bedroom partially furnished temporary back in the Greenwich borough.
We went up and helped her move down in two large ubers and guided the landlord on putting on an extra lock on the front door right at the top of the door for extra security. We also made sure all windows were locked and the keys put away high up.
We also made sure that we got her to a local supermarket as she didn't have items like saucepans, duvets, cutlery etc, and lastly mafe sure she got in an uber with her new items and got home safetly.
They are now closer to the AIM groups, and we are nearby enough to get to her quickly if she needs help.
We wish them a lovely peaceful night in their new little place.
Again, before you donate to big Autism charities and organisations, look at the smaller autistic run ones like us and see what we do and the hands on support we give. To donate to us contact us on autisticinclusivemeets@gmail.com or call us on 07464 614 137.
Thank you.
Emma Dalmayne.
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