YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 DRAFT YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT March

2 Our Aims and Vision Empowering Dudley Parent Carers to have their voices heard in a way that influences change & service design Working Together for CHANGE brings together individuals, organisations and partners with the aim of ensuring the voices of parents and carers are heard. We will ensure that all parents and carers in our borough are equipped with the knowledge and skills to influence change. We aim to: Offer support and provide friendship. Listen with empathy Provide signposting and share information in ways that are easily understandable and accessible Be democratic, transparent and represent the collective views of parent/carers Influence policy development Be realistic in what we and partners together can achieve in the current climate of continued spending cuts Providing a safe environment for Parent Carers of children with disabilities or additional needs to share their thoughts and concerns

3 Setting Up The Forum Working Together for CHANGE has a steering group with 24 members made up from 6 local organisations with three seats each and three independent parent seats. Organisations / groups involved include Bliss Parents Supporting Parents Participate Kids Orchard Scope Smile Mencap We now have over 100 members on our database who are involved in wider forum activities and who receive regular updates. To be eligible to join the forum you must be a parent carer (this is an inclusive term which encompasses parents, grandparents, foster parents, adoptive parents or anyone with parental responsibility) of a child with additional needs or disabilities within Dudley Borough. Members of the forum work together as individuals, organisations and partners with the aim of ensuring that the voices of parent and carers are heard. They ensure that all parents and carers in our borough are equipped with the knowledge and skills to influence change working within a framework of agreed values and principles. The Steering Group is working to a liberating leadership style which makes the best use of people s strengths, skills and experiences. Roles, tasks and groups are allocated based on interest and skills. The Steering Group meets six times a year on a bi-monthly basis with a wider forum meeting in between. There are also well attended task and finish sessions which have been set up since the forum started around integrated care, personal budgets, transition and transport.

4 Attracting and keeping members We keep members informed of the progress of the forum and are always clear that they decide on how much, or how little involvement they have Working Together for CHANGE has sought to attract new members and keep existing members through a variety of ways. These include: Organising a launch event attended by 114 participants Placing an article about the forum in a local newspaper Developing a website Utilising social media (Twitter, Facebook) Produced 2,000 leaflets Produced Mail Chimp e-bulletins Produced 4 event banners Produced 2 newsletters Attended 2 SENCO forum meetings Visiting Local Parent support groups Taken part in I deserve a cuppa... Held a Macmillan Coffee Morning Attended public meetings held for carers Worked closely with SENDIASS Work with professionals who can promote the forum

5 Attracting and keeping members I deserve a cuppa......recognising and supporting carers across Dudley Borough Working Together for change has been supporting a new initiative to recognise carers in Dudley borough. During carers week parents from the forum came together with other organisations that support carers to provide a cup of tea and a listening ear. This simple act of kindness gave people a chance to chat and take a few minutes to think about themselves as carers whilst allowing them to find out about the help, services and support that carers can access locally. It was great to see so many people coming together, connecting and sharing information and ultimately offering a friendly face in a time when support is needed. The event was supported by Dudley CCG, Dudley MBC, local Voluntary organisations, supermarkets and volunteers! Working Together for Change Scope out cakes to raise funds for Macmillan As our township clinic fell on 27 September, it felt only right that we combined this with an opportunity to join in and raise money for Macmillan s cancer charity by taking part in their world s biggest Coffee Morning. The event was held at Kids Orchard in Lye, and it was a real family affair. It was so lovely to meet the children we hear so much about through parents at the forum. The local police supported the event and kept everyone entertained. Lots of our forum members supported this event by either baking cakes themselves or asking family and friends to bake. Others joined in by eating lots of delicious cakes that were baked! It was great to see so many organisations and groups coming together to support this charity that affects so many people s lives, and what a great way to do so through eating cake and having fun! Working Together for Change raised !

6 Influencing Services Working together for change endeavours where appropriate to collaborate with professionals and be able to influence decisions around services that effect their lives Working Together for CHANGE has worked with a number of organisations and professionals to co-design services and policies. These include: Dudley MBC Divisional Lead - Integrated Youth Support Connexions Funding and Commissioning Managers Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group Local Councillors and cabinet leads Healthwatch Dudley Dudley Metropolitan College Halesowen College Birmingham Metropolitan College, Stourbridge Campus Schools Overview and Scrutiny Committees Attended 2 SENCO forum meetings Visiting local parent support groups

7 Influencing Services Transition Task and Finish Over the last six months Working Together for Change members have been working closely with officers from Dudley Council and local colleges to have informal conversations, exchange views, offer ideas and ask questions about the transition process. On the 1 st July 2014 parent carers came together and met with Dudley MBC officers Helen Ellis, Divisional Lead for Integrated Youth Support, Sue Powell from Connexions and John Cunningham the Funding and Commissioning Manager to discuss issues regarding the transition process. It was an opportunity to have open and honest discussions and for the forum to act as a critical friend, be solution focused and influence services to get things right. The group has come together regularly over the last six months and as a result has enabled parents to become more informed about the role of Connexions and post 16 funding and better understand how decisions are made regarding transition. Transition from school to college is an area that parents get concerned over. Sue invited representatives from Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge colleges to join in the discussions. It gave the colleges an opportunity to explain the process and parents an opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences. By coming together with service providers, parents have been able to influence and inform policies and work with colleges to explore solutions to issues such as parking. Through having a better understanding they become advocates for the transition process. Colleges gain better understanding of parent s needs, issues they have never considered and are making changes to alleviate them. These sessions are all about working together with parent carers to make transition as smooth as possible, talking about policies and being more transparent about what the council is doing and communicating what statutory legislations that cannot be influenced are all about. The feedback from both professionals and parents has been overwhelmingly positive. Positive feedback from a parent - I genuinely love having John, Sue and Helen at the meetings...it s a brilliant group and one I m proud to say that I ve been a part of. Positive feedback from an officer I genuinely enjoy attending these meetings and appreciate the honesty of the parents involved.

