Contact a Family Wales July 2013 E-Bulletin
Welcome to the Contact a Family Wales e-bulletin. We hope the following news and resources will be of interest to you. If you have details of any up and coming events or new information which may benefit other families in your area please drop me a line – I would be happy to hear from you. Andrew.kirby@cafamily.org.uk
This month's bulletin includes information :
· Contact a Family News
- Helpline for more personalised benefits advice
- Celebrating the value of Parent Carers - Carers Week
· News and information on projects that support families of disabled children throughout Wales
- Lawworks Cymru - a project to benefit individuals & voluntary organisations in need of legal advice.
- Cerebra Grant Scheme
- Transition Key Working Workshops - Welshpool in October by CCN Cymru
- Working Families Launch new project
Contact a Family News
Call our helpline for more personalised benefits advice
Contact a Family has long been a source of information about the benefits system for parents of disabled children. If you contact the helpline we will be able to take you through the latest relevant benefits advice and run through any other financial help you may be entitled to maximise your income.
Senior Parent Adviser and welfare rights expert, Derek Sinclair said: "At a time of huge change to the benefit system, this will provide a badly needed source of free, confidential, high quality and up to date advice for parents. Our advisers will make sure that parents have the right information to make informed choices about issues such as:
- Moving into work
- Benefit options when a child reaches 16
- Or how to use self-directed support to take greater control over how services are provided to their disabled child. "
Contact our team of experts on our Freephone helpline on 0808 808 3555, email them or post a question on the Contact a Family Facebook page.
For all Contact a Family publications (which are available to download free) visit the contact a family website
Printed versions are also available by contacting the Wales office on 02920 396624 or the Freephone national helpline on 0808 808 3555.
Celebrating the value of parent carers - Carers Week
Carers Week 2013 takes place from Monday 10 to Sunday 16 June and Contact a Family will be taking the opportunity to celebrate the invaluable work of parent carers!
A UK-wide annual awareness-raising campaign, Carers Week aims to improve the lives of carers and the people they care for. We'll be talking all about caring - your experiences, the rewards, and the difficulties via our Facebook page. Join us - we want to hear what caring means to you!
Our workshops and events so far...
We all enjoyed a lovely sunny day in Llandudno and our event had 59 people come along. Venue Cymru showed the film Rise of The Guardians, which was a hit! Louise from Merry Makers Aberystwyth provided a creative workshop, both during the film for children who preferred to do an activity, as well as after the film. Some families brought their children simply for the workshop experience as they do not feel their children are quite ready to sit throughout a film just yet.
Louise used her wonderful talents as always and had provided an additional cake decorating activity, in relation to the characters from the film, which was a delight for the children. In the later workshop, children and adults made sunlight catchers from characters of the film and seasonal shapes. This was very well attended for the full period and a great time had by all. This was Contact a Family Cymru’s first event at Venue Cymru and everyone was highly impressed with the support and service we received, both from the staff and volunteers who were an incredible team. Every member of staff couldn’t do enough to help the families and us as a visiting organisation. The whole event went smoothly and a was a great success resulting in very positive feedback from families who attended.
Contact a Family’s workshop project is looking towards the autumn for our next few events. If there are any parent workshops you would be interested in seeing in your area, please let us know via email, or follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/
News and General Information
Lawworks Cymru
LawWorks Cymru, a new project which will enable voluntary organisations and individuals in need in Wales to benefit from free legal advice. LawWorks Cymru is based in Cardiff and will help to co-ordinate pro bono provision throughout Wales. Rather than provide a frontline service, our role is to identify areas of particular need in order to target pro bono work effectively, to broker casework, and to support volunteer lawyers in providing advice by telephone, by email, and face to face. Working with the Disability Law Service, we will also enable those seeking legal advice from the DLS to receive local, accessible help.
Working in partnership
As part of the National Pro Bono Centre, we will draw on this expertise to enable the Welsh legal profession to respond more effectively to those seeking Pro Bono help. Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, we work with a broad coalition of stakeholders including the DLS, the Law Society, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Bar, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Cardiff University Law School.
Staff
LawWorks Cymru is run by Project Officers Joanna Bogacz and Naomi Morris. It became operational in April 2013, and will be officially launched with a public event in Cardiff in October. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us at LawWorksCymru@lawworks.org.uk
Cerebra – grant scheme
Parents of children with a neurological condition can apply for grants from the charity Cerebra which covers the whole of the UK. The Cerebra grant scheme can fund up to 80% of the price of specialist equipment that will directly benefit the individual child. This can be anything from play equipment, a touch screen computer or speech and language therapy. Source: Cerebra Grant Scheme
Free weekend Activity Weekend
The Wales Team is helping counties in Wales to provide a Transition Key Working service for young people who are between 14 and 25 years of age.
Young people and parents/carers at the Red Ridge Outdoor Centre
Cefn Coch, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 0AZ
Friday 18th to Sunday 20th October 2013
Come and join us to share your experiences of transition
(Moving from child to adulthood)
An opportunity to:
· Have fun
· Meet new people
· Try new activities
· Share your experiences
This will let people know what should happen for young people in Wales about their future
Who we are
Care Co-ordination Cymru Network (CCN Cymru) is a networking organisation
promoting and supporting care co-ordination or key working for disabled children and their families in Wales.
About the Red Ridge Outdoor Centre
Red Ridge has been offering accessible activities to people of all ages and abilities since 1978. It is an outdoor centre dedicated to enabling persons of all abilities to participate in outdoor pursuits. Situated in the beautiful hills of Mid-Wales it is easily accessible. They encourage the belief that all of us have a much greater potential than we would believe, and they seek to emphasise the positives in everyone.
Types of activities such as
· Interactive workshop to share your experiences
· Assisted Ropes
· Artificial Caving
· Zip Wire
· Film night or disco
· Team work activity
All meals included
If you would like to take part and are happy to join us please can you complete the application form and send it back to us by Friday 5th July.
The CCN team will be meeting after 5th July to consider the applications. After this we will be in contact to confirm places.
We have limited places - Please book soon
All young people attending need to be accompanied by a parent/carer, key worker or personal assistant
Working Families launch new “Working On” campaign
Working Families today launches a new campaign to help parents of disabled children find and stay in work. The campaign “Working On” calls for changes from government, local authorities, employers and support services to help parents of disabled children combine work and care.
Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive of Working Families commented:
“Our survey last year found alarming rates of unemployment and underemployment among parents of disabled children. Yet most of these parents want to work and so we’re campaigning to ensure that they get the support they need to find, stay and progress in work.
“Working On” will raise awareness of the barriers these parents face, and propose a number of practical changes to support parents to stay in work and keep their families out of poverty”.
The campaign “asks” include:
· A new form of “adjustment leave” to give parents short-term time off work during a disability diagnosis or crisis
· Targeted training, advice and job search support for parents wishing to return to work
· More flexible working opportunities and all public sector jobs to be advertised on a flexible basis
· Address the gaps in and expense of specialist childcare provision
· Ensure schools have the resources to deal with emergencies so parents are not unnecessarily called in
Further details at: workingoncampaign.wordpress.
New Support group in Neath Port Talbot
PARENTS 2 PARENTS
Parents 2 Parents is a great and invaluable place to meet other parents/carers and their families who have children/young people with special needs. They meet once a month in the Neath area. Whilst the adults enjoy a chat and getting to know you over some light refreshments the children/young people love to play with the quality sensory equipment suitable for all ages in a safe environment.
You can be sure to receive a warm welcome. They really would love to meet you.
Times and venues are subject to change so please contact:
Todd and Steph Presley 07794578333 or 07837053852
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