The Short Breaks Services Statement for children and young people who are sensory impaired and/or are disabled. Derby City Council

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1 The Short Breaks Services Statement for children and young people who are sensory impaired and/or are disabled Derby City Council 1 April March 2016 Introduction Any parent will be able to recall times when they had need to be away from their child for short periods. Such times are used for completing tasks that keep households and livelihoods together; for giving full attention to other people and other children; and occasionally to enable parents to create space to relax and invest in their own wellbeing. Periods of temporary independence from their main carer can also benefit disabled children and young people; providing new opportunities to build friendships and confidence, and new experiences that in turn provide skills and personal and social development. Sometimes a break can also be gained without parent and child separating, with a carer providing support that brings benefits to parent and child. The Derby Short Breaks Services Statement is a requirement by the government. This demonstrate that Derby City County Council has met requirements for

2 providing Short Break services under the national legislation and guidance for children and young people who are sensory impaired and/or are disabled. This identifies The range of Short Break services available in their area Any eligibility criteria for these services, and How the range of services is designed to meet the needs of carers The regulations relating to this duty came into force on 1 April 2011, require each local authority to produce a Short Break Services Statement so that families know what services are available, the eligibility criteria for these services, and how the range of services is designed to meet the needs of families with children/young people in their area who are sensory impaired and/or are disabled. Derby City Councils Short Breaks Services Statement 1: The Legislation and Guidance 2: Defining Short Breaks 3 The current Short Break opportunities across Derby 4: Planning and developing short break services 5: Commitment 1 Legislation and Guidance The legislation that relates to the local authority duty to provide short breaks services for children and young people who are sensory impaired and/or have disabilities, and their families, includes:- Paragraph 6 (1) (c) of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 which requires local authorities to provide services designed to give breaks for carers of children and young people who are sensory impaired and/or disabled. Regulations relating to this duty, which came into force on 1 st April 2011, require each local authority to provide a Short Breaks Services Statement The duty to make provision states that Local Authorities must take into account the needs of carers who would:-

3 Be unable to continue caring for their child unless breaks from their caring were given, or Who would be able to give more effective care if breaks were given to allow them to, for instance, attend classes, or work, meet the needs of other children within the family or carry out necessary tasks in the household 2 Defining Short Breaks Short breaks usually provide opportunities for disabled children and young people to spend time away from their primary carers. These include day, evening, overnight or weekend activities and take place in the child s own home, the home of an approved carer, or a residential or community setting. Short breaks can however also be provided through a temporary carer relieving the primary carer of their caring responsibilities without their being separated from the disabled child or young person. Short breaks normally occur on a regular and planned basis and should be part of an integrated programme of support which is regularly reviewed. Short break provision can however, also be provided on an emergency basis. No short break should exceed 28 days continuous care and total provision over a year should not exceed 70 days. Short break services are specialist additional services required to support disabled children and their families; in other words, short breaks are services over and above the universal services available to all families. Short breaks range from supporting disabled children and young people to access universal leisure-time services, through to providing specialist services at a local and regional level. In this context specialist services are services accessed by a particular group of children, i.e. disabled children. Short break services are usually commissioned jointly or separately by statutory agencies and are provided by a range of organisations including local authorities, health providers, and voluntary, private or independent sector organisations. The types of services which must be provided by local authorities must so far as is reasonably practicable, include a range of services sufficient to meet the needs of carers to care, or care more effectively, including; Day care in the child s own home or elsewhere Overnight care in the child s own home and elsewhere Educational or leisure activities for children outside their own homes Services in the evening, at weekends and during school holiday

4 3 Current Short Break Opportunities across Derby SPECIALIST SERVICES Some children and young people require more support than is available through the universal and targeted services in Derby such as overnight residential or family based care, community support or access to direct payments. The Light House is both a building and an Integrated Disabled Children's Service. It is a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency service aiming to meet targeted needs of disabled children and their families in Derby and some children from South Derbyshire. The service provides; The provision of advice and information about other organisations which may be able to offer help and support Support groups for parents/carers The Community Support and Home Care Aide Team Short breaks providing overnight care through the Light House residential short break unit Direct Payments The Light House can provide information, advice, sign posting to other services and a route to assessment and if needed, services for disabled children, young people and their carers. The Community Support & Home Support Team consists of; a team of Family Resource Workers, Family Workers and Home Care Aides. All staff members have a wide range of experience, skills, knowledge and qualifications in working with disabled children and their families. The team provide stimulating activities for children and young people in various environments within the community, and home care aide services in their own homes. The Residential Overnight Service provides for children birth to 18 years and over across Derby City and South Derbyshire who have severe challenging behaviour or who are profound and multiple learning disabled and have complex health needs. Children with a severe learning disability who have social care needs living in Derby may also receive a residential overnight service. Tackle social isolation Provide access to leisure facilities Develop friendship networks Promote personal development

