Dearest pearl jam family

spmonkay

I have been following a family's plight on Facebook and it seems its going to come to an agonising conclusion. Joshua wills has severe autism. He's cared for in Birmingham while the rest of the family live in Cornwall. They have to commute there every weekend to see they're son. They have tried to in vane to get Joshua moved closer to there're home but apparently Cornwall do not have the funding to care for him. The courts have even insisted that they remove they're Facebook page 'the one and only Joshua wills'. Here is a recent post by Joshua's mum Sarah.


Sarah Pedley posted in The one and only Joshua Wills

Sarah Pedley 1 November 21:17
I'm off to my special boy tomorrow, I'm not feeling as excited as I normally do. How can I look my son in his eyes knowing he will not be coming back to the place he loves, to share the beauty of Cornwall on long beach walks with his family. His future terrifies me, knowing his pain and suffering will continue without us. I don't want to be yet another mum that looses her child to the system, to watch my child go from placement to placement. Only being able to see him term time. Missing his childhood and being so far away that we can't be there if something happens. For us only to be able to visit him as a family once in a while. Knowing he is too far to be able to come home for visits as it would cause him more distress. How can a child's voice not be heard, why is the system still failing children like my son. No I won't be silenced, Cornwall needs help, more funding, more knowledge and I will keep fighting. As I'm sure many have done before me with little success. The government should also be ashamed of themselves. My fighting I'm sure will fall on deaf ears, no one willing to stand up for vulnerable children's rights. Its too late for my child but if its possible, just if.....I want to make the future stop and listen to our children and for no families to be torn apart and separated with 100s of miles between them. I don't know how I will ever move forward without Josh, everything I do with my other 2 is just a constant reminder of what Josh is missing and this empty hole in my heart and life, well it can never be filled while he can't be a part of family life. I know Josh feels this feeling too.

I have no connection to the family accept that I have found myself angered, saddened etc by this family's situation.
I have a young daughter and she means the world to me and to be apart from her would cripple me. All I ask if your interested, have a look at they're FB page find out a little more and if you feel inclined to join and maybe numbers can create enough weight to put pressure on the authorities and maybe help make a family's nightmare turn into they're ultimate dream!!

Why am I posting here? Pearl jam the best band in the world with the best family of fans!! Say no more!!

APlasticHeart

Thank you for the post and sharing the story. I followed up and went to the facebook site and read a little bit. I did not watch the youtube video because I know it probably would have disturbed me emotionally.

I feel for every parent and family who has a child or children with a disability. It is also the biggest fear my wife and I have of having children. I know a few families that have kids with autism and their dedication to the children is unbelievable.

I don't know the complete story here but from what I have seen there just seems to be a funding issue as the child has to live at a specialist unit 270 miles away from his home vs. a closer unit that is not as specialized. I think this is a huge debate in any country, how much money do we spend on these types of disorders?

Personally I believe the the family should adapt to the situation and if they can, move closer to the institution. Its going to be hard for any parent in this situation but the reality of the situation is that there is not enough funding and its like this in every country. They should be happy the child does get the specialized treatment that he needs as many children and people around the world cannot get this.

I don't want to seem cold but the reality of the situation is there are not unlimited funds in each government. There are not unlimited specialists in the world as well. I know here in the U.S. there are tons of people with mental disorders and many of them are on our streets because there is not enough funding to help these people. I know the high school I went to spent a ridiculous amount of money per student with autism than a regular student, this was a public school. To me in this case the regular students suffer as programs such as art and other classes, sports are cut because of funding issues.

Its up to the people we elect on where we put our money. Autism is a growing problem. I think in this case the child has severe autism as indicated, which is possibly less common. If the parents are paying for the child then they should be able to choose where he goes as long as the facility is able to provide the treatment needed. Otherwise if the government is paying for the child's treatment then it sucks but you have to go with what they can do. I think they should be grateful that they can get the specialized treatment as many people cannot afford treatment or do not have access at all to treatment.

Pingfah

I'd be interested to know how and why a court would order the removal of a fundraising facebook page. That sounds extremely odd.