Contact a Family e-newsletter - August 2008

[Guest guest]

+++Contact a Family e-newsletter - August 2008

++Contents.

+01: Contact a Family urges 'Keep the Promise' to end child poverty.

+02: New Disability Living Allowance podcast from Contact a Family.

+03: Join Contact a Family on Facebook.

+04: Win a laptop. Tell your story. Raise public awareness.

+05: Parent carer wins legal battle - and new employment rights for all

parent carers.

+06: GBP22m announced for SEN teacher training.

+07: Pilots announced for disabled children's access to childcare

project.

+08: Lone parents no longer penalised for opting out of child support

scheme.

+09: Lone parents with disabled children incorrectly told they will need

to sign on.

+10: GBP52 Million for children's speech, language and communication.

+11: New law means government to publish SEN performance across England.

+12: Family Fund increases age limit in Wales.

+13: Register for new service from Family Fund.

+14: Last chance to claim Incapacity Benefit.

+15: Seven million households to qualify for help to go digital.

+16: Welsh Assembly announces new measures to tackle child poverty.

+17: Campaign for more specialist children's nurses launched.

+18: New guide to positive health for ish carers.

+19: New A-Z guide for carers in Northern Ireland.

+20: New organisation to help find care workers for disabled children.

+21: Regional play & childcare network seminars - Autumn 08.

[Contents ends]

++Contact a Family News.

+01: Contact a Family urges 'Keep the Promise' to end child poverty.

Contact a Family has announced its support of the biggest event to end

child poverty in the UK. The campaign charity End Child Poverty is

organising the 'Keep the Promise' event - to be held in Trafalgar Square

on Saturday 4th October 2008. The event is intended to mobilise public

support while putting pressure on Government to keep its promise to end

child poverty by 2020.

Mark on, Contact a Family's Head of Information and New Media,

said: " It costs three times as much to raise a disabled child and many

parents struggle to hold down a job due to the pressures of caring. As a

national charity supporting families of disabled children, we support

Keep the Promise and call on government to make the significant

investment necessary to end child poverty. "

The event will begin with a short march from Millbank to Trafalgar

Square where there will be children's activities, family fun, film and

speeches. This will be followed by everyone being asked to make as much

noise as possible to show their support to end child poverty.

If you want to attend the event in Trafalgar Square or would like to

find out how else to support the campaign visit Web:

http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/keepthepromiseevent

+02: New Disability Living Allowance podcast from Contact a Family.

Contact a Family has produced a new podcast on the subject of Disability

Living Allowance.

Disability Living Allowance is the main benefit for children and adults

with extra care or mobility needs. The podcast explains the two main

parts of the benefit, how you can claim it, and has other helpful

information around getting the benefit.

To listen visit Web: http://www.cafamily.org.uk/news/podcasts.html

The podcasts are also available to our fans on Facebook.

Web: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Contact-a-Family/25040545213?ref=ts

You can also subscribe at no cost on iTunes, simply search for Contact a

Family and click 'subscribe'.

+03: Join Contact a Family on Facebook.

Contact a Family has increased its online support in an exciting new

project - creating groups and networks for families with disabled

children on MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo. We've also set up a virtual

office on Second Life (a popular online 'virtual world').

So why not look us up when you're visiting Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and

Second Life.

- Contact a Family Facebook Fanpage

Web: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Contact-a-Family/25040545213

- Contact a Family MySpace page

Web: http://www.myspace.com/contactafamily

- Contact a Family Bebo page

Web: http://www.bebo.com/contactafamily

- Contact a Family office on SecondLife

Web: http://www.secondlife.com

You'll be able to find us using these co-ordinates: Aloft Island

19.40.22. Alternatively, you can search for Contact a Family in Second

Life or add our avatar, Advisor Somerflek to your friends list.

+04: Win a laptop. Tell your story. Raise public awareness.

Contact a Family is calling on parents to tell their story of raising a

disabled child in a national competition which aims to highlight the

many issues they face.

On the theme of 'Me and my disabled child', we want you to make a short

video about the joys and challenges of caring for a disabled child. If

you don't have a video camera, or have other creative impulses, you

could tell your story in an essay. Alternatively, you could make an

audio recording or take a picture.

All entries will be considered in a category alongside those other

entries using the same media, with a chance to win a digital camera -

and for the over all winner, a laptop.

The best clips, pics and stories will be featured on our website and

other online channels such as Youtube, and in our magazine Connected.

For more information including details of how to enter visit Web:

http://tinyurl.com/5aor3y

[End of Contact a Family news]

++ News stories.

+05: Parent carer wins legal battle - and new employment rights for all

parent carers.