5 Promote happiness and well-being for the child, young person and their family. To find out more please contact Planning and developing short break services Derby City Council Short Breaks Team Our Short Breaks Team service is available to children and young people with a diagnosed disability living in Derby City aged from birth up to 18 years. Our principle aim is to offer a service to families who are not receiving any similar support. Referrals are accepted via An Early Help Assessment or Single Assessment, sent to The Light House, Single Point of Access, St. Marks Road, Chaddesden, Derby. DE21 6AL. Our Short Breaks are arranged and delivered by specialist providers who offer specialist groups and community one to one support. Support staff have appropriate and suitable communication skills, experience and training to meet the needs of your child or young person and keep them safe. Every child or young person has their own comprehensive Person Centred Plan, meaning that activities will be appropriate and suit their abilities, preferences and wishes. The Short Breaks Team can also offer the option of a Short Break Direct Payment which allows families to choose their own short break activity and carer, offering greater flexibility, choice and control. Individuals are offered an initial 50 hours of free support per year which may be increased up to a maximum of 100 hours per year if needs or circumstances change. The Short Breaks Team is committed to meeting the demand for services and currently manages over 270 support packages. To find out more you can contact the Short Breaks Team on or them at short.breaks@derby.gov.uk.

6 SUPPORTING SERVICES In addition the on-going consultation with children, young people and their families is crucial to the success of the programme and includes Participation of young people Participation of parents and carers Derby City Council and its partner agencies will continue to focus on ensuring as many children and young people as possible continue to access and enjoy universal Short Break activities and benefit from Short Break support services. It will achieve this by; Data collection Continuing to collect statistical data concerning the usage of individual activities Identifying gaps in provision through analysis of the data Training To work with the training and learning section to contribute towards planning and delivery to ensure appropriate disability awareness training is available for front line staff To embed disability awareness in all training course delivery Information Work with providers to ensure they publish good quality information about their activity in accessible language and format Promote and publicise the Short Break services and activities in a range of places using appropriate formats including: o The Light House News Letter o The Light House Website o Feed back forms attached to the news letter o Parent champions forum Support Work with service and activity providers to ensure they are compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 Continuing to encourage families to access the advice, guidance and support of the Community Learning Disability Nurse and Social Work services. UNIVERSAL

7 The clear aim set out in the Children with Disabilities strategy is that: Children and young people should be able to access activities and services within their local community. These activities include; Youth clubs: Hands and Voice Youth Club For children aged 11+ Tuesday evenings, term time. A joint venture between the Youth Service and DDCS. Beaujangles Music group for deaf and visually impaired pre-school children; run by teacher of deaf children from STePS. Families are invited to this group through STePS. Mablethorpe Holiday This is a 1 week holiday in Mablethorpe, takes around 40 deaf children living or educated in Derby / Derbyshire aged 9-14 each year. The children are all deaf, but several will also have additional needs such as cerebral palsy; learning difficulties; autism; tracheotomy. At least 30 staff go, with varying roles some in the kitchens; some working with the children, a first aider and safeguarding person. Staffed wholly by volunteers,. Summer Play scheme This scheme provides a 1 week play scheme for deaf children and their siblings in the summer holidays, based at the Royal School for the Deaf who arrange staffing; activities and administration. Last year there were 50 places for Derby children. Children can attend some or all of the days. Siblings benefit from opportunities to meet each other. 5 Commitment Information dissemination We will continue to make the Short Breaks agenda become part of everyone's business, circulating information across multi-agencies. Safe environment Short break activities are staffed by competent, trained staff that understand and can meet the needs of the child/young person and will comply with Health and Safety Policies and the Disability and Equalities Act. Training Providers will continue to receive ongoing training to support the delivery of activities.

8 Enjoyment On Going monitoring reporting and evidence gathering will continue to shape services. Quality Assurance The development of the joint commissioning monitoring board comprising Local Authority and Health (Clinical Commissioning Group) will inform and shape the ongoing development. Lead Member Cllr Sara Bolton Children and Young People Lead Member, Derby City Council