From a Cause for Concern to better Prospects

A pastor had asked us to visit a couple in a South East hospital. The wife had given birth a day or two before — to a boy with Down’s Syndrome.

She and her husband had been asked by the doctor: ‘Do you want your child to live?’ They needed help in making their response to what must be the hardest question a parent will ever be asked.

My wife, Madeleine, and I shared with them our experience as parents of a daughter with the same condition, and the blessing she had brought into our family. Subsequently we learnt that they had taken their son home with them.

Shattered dream

We knew that they would face disappointment, indeed had already done so. They were yet to suffer the embarrassment of friends struggling to relate to them as ‘a disabled family’. They would feel the pain when their son was invited to the birthday parties of children of his age — and yet so much further on in their development.

We met the couple again at a day conference of Prospects, part of its celebration of the 30th anniversary of the charity. They sought us out during one of the intervals simply to say, ‘Thank you’. They told us that their son had enriched their lives beyond their dreams. They felt themselves deeply privileged to have shared his life over the years.

Most frequent word

‘Thank you’ is probably the word I have heard most over the 30 years since Madeleine and I founded what is now Prospects. It has come from parents who had prayed that, when they could no longer care for their dependent adult sons and daughters, a Christian home would be available that would do so. Many of those parents have long since died knowing that Prospects is giving the security of a Christian environment to the one they loved. And many a person with a learning disability has been warm in expressing their gratitude that through Prospects’ work, under the banner of Causeway Prospects, they came to know the Saviour.

God’s love in action

What is now Prospects arose from my article in Evangelical Times under the title ‘A Cause for Concern’. The headline became the name of the organisation for many years. I had written about the dilemma facing parents of people with learning disabilities — or, as we then spoke of them, ‘the mentally handicapped’ (what dreadful labels we sometimes devise!). The lifelong nature of their condition poses the painful and difficult question; who will provide care and support when the parents could no longer do so? At that time many people with learning disabilities were consigned to ‘mental subnormality hospitals’ where conditions were far from satisfactory. The 1970s saw the publication of reports on such institutions exposing abuse and maltreatment. The Government was committed to moving the people who lived in them out into the community under a ‘care in the community’ policy. These would still be run by secular agencies and so, with the exception of one small home for women, there was no Christian provision in the UK.

Working with Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth, Prospects bought and renovated Plas Lluest to house 16 people. The local authority seemed reluctant to welcome the service at first and provided no funding in support. But gradually the places were taken, mostly by people from Christian families in Leeds and London, Ascot and Abergele, Southampton and Swansea and elsewhere. By the time the home became operational in 1980, fully paid for in answer to prayer, two other projects were already in the pipeline.

Hectic pace

For the next few years the pace of development seemed hectic. The bank manager urged us to slow down but the pleas for help were pressing. In 1982 homes became operational in Reading and Maidstone and properties had already been bought in Deganwy and Bournemouth. By 1983 plans were already being discussed for two additional houses in the ground of Plas Lluest, this time working with a housing association. The following year, land was bought at Bayston Hill near Shrewsbury where a purpose-built group of homes would be constructed. Increasingly Prospects was responding to and meeting local needs, working with local churches. Most of the homes also developed a day service to provide meaningful and fulfilling activities for the residents and other local people.

Access to the truth

Along the way another issue was becoming increasingly demanding. From two directions Prospects was receiving requests for help in responding to the spiritual needs of people with learning disabilities.

The first was from Prospects staff. How were they to provide support for the spiritual as well as physical welfare of the people they served? The second was a direct outcome of the hospital closure programme. As more and more people with learning disabilities were living in ordinary streets and houses, so more of them were turning up in church services. Frequently they found themselves facing hostility from the community and perplexity from the churches as to how to help them benefit from the services.

Some time before Madeleine had become concerned for a group in Prospects home in Reading and, having also discovered a total lack of suitable Bible teaching material, had begun to develop her own. She started the first ever ‘Causeway Group’ and, through trial and error, discovered an effective method of making truth real for people with learning disabilities. This was then shared with others in Prospects and beyond.

The growth of Causeway Prospects was accelerated when special celebrations were incorporated in the Spring Harvest programme from 1986. Subsequently other holiday conferences and conventions have similarly included programmes for people with learning disabilities — Keswick, FIEC, New Horizon, and so on. There are now over 150 Causeway Prospects groups meeting all over the UK, bringing together between 2,000 and 3,000 people with learning disabilities to learn from God’s Word. Over the years hundreds have been converted and very many baptised. Now Causeway Prospects offers a full curriculum of Bible teaching material, and training courses to equip Christians to be effective in this ministry. And with over 1.2 million people with learning disabilities in Britain there is still much to be done.

30 years of God’s blessings

In 1997, ‘A Cause for Concern’ was renamed Prospects. The charity wanted something more positive, more optimistic, more expressive of the hope it felt for the people it served — something that would counter the prevailing mood of disappointment. The name Prospects points to the brighter future that faces every Christian in God’s plan of salvation.

That optimism is more than wishful thinking. There have been numerous difficulties over the years which have included having to close three of its homes and the wild fluctuations in Government funding for people in residential homes. But, in spite of this, Prospects has grown to become significant in the field of learning disability. It now operates over 60 services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, serving and supporting over 340 people with learning disabilities. Prospects has become one of the largest UK organisations operating a Christian employment policy, with over 600 names on the staff list. This in itself is an immense challenge, given the small number of Christians working or wishing to work in the caring profession and the increasing challenges to any Christian employment policy.

The future in partnership

The opportunities to develop new services continue to arise and, with thousands of people still needing long-term security, this is likely to continue. Most recently, the closure of an NHS unit in Cornwall following reports of abuse has led to Prospects being asked to provide new services in the South West. In recent years the Disability Discrimination Act has led to more calls for help from churches which want to be inclusive of people with learning disabilities in the neighbourhood and congregation. All of Causeway Prospects’ resources are funded through its modest donation income which is, sadly, increasingly falling behind the need to develop resources and support regional workers. In recent years Prospects has also responded to appeals from overseas Christians for help and advice and is building partnerships in Eastern Europe, India and elsewhere.

God’s heart for those with learning disabilities drives Prospects on but the work of offering full life and the love of Christ can only grow by developing partnership with God’s people across the UK.

The challenges facing parents and carers are just the same now as they were 30 years ago when that couple were faced with the terrible question: ‘Do you want your child to live?’ And so are the answers. The world considers those with learning disability of little or no worth, witness the record numbers of Down’s Syndrome babies being aborted. Prospects endeavours to shine the light of God’s love that values all equally, into the experiences of those with learning disabilities and their families.

If you would like to support Prospects or obtain more information, contact Prospects at 69 Honey End Lane, Reading RG30 4EL, tel. 0118 950 8781 or visit the website http://www.prospects.org.uk

From a Cause for Concern to better Prospects

The Rev David C Potter MBE reflects on the past 20 years and the future of the charity Prospects