Littlehampton family's anguish over threat to special needs centre

Deborah Oltman, of Lyminster Road, Wick found out on Monday that the Camelia Botnar Children's Centre at Goring is set to be re-structured, with more than half its staff made redundant in a cost-saving move.

Mrs Oltman spends hours on the bus each day to take her son, Archie, to and from the centre, which she describes as a "lifeline' for her family and many others.

Now she is backing a campaign to fight for the centre's future, including a group set up on social networking website Facebook, "Please stop the downsizing of the Camelia Botnar Children's Centre".

Staff are 'my angels'

She said: "This place is invaluable. Archie has been going there for 18 months and before that he never made eye contact, there was no communication, he lived in his own world.

"Now he is so happy when he goes there, he runs in and can't wait to get there. All the children there are like that. It's such an amazing place and the staff are absolutely wonderful '” they are my angels.

"Children like Archie can't be integrated into 'normal' schools. Autistic children can be very disruptive, which would be no good for the other children, either. There is nowhere else for them to go.

"The centre is as much a benefit to parents as to the children, as it gives us some respite, which is so important. I will fight tooth and nail to keep it going."

Trust's 1m reserves

The centre's manager is convinced it will be closed within a year if the restructure goes ahead.

Sue Aldred claimed the centre has 1m in reserve and 54,000 in the bank, and so did not agree with the trustees' letter citing difficult financial times as a reason for change.

The changes mean just 10 of the 22 staff will keep their jobs. Others have been asked to take voluntary redundancy, but if not enough accept it everyone will be made redundant and asked to reapply for the remaining roles.

Responsibility

Chairman of the trustees, Barry Clarke, said 9,000 a week was spent on wages, and despite having cash in reserve, the charity was spending money quicker than receiving it.

He said no firm decisions on the centre's future have been made and added: "We might well have money in reserve, but we also have a responsibility.

"This charity has been running for 30 years, and we can't just close the doors because we spent all our reserve. We want to make sure we can stay here."

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