UK UK - Amanda Jane Hull, 42, Droitwich, 7 January 2025

[WiseOwl]

Surely the social worker was aware of Amanda's risk of going awol and should have ensured that she was not able to go missing from the hotel.
I suppose lessons will get again be learnt.

It does seem a strange decision to leave Amanda on her own in a Premier Inn in Redditch, bearing in mind what had happened. Lets hope Amanda is found safe and doesn't come to any harm.

 

[Marathon88]

Amanda was at Birmingham New Street station this morning.

 

[WiseOwl]

She probably got the 9.30 train from Redditch, hope she is located soon.

 

[Lyanna]

Why wouldn't they just take her home as they were nearby, even if it was getting a bit late. Makes no real sense. But she seems intent on going awol.

It will depend. Amanda may have said no, again coming back to her level of capacity, if she has been assessed as having capacity then she has the right to refuse to go home at that time or at all and the social worker has to respect that and can not force her to go home and neither can the police. They can advise, attempt to persuade etc, but can not force her, like they can not force you or me if we chose to do something like this.

As I said previously, I don't know Amanda or anyone involved in her life yet on the surface it would appear Amanda knows what she wants and how to achieve what it is she wants.

moo and ime

 

[Skigh]

It will depend. Amanda may have said no, again coming back to her level of capacity, if she has been assessed as having capacity then she has the right to refuse to go home at that time or at all and the social worker has to respect that and can not force her to go home and neither can the police. They can advise, attempt to persuade etc, but can not force her, like they can not force you or me if we chose to do something like this.

As I said previously, I don't know Amanda or anyone involved in her life yet on the surface it would appear Amanda knows what she wants and how to achieve what it is she wants.

moo and ime

It really does all depend as you say on her capacity. What she wants to do and her ability to do it might be two very different things. I imagine she might also be very vulnerable to being influenced by other people outside of her family .

 

[Marathon88]

Amanda left Birmingham New Street this morning on a train for Bournemouth.

She really doesn’t want to go home. I think her ability to use public transport and evade those looking for her would suggest she is very capable.

Amanda has previously lived independently in her own place. I know lots of people with a learning disability had to move home during Covid which led to a loss of independence and autonomy for some - I don’t know whether this was the case with Amanda; I believe she lives with her mother but happy to be corrected.
MOO

 

[WiseOwl]

Amanda left Birmingham New Street this morning on a train for Bournemouth.

She really doesn’t want to go home. I think her ability to use public transport and evade those looking for her would suggest she is very capable.

Amanda has previously lived independently in her own place. I know lots of people with a learning disability had to move home during Covid which led to a loss of independence and autonomy for some - I don’t know whether this was the case with Amanda; I believe she lives with her mother but happy to be corrected.
MOO

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If Amanda has no money, how is she paying for her train fares? Does she get free travel due to her learning disabilities?

 

[Skigh]

If Amanda has no money, how is she paying for her train fares? Does she get free travel due to her learning disabilities?

I have never heard of free travel for people with disabilities.
Someone must be helping her.

 

[WiseOwl]

I have never heard of free travel for people with disabilities.
Someone must be helping her.

Where i live in the South West, people with disabilities get free bus travel.

 

[Lyanna]

I have never heard of free travel for people with disabilities.
Someone must be helping her.

Adults with a learning disability in UK are entitled to cards for public transport allowing free travel. Here, where I live it will cover most buses in Wales and some train journeys.

 

[WiseOwl]

So if Amanda has a free travel card, this is giving her access to take off any time she likes because she doesn't have to pay for buses or trains.

It must be a difficult situation for her family/social workers.

 

[Skigh]

Adults with a learning disability in UK are entitled to cards for public transport allowing free travel. Here, where I live it will cover most buses in Wales and some train journeys.

I have just googled it and in England bus travel can be free ,it appears that train travel is not free but offers a reduced fare with a rail card.

 

[TMich6811]

This is a situation because it’s a bigger umbrella of when do we allow for self determination and when does control become an issue. Some of the best leaders in the world have had autism, autism make someone incapable. Autism is truly a spectrum and I’m not seeing where she falls in that spectrum that would require she be forced back home? If she was left in a hotel is that because that’s what Amanda wanted and doesn’t have a guardian or hasn’t been deemed incapable?

