Dying dad fights to keep his kids

11:49am Friday 24th February 2006

A DYING father today pleaded with social services not to take his children away after they told him he was too sick to look after them.

Single parent James Gibbons, 62, of Windermere Avenue, Huncoat, said he wanted to spend what time he had left with his 15-year-old son Carl and 13-year-old daughter Samantha.

But after Mr Gibbon's 25-year-old son Michael left home last week he was told that if he couldn't find someone over 18 to care for them round the clock then they would be taken away.

Today Hyndburn MP Greg Pope urged social services bosses to show some humanity and keep the family together rather than put the children into care.

Mr Gibbons suffers from emphysema caused by double pneumonia arthritis and is epileptic. He has received treatment at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, and due to extreme breathlessness he must have a constant supply of oxygen and can only get out of bed for minutes at a time.

He is now so desperate to ensure he keeps the children at home that he has advertised for live-in domestic home help.

He said: "They both want to stay here, in their home with their dad and they can't go back to their mum as she is not in a position to look after them.

"I am capable of using the bathroom on my own and sorting out my medication so the helper will just have to clean and prepare meals and I will pay their wage out of my benefits.

"Social services think that I will just lie here and rot away without my children but at the end of my life I want to have them around me and I want to die knowing that my family were with me and knew how happy they made me."

He said he currently received up to four visits a day from support workers who prepare meals for him and carry out domestic tasks.

His children help him around the house and run errands on his behalf. Samantha has joined the Accrington Young Carer's Group so she can get support and also meet with other youngsters who care for their family.

She said: "So what if my dad is ill? We want to stay with him and should be allowed to stay with him.

"People keep telling us that we are too young to make our own decisions but we are not we want to live here."

Mr Gibbons said: "Michael is 25 and has to live his own life with his girlfriend Caroline. He was my full-time carer. None of us ever thought that him leaving would cause all this."

Mr Gibbons' MP Greg Pope said: "The over-riding issue here is that the children want to stay with their dad and so the family shouldn't be broken up.

"I can see why Social services might take the view that their prime duty is of care for the children but there must be a measure of humanity in this.

"I think it is good that the Lancashire Evening Telegraph is highlighting their situation as there maybe carers out there who may see their story and be able to offer some help."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council social services said: "This is a very complex and difficult case.

"We are working very closely with Mr Gibbons and partner agencies, including care providers and welfare rights in offering a range of appropriate home care and support for Mr Gibbons in living at home.

"Our responsibility lies in both meeting the needs of Mr Gibbons and safeguarding the welfare and needs of his younger children."

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