An almost orderly queue, patiently waiting for some attention. If ever Cows were going to be domestic pets, these would be the ones.

The Gate definitely stopped us from being followed back home. Not sure we would have enough biscuits for our new guests.

In the UK, at the age of 18, any additional mental health, social and educational support has a habit of being abruptly withdrawn. After Hawklad reached 18, he was only left with some Educational support that would last until he left College. Now that remaining support has ended.

We’ve known that time was coming but when the official letter arrived, it was still a bit of an eye opener, I was kinda expecting a bit more. Maybe some questions about how Hawklad was doing, how he was feeling. Maybe a final review meeting. Maybe a final action plan. Maybe a transition contact point for a year or two at least. Maybe a list of potential help avenues, what to do if things don’t go well.

What Hawklad received was a brief letter saying all support had now ended, wishing him well on his next steps, whatever that might be. That was it. Nothing else.

A few weeks later I was taking to someone in the village whose Granddaughter had just received the same letter. The Granddaughter had been receiving support for years and then suddenly it was terminated when she reached 18 (even though she still really needed the help). She got the dreaded brief letter basically just saying GOOD-LUCK FOR THE FUTURE….

As one Psychologist told me years back, the UK system assumes that when you reach 18, you have either been suddenly FIXED or you have to FIX yourself on your OWN. It’s much cheaper that way….

34 thoughts on “Guests”

      1. One of our under-discussed issues is the foster care system, which abandons kids the second they turn 18… no more funds, no transition support (not even to those who were housed in facilities instead of private homes), just BYE!

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  5. It is very sad. But you’re lucky that your government at least provided support till he reached adulthood, which is not available in poor countries like ours. I think the next step would be perhaps privately arranging support, if that falls in your capacity. My younger brother has a son who is autistic so he has to pay for psychiatric care.

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  8. Here my granddayghter, who is visually impaired, was discharged from one system on leaving high school (18 years old) but her university has picked up the baton providing as much assistance (reader-writers for exams, designated seating in lectures, mentor students….) as she is willing to accept. We also received the “good luck for your future” letter but only after her way had been well and truly smoothed by the agency bowing out. Do the universitys/further education providers have that capacity for Hawklad?

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  11. This makes me angry and I have no words…Except for these ones. I feel like sometimes, especially these days, we have to ignore the Governments and start getting our communities back together again. How you would do that, no idea. I think our Governments are trying to kill us all, personally. I don’t know why, but I just have this feeling, so they don’t have to do their work.

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  15. I’m very sorry Gary. It seems so cold, informal and inhumane. Those cows have more humanity that the government officials!

    I hope you two are enjoying a relaxing summer otherwise!

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