THE PARENTS of a teenager with Down's Syndrome have been left reeling after she was refused funding to attend a 'life-changing' college in north Shropshire.

Emily Freya Williams lives with parents Jeanette and Gareth in Northop Hall in Flintshire.

Jeanette and Gareth say their 19-year-old daughter is 'quite high functioning' despite living with Down's Syndrome, and rides horses, swims and sings. 

Emily has long dreamed of attending Derwen College in Oswestry, a specialist college for young people aged 16-25 with special educational needs and disabilities.

She was recently offered a placement of residential and courses there to suit her needs.

But her family were shocked when the Welsh Government funding she needed to make her dreams come true was turned down.

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Mum Jeanette told the Leader: "The funding application was denied due to the local college claiming they can accommodate Emily and her needs, bearing in mind, they have only looked at her Learning Support Practitioner (LSP) report which has never been updated for nine years.

"As parents we have not sought any assistance from the local authority for our daughter's care, she doesn't have a social worker, she has only just been put onto the system recently as we have been requesting assistance. We have always been parents that include our daughter in everything and try to expose her to as much experience as we can."

She added: "She has always had plans in her head for moving on to some independence after school finished and we have always done our best to prepare her for that.

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"She is enthusiastic to be on her own in her own world and we are glad of this as we will not be around for ever. We do not have a family that could care for Emily for her future, so we have always looked ahead for the best way to prepare her for looking after herself to the best of her ability.

"So Derwen College, which suits Emily's needs perfectly, would provide her with not only the residential care and life skills of independence but also a performing arts, dance , theatre and backstage management, as well as a split with cooking and hospitality."

Jeanette said that the Welsh Government claims that even though Emily's LSP is not up to date they can still use it to make a final decision.

She added: "We are saying that her LSP report needs to be updated in order for Emily's needs to be more detailed as she has grown up and is in need of different help which is not on there, but they have refused to take this in to consideration.

"Emily has now left school, she is no longer able to source an Ed Psych to update her report. We were misinformed about Careers Wales (run by Welsh Government) being able to help us in doing this so now we are having to go private and pay a lot of money to get it updated.

"However, this will probably be too late. Emily's deadline for the stage two of the appeal is now. We are still going to go ahead with trying to get it sorted anyway."

Jeanette added: "Because our daughter and her future is always on our minds we see and understand how very important it is to get the right support to allow her to live as fuller life she can.

"Derwen offers Emily the chance to grow in a way that is unique compared to other colleges. The grounds are enclosed and she would be free to walk around them and would be responsible for ensuring she is at her lessons on time.

"She would have to motivate herself and having a course for performing arts will bring her in to doing this. I have seen how she lights up when she is doing her dances and entertaining people. I just feel she is being unfairly treated and in a way discriminated against for the simple fact of ignorance.

"Around 12 months ago, we informed Careers Wales that we had been to Derwen and had a positive visit and feedback about Emily's suitability.

Emily Freya Williams.Emily Freya Williams. (Image: Jeanette Williams)

"Shortly afterwards she had been assessed, Derwen offered her a place doing a 80/20 split of performing arts and hospitality, which would have been perfect in every single way. We followed up the guidance from Derwen to ask Careers Wales to apply for the funding.

"We since discovered that Careers Wales had got in touch with Derwen and told them that the funding was unlikely so Derwen must tell us that they could no longer offer Emily a place, Derwen refused to do this and told Career Wales that it was there place to tell us that they would not apply.

"We had been under the impression that the funding had been applied for. After around five months, we asked for an update only to be told then that no funding had been requested.

"Careers Wales have pushed for Emily to go to the local college for three days a week, it does not offer the courses she wants but is a college for special needs so they say they can meet needs. She would be living at home with us and taken to college by us, there is no independence there.

"We feel that Careers Wales have prevented Emily even having a fighting chance of having a suitable happy, independent lifestyle and it breaks my heart to see how upset and disheartened my daughter has become."

"If we had the money ourselves we wouldn't have to ask for help and if she was "normal" she would be able to apply for loans or grants to achieve her own goals like anybody else, but as she has a disability she can't.

"All this challenging activity that’s been going on now for some time has had a detrimental impact on all of us, mainly Emily, due to the fact of the sudden change in her daily routines and made her a lot more uneasy.

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"Her well-being has changed and behaviour has increased in a negative way.
We struggle on a daily basis to keep upbeat about this whole situation. But we will fight on."

A Welsh Government spokesperson said that 'they could not comment on individual cases'.

However, they added: “We are committed to creating an inclusive education system for all young people, regardless of their needs and background, to ensure they are able to access a high standard of education and reach their full potential.”

They also stated that Careers Wales is committed to providing young people with additional learning needs with support to help them make informed and effective decisions, and in supporting them to make effective transitions in learning and work.

They would also follow current legislative guidelines for all specialist college placements.