SEND Family Voice

What is the SEND Family Voice?

For more information on SEND Family Voice, please click here infosendfamilyvoicerc@gmail.com

The way parent carers work with professionals is by forming groups called parent carer forums. The SEND Family Voice is a group of parents and carers of disabled children. Their aim is to make sure the services in their area meet the needs of disabled children and their families.

They do this by gathering the views of local families and then working in partnership with local authorities, education settings, health providers and other providers to highlight where local services, processes and commissioners are working well, or challenge when changes or improvements need to be made.

In England there are parent and carer forums in almost all local authority areas. Forums usually have a steering group of parents who lead this work and listen to the views of other parents in the local area to make sure they know what is important to them. Forums are keen to hear from as many parents and carers as possible.

What is parent and carer participation?

Parent and carers can often pinpoint problems frequently experienced by families with disabled children. This knowledge is useful to professionals as they plan services to meet disabled children's needs.

Parent and carer participation is when parents and professionals work together, recognising each other's expert knowledge, to design, develop and improve services for disabled children in the local area.

Who can join?

Parents or carers of a child or young person with any type of additional need or disability are welcome to join. Joining your forum does not mean you have to commit lots of time. In most forums you can join and receive information, and then decide if you want to get more involved at your own pace. The forum represents the views of parents in the local area but does not advocate for individual families.

Co-production

Co-production is an important principle in parent carer participation. Co-production is when parent carer forums play an integral and equal part in the decision-making process and are fully engaged in shaping, developing, implementing and evaluating services and systems.

Evidence shows that these partnerships often make the best use of people's time and money, whilst also improving outcomes for disabled children.

Funding for parent carer participation in England

There is a grant available for a parent carer forum in every local authority area in England from the Department for Education (DfE) to support their development and strategic involvement in local services. The grant is administered by Contact.