A VOICE FOR PARENT CARERS

“Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum is a voice for those with lived experience of being a Parent Carer (This means parents and/or carers of children with any disability, SEN, condition, impairment or additional need).  We can create a bridge to the providers of statutory services to help build better services for all families of disabled children in Gloucestershire.”

"Listen to Me" social meet ups in your area - check out our Dates for your Diary section
A chance to meet up with other families of disabled children for peer to peer support and to share your views on the services your families need

OFSTED and the CQC have announced a Local Area SEND Inspection of Gloucestershire.  The Inspection will take place over a three-week period from 27th November to 15th December 2023.  
 
Parent Carers are invited to complete the OFSTED Survey Area SEND inspection for Gloucestershire Local Area Partnership (smartsurvey.co.uk between now and 9am on 5th December.  We are keen for as many Parent Carers as possible to complete the survey.  This provides an insight for Inspectors of a wide range of experiences families have had.  Please do take a few moments to share your views.  If you are unable to use the online survey  you can email lasend.support@ofsted.gov.uk for an accessible version.
 
 We will be meeting with Inspectors as part of the process and want to ensure that your views are shared.  We will be making good use of all that you have shared with us over the past year.  

Families in Partnership

The Parent Carer Forum has partnered with Gloucestershire County Council to share this key information leaflet for Parent Carers.

If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with us so we can pass these on.  We are engaging in weekly Q and A sessions with GCC and the CCG to provide up to date information and guidance.

You can email us:   info@glosparentcarerforum.org.uk

or contact us via our Facebook Page or the Forum Discussion Group

The best way to be kept up to date and to help get the voice of Parent Carers heard is join the forum as a member. Click below to join the forum (membership is free)

We are delighted to be able to share this report with you.  Michelle has worked tirelessly to ensure that the power of what you shared with us over the last year is fully conveyed.  

We recognise that for many of our members being a parent carer can be challenging to say the least.  The evidence is in the report, lack of support, lack of access to services and in a worrying number of cases, a lack of school places paints a difficult picture.  As parent carers ourselves we share many of the challenges you’ve told us about.  

The financial challenges of raising a child with SEND cannot be ignored, especially in the current climate.  Keep an eye out for helpful information on our social media feed about Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments and Carers Allowance over the coming weeks.  If you’re already in receipt of those don’t forget to check about the Disability Element of Child Tax Credits or Universal Credit if you’re in receipt of either of those.  

If you’re still waiting on news of a school placement for September please know that we are with you – it’s a journey more than one of us has been on  – and we always flag that need for more capacity with the Education Department when we meet.  You may have seen the recent news of a new school coming to Gloucester but we all recognise that’s a little way off and certainly won’t be ready for September this year.  

Here at the Parent Carer Forum our plan is to use what you’ve told us to shape the priorities of our work this year and to share with you where that takes us.  We’d love you to be part of what we do so, if you feel that you’d like to work with us please get in touch.  We’re keen to empower parent carers to be active participants in meetings with our Local Authority and Health boards in anyway you feel able.  That might be as a parent rep attending meetings or it might be by providing responses to targeted surveys or comments on your experience.  

Let me close by thanking those of you who have contributed to our work this year, to those of you who have attended Listen to Me meet ups and shared the issues that matter to you, to those of you’ve who’ve filled in surveys or shared your experiences with the professionals who’ve attended our meetings.  Your voice is important and we will do all that we can to make it count.

WHAT WE DO?

a group of mums sit round tables in a cafe, chatting.

SOCIAL MEET UPS

Join other parent carers for friendly meet ups, share you views, make new friends, and get support and information.

a diverse group of men and women stand arm in arm smiling in a friendly way

BECOME A MEMBER

Receive regular newsletters, join our online chat group, find out about other services.
Membership is free

a group of parents sit round a table listening to a presentation, one lady is in a wheelchair, a child is standing by one mum

STRATEGIC PARTNER FOR BETTER SERVICES

Add your voice to our work to improve services for all children with additional needs, SEN and disabilities in Gloucestershire.

What is parent participation?

Parent carers are in a good position to identify issues regularly experienced by families with disabled children (including those with any kind of physical, learning or sensory impairment, disability, additional need, long term health condition or SEND). Sharing this knowledge with professionals as they plan services to meet disabled children’s needs is a valuable way for Parent Carers to participate in the development of better services and support.

Parent Carer participation occurs when parents and professionals work together, recognising each other’s expert knowledge, to design, develop and improve services for disabled children in the local area.

graphic representing the coproduction ladder

ABOUT US

The forum is led by a committee of parent carer volunteers who will work to ensure parent participation is supported and facilitated across services in the county.  If you would like to support the forum by joining our committee please get in touch via email.  The committee will generally meet once a month to plan the forum’s next projects and reflect on current work.  We are a Community Interest Company with a board of Directors, all of whom are parent carers.  The forum does not share Parent Carer details with other organisations,  you will only be contacted by the forum using the details you provide when you register.

email: info@glosparentcarerforum.org.uk to find out more.