I AM a parent of a child at 1 Ledbury Road in Hereford (Centre facing axe, Hereford Times, July 16).

I want to thank the wonderful staff there who give the best of care. It is their livelihoods at stake too.

The benefits of respite include 24-hour staffing to supervise and create fun activities in a secure environment with specialist equipment and play areas. Qualified nurses administer medical care. Plus families gain uninterrupted sleep and a break from constant supervision.

There are not enough foster families to meet the need. They cannot provide 24-hour care and children will be isolated. How is it cheaper to use foster families that do not have adequate facilities?

It is wrong to seek the views of a few, then choose to ignore them. Decisions had clearly already been made.

Herefordshire Council and Wye Valley NHS Trust are blaming each other for the closure. Cost appears to be the deciding factor, borne out by the council’s website statement which says: ‘Significant spend is moved from highly specialised safeguarding and complex needs models to more cost-effective family and community based models.’ Guidance states such services and support should be based on the needs of disabled children rather than the convenience of the organisations responsible for providing these services.

The local authority should do everything possible to enable disabled children to remain with the family.

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for service providers to discriminate by not providing or terminating the provision of adequate services.

It is not our choice to be in this situation. What if we become unable to care for our child? The only alternative is residential care which is very expensive.

Yet again I am having to fight on my child’s behalf.

S HERRINGTON Golding Way, Ledbury