Speak up, we all get reviewed & being a voice donor

Speak Up, We all get Reviewed & being a Voice donor 16th November 2016 Dear All Lots of news… read on. Please let us know if you have questions or want more information…

More (any) Accessible Playgrounds? (just an idea) Contributing to the Children & Young People’s Plan matters.

We have been asked by the Councils to provide feedback on behalf of our community families of children with additional needs. There are significant financial constraints over the next few years – so it is important to have your say.

Parents & carers are invited as representatives of themselves and to speak on behalf of themselves – it doesn’t matter whether you are Kingston or Richmond based.

We had an excellent meeting in Kingston on Monday 14 th November. Parents and carers provided thoughtful, practical and insightful ideas (including “where are the playgrounds that all my children can use?) Thank You! If you can, please come to our next public meeting on this subject: Tuesday 22nd November – 7pm to 9th Cakes and hot drinks The Terrace Room, York House, Twickenham, TW2 3AA What we discuss at the meetings will provide depth and feeling to the information collected via the on-line surveys. Deadline for these is 30th November 2016.

Richmond: https://consultation.richmond.gov.uk/afc/cypp16 Kingston: www.kingston.gov.uk/cypp

Coffee, Cake & Chat These are informal meetings where you can meet other parents. Whether you are new to the world of SEND or an 'old hand', we aim to answer your questions and facilitate open discussion on what is important to you. Any questions at all, please ask and we always do our best to find an answer (and usually do).

Friday 18th November - 10am to 12noon at MeToo&Co, The CrossWay Centre, Twickenham, TW1 2PD * Friday 25th November - 10am to 12noon at MeToo&Co, The CrossWay Centre, Twickenham, TW1 2PD * * creche available. Contact Fiona: fiona@metooandco.org.uk

ISCD Management review Many of you will remember that last May, we (SFV) put in report to Achieving for Children regarding the Integrated Service for Children with Disabilities (ISCD).

Our report was the result of the huge number of contacts we received from parents/carers on the Short Breaks provision, social workers and, latterly, the usefulness of the Parent Carer Needs Assessment.

Specifically, the report was based upon the impact (to families) of the poor functioning and management of this team - and we provided a substantial amount of evidence. There are many good people within ISCD - and our report did not concern individual staff or team members.

SFV's mission is to: "Bring people into a community to improve services, share support and strengthen our common voice" Our report was treated as a 'stage 2 complaint' and was upheld. A consequence of this is a full management review of ISCD. This review is due to end early 2017.

All staff within the ISCD teams are aware of this review and, having had an interim meeting with the AfC Review Team, we can tell you that the questions the review will answer are: Review Questions (= Terms of Reference) 1. How effective is the ISCD’s compliance with statutory guidance, local protocols and nationally recognised best practice?

2. How well are ISCD services integrated, consistently delivered and experienced by families across Kingston and Richmond?

3. How effective are the leadership and management of services in the ISCD in relation to the current and future needs of the company? [=AfC] 4. What should the service’s priorities be over the next three years and how will we know how well they are performing against these?

5. Are the organisational structures, ways of working and culture in the ISCD appropriate and effective?

6. How effectively does the ISCD engage and communicate with partners and stakeholders, in order to plan and improve services?

At some point, we (SFV) will be asked to contribute to parental feedback as part of this review. If you would like to contribute to this, please reply to this e-mail.

If you would like to discuss the findings thus far, please contact us by telephone or e-mail.

Outsourcing EHC Plans…?

Last month, Special Needs Jungle wrote an article on the wisdom (or not) of outsourcing the writing of children and young people’s Educational, Health & Care Plans (EHC Plans): http://www.specialneedsjungle.com/not-coproduction-childs-education-health-care-planoutsourced/ This prompted questions from parents – and here are some answers provided by Achieving for Children. These questions and answers may not make for comfortable reading. Please consider the article on Three Tweets in our previous newsletter (see News on our website)

Q: Why is an outsourcing approach is being taken instead of recruiting professionals who work for Achieving for Children (AfC)?

A: When the Children's and Families Act [2014 - aka SEND Reforms] was introduced, the view taken by AfC was to outsource the drafting of Education, Health and Care Plans. This decision was made in part to try and manage capacity - and ensure children and families

received timely services. Running concurrent to this, the SEN team were undergoing a transformation, ensuring appropriate people were appointed as Education, Health, Care plan co-ordinators and those who were unable to take on this role left the team. The team, notwithstanding other leave such as maternity and sickness related absence, stabilised in the summer term 2015. During this period AfC had reflected in the inadequacy of the plans being drafted externally and the impact to children and families. AfC reverted to drafting Education, Health and Care Plans in-house.