She did have money at some point because she bought a sleeping bag. The article on the first page says she bought a train ticket.

I could totally see a thought process of - I don’t want to deal with them, they are controlling me, I’m not taking a phone.

IMO if she falls on the higher level of functioning scale and doesn’t have an appointed guardian, she isn’t missing. If one of those 2 is different then she needs different support.

 

[Skigh]

This is a situation because it’s a bigger umbrella of when do we allow for self determination and when does control become an issue. Some of the best leaders in the world have had autism, autism make someone incapable. Autism is truly a spectrum and I’m not seeing where she falls in that spectrum that would require she be forced back home? If she was left in a hotel is that because that’s what Amanda wanted and doesn’t have a guardian or hasn’t been deemed incapable?

She did have money at some point because she bought a sleeping bag. The article on the first page says she bought a train ticket.

I could totally see a thought process of - I don’t want to deal with them, they are controlling me, I’m not taking a phone.

IMO if she falls on the higher level of functioning scale and doesn’t have an appointed guardian, she isn’t missing. If one of those 2 is different then she needs different support.

It really depends on the level of learning difficulties Amanda has .
Was she previously living independently in a supported flat in a block with other adults with learning disabilities or totally independently in her own accommodation ?

Without further information it is difficult to comment about whether she should be living at home and how vulnerable she is at the moment away from her family.

 

[TMich6811]

It really depends on the level of learning difficulties Amanda has .
Was she previously living independently in a supported flat in a block with other adults with learning disabilities or totally independently in her own accommodation ?

Without further information it is difficult to comment about whether she should be living at home and how vulnerable she is at the moment away from her family.

Yeah, I run a full statewide behavioral health agency. About half of our population autism focused. My point was that because of where her needs are this is clearly not working for her in either direction.
Either because she doesn’t have enough support or because she doesn’t have enough control.

 

[Skigh]

Yeah, I run a full statewide behavioral health agency. About half of our population autism focused. My point was that because of where her needs are this is clearly not working for her in either direction.
Either because she doesn’t have enough support or because she doesn’t have enough control.

Or possibly she has been influenced by someone else to leave her family when it actually is not in Amanda's best interest to do so.

 

[TMich6811]

Or possibly she has been influenced by someone else to leave her family when it actually is not in Amanda's best interest to do so.

Well, yeah, that’s what I’m saying is if she is not in a place where she can make those kind of decisions, then she probably needs a little bit more oversight since this has happened several times

I don’t really wanna get into a back and forth of does she or doesn’t she. We don’t know. I’m just saying I think a lot of where her functioning falls determines on what needs to happen and if this is just independent decision-making or something more concerning

 

[TMich6811]

I just wanted to add that for adults. It’s really difficult to get the perfect amount of support versus independence and I’m not being critical of the situation or them specifically just that it’s hard to determine since she is for all intensive purposes fine and has contacted the family. It’s a fine line of too little vs not enough and I just found that important to acknowledge

 

[Marathon88]

I just wanted to add that for adults. It’s really difficult to get the perfect amount of support versus independence and I’m not being critical of the situation or them specifically just that it’s hard to determine since she is for all intensive purposes fine and has contacted the family. It’s a fine line of too little vs not enough and I just found that important to acknowledge

I think several of us have said more or less the same thing.

Initially Amanda had Christmas money to buy the sleeping bag and potentially the train ticket. She may have a disabled bus pass but locally we don’t have disabled rail passes or similar. Amanda may be eligible for a rail pass that can be bought but that only gives 1/3 off fares.

According to the most recent FB post, Amanda was last seen Tuesday 14th at 18.15 near Bournemouth railway station.

 

[Skigh]

I think several of us have said more or less the same thing.

Initially Amanda had Christmas money to buy the sleeping bag and potentially the train ticket. She may have a disabled bus pass but locally we don’t have disabled rail passes or similar. Amanda may be eligible for a rail pass that can be bought but that only gives 1/3 off fares.

According to the most recent FB post, Amanda was last seen Tuesday 14th at 18.15 near Bournemouth railway station.

Some areas of Bournemouth are not areas I would recommend a vulnerable woman should be out alone.