Council challenged on ‘unsuitable home’

The asylum-seeking parents of two disabled teenage boys launched a
judicial review challenge last week over a decision not to move
them from their “wholly unsuitable” home.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, believe the
London Borough of Waltham Forest and the National Asylum Support
Service (Nass) should be making more of an effort to re-house them
at a specially adapted property.

Their current two-bedroom house has “very narrow and steep” stairs
which are extremely dangerous to climb when supporting another
person, the High Court heard.

The bedrooms are upstairs and the toilet is downstairs, making it
difficult for the couple to help their children, who both suffer
incontinence problems.

Waltham Forest Council and Nass deny failing to discharge the duty
of care they owe the family, claiming the family have turned down a
number of opportunities to move.

But Fenella Morris, for the parents, argued that the properties the
family were offered were “inadequate”, and that the family was not
suitable for dispersal as the children were heavily dependent on
the services provided to them by their special school and
specialist hospitals.

The case continues.