31/05/2012

The Stolen futures report reveals that one quarter of England’s councils plan to cut vital support for deaf children this year, including educational support

The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) looked at the impact of public spending cuts on deaf children. The investigation revealed that eighteen areas have made cuts to speech and language therapy while twenty areas have made cuts to social care, both services provide support for deaf children

The NDCS gathered information from a range of sources to both track and challenge cuts in public services.  NDCS reported that it was extremely difficult to obtain the data from local authorities even though Freedom of Information requests were used.

Two thirds of councils failed to provide a clear picture of the social care support they provide to deaf children, even though deaf children are at higher risk of suffering from abuse and mental health problems.Other difficulities with obtaining information included:
 

• No council planning cuts this year could provide an assessment of the impact this will have on deaf children, as required under the Equality Act
• Two-thirds of councils failed to provide information about when budget decisions were being made and how families could participate in them
• 49 councils broke the law by not providing information about their budgets for deaf children’s support

As a result parents of deaf children are powerless to challenge critical decisions about the support their children rely on.

NDCS is calling on ministers in the Departments for Education, Communities and Local Government and Health to use ministerial powers to hold councils to account over cuts that are putting deaf children’s futures at risk.

The NDCS’s has launched petition calling on the Government to protect specialist services for deaf children as a matter of urgency and for greater transparency from councils. The charity needs to secure 100,000 signatures to force the Government to address the issue and debate it in Parliament.

The petition is available at: www.epetitions.direct.gov.uk

More information and the full report is available at:
www.ndcs.org.uk/about_us/campaign_with_us