AfC have further looked at the processes and worked with our key partners to consider how we can ensure we are working as collaboratively and effectively as possible.

We are currently considering using an outsourcing service so that we can clear the back-log of Preparing for Adulthood [PfA = age 14 and above] plans. The idea in this instance is for a skeletal plan to be drafted as the basis of a discussion with families and young people. This will enable us to manage cases in a timely and cost effective manner. We are currently recruiting to the PfA team but have 5 vacancies - which clearly impact on service delivery.

Q: How much time is included in the contract for preparing each EHC Plan ?

A: We do not currently have a contract with an outsourcing provider. However, the outsourcing used to take 5 hours. In certain cases, this would exceed that time given the complexity of the information and lack of contact with families and schools.

Q: What data protection measures are in place to ensure that sensitive data on children is being processed properly and that data protection laws are being followed?

A: The SEN team use Egress system, which is a secure web based programme, to send and receive documents.

Q: There are poor quality EHC Plans out there, how are you improving this?

A: In terms of poor quality EHC plans - this is an area for development across AfC. We are working with the authors of the advice [used to complete the Plans] to ensure the reports provided to draft the EHC Plan's are legally compliant and meet requirements. The Plans are only as good as the advice received; therefore, we must ensure that we are continually looking at improving practice to ensure we are legally complaint and ultimately meeting the needs of children and families.

AfC are working hard to improve the process and experience for families. AfC have identified key areas for development which we would be happy to share - if that is helpful.

If you would like more information, please reply to this e-mail and SFV will either seek the answers, or direct you to the staff responsible.

What’s new on the Local Offer If you would like to contribute to the development of the Local Offer, please contact the Local Offer. SEND Family Voices are members of the Local Offer Development Group (LODG) and offer pan-disability representation. It is our duty, and a condition of a large part of our funding, that we are independent and provide equal representation. https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/find-out-more-about-the-local-offer/workingwith-us-to-provide-our-local-offer

Case study Richmond AID BUDDYUP Project is for young people reaching adulthood and aims to increased independence and confidence through accessing activities in the community. https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/745-georgia-liddy-richmond-aid-buddyupproject TAG Youth Club for Disabled Young People. TAG have been working hard on their fundraising… The Club has been chosen by three Waitrose stores for their Community Matters green disc scheme. Stores include Twickenham, Hampton and Worcester Park.

Read about TAG’s Boat Party on 27th Nov https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/events/22147-tag-boat-party?term=TAG

Top Tip from the Local Offer…

“Here you'll find advice for autistic people on looking for a job, as well as information for autistic people in work. If you're a job seeker, get a free handbook covering preparing for work and looking for jobs. If you're at work, read tips for interacting and coping at work, advice on dealing with bullying in the workplace and what the law says about your rights at work.” http://www.autism.org.uk/about/adult-life/work.aspx

The largest study ever?

“Are you the parent or parental caregiver of a child aged 4-11 years that has a learning disability? If so, please take part in our new ‘Cerebra 1000 Families study.’

We [Cerebra] want to make this the largest study ever of families of children with learning disability in the UK. This research will further our understanding of what it is like to raise a child with a learning disability in the UK and will help shape future support for families and children.

Any enquiries, please don't hesitate to get in touch at: familyresearch@warwick.ac.uk” http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cedar/cerebra1000families/ “

Transfer from Primary school to Secondary school…

“Primary school is an incredibly important time to understand decisions on mainstream, private or specialist education for children; how to build relationships with teachers in a secondary school setting, and reflecting on what we can learn from this. Action Attainment’s workshop includes information from other parents on their journey. If you would like to come along you can book via the website or call 0208 392 9946 for more information.” http://www.action-attainment.com/planning-for-secondary-school-register-now/

Become a voice donor “Could you help by donating your voice? SpeakUnique are now gathering volunteer healthy donor voices with a range of regional accents. This is to build up our bank of voices, which are then merged and edited digitally.” http://www.speakunique.org/become-a-voice-donor/ As ever, if you have any queries at all, please ask and we'll always do our best to find an answer.

With best wishes, Romany (for Richmond) and Caroline North (for Kingston) Phone: 07469 746 145 www.sendfamilyvoices.org