RACHEL'S LAW

That this House deeply regrets the fact that Mrs Annette Courtney, a mother from Harlow, has had to sell her family home to enable her daughter to live independently; notes that her daughter Rachel is 20 and has cerebral palsy and high functioning autism, but that she has achieved five GCSEs and is on target to gain a BTEC Level 3 in IT and an AS level in business studies; further notes that Mrs Courtney has recently said that `Social Services have been involved in our lives for the last two and a half years and we have been completely disempowered by the system... Having stated that Rachel wishes to leave home when she leaves residential college and having experienced life away from home for the last two years,no accommodation has been found to rent. Every avenue that I have explored has been closed down and I am now in the process of selling my home to buy her a flat which will leave me homeless'; concludes that Rachel is one of thousands of young adults with disabilities who are sent home with no opportunity to develop their skills, or enter the workplace; and therefore calls on the Government to bring forward proposals for Rachel's Law, so that all post-19-year olds with a disabililty, or disabilities, should they choose to leave home, would have adapted accommodation available to them to rent.