Mum and carer to her disabled son, Oliver, Sharon will see an

employment tribunal consider her case against former employer Attridge

Law after a decision of The European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ

agreed that Sharon was, in law, protected from 'discrimination by

association' with a disabled person if she was harassed for wanting to

look after her disabled child.

This ruling promises to give new rights to parent carers in the work

place and, possibly, all unpaid carers across Britain.

For more information visit Web: http://tinyurl.com/6k4z4z

+06: GBP22m announced for SEN teacher training.

The government has announced an extra GBP10m a year for all new SENCOs

to get high quality, nationally accredited training. The extra funding

will bring into line a new requirement from September 2009, for all new

SENCOs to be both qualified teachers and to get additional training.

A further GBP12m will be made available to existing and trainee

teachers. Trainee teachers will have new Special Educational Needs (SEN)

and disability course materials and students will be provided with

opportunities for placements in special schools or other specialist SEN

units. Teachers already in post, will get specially designed training

materials to increase their confidence in dealing with children with SEN.

Web: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0163

+07: Pilots announced for disabled children's access to childcare

project.

As part of the government programme, 'Aiming High for Disabled

Children', GBP35m has been allocated to improve childcare provision for

families with disabled children. This will be used by local authorities

to pilot accessible forms of childcare.

These pilots will focus on childcare for those disabled children who are

currently least likely to be able to access services, including older

children and children with complex needs.

The pilots will run in the following ten areas: Northumberland, Sefton,

Bradford, Nottinghamshire, Solihull,

Luton, Barking & Dagenham, Camden, Oxfordshire and Cornwall. Each area

will share in an additional GBP35 million in government funding from

2008 to 2011.

For more information about Aiming High for Disabled Children visit Web:

http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/ahdc

+08: Lone parents no longer penalised for opting out of child support

scheme.

>From July 2008 the Child Support Agency (CSA) was replaced by a new body called

the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC). There will be a

gradual series of changes over the next five years. This includes a change in

rules that will mean lone parents who are currently receiving a reduced amount

of Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance because they were

refused permission to opt out of using the CSA will have their benefit increased

to the full amount.

The Child Maintenance Options Helpline provides information to parents

about the options available in making a child support arrangement, Tel:

0 (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-4pm); Web:

http://www.cmoptions.org/index.htm or call the Contact a Family Helpline

on Tel: 0 for more information.

+09: Lone parents with disabled children incorrectly told they will need

to sign on.

>From November lone parents with a youngest child of 12 years old or over will

no longer be entitled to Income Support (IS) - and will be expected to sign on

for Jobseeker's Allowance in order to get benefit. However, this change in the

rules should not affect lone parents of a child receiving the middle or highest

rate care component of Disability Living Allowance.

It should also not affect those who get Carer's Allowance or who are

fostering children. Lone parents in any of these circumstances will

still be able to claim Income Support.

Contact a Family's helpline has already had calls from lone parents with

disabled children who have wrongly been told by staff at the Department

of Work and Pensions (DWP) that their IS will stop in November. Any lone

parent caring for a disabled child who is told their IS will stop can

contact our free helpline on Tel: 0 for advice.

+10: GBP52 Million for children's speech, language and communication.

Bercow MP has published the final report from his review of how to

improve services for children and young people with speech and language

impairments.

The government has pledged GBP12m to implement the recommendations and

launched a GBP40m 'Every Child a Talker' programme, supporting early

years' staff to develop children's speaking and listening skills, to

help to spot children with problems at an early age.

Web: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0141

+11: New law means government to publish SEN performance across England.

The Special Educational Needs (Information) Act has become law as of

25th July 2008 and requires the government to publish annual reports on

how children with special educational needs (SEN) are doing at school in

different local areas. It is designed to tackle the wide variations in

the way local authorities collect information and to drive up standards.

Contact a Family and the Special Educational Consortium (SEC), two of

the four key partners in Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM), supported

the Bill as it progressed through parliament. SEC is a group of

organisations that work together to champion the interests of children

with special educational needs and disabilities.

Web:

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2007-08/specialeducationalneedsinformation.h\

tml

+12: Family Fund increases age limit in Wales.

>From the beginning of July, the Family Fund have raised the age limit of who

they can help through their grant-making programme for children living in Wales.

In Wales an application can be accepted up to the 18th birthday of a

young person, providing the application is received before the young

person's 18th birthday. England and Northern Ireland remain the 17th

birthday and Scotland the 16th birthday.

Contact the helpline on Tel: 0 if you would like a full list

of other organisations which can provide charitable funding. You can

also locate sources of help at Web: http://www.turn2us.org.uk

+13: Register for new service from Family Fund.

