Families with disabled children access many different services. The forum might want to be involved in improving many of these services. The forum may also receive requests from service managers wanting to involve them in their work. Forums may feel obliged to accept these requests for involvement.
However, if the forum already has a full workload, there is a risk of putting too much strain on people’s time. The forum will need to carefully prioritise its work and concentrate on the tasks which have been agreed are important, and that the forum have the capacity to complete without putting too much pressure on your members.
Setting priorities
The forum might want to be involved in improving workstreams or projects but need to set clear priorities. It is helpful to think about how the forum can listen to the wider parent carer community when doing this.
You might want to consult with members at your annual general meeting (AGM), to find out what their priorities are for change and concentrate on these. Forums may also find it helpful to review any feedback they have received via surveys, events or social media to help them understand what the local priorities are.
Some forums have found it helpful to shortlist priorities for the following year and then do a vote by members to select the ones they are taking forward.
Deciding on work streams
Once the forum has set its priorities the steering group will want to decide on what work the forum will be able to undertake. The forum may want to talk to service managers about work they have planned for the following year to decide which workstreams align with the forum’s priorities.
Some forums find it helpful to review work streams they are involved in to measure the impact of the work undertaken (see forum health check). If a review shows limited or no impact, then the forum may want to reflect on their involvement in the work stream. This will need to be balanced with other considerations such as impact on relationships and the forums priorities.
Forums may also want to look at what other meetings and events they want to attend, for example regional meetings, the NNPCF and contact joint conference, online learning or training sessions.
Recruit parent carers and develop their skills
Parent carers who are new to the forum might lack the confidence to volunteer to help. They may feel that they don’t know enough or that others know more than they do. Try to provide opportunities for new parents to volunteer on small tasks which provide them with an opportunity to get to know you better. If they feel welcomed, they are more likely to volunteer to take on more work.
Other ways to include new members might be to:
- Run regular training courses on parent carer participation and/or being a parent carer representative, for parents who are thinking of becoming involved.
- Have clear role descriptions for parent carer representatives and members of the steering group which includes what is required of them.
- Provide a list of training courses that parents can attend to skill them up for a role. For example, chairing a meeting, presentation skills, accounts or minute taking.
- Have two parent carer representative places on each committee, so parents new to the work can shadow more experienced parent carer representatives.
- You might want to do a skills audit of your active members
Finally, you are more likely to attract and retain new parents if:
- Everyone shows respect for each other.
- Meetings are well managed and keep to time.
- You occasionally take time out to socialise and get to know each other outside of forum meetings. For example, a group meal out or a team building exercise which can help the forum to gel.
Review systems and processes
Technology has progressed a lot since the creation of parent carer forums. Technology can now support many of the activities that forums need to complete such as:
- Maintaining a membership.
- Collecting data for reporting.
- Collecting feedback from meetings.
- Organising event bookings.
Forums may be able to increase the capacity within the forum by using technology to support them.
Forums may also want to talk to other forums in their region or via the NNPCF closed Facebook group to learn how other forums have done this. Sometimes these systems may take time to develop but the time investment can be helpful in the long term.
Do you have any thoughts about this page? Visit our How to feedback page to share them.
Looking for something else? You can find a full list of pages on our Parent carer forum handbook contents page.
Further support for forums
Forum health check
How to carry out an annual health check
Forum Health check
Contact's training offer
See what training forums can attend
Contact’s Training Offer
Managing staff
Find out more about staff in forums
Managing staff Managing volunteers
Find out more about manging volunteers
Managing volunteers
Working in partnership
Find out more about the forums role in partnership working
Working in partnership
NNPCF website and social media
Find out how to reach out to other forums
NNPCF Website and Social media