Parent Carer Action Group

This page was last edited: 30/04/2008

Parent Carer Action Group

News from Parent Carer Action Group meeting on 2^nd October

At the Parent Carer Action Group meeting on 2^nd October 2007, parent carers heard from Sheila Reynolds, Interim Head of Disabled Children’s Service on the latest news from Children, Schools and Families (CSF). A new Head of Disabled Children’s Service has been appointed and will take up the position in November. Sheila Reynolds will stay on to continue her work on looking at improving services for disabled children and their families. Sheila advised that there will be a County wide review of the provision of respite care for children with disabilities.

CSF are continuing to work on Transition and on Early Years issues. Parent Carer Forums are being set up across the County. There was a lively contribution from parent carers about issues that were difficult for them – eligibility criteria for services, difficulty in getting calls returned, transport and direct payments, amongst other issues, together with a positive comment that some staff within CSF do provide a good service and they should be rewarded. It was good to see several new parent carers attend the meeting and they found it useful to talk with other parent carers about issues that they all have in common. The next Parent Carer Action Group meeting will take place in March 2008 so please look in the next edition of Carewaves for the date.

News from Parent Carer Action Group meeting July 2007

At the Group's meeting in July 2007, parent carers heard from Linda Fisher, Sure Start's Manager (SEN and Disability) and Sue Jaye, Commissioner and Planner for Children's Centres and Extended Schools and Families. Sue and Linda talked to the group about the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and Extended Schools.

The CAF will promote effective, earlier identification of additional needs, particularly in universal services. It is intended to provide a simple process for a holistic assessment of a child's needs and strengths, taking account of the role of carers and environmental factors on their development. Practitioners will then be better placed to agree, with the child and family, about what support is appropriate. Sue Jaye advised that in Hertfordshire a roll out plan will be produced soon - a whole range of professionals will be involved in a training programme which will start in September and the CAF process must be implemented by March 2008. Both Linda and Sue advised that the CAF will put the parent or carer in the "driving seat" as conclusions, solutions and actions will be recorded together with an action plan and who will do what and by when. The parent or carer will receive a copy of the completed CAF form.

Further information on CAF in general can be found on:

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/caf

If any parent carer wishes to see a copy of the universal CAF form or would like further information on any of the above, please contact me using the following contact details:

	Maria Kiely Parent Carer Development Officer Carers in Hertfordshire 22A High Street Hemel Hempstead HP1 3AE
Tel:	01442 253344
Email:	west.team@carersinherts.org.uk

Extended Schools - an extended school is a school working in partnership to provide access to a range of services to improve children's achievement and life chances. This will include high-quality "wraparound" childcare provided on the school site or through other local providers, a menu of activities, parenting support, wider community access to ICT, sports, art, etc. and swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialist support systems, e.g. speech therapy, child and adolescent mental health services and intensive family support. Sue Jaye will keep the group advised of progress in Hertfordshire on extended schools.

For further information on extended schools phone 01438 737502 or visit:

www.hertsextendedschools.org.uk

See Carers Calendar for details of the next meeting of the Parent Carers Action Group.