Caudete

[Caudete]

Hello all.
I was caring for my Mother in my home in England for nearly two years. She has dimentia in that she has short term memory loss and gets confused easily.
My Husband and I decided for financial reasons and health that we would retire early, sell our home and move to Spain.
We discussed this with Mum and she was happy to come with us.
I had discussed this with my 3 younger siblings and told them that if Mum did not like it then we would return her to the UK and settle her in a rest home that she had been to before for respite care. I would mention that in the two years Mum was with us, my sister visited once (she lives in Spain) and only my younger brother twice, despite living locally. My other brother never visited at all.We decided to settle Mum in the rest home temporarily for a month whilst we got the house ready. We had been gone two weeks when we got a phone call from social services saying that Mum was under a deprivation of liberty order as my family had told them I was taking her out of the country against her will and also accused me of misappropriating her money. (I had her authority to deal with her finances)Mum has now been in the home for 8 months and has not had any visitors since the first couple of weeks. She told me last week that she would like to come to us for a holiday and see if she liked it.
Can anyone tell me if the DOL order will still apply if she comes to Spain and then decides she would like to stay. Thanks for any comments.

 

[nitram]

"Can anyone tell me if the DOL order will still apply if she comes to Spain..."

That assumes that you can take her to Spain.

DOL orders are specific as to what liberty is to be restricted, the order could limit the conditions under which she is allowed to leave the care home, if the order is to prevent you taking her to Spain you could have problems leaving the country with her even if you managed to take her out of the home.

You could contact
http://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/
for advice.

 

[Caudete]

The DOL is non specific and covers Mums care whilst in the rest home.

I have told the DOL team I am taking her to spain for a holiday and they have asked for details and will speak to Mum regarding the trip.

I want to know how I stand if Mum comes over and decides she likes it.

Can anyone help with advise please?

 

[nitram]

"The DOL is non specific and covers Mums care whilst in the rest home."

I assume this means that she is not to allowed out unless supervised and contain no reference to you or Spain.

By specific I meant that the deprivation and the reason for it had to be defined, have a look at http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/cop-dol10-eng.pdf

Are you sure that a court order has actually been made?

Did you contact MIND?

 

[Caudete]

Dol

I did contact Mind and am awaiting an email response says it could take up to 15 days.
The DOL order says it is a standard authorisation and there is no mention of a court order being obtained.There is only mention of the Council granting the standard authorisation.
It is a general order appertaining to her care in the home etc. stating she lacks capacity to make a decision about her care and is under constant supervision and control by staff and she is not free to leave the home therefore is a vulnerable adult who meets the criteria for DOLS under the mental capacity act.

This being the case if I want to take Mum to Spain for a holiday and she decides she wants to live with me there can they order me to return her as this DOL refers to her when she is living in the home and not with me.

 

[nitram]

As the DOLS is a council decision I think you have to convince them that your Mum both wants to go to Spain and has capacity to make that decision.