SEND - Participation of Parent Carers in local services
The purpose of the Board is to discuss and address issues of common concern to all Carers in Cornwall. To raise awareness and improve understanding of the vital role Carers undertake in supporting the people they care for and each other. Exchanging ideas, strengthening skills and sharing examples of good practice are essential for the development of good services in Education, Health and Social Care for Carers of children and adults. Members are encouraged to keep up to date with National and local developments and be active in their caring communities.
Current Matters
The Board is currently undergoing a revision in the way it works and new Terms of Reference are being created. A new Carers Strategy for Cornwall is being planned. The Direct Payment system is currently being updated and Adult Day Services are being reviewed ready for recommissioning.
Parent Carers Cornwall (PCC) have a seat on this group and there is
representation from Education, Health and Social Care. We meet
monthly and PCC has a designated slot on the agenda to raise concerns
and issues parent/carers have raised with us.
Areas of work currently being raised by PCC are:
- The number of young people being on part time timetables or being
excluded from school. - Transition from Children to Adult Services
- Transport
- Support for parent/carers while both waiting for assessments and
following assessments of their child.
We also look at Workstream Plans which cover areas such as:
- Special Educational Years Early Years
- Preparing for Adulthood
- Provision for Communication and Interaction NeedsWhere these have been marked as work completed PCC will challenge if we are not in agreement.
Impact
- We are currently working with services to produce a new Transition
Policy. - Looking over the Transport and Cold Weather protocols to feedback to
Transport - Working with Education regarding off rolling in schools
We chair this working group which brings together those in
leadership roles for Autism in various children’s services within
Cornwall. This was done with the intention to consider what is
offered to children and their families and to ensure collaboration
across services as part of developing a clear approach on managing
the needs of Children and Young People (CYP) with Autism.
It advises and informs commissioners on how families can be
supported through early interventions and consideration is given to
NICE Autism guidance and the National Autism Strategy.
This working group has helped to develop the Autism Strategy for
Cornwall. Another area which the group focused on was to help
develop the Autism Wheel, which can be found on the Cornwall
Care and Support website.
Parent Carers Cornwall have been a key partner in this piece of work.
MAT Protocol_Young People moving from Childrens to Adults Services FINAL
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK MEETING
This meeting is very informal and has no agenda, workstream or minutes and the conversation is always lively as all that attend are passionate and usually over runs!
It is a varied multi-disciplinary team membership meeting, young people also attend and share their views and have their voice heard and PCC attends to give the wider view of parents and carers, and everyone else who attends gives updates about their various teams and new developments, the voluntary sector is respected and listened to, and we all feedback about our work.
It is always interesting to attend and listen to the work the sectors are doing and how they all join and link together and the support that is offered to children and young people for their Mental Health and Well-being.
The purpose of the Board is to discuss and address issues of common concern to all Carers in Cornwall. To raise awareness and improve understanding of the vital role Carers undertake in supporting the people they care for and each other. Exchanging ideas, strengthening skills and sharing examples of good practice are essential for the development of good services in Education, Health and Social Care for Carers of children and adults. Members are encouraged to keep up to date with National and local developments and be active in their caring communities.
Current Matters
The Board is currently undergoing a revision in the way it works and new Terms of Reference are being created. A new Carers Strategy for Cornwall is being planned. The Direct Payment system is currently being updated and Adult Day Services are being reviewed ready for recommissioning.
We have a parent carer group that regularly oversees the development of the Local Offer and feeds back on where links are broken, where new organisations need adding and where information is incorrect.
We are currently working with the school effectiveness team on a graduated response document.
Additional information --- we have worked in partnership with the school effectiveness team to produce a school tool/resource for them to work in partnership with parent/carers. A value Charter that schools can use has been produced alongside the resources. There are currently 16 schools/colleges involved in this pilot. It will get rolled out to all education establishments in 2022
We meet with the Commissioner for Children's health monthly. Discussion is often around CAMHS, Autism, Complex Health Need Children. Those young people with SEMH needs.
SENCO Packs have been developed for every school in Cornwall, along with distribution to GPs, Family Hubs, preschools, Child Development Centres containing the guide to services copies of the booklets with checklists for parents and carers for when they visit potential new schools.
There is separate checklist for young people in Secondary schools looking at FE.
The PCC has put together a Service Guide for parent carers detailing lots of services in Cornwall and nationally that can support their families.
To receive a copy, new families will be required to register with the PCC via the website.
Parent Carers Cornwall has representation on the Neurodevelopmental Pathway steering group to ensure the voice of parent/carers is heard.
The aim of developing a new pathway is to improve the developmental outcomes and experience of children, young people and families in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and ensure those who have additional needs in their developmental journey receive an appropriate supportive response.
A whole system approach’ across education, health, care, families, and communities to enable every child, young person and their family, with neurodiverse need, to live well, thrive and prosper is being developed. It will also impact on the waiting times for assessments, which Parent Carers Cornwall has highlighted in many meetings.
The Autism in Schools programme was initially rolled out in the Northeast of the country just before Covid struck. It was originally devised to help reduce the amount of school exclusions for those young people who are Neurodivergent.
Parent Carers Cornwall is leading on this in Cornwall as part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums. We have been holding meetings with different sectors and spoken to carers and young people and from looking at data we will initially roll out to secondary schools in Cornwall. Training will be for school staff as we evidenced many parents felt staff do not understand their child’s needs. It will be a whole school approach and not just for teaching staff. There are also workshops for parents and young people who attend the schools who sign up. Letters went out to all Secondary schools in Cornwall and virtual and face to face meetings have been held with some schools and they are keen to be involved.
This first roll out of the programme we have nine schools involved who are receiving training from the Autism Education Trust for staff and parents. Aspires are delivering workshops for young people and Young People Cornwall are also linked in with this work.