A group of 18 families caring for disabled children at William Blake House are stepping up to take control of the care home. The charity running the home is facing closure because of huge tax debts and paying £1 million to one of its trustees. William Blake House could be shut down in seven weeks. Regulators are investigating serious financial issues. The families said they no longer trust the charity’s board. They claim the board acted secretly about a £1.6 million unpaid tax bill. They also question if paying £1 million to a company owned by the charity’s chair, Bushra Hamid, was lawful. “The charity belongs to the 22 residents, not to the board of trustees and the chief executive who ... have taken this charity from a thriving community to one at the brink of failure,” the parents said. They warned, “These people will be gone if the care homes go into insolvency, they will walk away. Our relatives won’t.” The families are forming a new non-profit company to run the care services. They have experts in law, business, accounting, and social care among them. Such parent-led takeovers are rare but reflect a long history of parent activism in care. William Blake House offers specialist care for adults with severe learning disabilities. Residents need round-the-clock support and are mostly non-verbal. It follows Steiner principles focusing on therapeutic care and active social lives. Councils and the NHS fund the home with over £3 million a year. The families found out about the charity’s troubled financial state last autumn. They learned the charity nearly faced insolvency many times due to unpaid staff taxes. Its assets dropped from nearly £1 million to £200,000 in three years. Auditors doubt it can continue as a business. The charity blames high staff agency costs and local authorities not increasing care fees. It plans to pay tax debts by selling land. It said it will respond soon to the families' takeover proposal. The Charity Commission is investigating the governance issues and has received a serious incident report from a former trustee.