Information
St Helens Parent Carer Forum
The Department for Education (DfE) has produced a guide on the support system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). You can read it by pressing on this link.
The SEND Code of Practice for 0-25 years recognises two areas in which parent carers should be participating;
- Individual decision making for their own children and young people,
- Strategic planning for SEND and other relevant services in the local area.
The Local Authority and NHS integrated Care Board recognise the need and are committed in involving parent carers in the strategic planning and delivery of local services and ensuring that parent carers have a voice at all levels.
The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a statutory duty on local authorities to develop and publish a Local Offer, which sets out what they expect to be available for local children and young people with SEND across education, health and social care in a single place.
The purpose of the Local Offer is to enable parents and young people to see more clearly what services are available for children with special educational needs and disabilities in their area, and how to access them.
Knowing what is out there gives you more choice and therefore more control over what is right for your child.
St Helens Local Offer website can be found by pressing this link.
The world of SEND is full of abbreviations and jargon so we have tried to explain these in this document.
IPSEA – Independent Provider of Special Education Advice.
Contact – Support for families with disabled children across the UK, whatever their condition or disability.
St Helens Information Advice and Support Service (IASS)
St Helens Carers Centre – A local independent charity serving the needs of local unpaid family carers.
NNPCF – National Network of Parent Carer Forums is the independent national voice of parent carer forums.