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Neglect or Failure To Protect-Who’s Responsible?
Tags: advocating for special needs, bus aid, disabled, failure to protect, neglect, parenting special needs student, responsibility, safety, special needs, special needs aide, special needs care provider
I was disturbed this past week by a news report of a special needs student who was left on his special needs bus. The bus aide allegedly knew, according to news reports, that the student had fallen asleep on the bus but allegedly didn’t notify the bus driver. It was reported that the aide was late for church or some appointment and didn’t take measures to ensure that the student was delivered to his destination. That student was left on a freezing cold bus for over 19 hours without relatives knowing where he was. If those accusations are proven to be true…it is unacceptable…both morally and legally.
The student ended up being hospitalized because of the temperatures that he was exposed to while on that bus overnight on New Year’s Eve. The family of this student was both horrified and outraged. The student is on the mend…but, there may be residual fear that that student has to struggle with.
In those kinds of situations…the disabled are at the mercy of the person who is responsible for their care in those moments. The thing is…as a parent…you really have to rely on the personal responsibility and the integrity of the caregiver’s value system. Will they care for your loved one in a safe and caring way, as you yourself would? How do you ensure that your loved one is properly taken care of in your absence?
When you leave your special person in the care of others you have to be convinced of that individual’s competancy. When that caregiver fails to protect or neglects to provide safe and appropriate care…who is responsible? Is it the individual…the agency, school, or system that they work for? It is accountability that helps to prevent devastating situations from taking place.
I think a big part of the equasion is that you develop a close and personal relationship with the care provider. You try to make sure that there are checks and balances set up to hold people accountable. The bus situation could be avoided if there is a system that does a final check of each bus seat before the aids/drivers leave the bus at the end of a shift. Alot of school systems have a check list…the bus drivers and aides must complete a walk thru of the bus before finally putting a sign on the bus window or door that verifys that the bus is free of any riders when the aides/drivers leave that bus.
This was a horrible story; but, it is also an experience to learn from. Any real life situations that you could share that would help another family?
January 5th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Who’s Responsible ??
In my humble opinion, both the driver and aide are responsible for this incident and could have prevented it from happening in the first place.
I am a production technician / robotic weld technician in the auto industry. Some of the machinery we work on has interchangeable tooling in order to make different parts out of the same machine. When doing these tool changes, we work in teams of 2, sometimes 3 ( to complete job faster ). Throughout and when finished, we communicate amongst eachother and verify eachother’s work, since the tool has to be installed correctly and securely ( some weigh up to 1/2 tonne ). If we didn’t do our jobs properly, equipment could be damaged and most importantly, someone could be seriously injured or killed. While we do work quickly, we take the necessary time to do it right, regardless of who else is waiting for a service call.
The bus driver and the aide should have been trained this way by the company and if they had been trained this way by the company and this incident happened ( which it unfortunately did ), there should be not only severe disciplinary actions taken by the company, but also criminal prosecution for both.
I am glad to know, that despite the frigid temperature, the student is on the mend.
To the driver and aide : Shame on you !!
January 5th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
This story struck a nerve with me, too. As the mother of special needs children and their advocate I strongly empathize and sympathize with the anquish they have endured.
It proves the point I have always maintained: you can’t PAY people to CARE. This employee was so self absorbed and bent on keeping her appointment that nothing and no one else mattered.
To find true justice, this bus driver should receive counseling and sensitivity training, at a minimum. I hope all parties involved will receive fair treatment in every aspect of their lives.
I am so grateful I have the kind of relationships with my sons’ caretakers, agencies, services coordinators and vendors where everyone understands the HUMANITY of special needs family members. I pray this can be so for ALL families.
May God bless all those involved with this serious matter.
-Connie Baum
http://motherconniesez.blogspot.com