The Give Us A Break campaign group was at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, August 7, collecting signatures for their petition against the closure of respite care at Grace House.
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00:00 Sunderland Council, give us a break!
00:10 OK ladies, you're down at the stadium later today with this campaign. I know you've both got children who use Grace House.
00:16 If this respite care ceases to operate, just what's it going to mean for your families?
00:20 We wait a year or two to get into Grace House and get some respite.
00:24 As a family we're going to struggle massively. He's got a younger sibling. He can be quite challenging and aggressive to the full family.
00:30 So we need a break and we need some time away.
00:34 So that our young daughter can have some time inside a normal family but at home and be quite isolated.
00:40 Because everything's around him and if he's upset that's it, we're going to move on.
00:44 But at least if we got Grace House, it's somewhere he can go for nights, he can get a break, he can feel better.
00:51 My son's been going to Grace House for about a year now. He's settled really well and he's really enjoyed his time there.
01:02 It's improving his social skills, his speech and his communication.
01:07 And it gives me a break as well and it means I can have a little life of my own as well.
01:11 Obviously a lot of people at the game today, you've got your sheets out there for getting signatures for your petition.
01:16 Have you had a lot of support from supporters going to the game?
01:18 Most people have been absolutely amazing. They've just come up to us and they've just really happened to sign it.
01:24 It's been great. There's been loads of support just in general over here.
01:29 A lot of people were shocked to hear that it's actually closed.
01:32 I'm a bit devastated really.
01:36 Okay then Pam, just tell me what's happened today in terms of bringing the campaign to the stadium of light?
01:40 Well we've come today to the Sunderland match to catch all the supporters and the residents of Sunderland to get some backing for our campaign.
01:50 To give us a break, to try and get some more signatures for our petition to save the short break by going to Grace House.
01:57 Have you had a lot of signatures, a lot of support?
01:59 Oh hundreds, hundreds. And there's so many people that are speaking from the heart.
02:03 They know Grace House, they have family who go there, they have people who work there.
02:09 So it's well recognised the situation that we're all in.
02:13 And has the situation moved on since we last spoke?
02:15 It has in that we do have some comments back from the cabinet member for children which is Linda Williams.
02:22 We've got another statement from Jill Colbert who's the CEO of Together for Children.
02:28 They both keep saying that they're open to talks but nobody's talking.
02:32 These parents are stuck in the middle, still, with no answer, no break and no respite.
02:39 And how hopeful are you that you can get this resolved?
02:42 We can only try. We're trying our best, we're getting out there to the public, we've got a lot of support.
02:48 We just want these two sectors to come together, make an arrangement or find somewhere else.
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