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Update from Gloucestershire parent carer forum
Published
How is it August already? I do hope you’ve managed to have some down time over the summer holiday.
As a Forum we’ve seen lots of changes over the last 6 months. Firstly, we formed a new company and have become Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum CIC. As a not-for-profit community interest company we continue to represent the views of parent carers across the county.
Our membership continues to grow, and we are always delighted to welcome new embers. Growth from word of mouth is a great thing! If you know a parent carer who needs some support, we’d love to get to know them. Membership of the Forum is free and easy to do.
When you join you’ll be added to our mailing list and will be amongst the first to receive this Families in Partnership Newsletter and our own Newsletters. You can also join our Facebook group where you can get to know other parent carers and ask for advice and information.
We’ve been out and about all over the county since April meeting with parent carers at our regular Listen to Me Coffee Meets, hosted by Bec. These are such a great space for parent carers to get to know each other and share experience and expertise. They’re also places where professionals can come and hear the challenges that families face so that we can work together to make a difference. You can view our schedule of events.
We’re continuing to work at a strategic level on projects with the EHCP Casework Team, the Local Offer Team, the SCAAS - Autism Pathway Teams and many more. The work of Parent Reps is invaluable, bringing in a wealth of expertise which we at the Forum really value. If you’d like to be involved in a more hands-on way, we’d love to hear from you. We can offer training and expenses for things like travel and parking. You can get in touch with us via info@glosparentcarerforum.org.uk
We’ve been delighted to have Tamsin join our team as our Autism and LD Family Peer Supporter. Tamsin was able to join with the Carers Hub on their recent Boat Trip and got to know families there. She’ll be out and about getting to know families over the coming months. You’ll be able to find her more regularly at Rainbow Days with Gloucestershire Autism Support on Monday evenings. Find out more.
We were blown away by our Forum Family Fun Day at the Chamwell Centre last Friday. We welcomed over 70 parent carers, children and young people, who were able to use the pool, soft play and enjoy table cricket offered by Gloucestershire Cricket Federation. We’re heading out for a picnic on 19 August at Pittville Park in Cheltenham. If you have somewhere you’d like to meet, do get in touch.
In September we’ll be working with SENDIASS to bring you a workshop on how to prepare for your Year 10 annual review, so important in preparing for the future of young people and Post 16 provision. We’ll be posting details and booking information on our social media soon.
Looking ahead we’re always keen to hear from parent carers about the issues that are important to you, and we’ll be getting out to meet as many of you as we can over the coming months. We really value your comments and questions which help to shape this Families in Partnership Newsletter and the work that we do on your behalf.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Helen Bond
Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum Director