Transport, childcare & fathers' day 1

Transport, Childcare, & Fathers’ Day 21st June 2015 Dear All Also feedback below on the recent meeting on Short Breaks & Aiming High, plus the usual links to news…

Transport & CAMHS via the CYPwDLD The Children and Young People with Disabilities and Learning Difficulties (CYPwLDD) Partnership Forum is a meeting held by the Cllr Paul Hodgins and voluntary sector organisations – in Richmond. The focus is on discussing policies & issues that affect our children and young people. The minutes for the last meeting, held 29 April 2015, have now been published and are available to view via the following link: http://cabnet.richmond.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=637&MId=3483&Ver=4 Transport and possible changes were discussed at length. Remember, if you have any queries at all, please ask and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

A shorter discussion was on CAMHS and further information is available on the SWL children’s network, as discussed by Doreen Redwood, here: http://swlcypnetwork.nhs.uk/

Short Breaks & Aiming High - feedback Thank you to Caroline Baxter, Caroline Jager and the Inclusion managers for taking the time to come and talk to families about the new Short Breaks & Aiming High. We very much appreciated their time, especially during the Kingston Ofsted inspection.

We will compile all the feedback e-mails and notes into two documents; a ‘raw data’ and a highlight report – which we hope will be a ‘You Said, We Did’ co-produced with Caroline Jager.

Anyone who would like the see the feedback e-mails (sent after each meeting), please ask and we will be happy to forward them. If you have any other questions on the points below, please also ask.

Some of the outcomes from these meetings are:  The new joint eligibility criteria has now been published. Your child or young person need to meet this criteria to make use of the commissioned specialist activities (eg Crofters)  The commissioned specialist activities are available across Kingston and Richmond, regardless of which borough you live in.  There is greater flexibility for children & young people who want to take part in mainstream activities with additional support. Please contact the Inclusion Officers for more information.  There is a gap in available activities for children & young people with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) who do not meet the eligibility criteria and for whom the mainstream activities are not suitable. There is work to be done on transparently consulting with families to meet this need. RSFV & LEAD Kingston hope to support that work in the near future.

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We understand that a communication to all families who do, or who ever have, used Aiming High & Short Breaks will be sent from Caroline Baxter within the next month.

LEAD Kingston & RSFV have undertaken to translate the many documents and processes on Aiming High & Short Breaks into a single page ‘Quick Start Guide’ document (which we will sanity check and co-produce with the service/Caroline Jager).

We re-attached (to the e-mail) a document from Every Disabled Child Matters on understanding the ‘short breaks duty’ and what short break provision families with disabled children should expect to be available in their area. If you would like a copy of this and/or the eligibility criteria, please ask and we can send this to you.

Contact details (all cc’d above): Caroline Jager, Aiming High & Short Breaks mgr David Arrow, Inclusion manager, Kingston Jodi Williams, Inclusion manager, Richmond

020 8547 6069 020 8547 6564 020 8831 6357

Local Offer Update Did you know the Local Offer contains News articles as well as being a developing resource for families and young people? Here’s a link to their news post of an article on what it looks like to have dyslexia: http://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/124-inside-view-of-dyslexia Also, below, is a letter from Simon James inviting all families to the Local Offer launch event on 13th July. These should be dropping on the doormats of all Richmond families this week, and in Kingston soon after. For bookings, follow this link: http://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/events/14352-official-launch-of-the-local-offer-for-kingstonand-richmond?date=2015-07-13

Childcare Also from the Local Offer, the annual childcare sufficiency assessment (CSA); it’s very important for families of children with SEND also complete this to ensure services are developed for us: http://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/127-richmond-and-kingston-childcaresufficiency-assessment-2015-parent-carer-survey And a reply regarding a query to the Local Offer team on what is currently available….

“At the moment the Local Offer links to the childcare searches on the respective LA websites. Also on the Local Offer and the LA webpages there is extensive advice about the support available to support children with SEND in childcare settings.

Everything, including the links to the childcare searches is on this page: http://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/early-years-and-childcare/childcare All childcare providers should be inclusive and have access to advice and support to help meet the individual needs of a particular child.

We do have plans to shape this information up more though. Rob Dembrey, the Early Years Consultant SEND, works closely with the settings to help them understand their responsibilities around the code of practice and this includes making the information about the support they offer in their settings for children with SEND clearer and more accessible in their literature and websites( if they have one ) etc. We will then be collecting this information when the

Family Information Service (FIS) collects and updates the information from childcare providers.

This is all tied in with improvements that are in planning to improve the data collection systems that the FIS currently use and the Family Services Directory and childcare search. We hope that this will greatly improve this area and lead to a more seamless services for all families. However, it involves unpicking current systems and contracts and joining systems together across two boroughs so as you can imagine will take some planning and development.

We encourage families to try themselves to access childcare in the first instance but the brokerage officers in both boroughs are your contacts if a family needs support with the process at any point."

YouthNet – opportunity for young people age 18-25 “I am writing to you to ask for your assistance in the recruiting of committed and enthusiastic volunteers aged 18-25 for a new exciting interactive opportunity here at YouthNet, a digital youth charity. The opportunity is aimed specifically at young people who have previous experience of independent living, and our aim is to use their stories and experiences to create an interactive website tool entitled Virtual House.

At YouthNet we provide support and impartial advice for 16-25 year olds, aiding them through difficult transitions in their lives to help them make choices today for a better tomorrow. One of the complex decisions facing young people involves the difficulty in transitioning to independent living. This could involve moving to university halls for the first time, renting their first property, or simply any living situation which allows young people to be autonomous.

The stories and experiences we receive from our volunteers will allow us to support this transition, for example producing interactive top tips for cooking skills, or videos with advice on how to deal with difficult housemates.

The opportunity that we are offering will allow the volunteers to work in small groups which will be facilitated by YouthNet staff, building upon crucial team working skills. Other skills gained through this opportunity involve communicative and digital skills, and the ability to develop and present ideas. You can check out the link that’s currently on Do-it for a bit more about the opportunity.

The workshop will take place in London on the 24th July - we will cover travel expenses and provide lunch. “

Links There have been lots of blogs during Disability Awareness Week – here is one on why people with a learning disability are not from Mars… https://www.mencap.org.uk/blog/people-learning-disability-aren-t-mars Health minister Alistair Burt on the importance of listening and understanding when providing services for people with learning disabilities: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/understanding-the-needs-of-people-withlearning-disabilities

If we can, we should all aim to understand the medical guidance for Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) staff who make decisions on child cases for Disability Living Allowance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/medical-guidance-for-dla-decision-makerschild-cases-staff-guide And from Special Needs Jungle on why Knickers are important… http://www.specialneedsjungle.com/its-learning-disability-week-lets-talk-about-the-negativepeople-we-meet-in-the-ld-world/

Father’s Day  Always good to end on a positive note… http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/fathers-days/index.html As ever, if you have any queries at all, please ask and I'll do my best to find an answer.

With best wishes, Romany RSFV phone: 07469 746 145 www.richmondsendfamilyvoice.org