8 Working with SENDIASS Influencing Services Personal Budget Task and Finish Parents have been working with SENDIASS to help produce some new information leaflets. In line with the new Children s and Families Act 2014, they are updating their information to reflect their change in name (from Parent Partnership) and new responsibilities. They no longer just support parent/carers, they also offer support to children and young people from Parent carers have been consulted and have commented on how information is worded and the layout of the leaflets. Sometimes by moving sections around and reducing unnecessary wording, it helps the information become more accessible and it makes more sense to parents. So far parent carers have influenced - Dudley SENDIASS service Leaflet Dudley SENDIASS independent support leaflet Dudley SENDIASS requesting an education health and care needs assessment Dudley SENDIASS SEN support in schools Parents have looked at and are currently working on a service leaflet for young people with SEND in mainstream school and post 16 settings. The next set of leaflets that will be looked at will relate to the Local Offer, Mediation, and EHCP s. Working with parents and young people is important to SENDIASS as a service, and the forum will continue to work closely with them. This task and finish group was convened with the purpose that the Local Authority, the Clinical Commissioning Group and Dudley Parent Carer Forum would co-produce a framework for personal budgets. This will be an ongoing process that will continue over the following year. This is not something that children s services have ever done before so it will be very much a journey of learning for all involved. Key considerations will include: Develop a system that complements and works with the local authorities existing system to ensure a smooth transition Not all services will be included within Personal Budget options. Together we need to compile a list of services that need to be included and ones it is not appropriate to include at this point There will be lots of opportunity throughout the process to discuss issues or concerns and to explore the personal budgets options. The task and finish sessions should trigger discussions around provisions. The local authority will be working closer with parents to make decisions around how to streamline services and focus on what is most needed to meet the challenge of budget cuts and increasing demands on decreasing services.

9 Influencing Services Transport Task and Finish There has been a lot of strong feeling and tension around the subject of transport, which was heightened when Dudley Council proposed that transport services for children under five with special educational needs be cut as part of its budget proposals for 2015/16. Parent Carers came together to protest this decision and We Love Carers organised a public meeting to discuss this further. During this Meeting we spoke of the success that Working Together for Change had gained from collaborating with officers through task and finish sessions that were mutually beneficial for parent carers and officers. We offered to set up a group that would look at working together to find a way forward and explore joint solutions. As a result of parental influence and strength of feeling towards the budget decision the council have proposed an amendment, extend the consultation and explore opportunities to work with parents. On 10 March 2015 Cllr Tim Crumpton, Ian Curnow Divisional Lead for Commissioning and Tony Wells Transport Manager came together with six parents to start this process. What was instantly apparent was the reason that professionals and parents want to collaborate is because they want what is best for the young people in our borough. The group confirmed the need to move forward together and look holistically at resources around transport that cover all stages of life and do not segregate children s and adults transport. There is an opportunity to be innovative and move away from working in silos and together find new ways of working that better suit families and children. There is a Children s Services scrutiny committee that Dudley Parent Carers Forum will join to form a working group to bring together parents, officers and councillors to look at joint solutions around transport.

10 Influencing Services Influencing Services Together We Are Stronger! Working Together For Change understands that they could not have achieved all that they achieved last year without the support and encouragement from some key individuals. We would like to thank Ian McGuff Assistant Director Children s Services Julia Simmonds Divisional Lead Health and Wellbeing DMBC Helen Ellis Divisional Lead - Integrated Youth Service DMBC Susan Powell Manager Connexions John Cunningham - Post 16 Funding & Commissioning Ann Killin Dudley College Gill Coldicott Birmingham Met College Theresa Poole - Halesowen College Sajada Sajid - Dudley College Manager for Discrete Provision Ian Curnow Commissioning and Procurement DMBC Cllr. Timothy Crumpton Cabinet Member Children s Lead Tony Wells - Transport Manager Victoria Townsend - SENDIASS Linda Cropper - Commissioning Manager for Dudley CCG Robert Franklin Engagement Support Officer Dudley CCG Chris Barron Healthwatch Dudley Engagement Officer

11 Our Members Parent carers are working with 3 local colleges across the borough to influence the transition process The forum is influencing 5 different service driven work streams: o Personal Budgets o Integrated Care o Transition o Transport o Summer Play Schemes Parent carers have met at 13 different venues at locations all across the borough Our members have come together 31 times over the last year The forum has 92 followers on Twitter The forum has had 66 likes on the Facebook page with some of the posts reaching over 300 people! They have come together over 650 hours to make sure their voices are heard and that they are influencing services

12 Coming together is a beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success! Henry Ford