County awarded £5m to help families
23 May 2008
Families with disabled children across Derbyshire are set to benefit from a £5m windfall to provide short breaks and respite care.
Hundreds of families could be helped with the cash awarded to Derbyshire County Council and Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust by the Government.
They include parents with disabled children who are autistic, have complex health needs or who display challenging behaviour associated with their disability as well as youngsters over 11 with moving and handling needs and over 14s.
The aim is to provide a variety of activities to give disabled children and young people an enjoyable experience and enable full-time carers to have a valuable break too.
Now Derbyshire County Council is keen to hear from parents and carers, the young people themselves and care providers about the kind of services they would like to be on offer. So they are being invited to a series of consultation events being staged across the county. They are being held on:
Wednesday 4 June at Masson Mills, Matlock Bath
Friday 27 June at Bretby Conference Centre, South Derbyshire
Tuesday 1 July at Bakewell Agricultural Centre
Councillor Anne Western, the county council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said it was important that families were involved in designing the kind of breaks they needed and wanted.
She said: “We want to be really innovative and come up with some good ideas that the young people themselves will enjoy and get a lot out of and their parents, carers and other family members will also benefit from.
“Caring for a disabled child can be a full time job and has an impact on the whole family, including brothers and sisters.
“The care we provide may range from short breaks away at the seaside, a day out at one of our outdoor education centres or simply a fully-trained sitter to enable a family to go out from time to time.
“We hope that as many parents, carers, partner agencies and potential providers will come along to our three events and give us their views.”
All three events begin at 10am and finish at 3pm with the costs of childcare for disabled children up to a maximum of £30 being met.
To book a place at any of the events please contact Dianne Arscott, Children and Family Support, County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG, ring 01629 585106 or e-mail dianne.arscott@derbyshire.gov.uk.
Media enquiries only to Catriona Cummings on 01629 585271
Ref: CC.226.08