The Family Fund is launching 'Family Fund Extra' during October and is

calling on families with disabled children to register their interest.

Family Fund Extra is a separate scheme from their grant making programme

and aims to help families make their money go further. It will offer a

variety of discounted goods and services like electrical products and

holidays. It will also allow supporters of Family Fund to make a

difference to disabled

children through donations and 'donate as you shop' opportunities.

If you care for a child or young person up to the age of 25 years old

and would like to benefit from the discounts and services Family Fund

Extra will offer, register now at Web: http://www.familyfundextra.co.uk

The Family Fund Comet gift card is a first step towards the

fully-fledged Family Fund Extra and is already up and running. Web:

http://tinyurl.com/667tbv

+14: Last chance to claim Incapacity Benefit.

>From October 2008 Incapacity Benefit will be replaced by a benefit called

Employment Support Allowance. For families with disabled teenagers born before

October 1992 who have not claimed Incapacity Benefit or Income Support it's

really important to get advice about whether to claim Incapacity Benefit now -

because after October they will have no choice. Claiming after October, for some

young people, could mean they're worse off in the long term. Call the Contact a

Family Helpline on Tel: 0 for advice or details of a local welfare

rights organisation that can help further.

+15: Seven million households to qualify for help to go digital.

The Help Scheme has been set up to help households where there is a

child or adult entitled to Disability Living Allowance and/or are

registered blind or partially sighted. Households with someone over 75

will also be eligible. The scheme will help households to make the

switchover to digital TV, including providing them with easy-to-use

equipment and help to install it.

People should be contacted well ahead of switchover in their region with

details of how the scheme works and the digital options available.

Web: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/en/how/help-scheme.html

+16: Welsh Assembly announces new measures to tackle child poverty.

The Welsh Assembly Government's new legislative programme for 2008-2009

will include measures on child poverty and additional learning needs.

The child poverty measure will encompass a number of initiatives such as

a duty on public agencies to demonstrate their contribution to ending

child poverty. The additional learning needs measure will extend the

range of individuals who can appeal to the Special Educational Needs

Tribunal for Wales.

Web: http://tinyurl.com/6quc9j

[News stories ends]

++Campaign News.

+17: Campaign for more specialist children's nurses launched.

In the past children with complex health care needs, including the need

for long term ventilation support and other medical interventions,

needed to stay in hospital for months (or in some cases years). It's

widely recognised now this isn't always necessary and by making

specialist care available in the community, many children can go home.

Sick children's charity Well Child and the Royal College of Nursing has

launched the 'Better at Home' campaign in order to call for more

specialist children's nurses to support families in these circumstances.

The campaign will be highlighting the issue to government, service

providers and the general public.

mailto:campaign@...

Web: http://www.wellchild.org.uk/WhatWeDo-Campaigns.asp

[Campaign news ends]

++New resources for families.

+18: New guide to positive health for ish carers.

Carers Scotland has produced a booklet called 'Finding the Balance:

Promoting Positive Health - A Carer's Resource to Health and Wellbeing'.

The booklet is designed to illustrate some of the ways in which carers

can find the balance between caring and looking after their own health

needs.

Web: http://tinyurl.com/5eh8vn

+19: New A-Z guide for carers in Northern Ireland.

Carers Northern Ireland and Northern Trust have launched a new A - Z

guide for carers. The guide provides carers with details on how to

access information and support. It's available at community pharmacies

and other healthcare facilities or direct from Carers Northern Ireland

on Tel: 028 9043 9843 Mon-Fri, 10am-12pm and 2-3pm.

Web: http://www.carersni.org/Home

+20: New organisation to help find care workers for disabled children.

Cool2Care is a new social enterprise organisation (a business that gives

its profits to charity or reinvests them for community benefit) that

brings together families of disabled children with people who want to

care for them.

If you are the parent or guardian of a disabled child or young adult and

would like to employ a trained care-worker or personal assistant, they

can help you find a care-worker right for you and your child. If you're

thinking of working with disabled children and young adults, then

Cool2Care can help too.

Web: http://www.cool2care.co.uk

[New resources for families ends]

++New resources for professionals.

+21: Regional play & childcare network seminars - Autumn 08.

This Autumn, the Play Inclusion Project (PIP) Network seminars will also

focus on quality inclusion in play and childcare.

The PIP seminars will be presented in partnership with trainers from the

charity KIDS and with regional organisations working in play and

childcare. The seminars will be free and held in nine regions in October

and November (dates and venues to be confirmed).

To register advanced interest send your details to mailto:pip@...

Web: http://kids.org.uk

[New resources for professionals ends]

++ Subscription details.