THE NEWS that Bury's Labour council is to slash funding to the Re:d Centre was devastating news to our family.

Our 11-year-old son was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder in 1999. Despite the fact that at that time our family was almost torn apart by the stress, we did not receive any support or respite service.

At that time, our son was extremely aggressive and his behaviour, difficult to manage. He managed to attend school on a full-time basis for only five months out of the first 18 months of his educational life; we were not the only ones who could not cope with his extreme behaviour. He was described by psychologists as having extremely complex behaviour and needs, yet still no help or support was ever offered.

Our son has self-harmed on and off since he was four; has attacked strangers on the street as well as other children; and on one occasion he attempted to stab his mother. he was seven years old!

We were allocated an emergency social worker for three months but when she left, she was not replaced. That was the only contact our family have ever had with Bury Social Services, apart from to be turned down by them when seeking a service.

After much searching, our family eventually found the Hurdles charity, and without their support I am sure that our family would have fallen apart.

We had begun to really fear for our own safety, as well as that of our son.

Eventually Bury MBC managed to do something right and invested money into children's disability services.

In partnership with National Childrens Homes (NCH) and Hurdles, the magnificent Re:d centre evolved. We were so relieved and grateful that Bury MBC had at last recognised the needs of children who were not classed as being profoundly disabled.

At the centre, our son found acceptance and some long-awaited support. He was able to access play and social opportunities that had been denied to him for so long. He has been cared for and supported to the very highest standard by NCH and Hurdles staff. As a family we felt that we had been saved.

At the Re:d Centre there is no hierarchy of disability. All children are supported regardless of whether their particular disability is deemed to be severe or profound. All children are given the opportunity to integrate with mainstream children as the Re:d Centre also supports sibling groups.

Bury Parent Partnership (run from the Re:d Centre) have also given and continue to give excellent educational advice to our family. To have so great a provision under one roof has been an absolute god-send to us. Our son is unable to use public transport and it would have been impossible to access services distributed around the borough.

It now looks as though this council is planning to discriminate for that is what it undeniably is against children who they deem to have a lesser level of disability and who, therefore, do not meet their ridiculously demanding criteria. This is regardless of whether that child, or that family, has a desperate need for support.

Apparently our son is not disabled enough to meet the Social Services criteria for support in the form of tea-time breaks. His IQ is too high and our family copes too well.

Who are they to presume to know how each individual family is coping when they don't have any knowledge of that family's existence? There are many families out there who are completely unknown to Social services. What will happen to them (and to us) when the only services accessible to us are cut?

Can any member of Bury MBC tell me which families will be supported and on what evidence that choice will be made? Which services will survive?

I would also like to know whether this council thinks it makes more financial sense to lend a high level of support to 10 children with severe needs or to give a more general level of support to 100 children with any level of need or disability?

My family survives because the Re:d Centre allows my son to access its youth group and, when running, its play schemes. We survive because all of the staff at the Re:d Centre are genuinely caring. They care about our son but, just as importantly, they care about us!

When services have been cut what contingency plans and money will be in place to pick up the pieces?

Because the fact is that all those families who have been coping without being known to Social Services will suddenly become very well known to them due to being in desperate need.

My family is not a drain on council resources yet but we will become so when our only lifeline is cut by the very people who profess to care!

CONCERNED PARENTS