Cerebra and the University of Leeds FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) Survey

Why are we carrying out this survey?

Cerebra is concerned about reports from families with disabled children which suggest that a significant number have been accused by practitioners of creating or exaggerating their child’s difficulties when trying to get help to meet their child's needs. Instances of this kind are often referred to as ‘Fabricated or Induced Illness’ (FII) or, sometimes, as ‘Perplexing Presentations’ (PP).

We want to understand how many parent carers of disabled children have experienced allegations of this kind, when / how these happened and what the consequences were for the family.

Please do not provide any personal identifying details in this survey – such as your (or any other person’s) name or addresses etc. The survey responses will be checked to ensure that all identifying details are removed and the anonymised responses will then be analysed by our Legal Entitlements and Problem-solving (LEaP) Project Research Team under the supervision of Professor Luke Clements, Cerebra Professor of Social Justice at the School of Law, the University of Leeds.

The findings of this research will be published in the Spring of 2023. Previous research reports of this kind produced by the LEaP Project can be accessed here.

If you know of other parent carers of disabled children who might be interested in completing the survey, please share it with them.

The survey has ten questions.

For any further information please email Derek Tilley at:

derekt@cerebra.org.uk

Please note that the survey will close on 31 August 2022.

Important: we are very sorry, but we are unable to provide any advice concerning individual cases where an FII/PP allegation has been made. However, some information on support resources, which you may find useful, can be found here.

Question Title

* 1. Are you a parent caring for a disabled child who has approached your local authority and / or your local NHS for support to help meet your child’s needs?

Yes

If you have answered ‘Yes’ and you are willing to identify your child’s impairment, could you please describe it briefly in the box below (this includes, for example, physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness and various types of chronic disease).

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* 2. Do you identify as a disabled person?

Yes

If you have answered ‘Yes’ and you are willing to identify your impairment, could you please describe it briefly in the box below (this includes, for example, physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness and various types of chronic disease).

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* 3. During your interactions with your local authority and / or the NHS (for example, your GP or someone in a health clinic or hospital), have you ever been accused of fabricating or causing or exaggerating your child’s illness or have things been said by professionals that imply that this might be the case?

Yes

If ‘Yes’ – In the box below, please describe briefly what happened, including the terms that were used when the allegation was made (i.e. FII - Fabricated or Induced Illness; PP - Perplexing Presentation).

If you have answered ‘No’ to this question, please skip questions 4 – 9 and go directly to question 10 below.

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* 4. Please name the local authority and / or the NHS body that made the allegation.

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* 5. When did the allegation of FII or PP take place? Please give the year (and if you are able) the month.

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* 6. Before the allegation of FII or PP was made, had you made a complaint about the actions of the local authority and / or the NHS body?

Yes

If ‘Yes’ – please provide brief details in the box below.

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* 7. Have you made a formal complaint or taken any other action as the result of the allegation of FII or PP?

Yes

In the box below, please add any further information you think relevant concerning your decision to complain / take action (or your decision not to). This could include what the result was of your action and (for example) whether you decided to consult with a solicitor to take court action etc.

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* 8. What was the outcome of the allegation?

No further action was taken by the local authority / NHS body.

Safeguarding action was commenced but then abandoned.

Safeguarding action was pursued (please give details of the
result in the box below)

Other (please give details in the box below)

Please add any further information which you think is relevant in the box below.

Cerebra and the University of Leeds FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) Survey

Why are we carrying out this survey?

Question Title

* 1. Are you a parent caring for a disabled child who has approached your local authority and / or your local NHS for support to help meet your child’s needs?

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* 2. Do you identify as a disabled person?

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* 4. Please name the local authority and / or the NHS body that made the allegation.

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* 5. When did the allegation of FII or PP take place? Please give the year (and if you are able) the month.

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* 6. Before the allegation of FII or PP was made, had you made a complaint about the actions of the local authority and / or the NHS body?

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* 7. Have you made a formal complaint or taken any other action as the result of the allegation of FII or PP?

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* 8. What was the outcome of the allegation?

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* 9. Please describe the effect that this allegation of FII or PP has had upon yourself and your family.

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* 10. Please provide any other information which you consider relevant.