On 16th February 2006 Lancashire County Council (LCC) made a decision to formally consult on a proposal to close Maplewood House due to "budget savings".

Maplewood House is a ten-bedded respite unit for children with disabilities. It provides short breaks away from home for the children and young people so that their families can have a regular, reliable, overnight break from caring and the children and young people can spend time with their peers outside the home in a safe environment.

This is not about service improvement. LCC's own assessment of the proposed closure is that there will be less respite provision per child throughout other local authority respite establishments and that carers lives and the quality of the service will be adversely affected. In other words, but what it doesn't say, disabled children's lives will be 'adversely affected'.

None of the families or the children want it to close.

SORE was formed to oppose the proposal on behalf of the disabled children who use and enjoy Maplewood.

Lancashire Evening Post
Mencap
Preston City Council
South Ribble Borough Council
Mark Hendrick MP
Lindsay Hoyle MP
David Borrow MP
10 000 plus petition signators
including 500 students of the Amnesty International Group at the University of Central Lancashire
Professor Heather MacDonald
North West Harley Club

June 21st 2006
MAPLEWOOD IS SAVED!
Thank You LCC

Tuesday June 6th 2006 8pm
Radio 4's 'File on 4' Programme features Maplewood
You can download the transcript of the programme here

29th May - 23 June
Maplewood families taking part in Mencap's 2006 Breaking Point Survey

Stephanie's Story
Read a Sibling's Story
Read Daniel's Letter
Speech delivered by a parent to a Public Meeting
Think for a moment and imagine... by an Oxfordshire mum
Some Pictures by the Children
12-18 June Carers Week-'In sickness and in health' focuses on the health impact of caring