How we got the best short breaks deal for local families
Thursday May 24, 2018
A parent carer forum is a
group of parents and carers of disabled children who work with
local authorities, education settings, health providers and other
providers to make sure the services they plan and deliver meet the
needs of disabled children and families.
Forums do really important work and can be instrumental in
making sure families are at the heart of decision making. Often
their achievements go unnoticed, so we invited Karen Russell, chair
of Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum, to blog about how her parent
carer forum worked with the local authority to reverse a decision
that would leave local families in a crisis situation.
We suspected that no co-production had taken place
Recently our local council went out to tender for their Short
Breaks Services. This includes weekly Saturday clubs (monthly for
the most complex children) as well as holiday play schemes.
For as long as we can remember, these were delivered
predominantly by three local charities, who are very much trusted
and respected by the families who use their services. However, the
contracts had been awarded to a local organisation that has limited
experience of working with the local SEND (special educational
needs and disabilities) community.
Our forum suspected that no co-production (or consultation at
least) had taken place with families currently accessing these
short breaks services (the forum were certainly not involved, which
is very unusual), so we immediately got to work on contacting the
council employees who had been involved in the procurement, as well
as the local charities and our parent carers.
Significant impact on our SEND families
We contacted senior officers of the council, with whom we have a
very good relationship, and arranged for myself and another forum
member to meet him later that week. We asked that in the meantime
he look into why the process went ahead without any parent carer
input.
When we met we made sure we explained clearly the significant
impact the decision will have on our SEND families. Because I am in
receipt of short breaks myself, and a large number of our forum
members are, we were able to talk about how our SEND families have
spent years building up relationships with the organisations
currently delivering Saturday clubs and holiday schemes. It will
have taken a very long time for parent carers to feel confident
that their complex children and young people would be safe when
attending.
We also mapped out likely scenarios and the impact these would
have on the local authority. For example, we pointed out that the
timescales being talked about would not allow sufficient time to
train staff to the level needed to care for this very complex
group, and secure the resources needed to support them. And most
importantly, parent carers would never leave their children with
any organisation that they didn't have absolute confidence in.
Working together to move forward in the best possible way
Throughout these conversations we made very clear that our
opinions were in no way a reflection of the new organisation, and
that our only concern at this time was ensuring that families were
not left in a position whereby they had to choose between having no
respite throughout the school holidays, an extremely challenging
time for SEND families as it is, or sending their child somewhere
that they had not had the time to sufficiently prepare their child
to attend safely.
Throughout these discussions we continued to work in the way
that we always do as a forum, continually thinking about how we can
work together to move forward in the best possible way, and with
best possible outcomes at the core of everything we do. Obviously
this did involve some difficult and uncomfortable conversations,
but it was clear from the start that all parties around the table
wanted the same thing!
As a result of these discussions, the senior officers of the
council agreed that a mistake had been made and the implications
for our SEND families could be massive. He took the decision to
meet with the local authorities chief executive with a
recommendation to stop the process and continue to fund the current
short break providers for the next year. This would ensure families
would not be forced into a crisis situation and allow sufficient
time for a thorough and inclusive review of the local authority's
short breaks offer. This recommendation was upheld.
We are respected as equal professionals
As a forum we are extremely proud that we have built up such a
good relationship with the local authority, and that we as parent
carers are respected as equal SEND professionals. Obviously we were
disappointed that we found ourselves in such a situation, but chose
to focus on working together to move forward rather than working
against the local authority, which we know would not have led to
best possible outcomes for our families.
We are now jointly leading a short breaks review with social
care, which will include the co-production of an updated short
breaks statement. In order to do this meaningfully, we will be
holding a number of events around the county to enable as many
parent carers as possible to input.
If you're inspired by this story, find out more about joining a parent carer
forum.
Forums have a duty to listen to the views of other parents
in the area when they're making decisions, so even if you're not a
member of a forum you can still make sure your voice is
heard.
Find out about
your local parent carer forum [PDF].
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