Short Breaks

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• Short Breaks Parent Participation

Report prepared by TDC October 2009
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Short Breaks and Parent Participation

• Contents
• 1. Progress in delivery of new short breaks
• 2. Parent Participation
• 3. Challenges

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Pathfinders have increased the volume of
provision and broadened the menu of short break
services

• Expansion is planned for every type of short
  break service. The greatest increase in provision
  is in Group Based non specialist services
• Services are increasing well for children with
  challenging behaviour (particularly family based
  day care) and for children with complex health
  needs (particularly group-based specialist
  services)
• Pathfinders are using their capital spend to
  enhance the short breaks offer by providing e.g.
  holiday accommodation, climbing walls, adapted
  dance floors

Main types of Short BreakOvernight
staysFamily-based individual careGroup-based
specialist provisionGroup-based non-specialist
provision
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Within the short breaks menu, some types of
breaks are increasing at a faster pace

• Pathfinders
• Between 2008-09 and 2009-10 in pathfinder areas,
  the type of short break which will have increased
  the most is group based non-specialist provision
  (329 increase)
• Overnight short breaks remain a significant part
  of short break provision and increased by 37
• Non-pathfinders
• For 2009-10 there are increases in train for all
  types of short breaks, with the biggest increase
  planned in group based specialist provision (71)
• Overnight provision is increasing by the smallest
  amount (14) although remains a significant
  proportion of planned short break care

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All this means new experiences for children and
their families

• Examples of short break activity for children and
  young people
• Specialist bikes purchased to enable children and
  young people to participate in youth club
  activities
• Inclusion in summer play schemes, out of school
  and wider leisure activities
• Buddying schemes to enable participation in
  universal leisure services
• Saturday and Sunday football sessions for
  disabled children and their siblings with premier
  football clubs

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Families are able to enjoy activities together,
and parents are shaping services to fit their
needs

• For Families
• Activity weekends for all the family which build
  confidence to enable parents to leave their
  children
• Converted chalets and caravans, and workers go
  too - enabling whole family holidays
• Saturday and Sunday drop in cafés - support and
  networking
• Home-based care services enabling parents to go
  out in the evening or get a nights sleep
• Parents influencing services
• Sitting on tendering panels and working with
  Childrens Trusts
• Parents and childrens views changing the
  capital programme
• Employed as mentoring and consultation workers

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Overall there is a significant amount of new
provision being developed, with an encouraging
proportion of this delivered by third sector

• LAs are increasingly commissioning services from
  the independent and voluntary sectors
• Of the voluntary sector provision, some is being
  delivered by National Voluntary Sector providers,
  but a significant amount is being delivered by a
  range of smaller Local Volunteers Organisations
• This year, the Third Sector will be engaged in
  working with some local areas at strategic level-
  to support capacity building and commissioning

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Across all regions, more parents are getting
involved in parent participation

• At the start of programme, 44 (66) of local
  authority areas had little or no parent
  participation activity.
• by March 2009, 97 of areas reported an
  increase in the number of parents involved in
  parent participation, 92 were reaching a wider
  range of parents and 72 reported improved joint
  working between parents and professionals
• In 60 areas there is now a structure
  established that supports parent participation,
  nearly half of these are newly established
• LAs and parent forums are now self-assessing
  how well their plans to engage parents are
  working the results will bring about dialogue
  and action planning to keep developing those
  plans

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Parents are beginning to take the lead in parent
groups
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A number of key challenges remain.

• TDC supporting activity
• Brokering and mobilising support at local level,
  including from the third sector
• Using Change Champions from good local areas to
  share good practice and drive change
• Supporting areas to improve their data
• Support to raise the programme profile with
  Directors of Childrens Services, PCT Chief
  Executives and other senior officers

• Challenges
• Lack of capacity within local areas to manage the
  programme, and high staff turnover in many places
• More to do to develop the local authority
  workforce, and the provider workforce
• Many local areas are struggling to get to grips
  with their data and some dont understand the
  link between good data and good commissioning
• Many areas have struggled to get senior level
  buy-in from the lead officers across the
  Childrens Trust, including from PCTs